A no prize, simple skills contest....Light shavings firesteel

OK I tried this again last night. My wife even went out to sit with me /boggle. So if nothing else is accomplished by this challenge it got my wife interested enough that she actually went outside and did something with me. Anyway, I think the wood I am trying to use is too moist. I shaved up a small pile of curls and then scraped a fair sized pile of wood dust. I gathered a couple of small piles of pine needles and other fibrous tender so that when/if I got this pile on fire I would go straight to my fire pit and we would celebrate my victory with a nice camp fire. I scrapped the hell out of that LMF rod and nothing. I scrapped again and again and again. I showered that pile with so many sparks the ants in the area started a BBQ because they thought it was the 4th of July. No joy. I was just about to give up and decided to hell with it I will give it one more try before just using a cotton ball, and I look down and the pile of shavings is on fire. Big smiles all around and we had a great camp fire.

Lessons learned:

1. more curls more curls more curls
2. use wood that is dryer dummy
3. get a better ferro rod and striker
4. work on my technique
and most importantly
5. have more patience

I really appreciate this thread.
 
sicily02 said:
Hi all,

Mistwalker, LOL so what are saying I can't tell one of my little knives from some of my other little knives lol

It is 3/16" thick with a 10" long ( little ;) blade with a 1" choil. for a 9" long ( little) cutting edge. I started another one today, I decided I want to have 2 little knives for my 2 little hands lol lol.

Pitdog, lol Yea I will make your little knife just a tad smaller than my little knife:D

Bryan
Click to expand...

I have a Mega too ya know...I'm thinking maybe you got a little too much sun this summer or were poked by a few too many Honey Locusts thorns !! :D
 
LOL not did not get poked by any of them thorns, but I do believe my eyesight is less that what it use to be lol.

Bryan
 
pokesalad said:
OK I tried this again last night. My wife even went out to sit with me /boggle. So if nothing else is accomplished by this challenge it got my wife interested enough that she actually went outside and did something with me. Anyway, I think the wood I am trying to use is too moist. I shaved up a small pile of curls and then scraped a fair sized pile of wood dust. I gathered a couple of small piles of pine needles and other fibrous tender so that when/if I got this pile on fire I would go straight to my fire pit and we would celebrate my victory with a nice camp fire. I scrapped the hell out of that LMF rod and nothing. I scrapped again and again and again. I showered that pile with so many sparks the ants in the area started a BBQ because they thought it was the 4th of July. No joy. I was just about to give up and decided to hell with it I will give it one more try before just using a cotton ball, and I look down and the pile of shavings is on fire. Big smiles all around and we had a great camp fire.

Lessons learned:

1. more curls more curls more curls
2. use wood that is dryer dummy
3. get a better ferro rod and striker
4. work on my technique
and most importantly
5. have more patience

I really appreciate this thread.
Click to expand...

Thats great to hear. Thanks for your report and congratulations!
 
Help!!

I cannot get it to work!

Pine woods
Old branches bone dry from the summer
That is what is in the woods

Sharp knife and lots of thin shavings, nice thin curles
LMF fire stick
Lots of sparks
Nothing........

Even with a lighter these shavings are hard to light

Crumbled pine needles and tried with the LMF
Nothing......
A lighter yes started the needles, but not easily.......


suggestions?
 
neeman - give this a shot. Grab one of those dried out pine branches and split it in quarters. Run your knife edge perpendicular to the edge of the wood and scrape, produce a pile of dust about 1 cm deep and about 2 cm wide (or 1" wide and 1/4" deep). Place the end of your rod right in the center of your pile and press it firm to the ground. Spark like mad hatter. Hope that helps - scrapings are what I revert to when I get in trouble with a ferro-rod.
 
I was out at the swamp this weekend as usual at my getaway/hunting spot. This is how I usual start a fire so I figured I play along and take some pictures this time. I forgot my camera at the house so I only had my phone which takes terrible pictures so bare with me.


Unknown peice of wood split and shaved with a bark river rising wolf.
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My well used firesteel scout (as thin as a toothpick now and ready to break soon :) )
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Sonya of coarse was hanging out, while I started the fire in the background. (I started the fire by scraping the underside of some birch bark into a pile and hit it with the fire steel, works like a charm every time. Then I sat down after the fire was going and started making shavings for the challenge)
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That's part of my shooting range I built out there, the wood stand in the upper right corner.
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And the most important tools: A Glock 10mm, flask of some good drink, harmonica, fire steel, and a bark river.
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And then sonya went for a swim and we hung out enjoying the beautiful weather in the woods!
sonyaa.jpg
 
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Good stuff VTguy! Wish we had birch bark in my place, but its a rare commodity until I get north.
 
