Hmmm... I'm thinking of giving this a try. I'm still really new to outdoors/survivalism and I don't have a ferro-rod. Never even used one. If they're relatively inexpensive I'll go to my local outdoors shop and see if they have any. If so, I'll try and start a fire for you folks.
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Contest
- Thread starter Rotte
- Start date
Well, I did work at it tonight. I grabbed the small firesteel that rides on an EDC necklace. It felt kind of silly to be looking for a rock and tinder when I had firestarter and a knife in my pocket, but oh well.
It was dark, but a headlamp made it much easier to find a striker and tinder in the dark.
I kept at it for a while, but got tired of the little striker. I found a large stone, and hit it against another to break it up. When I did, it shattered into several large sharp pieces that were much easier to hold. However, there was one drawback to being able to put some effort into striking the steel.
If this were real life, it would be all I had, so I kept trying.
Getting sparks wasn't a problem, but getting a flame was. All my tinder was suited for a flame, and the thinner stuff was frozen and damp, so it wouldn't burn with a spark. Anyway, I had dinner plans, so I left at 7:05.
When I got back, I was back at it with my 3/8ths x 4" steel.
I had the big rocks, and the tinder, and got flames, but nothing that would last long enough to turn into a real fire. I just kept wishing I could use my knife to make some better tinder, or use some of the paper in my wallet. And looking at the time wondering how long I was going to spend at this.
I said to myself, "Self, if you were stranded with only what was in your pockets right now...what would you do? How long would it take to get a fire started. Is your tinder even any good?" So I grabbed another EDC item...
And then, you can see the time after the tinder has caught, and then started to burn down.
It was fun doing this, but it reminds me of what a veteran of many survival courses told me once. "After I spent two weeks learning how to make fire with a bow drill, fire plow, flint and steel, etc....it taught me one thing. NEVER LEAVE THE PAVEMENT WITHOUT A BIC!"
Thanks for the contest Rotte.
It was dark, but a headlamp made it much easier to find a striker and tinder in the dark.
I kept at it for a while, but got tired of the little striker. I found a large stone, and hit it against another to break it up. When I did, it shattered into several large sharp pieces that were much easier to hold. However, there was one drawback to being able to put some effort into striking the steel.
If this were real life, it would be all I had, so I kept trying.
Getting sparks wasn't a problem, but getting a flame was. All my tinder was suited for a flame, and the thinner stuff was frozen and damp, so it wouldn't burn with a spark. Anyway, I had dinner plans, so I left at 7:05.
When I got back, I was back at it with my 3/8ths x 4" steel.
I had the big rocks, and the tinder, and got flames, but nothing that would last long enough to turn into a real fire. I just kept wishing I could use my knife to make some better tinder, or use some of the paper in my wallet. And looking at the time wondering how long I was going to spend at this.
I said to myself, "Self, if you were stranded with only what was in your pockets right now...what would you do? How long would it take to get a fire started. Is your tinder even any good?" So I grabbed another EDC item...
And then, you can see the time after the tinder has caught, and then started to burn down.
It was fun doing this, but it reminds me of what a veteran of many survival courses told me once. "After I spent two weeks learning how to make fire with a bow drill, fire plow, flint and steel, etc....it taught me one thing. NEVER LEAVE THE PAVEMENT WITHOUT A BIC!"
Thanks for the contest Rotte.
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Dang it - I missed this one.
I will still try it though.
TF
I will still try it though.
TF
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That was a good post Any Cal. How much pressure was required to break that steel? Were you scraping or striking like Hector described? Looks like the sparks were good. Thanks - I'm trying to learn from your experience on the breakage.
I suppose you can go down the technology path, but there is no end to it. Its even better to have an ounce of gasoline or naptha to go with your bic
I suppose you can go down the technology path, but there is no end to it. Its even better to have an ounce of gasoline or naptha to go with your bic
I think there's still the second prize. The above poster Any Cal ended up using his bic. My local outdoors shop didn't carry any ferro rods and I talked to a buddy of mine, he said he got his from Wal*Mart, and even though I despise shopping there, I'm going to go pick one up and give this a shot.
That was a good post Any Cal. How much pressure was required to break that steel? Were you scraping or striking like Hector described? Looks like the sparks were good. Thanks - I'm trying to learn from your experience on the breakage.
I suppose you can go down the technology path, but there is no end to it. Its even better to have an ounce of gasoline or naptha to go with your bic
I had a lot of pressure on the steel. I had the steel braced against a log, so I could direct my sparks better. The striker I was using was soft, so the sharp edges would go away after a bit. As the edges would dull, I would use more pressure. At a certain point, I was scraping heavily from the top of the steel down, and when I came across the thinned middle portion, it just broke. I could have easily had 30lbs of force on it right then.
