Fire / Steel Studies

[dawsonbob]

I had a newbie grab my Granfors Bruks Hunter and use it to split kindling on top of a boulder. I was out for a hike at the time. Wasn't happy when I got back. Sometimes the owner can bite too. I apologized for making her cry afterwards... but was smiling on the inside.

Rick

BTW.... UNBELIEVABLY DAMMAGED EDGE ON THE GB!!

now I'm mad again..... maybe I'll call her.



LOL

LOL. I've had a similar thing happen. I didn't know whether to be angry or nicely explain to her the error of her ways. She was awful cute, so I patiently explained. Crying on the inside though, once I saw the edge.

 

[Edgyone]

Great thread MW - just wanted to say thanks!

Edgy

 

[Mistwalker]

I had a newbie grab my Granfors Bruks Hunter and use it to split kindling on top of a boulder. I was out for a hike at the time. Wasn't happy when I got back. Sometimes the owner can bite too. I apologized for making her cry afterwards... but was smiling on the inside.

Rick

BTW.... UNBELIEVABLY DAMMAGED EDGE ON THE GB!!

now I'm mad again..... maybe I'll call her.



LOL

Yeah...I've had to bite a few over the years, now I won't let anyone I know actually use any of my tools...well lisa sometimes but she knows me. Funny how people just don't realize you just don't use a rock for a chopping block

Shame on you for making her cry....did you call her yet?

 

[Mistwalker]

Great thread MW - just wanted to say thanks!

Edgy

Thanks man, glad you enjoyed it.

 

[marthinus]

Out of curiosity, did you cut your thumb on the blade of the axe, or smash it with the poll?

Not that I've ever smashed my thumb with the poll, but I've heard it could happen.

On the blade of the axe. I did not concentrate and I went to pick up the axe without looking and pushed my thumb into the edge. But a well. Stuff like this reminds me not to be over confident and respect the tools again which is a good thing in my book.

 

[SouthernCross]

G'day Brian

Mick,

I've got quite a bit laying around, and it's good stuff, just P.M. your address and I'll get some in the mail as soon as I can...don't worry about paying for it.

This is a very generous offer.

I don't think I can PM (considering my membership status), but I can leave an email adress as a message on your profile.

If you can send me a quick email, I'll email you my address and ask for yours (so I can return the favour )

Once again thanks for this kind offer :thumbup::thumbup:




Kind regards
Mick

 

[Mistwalker]

G'day Brian


This is a very generous offer.

I don't think I can PM (considering my membership status), but I can leave an email adress as a message on your profile.

If you can send me a quick email, I'll email you my address and ask for yours (so I can return the favour )

Once again thanks for this kind offer :thumbup::thumbup:




Kind regards
Mick

Hi Mick,

I just sent you an email. No worries bro, I have plenty, lol, it seems much more than I need. In playing with it so much it seems I've been assumed to be dependant upon it lol.

Brian

 

[SouthernCross]

G'day Brian

In playing with it so much it seems I've been assumed to be dependant upon it lol.

IMO, it never ceases to amaze me how some of the partcipants of internet forums aren't able to keep track of posts and remember that there are more posts made than the obvious

I guess I just placed a bullseye on my forehead

O.K guys let rip :thumbup:



Kind regards
Mick

 

[Joezilla]

Sounds good to me, lets see it.

 

[Joezilla]

In playing with it so much it seems I've been assumed to be dependant upon it lol.

Brian

Brian, I never said you were dependent on it, lol. I remember the Trioxane post, etc. Just made a casual observation that many think of fatwood first when there is plenty of stuff out there for fire building.

 

[Rick Marchand]

I think he is snorting fatwood dust, personally.




I only made the "double dawg dare" in jest...


But seriously, if you move down the list of topics in W&SS, almost every "spark based fire" thread is focused around fatwood. I just know it stuck out like a sore thumb to me. I happened to make the joke in Brian's thread cause, well... I think he expects it from me and we are on pretty good terms with eachother.

Rick

 

[Mistwalker]

The videos look good Joe, I have three cedar trees in the area and have played with them some but now I am saving them to experiment with the tinder fungus first...I'm told I have some on the way.

Brian, I never said you were dependent on it, lol. I remember the Trioxane post, etc. Just made a casual observation that many think of fatwood first when there is plenty of stuff out there for fire building.

