I way fooling around in the garage and working on my differt types of tinder when I thought of the fine ceader shavings in my pencel sharpener. I remove a small amount (about the size of a dime) and placed it on top of my metal work bench. With the camp stove sparker I was able to bring it to flame in no time.

This may not be news to some of you, but I have not seen it mentioned on this site before. So dig out your small plastic bags and fill them up with ceader shavings and the next time you need some fast starting tinder you have a bunch.

It seems to me, that shavings from wood being drilled would, for the same reasons, be excellent tender as well.

I just went out in the shop and scraped some shavings into a pile on a cookie sheet. I managed to get them ablaze but it wasn;t as if they were begging for spark. It took a little effort which was allright. They're so fine they burn pretty quick. I'm going to enlist my daughter to save her shavings.

I feel dumb. I've worked wood for more than 30 years and I never even knew pencil shavings were cedar!

Good tip!

Adding some melted wax to the shavings will make it burn longer. Not sure about hotter, but definitely longer.

If you carried a small plastic pencil sharpener with your tinder kit you could make shavings in the field using sticks or a pencil that you bring along for message writing anyway. Even wet sticks would make dry(ish) tinder if the sticks aren't completely waterlogged.

Aloha,
You just sparked an idea. For awhile I was experimenting with steel wool, cotton balls and paraffin oil. I still carry both (one or the other in a kit) soaked in the oil in my PSKs. They're wrapped up in wax paper like little tinder quicks. I think I'll try that oil with the shavings.

wildman800:
the pencel sharpner shavings are finer than drill wood shavings and catch a spark and hold it faster.

Aloha:
I have not tryed to mix anything with the shaving as I want them dry. That way I will have no mess inside of my PSK if a bag gets broken from trying to shove it in a small space.

I carry some cedar shavings with some wax in it. It feels dry to the touch even after being left out in the hot tropical sun. I carry it in a ziplock bag along with some fatwood and scrounged tinder. My favorite in Hawaii is the bark from a paperbark tree. I have since found that Eucalyptus bark is about the same. They have a little oily feel to them even though they are bone dry. Makes a great tinder bundle and lights with a spark.

The waxed cedar shavings and fatwood are for when my firewood is wet. I am not too proud to admit to cheating a little bit.

That combination, the bark tinder bundle and a stick or two of fatwood, gets a nice fire started fast (assuming the kindling and fire wood is all prepped first) even when the wood is wet.

One of the older boys at our camp was having a really hard time with making fire. Even with my campfire made, he had a hard time getting his going. He threw a bunch of sticks in a pile, shoved one stick in the fire briefly and immediately yanked it out and roughly shoved it into his pile. And he was getting frustrated and couldn't figure out why his stuff wasn't aflame. He kept asking me to help him and show him how.

After I got him to go ask permission from his dad, I showed him. And since he was a boy, I explained that he needed to treat the fire like a lady (I told him girl since he was early teens I think, but I meant lady). I told him he needed to be gentle and patient and to pay attention to the fire. And he needed to feed it the right things. Etc. Well he finally got it going and man was he happy! I didn't want to burst his bubble by telling him he basically lit his fire with mine. Maybe next time, he will do it from scratch.

Treat a fire like a lady... Quite true.

Did you also tell him that from time to time, for no apparent reason, he'll get burnt?

Been there, done that. More than once I am sorry to say...

I figure he would learn that one by himself. It just wouldn't be meaningful if told.

Hey wait a minute! I've been there myself.

Hi big_al

My kit consists of two items: (1) cotton balls and (2) 1 inch by 6 foot pieces of toilet tissue rolled into loose, 1 inch diameter rolls and soaked in paraffin. I keep eight of each in a Zip-Lock bag along with my magnesium scratch block.

Buld up your wood in whatever way you personally like it - I prefer the traditional teepee design with bigger sticks over smaller sticks - all collected from standing deadwood, of course.

Make a little hole under your woodpile. Peel one end of your waxed paper back so about one inch is unrolled. Place it under your wood. Place one cotton ball under this unpeeled waxed paper.

Strike sparks into your cotton ball and you have instant fire, even in wind and pouring rain.

Yes, I'm sure the purists will suggest this is cheating a bit, but, to my thinking, no more than bringing such things as shavings from your garage.

To each his or her own.

Enjoy.

I don;t think it's cheating at all...nor should a purist. The idea is to use the most expedient and available means to start a fire. Bringing along ready-made tinder is no more cheating than bringing a knife and /or firesteel. The idea is that, as we lose comfort items or they somehow become less available to us, we use what we have on-hand.

Cheating.... Cheating only applies to games with rules.

Fair.... Fair means you win. I'd consider this fairness, not cheating.

I do carry a small pencil sharpener in one of my fire-starting kits. The shavings made from just about any reasonably dry wood catch very easily, but I often nest them around a PJ-soaked cotton ball just to be sure of things. The only down side of shavings is they must be completely shielded from wind - they scatter on the slightest breeze.

The best tender I have seen for capturing a spark is the lint from the clothes dryer's filter. The next time your wife dries the towels give it a try.