Fire / Steel Studies

[Mistwalker]

I thought I'd play with different steels and different grinds this afternoon so I went out to the fire pit with a few knives to try them all with a firesteel. They were all different steels... A-2, O-1, W-1, & 1070, and all sharp enough to shave arm hair.

I had never tried the C.R.Aviator, made of A-2, at making fuzzies or with a firesteel before. It has a shallow hollow grind and did a good job at whittling some nice thin slivers.

I used the swedge to spark with. It did take a minute to get the right sparking technique going and get the sparks right but it did catch in about 6 or 7 sparkings.

Some really nice fatwood.

The sun shining through it makes it look as if it's already on fire.

The convex grind of the o-1 Sojourner didn't make quite as thin of slivers but threw great sparks and lit pretty quick.

 

[Mistwalker]

Over all I'd have to say that Rick's Bushlore in W-1 did best of all in that the flat grind slice really nice thin slivers and the squared spine throws really good sparks. I like knowing my daughter has a great bush tool to work with, and that I get to borrow....

However I found that the Schrade in 1070 with its saber grind would hold it's own for a knife of this size, and would serve well in this role if needs be. It carved slivers of adequate thinness to ignite and the squared spine throws sparks better than you might expect.

This is the end results.

But I still have more fatwood to process so who knows I might think of something to do there.

 

[mcjhrobinson]

how are those leather scales holding up?

i really like the fatwood pic in the light! my store obught fatwood looks like a 2x4 splinter.

 

[sicily02]

Cool thread mistwalker. You take some great pics lol.
Don't cha just love knives and using them to cut with lol.

Bryan

 

[dawsonbob]

Good pics, Mist, and a good thread. I like the shot with the light coming through the fatwood.

 

[Iboschi]

Good lookin' fat wood. Well done on that Shrade design. I might have to pick one up.

 

[Mistwalker]

how are those leather scales holding up?

i really like the fatwood pic in the light! my store obught fatwood looks like a 2x4 splinter.

Well, the leather scales are holding up fine so far but with Sarah's heavy school load it hasn't exactly gotten extensively used lately. It got used a good bit the first year and still looks just like it did when it arrived.


Yeah, that's why I prefer to get my own, it's a lot more rich than most of the store bought bi-products of the lumber industry.

Cool thread mistwalker. You take some great pics lol.
Don't cha just love knives and using them to cut with lol.

Bryan

Thanks Bryan, and why yes...yes I do

Good pics, Mist, and a good thread. I like the shot with the light coming through the fatwood.

Thanks Bob, glad you enjoyed it, I had fun.

Yeah I really liked that shot to. When the light shines through it like that it sort of just shouts out fire.

Good lookin' fat wood. Well done on that Shrade design. I might have to pick one up.

Yeah, it's some good stuff.

Thanks man, glad you like it.

 

[Bushman5]

that bright light in your pictures? what is that?




< Bushy, drowning in WetCoast BC's 300+ MM of rain....

 

[Mistwalker]

that bright light in your pictures? what is that?




< Bushy, drowning in WetCoast BC's 300+ MM of rain....

That there would be the sun. We get to see it a good bit down here in the south

 

[Rick Marchand]

Great thread Brian... I'm glad the Bushlore is serving YOUR DAUGHTER so well. You have become quite the fatwood stylist my friend. Have you ever tried anything else?

he he... Lets see you give a go at prepping some of those leaves. Common man... I double dawg dare ya.

Your threads (as always) are entertaining and informative. Damn I wish we lived closer together. I'd love to do some training with ya. We could be a team... "beauty and the beast"..... we'll flip a coin to decide who gets to be the beast.

Rick

 

[Mistwalker]

Great thread Brian... I'm glad the Bushlore is serving YOUR DAUGHTER so well. You have become quite the fatwood stylist my friend. Have you ever tried anything else?

he he... Lets see you give a go at prepping some of those leaves. Common man... I double dawg dare ya.

Your threads (as always) are entertaining and informative. Damn I wish we lived closer together. I'd love to do some training with ya. We could be a team... "beauty and the beast"..... we'll flip a coin to decide who gets to be the beast.

Rick

Thanks Bro, glad you enjoy them.

Yeah well...I can't stand to see something like that just sitting around being all bored and stuff ya know.

Actually I was looking around at the leaves while I was out there today, and made plans with Sarah to do some training tomorrow afternoon. Burning some of the leaves sounds good to me, I'm sure my compost piles won't miss a few. Sorry about all the fatwood...I can't help it there is so much of it here and it's the best accelerant I know. You know how it goes...some people can only scowl and make big knives... some people can only burn fatwood...what can I say. I keep waiting on someone in the states to send me some tinder fungus...you know...because you won't (like a real friend would really let piddly little things like international legalities and penitentiaries interfere with helping out a friend in need) so I can try flint and steel with natural tinder. Besides...one dosen't "whittle" on leaves right?

Dude I wish we lived closer too, it would be awesome to take some lessons. However I think it would be more like ugly and uglier...I'll be ugly


.

 

[Mistwalker]

Great thread Brian... I'm glad the Bushlore is serving YOUR DAUGHTER so well. You have become quite the fatwood stylist my friend. Have you ever tried anything else?

he he... Lets see you give a go at prepping some of those leaves. Common man... I double dawg dare ya..........