I tried striking with the bigger one, but my problem with any of them was getting the sparks to go where I wanted at the same time as keeping my tinder in place.
As far as the technology route... I take a slightly different approach to survival. The odds are none of this is going to be needed, statistically. If I did get lost, the odds are that the tools I had and the preparations I had made would be enough. We are already into statistically impossible odds if we say that they weren't. However, let's say that I fell in a river, with my pack, and along the way I lost my knife, clothes, anything that could be used as tinder or a striker, and it happened at a time when I had to make a fire to stay warm. What are the odds I ended up with only my firesteel? What are the odds that I wouldn't die due to exposure in the time it would take to find tinder? What are the odds that I would have the fine motor skills or thought processes to procure and prepare tinder usable with a firesteel and natural striker?
I have a friend who went out hunting. He used to be a smoker but had quit. He had read, however, that it was a good idea to bring matches in case you get lost and have to stay warm. He put a few matches in a bag to keep them dry and left. He got turned around in the mountains, and had to stay overnight. It was bad cold, and with a windstorm too.
He took some cedar bark and got a fire going in a sheltered area. He had no saw, so kept stripping cedar bark and bits of crap off the trees to keep his fire going. Because the stuff didn't burn long, he couldn't sleep or his fire would go out and he couldn't stay warm. Because of this, he spent the entire night just feeding his fire. When the day broke, he got his bearings, walked until he crossed a road, and followed it out.
I have started fires in several feet of snow, when it was 20 or more below 0F, and when I was shaking because I couldn't get warm due to low temps and the wind. I don't have any issue with learning a firesteel, but feel like many tend to glorify it to the point where it becomes a talisman of some sort rather than simply a tool that makes the things that can be turned into the beginning of a fire.
I understand how difficult a fire can be to make, and how important tinder selection can be, as well as the time that all of it takes. That is why I have a lighter, firesteel, PJCBs, a piece of fatwood, triox, and storm matches in the front pocket of my pack, and much of this in my pockets daily. My realization of my own knowledge and limitations helps me make correct decisions that positively effect my own survival. It isn't about technology, it is about survival.
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let's play!!
here are the pictures.
send the oxigen!!
got it!!!
here's my striker, I found a little rock that was kinda sharp enough to trow some good sparks.
this took me a while though. waaay more than with a man made striker.
you made this difficult for me, rotte.
Man I'm amazed that ya got a tinder bundle like that to light !!!!
I tried this today on a beach using some finely shredded fatwood and part of a sea shell to strike the ferro rod. I did get sparks ok but the shell kept breaking. After the shell had broke I got the best sparks due to the sharp edge but only for two strikes as it became blunt again then !!!
I persisted at this for some time but still finished up with no fire. I think if I had spent more time by grinding the fatwood down on a rock to make dust I could have got it to work but it sure is harder than using a regular striker !!!
Thanks for giving me something to think about Rotte !!!!:thumbup:
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I’ve been meaning to do this for two days, but I had a couple of jobs in that needed to get done first. But, at last, here it is: the story of the stone and the flame.
This was both easier and harder than I thought it would be, but here’s how I went about it.
I realized, after it was too late, that I should have taken a shot of the rock before I started bashing it, but you can get the idea from these photos what happened.
First, I laid a small rock that I found awhile back down on my sidewalk. I know it’s difficult to tell from the photos, but this rock is only about two inches in its longest dimension. Having laid this rock down according to the best principles of Feng Shui (or Chop Suey, or Aw Phooey), or something like that, I picked up the bigger rock and gave the smaller rock a whack. Nothing scientific here, just good old applied force. This resulted in the small rock shooting off into the grass with almost no visible damage. Okay, so I tried it again... and again... until, finally, the little rock broke into two pieces with sharp edges. Actually, several other small pieces broke off at the same time, but that’s not important, so we’ll ignore them. Anyway, the result of the applied force resulted in a rock with sharp edges, which is what we wanted to happen. I love it when a plan comes together, don’t you?
The next question was what to use as tinder to catch a spark. I was going to use some dried grass from across the street, but I got to thinking that, in a real survival situation, that grass might be damp, so I had to look for alternate tinder. As we all know, the inside of branches will usually be dry. I decided to use a piece of palm frond that I had laying on the porch. I know, I know, I’m a lazy sucker: what can I say. Now the question arose of how I could expose the dry interior of the wood? Since this exercise forbids the use of steel, I had to find another way to do it. But wait! I just made a bunch of sharp edges on a rock: that’ll work. Well, yes, the edges are sharp, but not sharp enough to cut into the wood. What they were sharp enough for though, was scraping the wood into little tiny slivers and curls. I would think that this would work with any wood that you might find in your area. I just happened to have a piece of palm laying around, so that’s what I used.
