Fire tinder is the building block of any good fire.  But where can you find any?  The good news is that there are everyday items accessible to the suburban homesteader which are readily available and easily used as fire tinder.  Some are common fire tinder items, some are not.  I’ll let you be the judge of what works best for you, but I can tell you that I have used each and every one of these fire tinders with success in the past.  Good luck!

Dryer Lint

Anyone who’s unfortunate enough to have a fire in their house cause by a backed up dryer vent knows just how quickly dryer lint can ignite.  The good news is that dryer lint is probably the easiest fire tinder to acquire around your house – and it’s free!

Every time you do laundry, simply scrape the dryer lint screen and throw that wonderful stuff into a plastic bag.  I keep a gallon size resealable bag of it constantly full and replenish my numerous tinder kits as required.

As I mentioned, dryer lint is a great fire tinder because it catches a spark rather easily and essentially free.  The downside is that it burns rather quick so you best be ready to go once you get those sparks going.

Cotton Ball

Cotton balls work much the same way dryer lint does as a fire tinder.  They have a huge amount of surface area and can catch a spark relatively easy.  The real secret to cotton balls is to coat them with petroleum jelly.  A few sparks from a ferro rod and you’ll have a strong flame that will last a few minutes and will not go out but for the nastiest of weather.

The cotton ball in petroleum jelly combination is a favorite amongst most outdoorsman and definitely has a place in all my tinder kits.

Birch Bark

Birch bark, like paper, is easy to ignite with a match or lighter.  The other upside is that it’s readily available and free.  As with dryer lint, you can keep this fire tinder in large, dry containers at home and dispense as required to different tinder kits.  What’s good to know, however, is that you’ll be able to pull birch bark off of trees in the woods, leaving you with an option if you are completely without a fire tinder.

Fritos

You know that we don’t promote unhealthy eating here at Suburban Steader.  Fritos, or most other chips, are one of the most unhealthy snacks you can eat.  But, they are also soaked in oil which means they are able to sustain a flame for a fairly long amount of time.  You most likely won’t use Fritos as a fire tinder if you have a ferro rod, but a match or lighter will easily light your chip and allow you to build a fire.  Here’s video proof:

[youtube_sc url=”adqdwspLuj0″ title=”Fritos as a fire tinder” width=”575″]

So, do we suggest you keep Fritos around for health reasons? Absolutely not.  But, it is not a bad idea to keep a small package in your kit for a SHTF type scenario.  Plus, you’re stacking functions here – fire tinder and food.  Even if they are unhealthy.

Chap Stick

If you’re like most people, you carry some kind of chap stick in your pocket.  It has more uses than I can describe in this article (check out Sensible Prepper’s 25 SHTF Uses For Chap Stick).  Assuming you have chap stick, you have fire tinder.  The combination of chap stick and a cotton swab will allow you to build a candle of sorts which will burn for as long as it takes for you to start your fire.  Again, you’re stacking functions since the chap stick has so many functions outside of fire tinder.

[youtube_sc url=”sFGZhAxKgmY” title=”Chap Stick as a fire tinder” width=”575″]

What Do You Use For Fire Tinder?

I hope you got some useful ideas out of this article.  Each of these five fire tinders has their own ups and downs, but they are all useful in their own way.

Do you use any other random items regularly (or not so regularly) as fire tinder?  How about anything weird or different you use to start a fire?  Let us know in the comments or on our Facebook page.

Dan

Founder/Owner at Suburban Steader

I am a middle-age guy with a wife, two young kids and a crazy dog. We live on Long Island, NY and had an interesting experience with Hurricane Sandy. That experience led me towards the self-sufficiency movement and eventually led to the founding of SuburbanSteader.com. I aim to provide suburbanites with the confidence and know-how to become more self-reliant by providing content on topics such as gardening, personal health, financial responsibility, cooking, self-preparedness and self-protection.