Rick

Well...I was headed outside a minute ago just to be a smart @$$ and build a fire with leaves tonight. I grabbed my petzl and the knife and fire steel and headed out.... but when I got out there I saw that the fog is so thick right now and the leaves so damp that I'd have to use fatwood to get them burning . So.... just you wait til tomorrow darn it



.

 

[Anrkst6973]

Great thread as always Mist..there sure are a lot of great knives hanging out at your house! Think you could be talked into imbedding a 15 sec vid of you actually sparking one of those sticks into flame? I'm interested in seeing your "technique" in action...its not like you're having a shortage of fatwood it seems! best to ya. anrkst

 

[tonym]

Thanks for sharing. I really can't tell the difference in 1 type of steel over the other. I think it has more to do with the sping being nice and square...

I can't help it there is so much of it here and it's the best accelerant I know. You know how it goes...some people can only scowl and make big knives... some people can only burn fatwood...what can I say. I keep waiting on someone in the states to send me some tinder fungus...


.

PM me your addy. But you will be dissappointed if you want to use Tinder fungus as an excellerant. It is a great coal extender though and once dried out it will catch a spark. But you then need to blow it into a flame inside a tinder bundle.

Great thread as always Mist..there sure are a lot of great knives hanging out at your house! Think you could be talked into imbedding a 15 sec vid of you actually sparking one of those sticks into flame? I'm interested in seeing your "technique" in action...its not like you're having a shortage of fatwood it seems! best to ya. anrkst

I did this video last week. Does this help?

[youtube]6OTrqA0vfss[/youtube]

 

[Anrkst6973]

Thats it..Thanks Tony. I think I've hit on why some are having troble with their fire craft..no criticisum(?) because both parties got the result we are looking for. The tinder caught fire. Watching Mistwalkers "Lisa makes fire" vid and then Tony's I see the technique difference. Look at the position of the blade on the ferro rod at about 1:00 to 1:06 in Tonys vid, Its that I'm using the heel way down by the choil to spark the rod..Instead of a fast motion downward to get sparks its more like SSCCCRRAAAPPPEE..and I'm getting a huge shower of sparks and some burning bits will burn for 3-5 seconds on a plain board. I confess that my firesteels prolly dont last as long doing it that way but with fatwood tinder I get fire even under less than stellar conditions. "Living to learn" and hanging with you guys..this might be the best website on the WWW! Thanks again..Anrkst

 

[Mistwalker]

Great thread as always Mist..there sure are a lot of great knives hanging out at your house! Think you could be talked into imbedding a 15 sec vid of you actually sparking one of those sticks into flame? I'm interested in seeing your "technique" in action...its not like you're having a shortage of fatwood it seems! best to ya. anrkst

These days I'm using pretty much the same technique I taught Lisa to use in the video I did of her, but I'll try to do one later on today.

 

[Mistwalker]

Great thread as always Mist..there sure are a lot of great knives hanging out at your house! Think you could be talked into imbedding a 15 sec vid of you actually sparking one of those sticks into flame? I'm interested in seeing your "technique" in action...its not like you're having a shortage of fatwood it seems! best to ya. anrkst

These days I'm using pretty much the same technique I taught Lisa to use in the video I did of her, but I'll try to do one later on today.

I love Tony's vid.

 

[flipe8]

Pretty cool thread. Do you ever use folders and if you do, what are your impressions with different models/brands?

 

[Mistwalker]

Pretty cool thread. Do you ever use folders and if you do, what are your impressions with different models/brands?

Thanks man, I'm glad you liked it.

Though I do EDC a Gerber Harsey Air Ranger and have for about eight years, and have a SOG Visionary that I carry at times... and I have a small two bladed folder tucked away in my pack with a mag block, I seldom use folders in the field for anything other than light cutting because of their inherent weaknesses. They tend not to hold up well with repeated lateral pressure, and locking mechanisms seem to loosen from pressure on a spine from sparking. That's why the the little folder I keep in my pack is a two blade, I use the clip point blade for whittling and the smaller blade for sparking but I wouldn't want to do it all the time. That's why I discussed the small striker knife with Bryan and why he made it up. It's as small as a folder but one piece and I cut with the edge and spark with the beveled spine.

 

[Joezilla]

Great thread Brian... I'm glad the Bushlore is serving YOUR DAUGHTER so well. You have become quite the fatwood stylist my friend. Have you ever tried anything else?

Rick

Something I see often with alot of forumites, is the practice of becoming fatwood dependent. It should be just one tiny skill in the art of fire making. It got so bad, that someone started to make fatwood fuzz sticks during a speed lighting contest at PWYP. Fuzz sticks in April at a contest based on how fast you can do a fire!!! Don't get fat wood tunnel vision! It may be everywhere here but there will be times when it is not available, in a jungle, desert, parts of every state have spots where pine is missing, and you'll have to scrounge for other stuff. Be it dry fuzz sticks from another wood, pod fluff, fuzz from the sock or news paper, cedar nests, bird nests, coconut husks, corn husks, dead leaves, old rope, cigarette filters, broom sedge, etc. Figure out what else will catch a spark. Experiment and break the cycle, discover how the steel doesn't matter, just the edge where it meets the ferro rod. Find out that you can do it with glass! Broaden