Firestarting

[ImKidd]

Make a fire lay from the twigs the smallest ones you can find. If you have some medium sized rocks make it on top of that so you can get underneath it. Then take the dry brush and make something similar to a bird's nest out of it. Not too tight to where it doesn't get airflow just a bundle with a depression in the center. Have some larger sticks in a pile at hand. Now shave magnesium into the the depression of your tinder bundle and then spark into that. When it gets going put it underneath your fire lay and when the twigs get going feed it the larger sticks being careful not to smother it. If that doesn't work ensure all your fire material is dry. Also I would personally collect a larger tinder bundle.

Thanks for the advice! I'll have to give it a try another day because unfortunately I'm running out of daylight.

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[alewn]

first have a shelter for your fire. To get it going and have the wind/rain put it out is sorta silly. Best have plenty of firewood, too. If you don't NEED a fire, dont bother with a (natural materials) one, cause it's a pita. Which is why people carry alcohol stoves, paraffin can-candles, olive oil set ups, etc. Such stuff is far, far easier to work with, for a small cookpot, etc "worth" of heating job

 

[gadgetgeek]

My rule is that the kindling (as I call it, your little twigs) need to be smaller than I think, and more of them than I think I need. That first bit of real wood to catch should be around matchstick diameter (or cross-section, thinner shavings can be wider). If your tinder is getting going, but not the wood, then your tinder bundle just needs to be bigger, for more burn time. Don't rush it. With the size of sticks you have there, if they are dry, you should be able to get them going if your tinder bundle will burn a minute or so. Its largely a matter of watching what happens and then adding to the parts that work, and slowly working your way up on the parts that aren't. Even now, every time I mess up a fire, its because I didn't prep enough.

You mention being iffy about making curls or shavings of wood without a fixed blade. That's a fair statement, not everyone is comfortable with folders, especially if you've just started out, and you've read lots here about lock failure. Go slow and easy, just take a little at a time. if its not pretty easy, then you need to sharpen up. I like to use small motions using my hand/thumb muscles instead of my arms. Even holding the knife still, and pulling the stick towards you is effective for some people, as long as you know where you are, and where the edge is.

 

[unimogbert]

like to use small motions using my hand/thumb muscles instead of my arms.

I've just reached this conclusion as best for both scraping and for making the sparks. Small square edged metal held very close to the thumbs gives good control and plenty of leverage. (kind of like the Swedish firesteel setup)
I just filed a nice square flat onto my survival knife right at the base of the handguard so I can choke up on the handle for this kind of leverage.

If your folding knife has a nice square edge the back of the blade, while it's folded into the handle, makes a fair sparking tool.

I've had issues with the mag shavings getting blown around by the slightest breeze so mostly don't even bother with them - just get better natural tinder - and lots of it. You really do need to make the "quarter sized" pile of shavings if you use them otherwise the burn time for the mag shavings is too short to get the kindling going.

Lots of subtleties to learn. Try, evaluate, try something else, evaluate etc.

 

[Codger_64]

Might it be even better to use a more sure ignition source than the magblock while refining the fire lay progression? Then once the progression... fine tender-twigs or shavings-sticks-wood is practiced and successful more often than not, try a more difficult ignition source?

As to the magnesium shavings scattering, we've discussed before placing them on an adhesive... duct tape, a bandaide, some pine sap, so they stay put in a concentrated pile.

 

[STAINLESS90]

I agree 100% with this, I didn't start out with flint and steel. I originally started with a zippo or bic until I got better at laying my fire and gathering the right materials. From there it was just a matter of trial and error until I learned what worked and what doesn't. Let us know whether you were able to get it going or not and don't give up.

 

[John A. Larsen]

One Winter Warfare up in Vermont, we used a magnesium block for the whole 10 days to start all our fires. Took the inside part of brick bark, scraped some magnesium on it and never had any problems starting our fires. Nothing was wet, but it was very cold, nighttime temperatures regularly got down to -25 degrees F (one year to -40 degrees C/F). We still had matches that came in our rations, but wanted to see how well the magnesium blocks worked as if deployed real world behind Soviet lines (late 70's) resupply would have been problematic. John