Mistwalker
Gold Member
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2007
- Messages
- 19,049
Today was one of those days when the wife and kids are gone and I am left with some time to myself to just think and experiment. It was one of those days with phrases like
I wonder what this will do?
well darn it
oh sh*#!...and
hey thats cool, and the random sounds of
hmmm
ah
oh
ah haaaaa
uh huh
and
AH HA! The weather has been pretty crappy here lately
well actually I personally like it just fine, but
the rain and heavy mists are rough on cameras and a lot of fire starting tests. So, here I am
I have this new Going Gear Badger to try out and my friends are getting tired of seeing me ignite fatwood in every way I can think of. Soooo
todays lessons were in bamboo, mischmetal firesteels, and some physics as I experimented for a while this evening just as the sun started its quick winter descent somewhere behind all of the grayness that has been our skies of late.
A few times I scraped up a bit of bamboo shavings for tinder, and then split some thin slivers of bamboo to serve as kindling fuel.
It took me a few times of playing with the Going Gear firesteel to get the speed and pressure right. I did learn that it is a bit softer and seems to work better with quicker strokes with less pressure than what I use with my LMF firesteel. It took a few minutes to figure out how to control the stopping point of those strikes so that I didnt just scatter my tinder. However I did manage to get flames several times with the bamboo tinder.
The discoveries were that; bamboo shavings make great tinder even under damp conditions, and that even thin bamboo slivers do not ignite easily with small amounts of tinder under damp conditions.
I also discovered that the metal part of the super striker does not extend into the handle anywhere near as far as I had assumed it did.
In all fairness I should mention here that I did inadvertently discover this while using it to strike an LMF firesteel, using strokes with harder pressure than the Badger requires. AND that two of the above tinder piles were lit after sticking the striker piece back into the handle using it with the Going Gear firesteel
I did do some experiments with fatwood fuzz and shavings today as well I just didnt bother with any pictures of it. I used both my LMF firesteel and my new Going Gear firesteel to ignite both the fatwood and bamboo with equal success once I grasped the proper technique. I didnt find either one any better or any worse for either task. The Going Gear Badger did seem to throw some hotter sparks so I may like it even more after more experience and learning to control the strikes a little better. I know the G.G. firesteel is still new to me and seeing as I have been playing with the other type for some years now I am sure there are more things that I will learn about it in future experiments. I know I still have many other types of tinder to try under other conditions, however I have still reached a few conclusions today, even if some do happen to be short termed.
So far my conclusions drawn from todays experiments are:
Firstly, that bamboo slivers make great tinder but bamboo itself leaves much to be desired as far as fuel goes for getting a fire going quickly in damp conditions.
Secondly, that the answer to the question of which is better between the LMF and Going Gear mischmetal firesteels is primarily a matter of which technique you are more comfortable with, and how much room you have for storing and carrying the firesteel. I think if I could only have a small diameter short one Id rather have the LMF but I am still learning and so that is not a forgone conclusion. I do know for sure that I like both of them much MUCH more than I like the first firesteel I have from Firesteel dot com and that perhaps I should order another one to see if maybe I just got a bad one Im pretty sure that could happen.
Thirdly, I have come to the conclusion that, here in my part of the world where conditions are seldom optimum, a striker with a full tang or at least a full length hidden tang is more important to me than a full tang knife if it is to be the striker I depend on in a tight spot. I will have to find, make, or order one to go in the kit I am building around a new folding knife I have coming because I really dont like putting lateral pressure on a folding knife unless I have no other choice.
A few times I scraped up a bit of bamboo shavings for tinder, and then split some thin slivers of bamboo to serve as kindling fuel.
It took me a few times of playing with the Going Gear firesteel to get the speed and pressure right. I did learn that it is a bit softer and seems to work better with quicker strokes with less pressure than what I use with my LMF firesteel. It took a few minutes to figure out how to control the stopping point of those strikes so that I didnt just scatter my tinder. However I did manage to get flames several times with the bamboo tinder.
The discoveries were that; bamboo shavings make great tinder even under damp conditions, and that even thin bamboo slivers do not ignite easily with small amounts of tinder under damp conditions.
I also discovered that the metal part of the super striker does not extend into the handle anywhere near as far as I had assumed it did.
In all fairness I should mention here that I did inadvertently discover this while using it to strike an LMF firesteel, using strokes with harder pressure than the Badger requires. AND that two of the above tinder piles were lit after sticking the striker piece back into the handle using it with the Going Gear firesteel
I did do some experiments with fatwood fuzz and shavings today as well I just didnt bother with any pictures of it. I used both my LMF firesteel and my new Going Gear firesteel to ignite both the fatwood and bamboo with equal success once I grasped the proper technique. I didnt find either one any better or any worse for either task. The Going Gear Badger did seem to throw some hotter sparks so I may like it even more after more experience and learning to control the strikes a little better. I know the G.G. firesteel is still new to me and seeing as I have been playing with the other type for some years now I am sure there are more things that I will learn about it in future experiments. I know I still have many other types of tinder to try under other conditions, however I have still reached a few conclusions today, even if some do happen to be short termed.
So far my conclusions drawn from todays experiments are:
Firstly, that bamboo slivers make great tinder but bamboo itself leaves much to be desired as far as fuel goes for getting a fire going quickly in damp conditions.
Secondly, that the answer to the question of which is better between the LMF and Going Gear mischmetal firesteels is primarily a matter of which technique you are more comfortable with, and how much room you have for storing and carrying the firesteel. I think if I could only have a small diameter short one Id rather have the LMF but I am still learning and so that is not a forgone conclusion. I do know for sure that I like both of them much MUCH more than I like the first firesteel I have from Firesteel dot com and that perhaps I should order another one to see if maybe I just got a bad one Im pretty sure that could happen.
Thirdly, I have come to the conclusion that, here in my part of the world where conditions are seldom optimum, a striker with a full tang or at least a full length hidden tang is more important to me than a full tang knife if it is to be the striker I depend on in a tight spot. I will have to find, make, or order one to go in the kit I am building around a new folding knife I have coming because I really dont like putting lateral pressure on a folding knife unless I have no other choice.
. Usually I do use something for a base like a piece of bark but this time....I forgot. Besides they weren't real fires per say they were "tinder pile ignitions"....big difference