Tinder.

Get your fire lit the first time, every time.

Having a good source of tinder before you attempt to light your fire is crucial.  Whether you are lighting a fire for survival, or just a campfire or other outdoor fire.  As conditions such as wind, rain, and fire wood quality deteriorate or worsen, it becomes even more important.   

Tinder is by definition a very flammable source used to ignite a larger fire, and is generally considered to be anything that you can ignite with a match.  If you are going on a planned outing into the outdoors, such as hiking, backpacking or camping, you should always bring along some pre-made tinder with you in your emergency survival kit .  You might not need to use it, but you'll be thankful you had it should the need arise.  It is cheap and easy to make your own tinder at home, several methods are shown below.

As discussed on the How to build a fire page, make sure you have your kindling and fire wood on hand and get your fire build partially made so you can put the lit tinder in place quickly.   Depending on the type of tinder used, you may not have a lot of burn time.

Naturally Occurring:	Premade:
Cedar bark & shavings. dried animal scat. dead grass. dead plant matter / seed heads. cattail heads. milkweed heads. brown pine needles. pine cones. Sap or Sap heavy pine knots. Lint or paper from pockets/wallet. shredded money. shredded swatch of clothing/thread. feathers or down from birds. bird and rodent nests. gunpowder if you have ammo.	Dryer lint & Vaseline. Tampon & vaseline orWax. Cotton balls & Vaseline or wax. Cut wax carton squares tied together with waxed dental floss. Chunk of firestarter log. sawdust & vaseline in wax. votive candle.

A large variety of store purchased fire starter type products are available, but unless you just like to spend money, you really dont need to buy those products.   Most products like "Tinder-quick" only burn for 1 to 3 minutes.   Without too much effort you should be able to make your own tinder at home that will easily burn for 2 or 3 times longer, and cost little to nothing to make.

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