Firestarting practice

[Joben]

Hi folks,

I got some fatwood from Goinggear and wanted to try it out.
I took several knives and my camera and set out to make shavings and curls.

This is my BK9, and the gear in the pouch. The 9 has i no-snag lanyard i learned how to make here on bladeforums.

A ceramic sharpening rod, a small firesteel. Fatwood, jute twine, a CountyComm SoLed, and of course the BK13.

First up, my RAT Izula. It's sharp, but the grind makes long curls a little difficult to do. It tends to shear them off before they get big.

Then my new Mora Clipper. This will not come as a surprise to you, but it is an incredible knife for this work. The thin blade and acute scandi grind slide through wood effortlessly. Absolutely no complaints, except that for this specific task i might actually want a shorter blade.

Then the big BK9. It is obviously way too big and clumsy for this task, but it will work in a pinch.

The BK13 basically performed like an Izula with a less comfortable handle, so i didn't take pics.

I decided to try some of my EDC gear.

Here is my Leatherman Juice XE6. The thin blade is well shaped for the task. Howver it is very handle heavy, and the blade is not centered, making it an ergonomic nightmare for a task requiring this degree of blade control. It works, but I'd rather use hte BK9...

I tried my widgy bar. It doesnt cut like a knife, but you can rip and scrape little shreds. Interesting.

 

[Joben]

Time to try lighting stuff!

This is the agregate pile of tinder from the above tests.
I decided to use the awl on my Leatherman, since the one on SAK's tends to work awesome as a striker.

This did not work. I switched to a blade, and still no luck lighting the fatwood directly. Hmm maybe it wasn't the awl's fault...
Maybe i needed finer fibers...

I fuzzed some jute twine, the tip of the BK13 brushed my thumb...doh! Insult to injury still no flame.

I can't light fuzzed jute, what the heck?
The little firesteel came with a junk chinese knife, I decide it might be at fault. Also my thumb won't stop bleeding.

Inside for a bandaid and reinforcements.

The bigger firesteel is also a cheap chinese one, but it works first try.

Things I learned today:

Scandi grinds are cool.
Knives are sharp.
The squared off spine of a BK13 makes a dandy striker.
Test stuff before you assume it will work for you.
I need to put a different compact ferro rod in my Becker kit.

 

[sicily02]

Great Job, man that is cool stuff.
Bryan

 

[Big Mike]

Two comments:

Blood has never worked well for me as an accelerant.

And, If you have a fire steel that won’t throw sparks, throw it away.



Glad to see you finally got it going. :thumbup: :thumbup:




Big Mike

”Scaring the tree huggers.”

Forest & Stream

 

[Mack]

Blood has never worked well for me as an accelerant.



Big Mike

”Scaring the tree huggers.”

Forest & Stream

But, like most of us, you keep trying it. One day it may just work. Or I'll run out.

 

[Joben]

I'm not sure what's up with the first firesteel.
It throws sparks...but they don't seem to do much...

I have a nice 3" minch metal one that was gona go in an altoids tin PSK. But it's naked and needs a handle or lanyard so it doesn't escape.

 

[kgd]

Yeah good stuff. I never can get fatwood to light from curls. What I do is use the edge of the blade perpendicular to the fatwood and scrape sawdust from the fatwood. You then ignite the dust with your firesteel and add on the little curls of fatwood as kindling after.

Yeah, cheap firesteels sort of defeat the purpose. I have one knockoff that I tossed and another knockoff that is a little better. After seeing the Mische metal ones from going gear and how those beads stay lit for 5 seconds or so, I think I'm going to have to go for them next.

 

[dawsonbob]

For me, nothing beats Going Gear fire steels. Nothing.

 

[iBlade]

Note for ferro rods, they can, over time and in thr wrong conditions, corrode, tp prevent this some come with a cover that needs to be scrapped off before they work well, also, to prevent this happening to yours, you can coat them in nail polish, this prevents oxidation and is easy to scrap off...

 

[Mistwalker]

Good stuff! You have to drink a WHOLE lot of good quality, hi-grade alcohol for blood to ever work as an excelerant ....and then you probably shouldn't be playing with sharps

 

[siguy]

One of my favorite ways to start a fire is to use fatwood scrapings, with fatwood splinters ontop, followed by kindling.

In the winter, I carry an Altoids tin filled with pre-scraped fatwood fuzz. A pinch to catch a spark and I'm golden.

Valiant effort!

 

[Bushman5]

sometimes it takes a few scrapings to really expose the firesteel. Scrape it a bunch of times and you should get a ton of sparks afterwards.

 

[Joben]

Note for ferro rods, they can, over time and in thr wrong conditions, corrode, tp prevent this some come with a cover that needs to be scrapped off before they work well, also, to prevent this happening to yours, you can coat them in nail polish, this prevents oxidation and is easy to scrap off...

No paint left on this one. I had used it successfully before, but it was some time ago. Maybe the surface corroded, i'll check it out.

 

[stingray4540]

Yeah good stuff. I never can get fatwood to light from curls. What I do is use the edge of the blade perpendicular to the fatwood and scrape sawdust from the fatwood. You then ignite the dust with your firesteel and add on the little curls of fatwood as kindling after.

^What he said!^

The small firesteel's sparks just may not be as hot or burn long enough to catch your fatwood shavings. In my opinion, they are way to thick. The fatwood shavings that is...

Try "scraping" curls like KGD suggested. Another way to do it, is to use the spine of your knife if it is sharply squared. Basically try using whatever you use to strike the steel with, if you don't want to chance ruining your knife edge.

 

[Shotgun]

I'm in the same boat of having a hard time getting curls to light. As for the blood; if it doesn't cut you, it's not yours.

 

[luckykitty]

When I put together my edc

I tested if I was able to make fire with it. In that pouch I carry some waxed lint from a dryer, and that little crappy knife on the keychain is my striker. When I need to make a fire, I have to shave off some scrapings from the firesteel (cheap chinese) onto the waxed lint and ignite those with the sparks from the firesteel and they then ignite the lint and I can start a fire.

Mind you this is only my emergency set. This is what I have on me each day, whereever I am. And I have a ligter on me as well. As soon as I go out for more than shopping or visiting customers I have another fire kit on me.

 

[Don Rearic]

The squared off spine of a BK13 makes a dandy striker.

What is stamped on the small Becker?

I need to put a different compact ferro rod in my Becker kit.

Boy Scouts (BSA) Hot Spark! Awesome ferro rod and the best-shortest one I have found.

 

[Snow]

All firesteels are not created equal.

 

[Joben]

What is stamped on the small Becker?



Boy Scouts (BSA) Hot Spark! Awesome ferro rod and the best-shortest one I have found.

One side has:
"KA-BAR"
The other side says:
"BK13
China"

I hear american made ones are in the pipeline, but arn't out yet.

I'll check out the hotspark some time, for now I put i made a handle for my goinggear firesteel and that's going it. There's a thread about it around somewere.

 

[pitdog]

Great stuff buddy, I always say never take your equipment for granted !

It's also good to try this kinda stuff in real adverse conditions as well, heavy wind, driving rain etc....doing this really lets ya know what works and what ya can trust !

Man I've been frustrated with my lack of skills and poor equipment in the past !!!!!