Beckers helpum me makeum fire.

N

Noswad0208

Joined
Sep 8, 2014
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Decided I should try getting a fire going using Beckers to fix up the wood and my SAK to strike the steel.

What I used (no SAK in the pic)

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Magnesium.

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My (very sad) featherstick skills. :D

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After getting the fire going for a moment, it went out. Thankfully everything was already warmed up enough, so I figured with some elbow grease and lint (figured if I was in the woods I could find something that would substitute lint, but alas, I was in my yard) I could get it going again.

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After some blowing on it a bit...

FIRE!

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Practice on some thin green branches from a maple or somethin in the area. You'll find the bark doesn't really curl but the wood beneath the bark will. If you can find some Basswood, use that. It'll burn green or dry and it is soft. Fantastic for whittling too.

Keep a firm grip so that the blade does not twist and want to dig in deeper.

Once you have the angle down on some softer greener wood you can move to dry stuff.

Soon your yard will be a mess with curls all over the place :p.
 
Rupestris said:
Practice on some thin green branches from a maple or somethin in the area. You'll find the bark doesn't really curl but the wood beneath the bark will. If you can find some Basswood, use that. It'll burn green or dry and it is soft. Fantastic for whittling too.

Keep a firm grip so that the blade does not twist and want to dig in deeper.

Once you have the angle down on some softer greener wood you can move to dry stuff.

Soon your yard will be a mess with curls all over the place :p.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. :thumbup: Plenty of Maples around, and I plan on going up to the mountain to test out my 15 when I get it Monday evening through Tuesday morning (homeschooling is awesome :D).
 
My 15 will be showing up here on Wednesday or Thursday.

Keep us posted on how yours does.
 
Rupestris said:
My 15 will be showing up here on Wednesday or Thursday.

Keep us posted on how yours does.
Click to expand...

Cool. :thumbup:

Will do. James has me EDCing it for 30 days, and during it I'm going to write a semi-daily log, and then at the end I'm gonna write a review on it with lotsa pics. :D
 
Love that last pic. A couple of BK's, a SAK and some fire! Only thing better would be some meat on the grill above the fire :thumbup:

And, one of your feather sticks was so good that it actually looked like a feather! WOWZERS!! ;)
 
keroscene said:
Love that last pic. A couple of BK's, a SAK and some fire! Only thing better would be some meat on the grill above the fire :thumbup:

And, one of your feather sticks was so good that it actually looked like a feather! WOWZERS!! ;)
Click to expand...

Thanks. And don't worry, there will be pics of roasting hotdogs after I've been on the mountain. :thumbup: :D

Feather sticks are evil. :D
 
LONG LIVE THE KING!

I love the BK9 :).

I'm no pro, but for me the two biggest things that helped me with feathersticking, were to...

1) keep that edge angle consistent. You get your hand angle all set, and then the strokes come from the shoulder, rather than from the elbow, forearm, or wrist (if that makes any sense)
2) Get in close to the work. I use the blade right next to the choil for all my feathersticking. Lock that piece of wood into the ground , and do the other end either into your chest (if its long enough), or your offhand palm, and keep things steady and as stable as you can.

Greener wood is easier at first, and like it has been said, the bark usually doesn't work well, so get that off of there first.

And ironically, most feathersticks that you see online, are almost too big to be useful for a firesteel. Instead, I've found the best success by using the squared spine of a knife, or the awl on my SAK to scrape and get a bunch of TINY sawdust style shavings/curls. Those actually catch the spark the best. So don't be too worried if your curls are falling off the stick, as that's probably a good sign anyway :).

And I use a bandana to catch the curls that fall off. Once I have enough to more or less fill a normal sized bandana, I'm usually good to go on the fire.

Cheers!
 
ocnLogan said:
LONG LIVE THE KING!

I love the BK9 :).

I'm no pro, but for me the two biggest things that helped me with feathersticking, were to...

1) keep that edge angle consistent. You get your hand angle all set, and then the strokes come from the shoulder, rather than from the elbow, forearm, or wrist (if that makes any sense)
2) Get in close to the work. I use the blade right next to the choil for all my feathersticking. Lock that piece of wood into the ground , and do the other end either into your chest (if its long enough), or your offhand palm, and keep things steady and as stable as you can.

Greener wood is easier at first, and like it has been said, the bark usually doesn't work well, so get that off of there first.

And ironically, most feathersticks that you see online, are almost too big to be useful for a firesteel. Instead, I've found the best success by using the squared spine of a knife, or the awl on my SAK to scrape and get a bunch of TINY sawdust style shavings/curls. Those actually catch the spark the best. So don't be too worried if your curls are falling off the stick, as that's probably a good sign anyway :).

And I use a bandana to catch the curls that fall off. Once I have enough to more or less fill a normal sized bandana, I'm usually good to go on the fire.

Cheers!
Click to expand...

The King is my favorite, too. Great knife.

Thanks for the tips! Gonna go to Gander mountain this weekend, might get another firesteel..
 
First, great thread. That is a nice looking fire pit! 9 and fire, very cool to see.

Were you feathersticking with the 9 or 14? I've always used my 16, actually just the other weekend I spent some time just practicing. It was a great way to enjoy the nice weather. Some of my feathersticks looked a lot like yours =)

I'm really glad that this thread stirred up some useful advice on technique, I can use it!

I was able to get good curls, but my main problem was keeping them on the stick. What's my problem?
 
Silver Needle said:
First, great thread. That is a nice looking fire pit! 9 and fire, very cool to see.

Were you feathersticking with the 9 or 14? I've always used my 16, actually just the other weekend I spent some time just practicing. It was a great way to enjoy the nice weather. Some of my feathersticks looked a lot like yours =)

I'm really glad that this thread stirred up some useful advice on technique, I can use it!

I was able to get good curls, but my main problem was keeping them on the stick. What's my problem?
Click to expand...

Thanks.

I was feathering with the 14, but I'm gonna try my 15 when I get it on Monday. It was a nice way to pass the time, though. :thumbup:
 
Practice makes... better. There's no such thing as "perfect", but it's still worth trying for.

Starting campfires and starting useful threads... you're doing it right. Keep up the good work :thumbup:
 
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