I know, you've probably been saying this all along, but it came to me as something of a revelation during a fire-making practice session the other day.

Tinder takes you from spark to flame by virtue of its tiny fibers of material. Any material that burns, if rendered into tiny filaments, will catch a spark.

So the whole fire thing comes down to diameters. Tinder takes you from spark to flame (from flint to kindling). Kindling takes you from tinder to squaw wood. Squaw wood takes you from kindling to branches, logs, etc.

Bear

it took awile before i got that 2... <img src="images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />
i still dont master igniting tinder fully, i know how to light cotton wol and cottonwol+vaseline with sparks, but igniting things like shaved fat wood is hard <img src="images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> ! i just got to practise more... <img src="images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />