Another Skills challenge idea - fire with charcloth

[Joezilla]

At 11:30 at night, with gusts up to 19mph, I read this thread and decided to run outside and try it. I wanted to use only stuff in a four foot radius from my door, which, at the time, was a machete, a piece of hardwood, and an very handy gardening mat to keep my knees dry It was extremely fun. I used a left over piece of hardwood from splitting and the Condor Bolo machete (factory edge). Grabbed a cutting block and a large chunk of quartz, and used the spine of the machete, in a harsh sawing motion, to generate a spark on the charcloth. That was actually I think, the easiest part. ou could strike the quartz too, and sometimes that yields more sparks, but they don't last as long for some reason, and the quartz fragments can hit the eyes. The wood shavings went quick too, though if I was smarter, I would have laid something down on the ground to catch all the stray pieces as they are usually the finest. When they hit the leaves I'm afraid they absorbed a little moisture. To keep the shavings from blowing away, I used the lid from my charcloth container, which I also used to snuff out the leftover charcloth and save it. Kgd once again inspired me to take it to a different level and think out of the box.

Now Onto youtube.
If the sound is off, come back later in the day, it will be back on. I'm kinda ticked because this video is really cool


So: the Kgd challenge: blair witch project style!
[video=youtube;9NF8XyUUmGc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NF8XyUUmGc[/video]

 

[jcl-MD]

Thanks Joe!

 

[HikingMano]

Awesome Joe! :thumbup:

 

[Joezilla]

[video=youtube;gtFxcA7XO54]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtFxcA7XO54[/video]

 

[kgd]

Awesome Joe - bonus points on the machete striker!

 

[messer454]

First of all, thanks to Kgd for the challenge. It has been years since I used flint and steel and then always with a birds nest type set up. I would not have thought fire with wood shavings would have been likely at all.

First is my set up with Blind Horse Knives Brumblee (sp?), then my wood shavings, and then the successful fire. Sorry for the bad pics.

Havn't been over here in awhile but I will keep looking for a new challenge now.

 

[kgd]

Great stuff Messer - glad the thread inspired you to play with embers again!

 

[mcjhrobinson]

so i did this challenge right after my firesteel to shavings semi-failure. it seemed the charcloth helped with the stubborn shavings. like hikingmano i usually use jute or some other ember catcher...after about 3 tries i got a flame. fun stuff....now i just gotta try the one hand fire and give the shavings and firesteel a do-over! thanks kgd!

 

[kgd]

Great stuff mcjhrobinson! Glad to see the charcloth worked well for you. Its really versatile stuff....

 

[DrivebyTrucker]

Anyone else notice all these feather stick pictures are made with processed wood?

 

[kgd]

Anyone else notice all these feather stick pictures are made with processed wood?

Doesn't matter Driveby...Really the point was to get people to try igniting a bit more difficult tinder type than PJCB (which work great but you might not always have it). Somebody who takes their first steps towards igniting shavings, whether it be a piece of lumber or a seasoned stick is likely to 'catch the spark' and continue to practice on other materials they find on their walks and hikes. That is the spirit of producing these challenges and I appreciate everybody who took part in them!