I’ve used seed puffs from dandelions, milkweed, and cattail among others to catch sparks. Once lit the fibers almost explode into flame. It’s important to surround the fuzz with light and dry tinder, especially above it to catch the flame so that it can be built into a larger fire. But what if you don’t have seed puffs to catch a spark? What if you were in an urban environment surrounded by asphalt and concrete and not in a wooded area?

You can collect flammable cotton fiber from your clothes by taking a sharp edged device like a knife and scrape it over the surface of your clothing several times. A small roll of fibers will begin to accumulate. Denim pants are a great source for this. The roll of fiber can be pulled apart into a “fuzz-ball” in order to catch a spark from a flintwheel or ferro rod.

Another clothing source of fiber is cotton socks. If you don’t have a knife blade for scraping you can simply pinch off bits of fiber with your finger tips to collect a small fuzzy pile. I often put this tinder into a small cone of tissue paper to catch a flame. This fire method is also known as a “prisoner match”.

A number of folks have experienced similar results using dryer lint, cotton balls, and cotton swabs as their tinder but these fibers would need to be collected ahead of time and carried whereas your clothes require no planning and are naturally with you as part of your everyday life.

As usual, I recommend that you try this for yourself and practice it so that you will have this skill for the time that it is needed… or just to have fun!

The first requirement is to gather the material. If you are a germophobe you might try looking into buying filters from a tobacco store otherwise there is an abundance of pre-used cigarette butts found just about anywhere. You could actually wash them if you want.

You will need to remove the paper covering to expose the fibrous filter. I found that by barely scratching or pinching the side of the filter that I could pull off fluffy bits of fiber that blends well for spinning. This is a tedious task. I found that the used filter held together better than the unused filters, probably because of the presence of tar from the smoke.

There are different techniques for making cordage. To begin I roll a row of fluffy fiber with the palm of my hand over the top of my thigh until it is a tight strand. Then I fold that in half and roll it again while bearing down on the folded side. this entwines the two strands into a cord. The ends are left “fuzzy” so that more fiber can be added to increase it’s length. The more even you roll the strands the stronger and dependable it is.

This is definitly not heavy duty cordage but it could be used for simple binding which is just what might be needed in a pinch. I wouldn’t call this practical but for me it was a “proof of concept” and a fun experiment to try.

When it comes to solar fire starting, one of my favorite tinders is dry horse manure. Most herbivores (plant eaters) leave fine fibrous material at the end of their digestion process. I use dry horse manure because it’s fibers are loose enough for air flow but tight enough to transfer and build heat. In survival situations it’s wise to collect dry tinder in your surrounding area or while traveling to your next destination. In the woods this might mean deer or rabbit pellets. These nuggets of tinder once dry are basically odorless and very easy to handle for fire starting.

A well known celebrity that I met “Big Tom” Buchanan of the “Survivor” television series concurs with this opinion. He said that knowing how to make fire was part of the success of his long duration in the game and that dry elephant dung was the best tinder for starting fires. Historically buffalo chips and cow patties have been used by settlers in this country and by generations of population throughout the world for millenia.

If you haven’t tried this method yet, you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Be sure that the material is very dry and when you focus your lens, make a slow circular motion so that the edge of the black char that is created will gradually expand. Once the ember is established, long steady breaths will increase it’s size until it can be added to supplemental tinder to create a flame.