"Flint" and steel: WTF am I doing wrong?

johnniet

johnniet

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Jul 12, 1999
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I got one of those Magnesium Firestarters at REI.
It sure sparks when I scratch it with a knife or hacksaw blade!
So I took a little drier lint and tried to spark it. Scrape-scrape-scrape. Spark-spark-spark. Lint does nothing.
I put some Vaseline on the lint to make it easier. The first time this worked pretty well. The second time, nothing.
To see if something was wrong with the lint, I took a Zippo and lit it. It burns like anything else.
Do I just need to be more patient? How many swipes should it take to get a fire started?
 
I have used the Magnesium starters but just use Jute to catch the spark now. As long as you are getting a good spark and catching it the tinder you should be able to work it into a flame. It won't just explode into flame like the MAgnesium will once the spark hits it. It will take some blowing. Long steady breaths not short fast ones. Be carefull not to smother it also.

I make a little bird nest and catch the spark, Then as it is getting hotter or close to flame I begin to fold it in on itself until its at the center of a ball.

Gadget54
 
First scrape slowly a few times so you get powder instead of sparks and then your spark ignites the powder and that gets the tinder going. Dryer lint is usually very easy to ignite but maybe it could be all from the wrong kind of fabric? Cotton balls are very easy to start too. More on the Survival Forum here....

Maybe you just need practice -- it does take practice.
 
Cotton is more reliable for me as often the lint is from fabrics containing fire retardant. The vaseline is only to increase the duration of the burn. The cotton must be dry and fluffed to catch the spark. Try two cottton balls, one with vaseline and one without, touching each other. Spark the dry piece and that will ignite the vaseline piece. YMMV but it's actually easy.
 
you're technique is probably wrong...

First off, the Mag firestarter Flint is one of the lowest quality I've ever seen. If you want a Ferrocerrium Rod and Striker, let me recommend the Strike force or the BlastMatch... both available at 1sks.com
If you decide to use the magnesium bar, be prepared to destroy your knife edge as well as your patience because the metal will ruin a good edge and very dilligent scraping will yield only a few shards of magnesium.

Two, you don't want to hold the edge of your scraper at an angle of 90 degrees against the ferrocerrium "flint". you want to use anywhere from a 110 to 140 degree angle, with the non striking edge away from you, towards the tinder. Another addition trick you may try is to hold the striking tool firmly and pull the "flint" back towards you. Also, remember to apply a steady, and firm(but not overly so) pressure with the tool against the flint.
 
Actually the sparks fly just fine. I got a 68 cent hacksaw blade. snapped off a few inches, and it works very nicely. (You are of course right about the ferrocerium blunting a knife edge. Agh! Good thing I was using a Mora, and switched to the hacksaw blade quickly.)
Today I tried it with some fluffed dry cotton and had better luck. Still, I was surprised how many swipes it took to get a spark to catch. What I've learned so far is to use a fast swipe, and be as close as possible to the tinder.
I wonder if it's better to have the rod pointing in a particular direction--up, down, or sideways. Or to have the tinder slightly above the rod (if this can be done).
MM is absolutely right about the magnesium. What a pain in the ass! I'll have to check out the strike force or blast match (or one of Bagheera's Swedish things).

BTW, glass will spark beautifully on the ferrocerium, and sandpaper also sparks but seems less practical (ouch).
 
Are you cutting down any magnesium filings?

I have found it to be extremely hard to ignite anything just with the flint it self.

If your sparking the fillings it should immediately ignite with a intense white burst.

I have found these to be reliable and relativly easy to use.
 
ime the magnesium shavings are easy to ignite, provided you get something like a nickel sized pile :) this is to let the sparks actually LAND on the magnesium
once the sparks hit it, it'll go up in a brilliant white burst of fire
i had a lot of trouble trying to light it because the pile of shavings was small
 
Originally posted by johnniet
sparks fly just fine
Click to expand...

Are you talking about maybe approximately twice or three times the amount of spark a zippo would throw off? If so, it's inadequate for igniting anything not doused with lighter fluid. Even the "Sparklite" aviation survival firestarter is inadequate for any enviornment that has any sort of breeze.

ani2-blastmatch.gif


These are the types of spark showers you want to create to light any sort of natural tinder

ani-strikeforce.gif
 
mm, what are those two things you juz linked the pics to? they look very interesting
 
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