Hi Folks,

I have been lurking and learning in the background for about 2 years and today I decided it was time to join your Forum. I have put together about 7 different types of small - medium survival/first aid kits from your suggestions but still need to creat a few more of the larger BOB/vehicle types and to convince my wife of the need to prepare.

I recently took a day hike to a remote Northern Ontario lake with my family for a simple hotdog/marshmellow roast and decided to light the fire using a fresnel lens I keep in my wallet. It was a sunny, warm day and I tried a variety of dry natural tinders (birch bark, pine shavings/needles, dead grass/ferns) that I have used as tinder in the past; all would char but I was unable to develop a coal.

I then remembered seeing some fungus on a white birch tree near the campsite. I collected 2 types of fungus, Birch Polypore and False Tinder Fungus. I cut the False Tinder Fungus open to expose the brown centre and focused the dot of concentrated sunlight on it from the lens. It almost immediately started smoking and produced a coal, with some effort I then lit the fire bundle of dry ferns, needles, birchbark and twigs and we were cooking in short order! It worked so well I forgot to test the Birch Polypore.

My question for ETS members is; what natural tinders have you had success lighting with a small fresnel lens?

Looking forward to sharing information with you folks in the future.

Mike

Welcome Newguy! You are far ahead of me, I have never progressed beyond burning my initials into wood, or making life miserable for ants, with a lense. Thanks for that info...

Mike,

Welcome to the fire! Sounds like you had a good family outing. Congratulations on getting the fire started using the fungus!

I'll admit I haven't used a magnifying glass to start a fire since as a little kid I started some mattress stuffing on fire but IIRC the general consensus here is dark tinders work best. White or lighter colored tinders reflect too much and so don't get hot enough unless you are pumping a lot of sunlight into the spot. Some people have reported rubbing a little dirt on cattail fluff works.

What sized fresnel lens were you using? One of those credit card sized ones?

-Blast

Welcome newbie!

I've tried it with birch bark with some success. But you have sliver it, peel it off to one layer thick and tear it into very find shreds. As I said, some success, but I'd have to not be too desperatly in need of fire.

I've got a bunch of birch around here. I've never heard of birch polypore, now I'll have to see what it looks like and if I have any of it available. But I'm still looking for tinder fungus...

Thanks for the welcome fellows, I have read your posts so many times you seem like friends to me already.

Blast, I was using a small credit card size fresnel lens. This is the first fesnel lens I have ever had, but it was standard practice as a kid to use a magnifying glass to char your name into your baseball glove. I never thought about dark objects absorbing/concentration the heat, I will test it on the next sunny day.

Ironraven, birch polypore usually grows on standing dead white birch trees, is bright white and has the consistance of foam insulation (very light weight). Taking Blast comments into account, being white in colour would not help it heatup well. Where I live in Northern Ontario is about as far north as yellow birch trees consistantly grow so you usually do not find true Tinder Fungus much north of here.

True Tinder Fugnus is so easy to light and smoulders for so long that you have to be careful when using it. It is easy to assume that the coal is out and I have discarded it only to find it burning later, you really need to extinguish it in water. It is much easier to get a hot coal using the friction bow-drill method using Tinder Fungus than using a wood fireboard.

This is the first time I have used False Tinder Fungus (I think we use to call it Horseshoe Conk?), but it developed a hot coal very quickly.

I appreciate the information,

Mike

I stand corrected,

I checked some of my old field notes and I have occasionally found True Tinder Fungus on white birch also which means it would have a range much farther north that I originaly thought. A quick search on the Internet showed that it also effects other species than birch. Learn something new every day.

Mike

We started a few years ago taking a trip for our anniversary, plus the overnight trips to my parents house and a couple other overnight get aways over the years led me to make sort of a "bob" that doesn't look like a bob on the outside.

What I did was take a couple of those big ziplock baggies and put in our suitcase then started buying small items we would use when overnight so we had less to pack before a trip. Those grew into mini bob's so if we ever did need to bug out we can grab the suitcase and go as it has a lot of the things we need for a non-wilderness environment, for example say we had to evac like the residents of NOLA a couple years ago and stay in hotels or other peoples houses the contects of the suitcase are sufficient for that.
Then we spend time in parks and/or camping so I put together a backpack with everything we might need/want/use for those outdor trips and it goes with us on them. It grew into my bob so that if we ever did bug out I have everything we need there as well.
None of this appears to be "survival" related so it doesn't take any convincing, its just stuff to make our normal trips easier.
Suprise your wife with a weekend get away to a cabin or bed and breakfast then afterward tell her she should have a travel bag ready at all times in case you ever wanted to do that again. I haven't done the surprise trip yet but those trips we do take are tests of my bobs to see if we need anything else or how long it takes to get ready to go.

Eugene you are one sly fellow; my wife would love a surprise trip and I could introduce the preparedness equipment gradually as travel stuff, excellent idea! I am a gear addict and I admit that freely, if I had my wife on side then imagine the new equipment I could buy.

We need a non-tactical type of name to call this idea of yours; Couple Adventure Kit (CAK)?

Thanks for your help,

Mike

If you remember starting a fire with a magnifing glass it was probable a smooth piece of paper. If you have grasss bark etc.. it will have multi surfaces that will be hard to get all in focus. It is hard starting a fire with natural materials even the indians and mountian men carried charred cloth to do it with true flint and steel.
cheers

I waited till near sunset here tonight to test some of the fesnel lens tinder ideas suggested above; this test was by no means scientific but I figured that this would be when the sun's rays would be least strong (worst case scenario). All materials used were very dry as I had them stored inside, the outside temperture was app. 20*C.

Blast was right, dark tinders do seem to develop a coal much faster than light coloured tinders.

Dense objects like dry wood (poplar/pine), developed a coal much slower (if at all) than lighter objects like bark (poplar).

I tryed to light white birch bark again, but the best I could do was just burn a hole through it without developing a coal or igniting it.

Even typing paper, cardboard and dark newsprint were reluctant to light at sunset.

The real winner was again, True Tinder Fungus. I had some in my garage drying since last year and after concentrating the fresnel lens light beam on the surface it lit within 1 to 2 seconds. I tried it 10 times so I could determine the rate but it often lit while I was focusing the beam, before I even started timing. This stuff is amazing, no wonder it was found with "Otzi, the Iceman", it was the "lighter fluid" of our ancestors.

Take care,

Mike