Editing Tinder (section)

== Technique ==
Any flammable material may be used as long as it is finely divided. As the tinder gets thinner, the surface area and edges increase, making it ignite more easily.

Wood tinder can be made by carefully shaving thin slivers off a larger piece. Another method which keeps these slivers together, is to make a [[feather stick]]. The driest wood, which makes the best tinder, is that of dead branches that have not yet fallen to the ground.

If a fire is to be lit by sparks rather than matches, [[char cloth]], punkwood, [[fungus]] or [[Down feather|down]] are commonly used to catch the sparks. However, fungi should be selected with care as some release toxic fumes on [[combustion]].{{or|date=August 2016}} Char cloth can be made by placing plant-based [[textile|fabric]] (usually [[cotton]]) in a [[tin box]] into a campfire; like [[charcoal]], it is the product of anhydrous [[pyrolysis]]. It is very fragile, and should usually be prepared only in small quantities.

Pitchwood is the resinous wood which decays last from dead [[Pinophyta|conifers]]. It can be found on the ground where conifer tree trunks have fallen and decayed. The parts of the deadwood that would form the [[Wood#Knots|knots]] in lumber, i.e. the places where branches entered the trunk, are impregnated with [[resin]] which has the combustibility of wood soaked in [[Charcoal lighter fluid|lighter fluid]]. Pitchwood can also be found in the stumps left in the ground when conifers die. These stumps contain spires of resin-impregnated wood, called [[fatwood]], which can easily be lighted using only a single [[match]] or lighter. Pitchwood that has been shaved into small splinters is easy to ignite, and it does not absorb water, so it remains easy to ignite in any weather as long as the flame is sheltered from rain and wind. In the southeastern United States, pitchwood is known as "fat lighter" or "lighter'd" (a shortening of lighter-wood).<ref>Ratliff, Donald E. Sr., ''Map, Compass and Campfire'', Binford & Mort, Publishers, 1964, page 45.</ref>

[[Ember|Embers]] of burned paper, leaves and other sheetlike materials are easily carried off by air currents, where they can alight upon other objects and ignite them. In outdoor campfires, paper can be wadded up to reduce this hazard; wadded paper also burns more quickly.

[[Magnesium]] is sold in stores in shaved or bar form. Shavings burn white-hot, are impossible to smother with [[carbon dioxide]] or sand, and can ignite even wet kindling. Solid bars are impossible to ignite under normal conditions (and difficult even with a [[Oxy-fuel welding and cutting|welding torch]]), and are thus very safe to carry. Magnesium powder and shavings are [[pyrophoric]] (they oxidise rapidly when exposed to the air). It is dangerous to carry pre-shaved magnesium &mdash; at best, it loses potency, at worst, it can spontaneously ignite and is then nearly unquenchable. Magnesium bars are sometimes sold with a length of [[ferrocerium]] cast into one edge.<ref name='fsr'/>

The gathering of tinder, and perhaps more importantly, its dry storage is one of the most critical aspects of many [[Survival skills|survival]] situations.