It took me considerably longer to scrape a large pile of tinder than I would have liked (about a half hour while watching TV), but I got it done. You can see from the photo the size of the tinder pile, with the smaller portion of the rock (the part I used), and the piece of palm I scraped it from for scale. If you look closely at the edge of the rock, you can see a little bit of the palm stuck to the edge of the rock.
Now on to the exciting part. Okay, it really wasn’t very exciting, but it was the next step. I was going to take everything outside where the light is better, but since it’s windy today, I decided to do it indoors. I got one of my cast iron frying pans and lined it with aluminum foil. Just use your imagination and pretend that it’s outside in a nice setting. I put the tinder in the middle of the pan. You can see that from the shot of the tinder, the rock and the fire steel. The fire steel is the 3/8 x 4 inch one from Going Gear.
Now came the hard part: getting a spark. Actually, this turned out to be somewhat harder than I would have liked. I’ve used rocks a number of times to get sparks from my GG fire steel, but today it didn’t go as well as I’d hoped. It took me about eight or nine strikes to get a little ember, which went out before I could get a picture or blow it into flames. Okay, if at first you don’t succeed, and all that. The next time, after about six strikes I gave up and turned the rock to expose a different edge, and got a decent spark — and ember – after only two strikes. I blew on the ember a little and — bang — a flame. I think this might have gone better with a different tinder, but I’m a persistent cuss, so I just kept at it.
At any rate, that’s the story of the little rock that could.
Thanks for reading.
This was both easier and harder than I thought it would be, but here’s how I went about it.
I realized, after it was too late, that I should have taken a shot of the rock before I started bashing it, but you can get the idea from these photos what happened.
First, I laid a small rock that I found awhile back down on my sidewalk. I know it’s difficult to tell from the photos, but this rock is only about two inches in its longest dimension. Having laid this rock down according to the best principles of Feng Shui (or Chop Suey, or Aw Phooey), or something like that, I picked up the bigger rock and gave the smaller rock a whack. Nothing scientific here, just good old applied force. This resulted in the small rock shooting off into the grass with almost no visible damage. Okay, so I tried it again... and again... until, finally, the little rock broke into two pieces with sharp edges. Actually, several other small pieces broke off at the same time, but that’s not important, so we’ll ignore them. Anyway, the result of the applied force resulted in a rock with sharp edges, which is what we wanted to happen. I love it when a plan comes together, don’t you?
The next question was what to use as tinder to catch a spark. I was going to use some dried grass from across the street, but I got to thinking that, in a real survival situation, that grass might be damp, so I had to look for alternate tinder. As we all know, the inside of branches will usually be dry. I decided to use a piece of palm frond that I had laying on the porch. I know, I know, I’m a lazy sucker: what can I say. Now the question arose of how I could expose the dry interior of the wood? Since this exercise forbids the use of steel, I had to find another way to do it. But wait! I just made a bunch of sharp edges on a rock: that’ll work. Well, yes, the edges are sharp, but not sharp enough to cut into the wood. What they were sharp enough for though, was scraping the wood into little tiny slivers and curls. I would think that this would work with any wood that you might find in your area. I just happened to have a piece of palm laying around, so that’s what I used.
It took me considerably longer to scrape a large pile of tinder than I would have liked (about a half hour while watching TV), but I got it done. You can see from the photo the size of the tinder pile, with the smaller portion of the rock (the part I used), and the piece of palm I scraped it from for scale. If you look closely at the edge of the rock, you can see a little bit of the palm stuck to the edge of the rock.
Now on to the exciting part. Okay, it really wasn’t very exciting, but it was the next step. I was going to take everything outside where the light is better, but since it’s windy today, I decided to do it indoors. I got one of my cast iron frying pans and lined it with aluminum foil. Just use your imagination and pretend that it’s outside in a nice setting. I put the tinder in the middle of the pan. You can see that from the shot of the tinder, the rock and the fire steel. The fire steel is the 3/8 x 4 inch one from Going Gear.
Now came the hard part: getting a spark. Actually, this turned out to be somewhat harder than I would have liked. I’ve used rocks a number of times to get sparks from my GG fire steel, but today it didn’t go as well as I’d hoped. It took me about eight or nine strikes to get a little ember, which went out before I could get a picture or blow it into flames. Okay, if at first you don’t succeed, and all that. The next time, after about six strikes I gave up and turned the rock to expose a different edge, and got a decent spark — and ember – after only two strikes. I blew on the ember a little and — bang — a flame. I think this might have gone better with a different tinder, but I’m a persistent cuss, so I just kept at it.
At any rate, that’s the story of the little rock that could.
Thanks for reading.
Last edited:
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I found this to be challenging. My son and I went out a little while ago, in the dark. It was about 43 degrees F and windy. We found some tinder from a bush and tried starting a fire using a small stone and an LMF. I got a little spark, but the wind made it tough. After a couple of minutes, we decided to try again tomorrow....
