I was a boy scout until I was 16 or 17 and they didn't teach us about the bird's nest. We made "kindling" by shaving wood with a knife. That stuff ends up being larger than your bird's nests large material. Granted we used a match to light our fire not only sparks. Wish I learned this earlier.

Greetings once again from nova Scotia, my friend, you were born to teach. Much respect, Arthur

First time any one saved the shavings, always noticed that. Thanks.

One of those would pack down nice in a sandwich bag. Another awesome video.

THANK YOU DAN. I'VE WATCHED A LOT OF VIDEOS. YOURS IS THE BEST FOR ME. TO UNDERSTAND THE POINT OF THE CONVERSATION. SIMPLE AND TO THE POINT.

Yes, the phloem (inner bark) is amazing. It also has some internal layers. Some phloems were traditionally eaten, a sort of forest spaghetti:) cooked in water, eg birch phloem. And of course, phloem is perfect for weaving, as the ancestors used to do. Greentings to Pennsylvania from Poland 🇵🇱 the homeland of Dan's ancestors.💪🇺🇲🇵🇱

WOW, awesome... You're simply the best teatcher! Thank You very much Sir, Greetings from France ^_^

This helps alot! I have intuitivelty tried to NOT make it dense, because I was worried about suffocating the spark.

Dan for the win!

sooo good - thanks Dan

Thanks so much for the lesson! Great teaching techniques. I have a circa 1995 waterproof plastic neck lanyard case that perfectly holds a Bic lighter, mag/ferrochem rod/steel, and a bunch of tightly packed dryer lint. I have not run into a situation where I cannot start a fire with some prep and that kit. It's an easy kit to make for someone living in the city. My 5 and 7 year old know how to set a fire with that kit. I love handing it to them and watching them go to it.

Great short video, but an excellent amount of information!

One of your best videos, Dan

Excellent teaching Dan. Thank you. -Stephen, Ohio 🇺🇸

Very informative! Thank you!

Very helpful life saver. I hear Thrush singing around you they here at Alaska in the summer. I defend birds and their habitat to the death

I’ve always done this instinctively, but you have just shown me how to teach this to my grandkids. Thanks

Love it. Going to try this out tomorrow in the forest (UK). Loving the videos.

Thanks Dan I know I'm going to be ready when I'm going to wood wouldn't wood and have to make a bird's nest.

Love your shared knowledge, thanks friend!!!

Great information Dan but i wanted to see you light the damn thing!

I usually take some wire with me in my kit and do a wrap and twist off around my birds nest after making it to hold shape and I make a couple of them if I find a good source for the material. That way I have atleast one more for the next fire. I also use my char first for the first fire and use some of the large material in my char tin to make char material for the next one. I believe the number one most under utilized resources when it comes to this stuff is not utilizing prep time. Taking time to prep some of your resources when you have the opportunity (especially on a trip that takes multiple days) can save crucial time later when you may not have the time you need. You prep it so the next time you need it… you don’t have to try and find, harvest, refine or whatever have you because you already prepped it for the next instance you need it. With that… you just rinse, lather and repeat. So it’s always taken care of the next time you need it.

Dude you are AWESOME!!! Thank you!

Loved this! Thank you so much. :D

I'm guilty of making an actual bird's nest with yellowish long grass but I'm glad that i now know better.

You do an incredible job explaining without being boring. All of us Pa coal boys love this stuff!

Best explanation yet! The steps you simply outlined were on target. You teach extremely well. Kudos!

You are just an excellent instructor. Thanks for the content.

Thanks Dan!

All very well explained.

Great focused teachings Dan. I like your style as well; relaxed and fun learning. Thanks mate.

You're a very good instructor. Great video!

Great video.

Haversac as a way to harvest the fine stuff is such a great idea Yet another reason to always carry a manbag with you

Thank you!!! That was a great video! That was really good information.

I watched the video too well. Thank you for the good information^^

So awesome, thanks for sharing your wisdom with us !! Now when I can I would like to try this with my wife and kids.

That was excellent! Thanks again, Dan!

Amazing thanks Dan!

good stuff. great teacher

Thanks for this video. Very well explained

Never seen this explained before, so thanks! Good tips!

Great video! I watch many bushcraft channels and none that I have seen explain this so well. 👍 I learned a few good points but one really caught my attention. I have heard of char cloth, and the embers from a bow drill But have not considered natural char. Could you please consider a video on what your favourite natural char material is and how you use/store it?

Thank you once again from OG! Good thought about the thickness of the well in the bird's nest. Hope your family continues to be safe and healthy

You can do this on top of an LP record cover. If you lift it up and hold it at a slight angle, then tap the edge of the record cover, all the seeds will roll out.

