Under normal conditions I have no problem getting a fire started. Of course that is not when you are going to need it the most.

We have had about 5 days of off and on rain and everything is really wet. So yesterday I took my son outside to see if we could get a fire started using only a pocket knife and few matches and whatever we could find outside. We were getting a light misting of rain at the time. I figured if I could teach him how to start a fire under those conditions he could get a fire started just about anywhwere.

We built the basic log cabin then added a platform of sticks about three inches above the soggy ground. Then we split dead sticks, that were not laying on the ground, about 1 inch thick using our pocket knives into splinters. We then made a good pile of shavings from the inside of some of the split sticks. next we used a match to try to light the shavings. We were not real successful at getting much of a fire going. Even the shavings still seemed slightly damp. I suppose we could have used larger sticks to get shavings from but the bigger the sticks the tougher they are to split especially with a pocket knife. Only after using some dryer lint did we really get the fire going.

My question is this. If in a really damp situation without wetfire, dryer lint, lighter fluid etc. is there a good way to get a fire going? What are some sources of dry tinder you might find naturally?