Favorite firestarter/sparker?

snare · Feb 8, 2007

I would love to get one of those 4" flints, but with the minimum shipping charge of $8 it brings the price for one up to $24.

http://www.epcamps.com/4in_Flint.html

DOC-CANADA · Feb 8, 2007

SkunkWerX said:
plus

plus

Piece of hacksaw blade

plus

Assorted Tinder inlcuding , but not limited to:
-Cotton balls soaked in PJ
-Tinderquik
-char cloth
-toilet paper
-any natural material that catches spark and ignites easily.

Plus, a 3x back-up of another type, whether that be matches, magnifying glass, sparkLite, etc. etc. etc.

Hey Skunk,

I don't see bow and drill listed here.

Doc

DaleW · Feb 8, 2007

Other than that:
Swedish Firesteel
Cricket piezo electric ligher
Colibri CX lighter
NATO matches
Tinder Quik-- cotton tinder
Esbit fuel tablets
Alcohol gel hand cleaner-- "Purell"
"No blow-out" joke birthday candles
Road flares

On a typical multi-day hike, you would find me with one of the two lighters and the rest of the list, minus the road flares. Going wiht a group, somebody would have room for a flare ot two.

Alteran · Feb 8, 2007

I recently got the firesteel, and it made a lot of sparks, but failed to light paper towel and newspaper after many attempts. It sparked well, I could feel the heat from it. The paper smoked a lot, but never burned! Any advice?

DaleW · Feb 8, 2007

Alteran said:
I recently got the firesteel, and it made a lot of sparks, but failed to light paper towel and newspaper after many attempts. It sparked well, I could feel the heat from it. The paper smoked a lot, but never burned! Any advice?

Make some wood shavings and put them in a little pile, spark into it and blow on it when you see an ember. Get the firesteel right down on it. As you found out, some paper doesn't make good tinder. Try some cotton balls or dryer lint, or some TP. There are good reasons why matches and lighters were invented!

digispam · Feb 8, 2007

Alteran said:
I recently got the firesteel, and it made a lot of sparks, but failed to light paper towel and newspaper after many attempts. It sparked well, I could feel the heat from it. The paper smoked a lot, but never burned! Any advice?

Well, those aren't ideal tinders, but not a problem for a good firesteel.

1) shred the paper into the fluffiest ball that you can. You want to basically have like a birds nest shape or a ball as fine and fluffy as you can get.

2) hold the striker stationary close to the paper in the middle of the pile. press pretty at an angle a little less than 90 degrees, and pull the firesteel away - that showers all the sparks in the same place. Do not leave the firesteel stationary and run the striker down it - It's not that that doesnt work, it's that a beginner will have a harder time with it and likely end up flinging all the tinder all over the place. Don't forget to press the striker and steel together pretty hard.

You might have better luck practicing with cotton dryer lint (must be cotton, no synthetics) or dry cotton balls, then work your way up. Or try jute twine teased and fluffed up, cut into sections or burlap (same thing).

to sum it up, make your tinder as fine and fluffy as you possibly can, press hard, pull the steel not the striker.

good luck

upnorth · Feb 8, 2007

Buddiiee said:
army issue mag bar. its a sparker AND has some mag shavings if you need them. take some cord, connect a piece of new hacksaw blade to it, and then tape it to the mag bar.

I have never played with any of these devices before because Ive always been able to start a fire with a lighter, but I can see them as a good back up. So...I picked one up. It worked perfectly well, my mag chips light right up. However, I did notice a huge difference between using the back of a SAK blade on the striker as opposed to the hacksaw blade. The knife blade poped off a few sparks, were the saw blade gave an huge rain of sparks. The difference was night and day. My wife wants one also.

Oh ya.... are these magnesium bars pure magnesium, or an alloy, as I suspect. Does anyone know what percentage of magnesium these things are.

lotoblades · Feb 9, 2007

Ferro rod or mag block for me.

Alteran · Feb 9, 2007

digispam said:
Well, those aren't ideal tinders, but not a problem for a good firesteel.

1) shred the paper into the fluffiest ball that you can. You want to basically have like a birds nest shape or a ball as fine and fluffy as you can get.

2) hold the striker stationary close to the paper in the middle of the pile. press pretty at an angle a little less than 90 degrees, and pull the firesteel away - that showers all the sparks in the same place. Do not leave the firesteel stationary and run the striker down it - It's not that that doesnt work, it's that a beginner will have a harder time with it and likely end up flinging all the tinder all over the place. Don't forget to press the striker and steel together pretty hard.

You might have better luck practicing with cotton dryer lint (must be cotton, no synthetics) or dry cotton balls, then work your way up. Or try jute twine teased and fluffed up, cut into sections or burlap (same thing).

to sum it up, make your tinder as fine and fluffy as you possibly can, press hard, pull the steel not the striker.

good luck

Thanks for the advice, I'll try it!

lambertiana · Feb 10, 2007

About the only thing I carry in my pack any more is a Swedish fire steel (Army) and vaseline-soaked cottonballs. When car camping, I use a Strike Force or Blastmatch.