Great video

Excellent description!

Dude, it’s amazing how much free knowledge you are giving us on this channel. Can’t thank you enough. Keep it up brother!

Wonderful details explained. I enjoy how you pick out certain subjects and concentrate on one aspect or detail. Knots, lean to, axes, boilo etc.

Dude, you're such an awesome teacher!

Thanks man, best explanation of a fire-birdsnest I've seen

Thanks for making this. I was camping this weekend and my bird's nest didn't work. I think it's because it was grass. When I tried to process it, it just broke into shorter and shorter straw, not finer material. I'll try inner bark next time.

You sir are truly a teacher. Thanks!

Great advice. I never thought of making it tight almost baseball shaped.

This is great. I recently attended a course at the Pathfinder school and I brought some tulip poplar bark back with me (we don’t have tulip poplar in Wisconsin). Now I know how to process and get the outer bark off. Thanks!

You are such a fantastic teacher!🥰👍

nice explanation of the soup can method . simple explained. Love your Videos brother.

The best skills video on KZfaq. Concise and fun.

Well done! Thank you.

Great video..I really need to get out and start working on my bush crafting skills. Very well explained. In Oregon, but wish I could come attend your camps

Great review right before my Pathfinder Intermediate class tomorrow. I’ll be throwing a bandana down to collect the finest material when processing. Great stuff as always!

Great vid

Thanks for putting together that video. Well spoken and very easily understood I'll let y'all know how much first bird's nest comes out.

Brilliant explanation. Thanks.

Amazing channel, I tried this and the outcome was amazing ! thank you

When building a bird nest to start a fire, success is on the side of the prepared

great video as always

Great tutorial 😊

Really good vid, thank you

Thanks for the soup nest!

Thank you.

Thanks for that. Good to know.

Very useful.

It gave me some thoughts on how I make my soup can!

Hi from Sunny South Africa. Nicely done and some great tips. From a new bushcraft youtuber.

Well done, Dan. I always get excited when I see another post by you. Very informative and educational, short, sweet, simple.

Nice

As I watched, and this was great, I was thinking, what if your hands were half frozen? Then I thought, probably take a bit longer. Your hands would be happy when the flames started. I've seen this before but it was more of a nonchalant, this is how it's done type thing and the nest was thin. This was good to see and in depth thanks.

Great video Dan. This will improve my craft by leaps and bounds. When are you mastering the bow drill so we can get all your pointers on that?

Good video dude

Love it 👍☕️

@coalcrackerbushcraft please go on the Alone show I think you'd kill it... plus I just wanted to say I'm a Pennsylvanian myself hah

Thank you for the information. It seems that there isn't enough info on this part of fire making.

my man!

"Bird's nest" is the best description. It is a lot more like a real nest than you might think. My birds collect large sticks, branches, bark etc and fill the bulk of a cavity, then select finer materials like cotton fibres, thin strands of bark etc for the interior lining. This fills the outer section quickly and gives good support, and the inner section is nice and soft and smooth, a comfortable spot to roost for weeks.

Henep rope is also very very good tinder

Great tutorial Dan👍 You should do this for a living 😅😊

hey man love your videos im from Australia. was wondering if you could do a video on what camera gear you use for filming the outdoors? or even answer in the comments? Thanks Sean

Next to David Canterbury you are my favorite bushcraft representives

I want to attend one of your classes so bad! 16 hour drive is rough. I’m thinking on it.. Your attitude and attention to detail are inspiring.

I mostly use a twig bundle for my fire lay that’s how I was taught 18 yrs ago at a mors kochanski class a good size twig bundle and one match

Mr. Cracker, (may I call you Coal?), thank you for clearing up the whole bird's nest thing. I literally had assumed you were scavenging actual abandoned bird's nests as provided by nature firestarter material. Thanks for teaching me how to craft a proper one! Simple tech sticks with me. Heavy material ball, divot, medium material, divot, fine material, divot, ferro rod & break out the marshmallows.

Medium material? You mean it talks to ghosts?

Pretty similar to packing a pipe to smoke.

And shared 😎👍

Any specific types of tree we should look out for? I assume not all types of tree bark is equally good, or may even work

I like to cheat and use Pampas grass (that stuff that sort of looks like wheat with huge fluffy heads). Grows everywhere and no processing involved. I needed to watch this just to brush up on my skills...

Where did you get that Gerber hat?. Nice video .

tap it with pommel of axe to pulverize on a stump,flat rock or log. catch crumbs ,fines and shreds etc. w bandanna

I have been wondering about how people did not get burned with a birds nest