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Man I'm amazed that ya got a tinder bundle like that to light !!!!
I tried this today on a beach using some finely shredded fatwood and part of a sea shell to strike the ferro rod. I did get sparks ok but the shell kept breaking. After the shell had broke I got the best sparks due to the sharp edge but only for two strikes as it became blunt again then !!!
I persisted at this for some time but still finished up with no fire. I think if I had spent more time by grinding the fatwood down on a rock to make dust I could have got it to work but it sure is harder than using a regular striker !!!
Thanks for giving me something to think about Rotte !!!!:thumbup:
I agree - I want to know more about how you got a pile of pine needles to light like that. The sparks for me just fall through - what did you use, that you did not use a blade to prepare that you got to light like that.
I am always anxious to learn.
TF
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I tried this again earlier this afternoon. Daylight let me find a better striker, as well as some different tinder.
I got flames several times, but this stuff was all too damp to go up like it needed to for this to work. In the picture below, it flamed up for maybe 7 or 8 seconds max, but still not long enough to catch anything for real.
My knuckles were getting all beat up from trying, so I started trying to strike the rod, and back it up with a stone to get it out of the tinder.
That worked, and it made nice hot sparks with not a lot of effort, as the weight of the stone was doing the work. A little too much force though, led to obvious consequences.
Anyway, it was fun trying this in the daylight. I was at it for quite a while, but still no go as far as a real fire. The firesteel that broke was still plenty usable, as it was over 3" long still. The rocks sure seem to take a lot out of the steels, especially if you get rough with them. Anyway, hopefully someone can learn something from where I messed up.
I really wished I had a knife to produce smaller shavings of wood, or a little different tinder. Something like a TinderQuick probably would have done well, or PJ cotton balls.
Anyway, carry on.
I got flames several times, but this stuff was all too damp to go up like it needed to for this to work. In the picture below, it flamed up for maybe 7 or 8 seconds max, but still not long enough to catch anything for real.
My knuckles were getting all beat up from trying, so I started trying to strike the rod, and back it up with a stone to get it out of the tinder.
That worked, and it made nice hot sparks with not a lot of effort, as the weight of the stone was doing the work. A little too much force though, led to obvious consequences.
Anyway, it was fun trying this in the daylight. I was at it for quite a while, but still no go as far as a real fire. The firesteel that broke was still plenty usable, as it was over 3" long still. The rocks sure seem to take a lot out of the steels, especially if you get rough with them.
Anyway, hopefully someone can learn something from where I messed up.I really wished I had a knife to produce smaller shavings of wood, or a little different tinder. Something like a TinderQuick probably would have done well, or PJ cotton balls.
Anyway, carry on.
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Doc - Yep, a 9 year old's patience for failed fire-starting isn't that long... I think a still day in the light would make the challenge a little easier, but ultimately, I don't think that is what Rotte is after here.
Sadly I'm not sure if I can partake in this.
The only thing they had at Wal*Mart was an Ozark Trail Magnesium fire starter. Pretty much from what I can tell, you scrape the magnesium onto your brush, then strike the other end of the starter (which I think is flint) to shoot sparks at your magnesium.
I picked it up because it was cheap but I'm thinking if I want to get a ferro-rod I'll have to get it online.
Looks like it's a lot of work from all the photos so far. Nice work everyone.
The only thing they had at Wal*Mart was an Ozark Trail Magnesium fire starter. Pretty much from what I can tell, you scrape the magnesium onto your brush, then strike the other end of the starter (which I think is flint) to shoot sparks at your magnesium.
I picked it up because it was cheap but I'm thinking if I want to get a ferro-rod I'll have to get it online.
Looks like it's a lot of work from all the photos so far. Nice work everyone.
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Oh, I figured it would be hard. But then survival situations are, by definition, never easy.
I think KGD made it look too easy. At least Hector had the decency to complain that his arm became sore.
Dawsonbob -- that was going to be my approach too. Use a rock to scrape up some tinder. Nice work. We'll see if I can do it outside with some wind though. I'm looking forward to making an attempt.
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Give it a try gungho. :thumbup:
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Okay, gungho! At least you're trying to learn all this, and that's the important thing. About the magnesium fire starter you got today: it's a good thing to have in any event, so it's not money wasted. You're right: to use it conventionally, you would shave off some of the magnesium and then use the fire steel part to strike a spark. That's one way. But you can use the fire steel part by itself, too, which means that you can keep trying in the contest. You might want to take a look at my post a couple of posts above this one to see how I did it.
Oh, by the way; the best fire steels, in my opinion, are the ones from Going Gear.com (http://goinggear.com/). The owner is a member here who posts under the name of Storl.
Best of luck.