Took me a while to get around to it, but I didn't forget :)

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[video=youtube;Hyc57c16JGs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hyc57c16JGs[/video]

I had picked up some fallen sticks on the way home from work sometime last week and left it outside on my patio. Rained during the week and the sticks got wet and basically sat in a puddle of water for a few days. They were a little punky to begin with, but I gave em a go anyway. I thought they'd have had a chance to dry out with the sunnier/hotter weather we've been having recently. They were still a bit damp, and I had a hard time getting them to light with the steel. Next time I'm going to do more scraped fine shavings to see if that helps with the not entirely dry stuff. I got frustrated after a little bit; the shavings would smolder and smoke, and sometimes a flame would break out here or there, but ultimately they just wouldn't catch. So I took out a piece of dry kindling and made more shavings. The dry and thinner/better-curled shavings ignited easily, even with relatively light striking on the LMF.

I normally use jute+woodshavings or jute+charcloth+woodshavings to start fires with a firesteel. I always have fatwood, jute, charcloth, and PJCBs on me at all times, but starting a fire from wood shavings alone is a great skill to keep honed. This was a good drill, and I'm definitely going to start practicing it more often. :thumbup:


ETA: watch in HD...fire is so much prettier then :D
 
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Decided to join the fun. Besides, I have a blast doing this with my son.
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The tea is excellent!
 
Thanks to the folks who posted the tips and videos. They helped a lot. This was my first time trying to light woods shavings with a firesteel and I was 2 for 2. It's pretty cool to have a new skill. Now I just need to practice on a regular basis.
 
good job starting this thread kgd!

ive done this before in the past but figured id give it a go. i had some Casuarina glauca in the garage and figured id just use that. i grabbed my knife and started ripping off some curls. i had a decent pile and being throwing sparks with my huge GG firesteel. plenty of sparks but no flame. so i shot it with sparks like crazy and no dice. i tried the shavings and no dice. by now i was rather irritated and intruiged, "why havent i got a flame yet?". so i kept sparking it and eventually i got some embers and id blow and blow but could not get it to flame. so like mtwarden i said F it and made a little jute nest for when i got the shavings to ember up. i also did try my edc LMF...it seemed neither wanted to spark those shavings. the wood had been out in the rain for a few days...which might have attributed to the non flame, and im sure my shavings were thinner than paper...i will be trying again with wood i KNOW is dry. will update with pics later. thanks again for the challenge!
 
mcjhrobinson said:
good job starting this thread kgd!

ive done this before in the past but figured id give it a go. i had some Casuarina glauca in the garage and figured id just use that. i grabbed my knife and started ripping off some curls. i had a decent pile and being throwing sparks with my huge GG firesteel. plenty of sparks but no flame. so i shot it with sparks like crazy and no dice. i tried the shavings and no dice. by now i was rather irritated and intruiged, "why havent i got a flame yet?". so i kept sparking it and eventually i got some embers and id blow and blow but could not get it to flame. so like mtwarden i said F it and made a little jute nest for when i got the shavings to ember up. i also did try my edc LMF...it seemed neither wanted to spark those shavings. the wood had been out in the rain for a few days...which might have attributed to the non flame, and im sure my shavings were thinner than paper...i will be trying again with wood i KNOW is dry. will update with pics later. thanks again for the challenge!
Click to expand...

Wet wood and green wood are often a no-go on this one. You can have some moisture but not an obvious amount. Another thing to try is to press the tip of your steel right into the shavings pile and against the ground. Use a enough downward force on the steel so that when you strike the steel is held steady. This directs the sparks right into your shavings and with a GG steel, those little globs will do their trick. The only downside of this technique is that you have to be careful not to scatter your shavings with your knuckles. It will also create a little ridge line at the end of your steel since you don't scrape all the way of the end of the steel like you wood doing it in air. But despite these shortcomings, I find it the best technique for me.
 
kgd said:
Wet wood and green wood are often a no-go on this one.
Click to expand...

haven't experimented with green wood in this, but I have taken fine green bamboo shavings and dried them in the sun for an hour or so and they light with a fire steel very well, even lighting them one-handed.

The twigs are keeping the shavings from blowing away as they dry.

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This was from last year!

[video=youtube;j1isv8I2fLQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1isv8I2fLQ[/video]

THANKS !!
 
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