Firesteels?

Lots of great stuff mentioned here already. My 2 cents:

(1) "Sweedish Fire Steel"!!! It works best for me if I strike it slowly and smoothly (that sounded wrong). It seems to produce its sparks longer.

(2) Also, I make the tender fluffy by pulling it apart. The fluffier it is the easier it catches fire.

I have some video clips I can post if interested. Nothing fancy. (I'm an amature.) But it shows Sweedish Fire Steel at work.


Anyway, that is what works for me. Good luck. :)
 
Tyrkon Lawson said:
Lots of great stuff mentioned here already. My 2 cents:

(1) "Sweedish Fire Steel"!!! It works best for me if I strike it slowly and smoothly (that sounded wrong). It seems to produce its sparks longer.

(2) Also, I make the tender fluffy by pulling it apart. The fluffier it is the easier it catches fire.

I have some video clips I can post if interested. Nothing fancy. (I'm an amature.) But it shows Sweedish Fire Steel at work.


Anyway, that is what works for me. Good luck. :)
Click to expand...

Can I see those videos?

Oh, and the tutorial looks great. Maybe I will give firesteels another shot. Thanks to you all.

EDIT: I just went into my backyard and tried the firesteel with my new knowledge and I was able to light some dry leaves and a few scraps of toilet paper with it in under 10 strikes. Thanks guys.
 
GroovyMr1337 said:
Can I see those videos?

Oh, and the tutorial looks great. Maybe I will give firesteels another shot. Thanks to you all.

EDIT: I just went into my backyard and tried the firesteel with my new knowledge and I was able to light some dry leaves and a few scraps of toilet paper with it in under 10 strikes. Thanks guys.
Click to expand...

Great job man!

Here is just a quickie using sweedish fire steel and dryer lint. I'll have to find the ones using just leaves, dry grass, and such.




Nothing fancy but it works for me. I'm itching to try other steels this summer. :)
 
Scraping or Whittling motion, with an edge, no flint knapping motion, which is a fine way to get injured. If the back of your knife is rounded, like a SAK, or your hacksaw blade has paint, this reduces the efficiency. Your tinder pile won't run away from you if you pin it down (with your striker). Don't use the hacksaw teeth, they don't work as well as the scraper edge (90 degrees works fine). The trouble with most of these sparkers is that they would work better if they were about four to five inches long. Practice. In the dark.
 
don't be afraid to start practicing with some sort of accelerant like vaseline or the like, once you get the hang of getting the spark to fly to the desired place, then start working with more natural tinders, I used to carry cotton balls rolled in smokeless gun powder then rolled in vaseline for sure starts in winter camping. The smokeless powder WILL NOT explode, but just burns very hot and will help start stuff burning when its cold. A good friend used to keep a section of a road flare in his kit, about 2 inches long, it fit in a little container when a few small chunks were sparked it burned HOT and lONG to be the initiator of a fire.
 
Groovy, I had the same problem with the same 'light my fire' firesteel (using the scraper that came with it, in Texas and in some areas there seems to be virtually no tinder - the best I could scare up in a pine forest were dried oak leaves and some dry grass, niether of which did jack after 30 strikes). I have an old file somewhere I will try to use for a scraper instead.
 
I think that bare firesteels are a great thing to carry. Moisture doesn't affect them much, they weigh very little, and they take up little space.

I have a few BSA Hotspark steels. Good value for money in my opinion, but I found that the scraper/striker supplied with them was not nearly as good as a sharp knife blade. I'm not worried about what striking the firesteel might do to the blade....I would hardly ever use it anyway...plus I know how to sharpen a knife.

I recently struck some excellent sparks from my firesteel using a sharp flake of argillite (stone).

I try to only scrape the last 3/8 of an inch or so of the fire steel. I think I may get more life from it that way. I found that the steel becomes tapered on the end, but that is preferable to having it getting thin and breaking in half.

I think that a magnesium block with a firesteel striker on the side is a far more reliable tool than a plain firesteel.

I have lit fires by all sorts of means, including the firedrill 'stick rubbing' method. Like I've said before, if there is one thing I have concluded from all this playing with fire, it is that it is important to carry something like matches or a lighter for those occasions when you really need a fire. When you need light or heat in an emergency, you will probably want it instantly. A firesteel is still a sensible thing to carry, but lighters or matches are more likely to give you a flame immediately.

I carry a mini Bic lighter in my wallet, and I often will have a firesteel in my backpack or pocket. And if I definitely know I will be lighting a fire I will carry matches or another lighter as well.
 
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