I know, as I said...I' was pretty keyed up for a couple of days....I get tense when I've got expensive houses up on jacks and minus structural members....makes trying to sleep at night interesting. I guess maybe a lot of people do think of it first because it is easy to work with. I think of it often because it is the best tinder and at times even the best fuel in and for the area...it's a rain forest...and I have a LOT of it laying around. But at the same time I am always looking to see what others post from their areas. I have been studying Northern survival through Rick for a couple of years, and desert survival "from a distance" for a few years now. I don't live in one, and will likely never voluntarily travel to one, but one never knows what may happen. So far I have yet to run across any post from people who live in them showing techniques from their area. I know there are other natural tinders out there and I honestly would like to see everything available to use for tinder and fuel in a U.S. desert environment. I know most people don't think about fire when they think of deserts...they think of water, which is obviously a primary concern, but I've only been in our deserts once when I was a little kid and I remember the nights as being quite cool....and besides that I have a thing for cooked food and I know snakes are available, I love roasted rattle snake. I wish I would have had a firesteel when I lived on the coast...I've used parts of coconut palms for fire starting when I lived there but I was using matches back then.

I think he is snorting fatwood dust, personally.




I only made the "double dawg dare" in jest...


But seriously, if you move down the list of topics in W&SS, almost every "spark based fire" thread is focused around fatwood. I just know it stuck out like a sore thumb to me. I happened to make the joke in Brian's thread cause, well... I think he expects it from me and we are on pretty good terms with eachother.

Rick

Hold on a minute...my nose is running, hey...does this monitor look funny to anybody else.

I was thinking maybe you just had different leaves up there. We have some around here that don't take a spark easily but most will when dry enough.

I guess that may be partly my fault...in trying to teach some who didn't know about it I may have made a wrong point. But..I have seen several tinders used here. I've seen cattail, phragmites, sage grass, cedar, and other barks...I always look forward to seeing what Ken is going to throw out there next and there are a few others. I like watching Micks posts...that's always a learning experience as he has no fatwood down there.

Yeah...you always worry me when you go through those mr. nice guy phases...I always have to drop something to see if gravity is still functioning properly


.

 

[Mistwalker]

Very good point. I didn't know cigarette filters could be used as tinder. Like your striker knife.

Thanks, I'm really liking it too.

Yeah, as I said earlier, some cigarette filters will work for tinder but it a brand specific sort of thing. Camel filters are made of cotton fibers while the others are made of a different material. This is something I played with a long time ago with the ferro rod of a mag block (the subject at hand, not these pictures...I took these last night).

In the pics there are three different types of filters. One from a Camel, one from a Marlboro, and one I..don't remember.. but anyway...Camel on the far left, and Marlboro on the far right.

All were prepped the same, pulled out some and fuzzed up.

But in sparking them only the camel flamed. The others smoldered and coaled and the center one barely did that.

 

[Joezilla]

Is that a serrated peck?

 

[Mistwalker]

Is that a serrated peck?

It's a 50/50 Gerber Ridge Knife that's about eight years old and minus the black coating. I was at looking a cieling job at a laundry owned by friends and didn't want to break out anything too scary. I figured the ridge knife would be the sheeple friendliest knife I had on hand. I used the plain part of the edge to throw the sparks. The lines in the steel are left over from unknowingly using the original sparker that came with it, that's in the bottom of my pack somewhere now.

 

[tonym]

I am saving them to experiment with the tinder fungus first...I'm told I have some on the way.

.

I know I said I would send you some, but I have been striking out trying to find some.

However, I went for quick hike in the am with Marcelo, and he spotted some:thumbup:

So thank him, you will be getting a big chunk of this soon!

 

[John G]

I've never used fatwood, as I have yet to find any. It's my fault really, there's plenty of pine stumps around here. I guess I still haven't learned what to look for.

 

[Mistwalker]

i know i said i would send you some, but i have been striking out trying to find some.

however, i went for quick hike in the am with marcelo, and he spotted some:thumbup:

So thank him, you will be getting a big chunk of this soon!

awesome thanks!!!



.

 

[Mistwalker]

I've never used fatwood, as I have yet to find any. It's my fault really, there's plenty of pine stumps around here. I guess I still haven't learned what to look for.

LOl, there are more than enough fatwood threads posted to figure it out...just dig through them and you'll learn all you need to find it.