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

[RescueRiley]

edit.

 

[kgd]

Cool Mistwalker. Bamboo is a complete mystery to me as we don't have any here in canukistan outside of buying the stuff at wallmart. Ha ha, if you have the luxury of drying out your wet shavings in the sun, I guess you could also find a dry stick too That is an interesting observation though. I sort of do suspect that you can semi dry a bit of shavings by just showering and showering on the sparks but I'm not sure if that is a very efficient route to fire compared to searching and/or splitting wood to get to the inner.

 

[unit]

No pictures, but last night after discovering this thread I went out back and grabbed a cedar stick that has been laying on my porch for a while. I figured this would be a serious challenge because it has been raining like heck here for the past few days and everything is wet and humidity is high.

Anyway, it only took a few minutes and about 4 spark attempts to get it going.

 

[Mistwalker]

Cool Mistwalker. Ha ha, if you have the luxury of drying out your wet shavings in the sun, I guess you could also find a dry stick too That is an interesting observation though.

You would think, but being as it is a temperate rain forest we often have days and days of rain and then the sun pops back out all bright and shiny. Most dead stuff at this point will be pretty wet, and with all of the rain even a lot of our dead hardwoods break down and become punky really quick, which soaks up water like a sponge. The logic in my thinking on this was that with more surface areas exposed thin shavings of anything should dry a lot quicker than solid sticks of anything. I can get a large pile of really thin shavings of bamboo a lot quicker than I can get a large pile of really thin shavings of any wood so I went with it. On those days the humidity is high but rocks in the sun will dry a lot faster than the ground so they make good drying spots if one is handy.

 

[mykel m]

My first try with out tinder,just the feathers/shavings.

 

[kgd]

Nice stuff!

 

[OwenM]

Ignite wood shavings with a fire steel. Some people have trouble with this, others find it easy.

I had trouble with this, and it turned into an epic ordeal. Battery died a minute into the video, knife was dull, ferro corroded and pitted, hand was banged up from work, dog ate my homework, etc. Rare for me to start a fire without a trioxane tab(and >25yrs since I did it with a bow/drill).
Used a piece of pine that was on the ground in my back yard. It rained day before last, but yesterday was dry, and pine is pine.
Kept it very small since I was a few feet from being under a smoke alarm. Couldn't get any decent shavings with that dull knife anyway...
[youtube]dTpQeigOeYU[/youtube]
Time for a new ferro rod, and some sharpening! I carry a new LMF Scout ferro rod when in the woods, but don't want to use it until necessary, lest it corrode like my old one.

I went out back and grabbed a cedar stick that has been laying on my porch for a while...Anyway, it only took a few minutes and about 4 spark attempts to get it going.

No doubt, cedar is great for firestarting! I found a bunch of strips while hiking last month where something must have been making a nest. Rolled up a handful to see how it would burn, but used a Bic.
[youtube]KOG6Uv-VAUY[/youtube]

 

[mcjhrobinson]

i tried the same wood again the other day....and in about 30secs i got a flame....i think ill be trying this every weekend since i obviously could use some work on it

 

[Switchblade61]

Here we go!
This is western red cedar. I had to split some very wet piece of wood to get the dry inside parts.
Tools used: Becker BK-5, Swiss Army Rucksack, Ferro-rod

 

[OwenM]

Redid this with a new piece of wood from the yard, and a knife with a decent edge.
This is making me want a campfire. Maybe soon I'll actually hang around camp, and build a fire for a change, before I start enjoying playing in my basement too much, and burn the house down...
[youtube]iAxy9abfGYE[/youtube]