firesteels I can't get it right

SubaruSTi

SubaruSTi

Joined
Nov 28, 2005
Messages
1,320
I have two firesteels. One came with my hedgehog leatherworks sheath and another from knives ship free.com

Both throw nice sparks, but when I tried to light some 4 year seasoned black cherry shavings, the board was inside for this time, the wood was a dry as it gets. Tons of strikes and nothing close to getting an ember on the wood even. Then I tried some of the twine that came with the sheath. This would sort of light but go out within one second.

I under stand the appeal, thousand or more strikes, water proof, lightweight etc but under ideal conditions it seems hokey. I'm sure I could get fatwood to ignite or some ultra dry grass but its wet here today. I did the test under cover and sheltered from the wind.

I can get diamond strike anywhere matches for $1.30 a box these burn hot and blow away a lifeboat match IMO.

Am I missing something with the Ferro rods?
 
When I use em I like to pin my tinder down with the rod and strike it, rather than pulling the rod away, or striking at it with the rod a few inches away from the tinder. Works better with the LMF rods as you can strike them slowly, but it can be done with misch metal ones, just gotta use a bit of a different technique to be able to strike it fast enough to spark without knocking your tinder all over the place.

Were they shavings or scrapings? Shavings have to be pretty fine to be able to light with a firesteel. I don't know what kind of twine comes with the hedgehog sheaths, but if its jute, pull all the strands apart into a "birds nest" tinder bundle, or really fluff up an end of it to spark it and you can use it kind of like a match.
 
Before I say anything, what did you do with the twine? Just try to light it as it was, whole piece of twine? Or did you pull the entire thing apart, strand by strand to make what looks like a hairball?

.....awaiting your response before I continue. :)
 
"Fire" requires that the material be heated to about 450 F. For a spark - even a hot spark - to heat material to 450, the material needs to be fine: paper-like or hair-like. AKA "tinder"

Try a cotton ball.

In the final analysis, it's Pass/Fail. Use what works for you.
 
Agreed with 6Shooter - tinder prep is key to success with a firesteel. Even with shavings, you will still likely need something that is a "base" to get the shavings going, like separated jute, a PJCB, wetfire, etc. With practice and the right prep, they can be quite useful.
 
I furbed up the twine pretty good but not.all.the way. I'm sur it could have lit eventually but I was sick of messing with it at that point.
 
In wet conditions with just a Ferro and no outside materials what can I do to ignite a fire, work shavings into paste or a fluff?
 
Well then, thank you very much for an honest answer!

Personally, I have spent a lot of time where you are right now. Your frustration is a good thing. Frustration leads to questions which brings you here. This is a good place to ask that question.

I started off LOVING the idea of a firesteel, but I couldn't get it to work to save my life. After paying attention to the many posts here, and analyzing the pictures, it helped me a great deal to connect some dots. Yes, firesteels can throw a shower of sparks. Yes, the sparks can be incredibly hot. But, it's still just SPARKS! No matter how big and pretty, a shower of sparks happens to be, remember its just sparks. Something as small as a spark needs something as small as a hair to catch it. Tinder bundles work well because if they contain fuel of various sizes, small enough to catch the spark, and large enough to keep it going. That's why often, you will see a tinder bundle described as a 'birds nest'.

Your twine will work very well. But be sure that you completely separate the fibers as much as you can. Think 'birds nest.' Add the shavings of cherry in it as well to increase the burn time. Hardwood shavings will work, but again, alone it needs to be very fine, almost hairlike. I have found softwoods work better than harwoods when trying to use a firesteel. It may be because it is easier to shave them into very small shavings.

Give it a shot. Be patient and inquisitive. The person who never asks questions will always struggle making progress. You are on the right track. Try it again and keep us updated!
 
I will try the twine again tonight to see how it burns. I know I can get that going because I nearly did within a few strikes but the shavings are something else, I wish I had a way to ignite a fire with just the rod. I love the matches, my issue with them is they can get wet and ruined.

I love the idea of the Ferro rod but if I need brought in tinder I'm less enthusiastic about it. I bet it would light some fluffy dried grass. I use that a lot in dry conditions but I light everything with a match cause it works so good as they burn hot and I only ever need one.

I use fatwood sometimes too but since its not natural in my area I feel its cheating.

I know if I got the cherry down small enough and with enough strikes it would ignite but that's not reliable.
 
Pioneers who crossed the mountains in the 18th century carried "tinder boxes" that contained (Wait for it!) - TINDER. It's not 'cheating." It's succeeding. (Or surviving, as the case may be.)

Cattail fluff is also good. Probably still some around if you have wetlands and the alien species have not crowded it out.
 
I'm trying to envision your shavings. When I have done this, I take a knife, hold it perpendicular (at a 90 degree angle) to the wood and scrape. You get a very fine sawdust doing it this way. You need a fairly large pile of such shavings, about the size of a 50 cent piece. Place the shavings in a pile on a piece of bark or something, and press the tip of the fire steel into the center of the shavings. Then scrape the firesteel, without lifting it from the pile of shavings.

Lighting with just shavings etc is a pain in the butt. I bring along an old tylenol bottle filled with cotton balls that have been dipped briefly in vaseline. I use a few ranger bands to secure the fire steel to the outside of the container. The tinder is multi-use - you can use the vaseline on the cotton balls to treat wounds, chafing etc and as a tinder.

I have used matches in the past but I've found them to be fairly vulnerable to humidity. Vaseline cotton balls/firesteel will work even in a rainstorm.
 
Good to know guys!

Would fatwood scrapings be good or can I simply feather it and get that to light?
 
Fatwood is a game changer. It's AWESOME stuff. I've had good success splitting a piece down to pencil size and then making a feather stick out of it. Two of those, and you almost don't need anything else.
 
Keep at it Subaru! You are going to benefit tremendously from pursuing this.

It's no secret that I don't consider firesteels to be superior fire starters, but under conditions when you don't need a fire RIGHT NOW, they work fine. You should be able to take any reasonable natural tinder and ignite it with the fire steel under most conditions, providing you have time to find, collect and prepare the tinder. If you can't it's probably due to not preparing the tinder properly. There is also a bit of a learning curve for being able to concentrate the sparks from a steel, but tinder prep is the real key.

Get to where you can make a fire with the firesteel on any given hike and you'll learn a tremendous amount about finding and preparing tinder. With that knowledge you'll be much more capable with your strike-anywhere matches.

Anyone can ignite petroleum soaked cotton balls or tubes of rubber cement, but there's absolutely no point in using a firesteel to light these verses a match, lighter, or blow torch. The virtue of a firesteel is that it's an inferior fire starter, so it forces you to prepare better tinder. In doing so you'll learn something valuable.
 
Yeah what attracted me to it is the durability of them and the challenge.

I agree keeping the steel closer to the target will help as the temperature has to be higher right when it comes off the steel.
 
I have had luck with shaving slowly my firesteel into the shavings and then hitting them with a fast strike to make the spark. You are carrying quite a bit of tinder in your fire steel. Also, if I can't find dry shavings I have my firesteel set up to become dry tinder. Oak dowel coated with varnish keeps it mostly dry even when submerged. This is the new one I built for my pack. I'll build another one this month to carry on my sheath.
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What's with the "cheating" concern? :)
Are you just playing with fire, or are you trying to do something useful?
If useful, there is no cheating. You get your fire started any way you can, with whatever materials it takes.
If you have to tote your own tinder in the form of cottonballs, and it gets a fire going for you, what's cheating?
Denis
 
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