Flint and steel

[beanbag]

You know the old saying-> A picture is worth a thousand words..... Well true dat, and while I think in this post the pics can tell the story, I'll add just a few explanatory notes, 'cause like all y'all, I tend to be a wordy dude.

So I'm pretty practiced with ferro rods and the bow and drill, but I've always wanted to try my hand at flint and steel because it seems so primitive/primal-- You know, the whole "Me bang rock, make fire" thing.

Recently I traded for a sweet flint and steel kit that included a nice chunk of flint, a retro striker from the BSA and some char cloth with a desiccant pack to keep it dry.

I used my Gossman Big Bore Tusker for fire prep:

It was late, and I was pressed for time, but even when rushing, the BBT makes a nice feather stick.

My tinder was some Cedar and Birch bark I scored on the way in:

After too many attempts, I finally got the char cloth to catch and I popped it into the cedar bark tinder basket.

I blew it into a flame and built the fire:

Behold the mighty, mighty Tusker.

Another fire starting method under the belt. Hip hip hooray!:thumbup:

 

[c.joe]

Awesome pictures! Thanks for sharing!

 

[sar5]

Great pics, thanks for sharing, love that gossman!

 

[PayetteRucker]

Wow, congrats. Love successfully learning new things, especially when they are self taught. I've been avoiding flint-and-steel because it looks like it would kill my sore hands-that stuff is no small accomplishment.

PS, beautiful Tusker :thumbup: one day I'll have one!

 

[Mountain Wildman]

Nice knife, Nice feather stick, Nice fire, Looks like a nice way to spend time.

 

[Mistwalker]

Awesome photos man! Nothing like the satisfaction of starting fire without a flame to start it with, especially the more primitive ways. I've only been using flint and steel a year or so myself and it's a lot of fun. Cedar bark is great, dry grasses work pretty well too, strips of dry birch bark, and I've used dry punk to expand the embering char cloth into a massive coal and ignited wood shavings with it (also done that with an ember from a fire bow). My next experiment involves char cloth and a specific fungus I recently found to see if I can use the fungus to expand the ember and ignite wood shavings...if it ever stops raining long enough.

Wow, congrats. Love successfully learning new things, especially when they are self taught. I've been avoiding flint-and-steel because it looks like it would kill my sore hands-that stuff is no small accomplishment.

PS, beautiful Tusker :thumbup: one day I'll have one!

Try ityou may find it's not as hard as you think with a little practice.

 

[beanbag]

Thanks for the replies fellas.

I learned a lot from this practice session, and it's got me thinking about my fire kit and fire starting methods.

Here are a few observations:

I discovered that if I want to incorporate flint, steel and char cloth into my fire making repertoire, I'll need to drastically improve my technique. I was not getting consistent sparks from my strikes. In fact it took me so long to finally get that char cloth to ignite that my dog, Skip, was getting bored and started to whine.

I really like char cloth. Once you land a spark, you're good to go and it burns slow and steady. Accordingly, just as with a bow drill ember, there is no need to rush things, which can hurt your chances of success. I'm going to have to try making some myself.

If you shred it finely enough, Cedar bark makes a great tinder bundle, even if it's not bone dry. The stuff I collected wasn't damp, but when I touched it to my lips to test it, there was a hint of moisture to it. I knew that could be a problem, but the char cloth did it's job and I was able to blow it into flame. Next time I'll bring bone dry stuff from home.

Now that I have successfully made fires with ferro-rods, bow and drill, and flint and steel, I am in a better position to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each method.

The bow and drill is labor intensive and uses a lot of time and energy. However it's fun, and like riding a wheelie on your bicycle, impresses onlookers. I also like the big, fat coals you can get.

Ferro-rods are easy to use and can light a huge variety of materials, but you don't get a coal to work with.

If you're good at it (I'm not) flint and steel is fast, uses very little energy and you don't need a build a four piece rig like with the bow drill.

If I become proficient at it, flint and steel could be the way to go. But after thinking about it last night, it dawned on me that if I never did get proficient at it, I could still use the char cloth with my ferro-rod.

Bottom line, because it's light as a feather, I'm definitely adding char cloth to my fire kit. And I'll keep working on my flint striking technique, because it has that primitive cache to it.:thumbup:

 

[Mountain Wildman]

I have to make some char cloth for my BushcraftUSA lesson but I prefer using a firesteel, I hear ya about flint and steel though, I have tried several times and get sparks every few dozen strikes, I guess once you get the feel of it, It's probably easier to do. Practice, Practice, Practice I guess.

 

[Gossman Knives]

Nice! Never tried the char cloth. Gotta give it a whirl sometime.
Scott

 

[Mistwalker]

The bow and drill is labor intensive and uses a lot of time and energy. However it's fun, and like riding a wheelie on your bicycle, impresses onlookers. I also like the big, fat coals you can get.

Ferro-rods are easy to use and can light a huge variety of materials, but you don't get a coal to work with.

If you're good at it (I'm not) flint and steel is fast, uses very little energy and you don't need a build a four piece rig like with the bow drill.

If I become proficient at it, flint and steel could be the way to go. But after thinking about it last night, it dawned on me that if I never did get proficient at it, I could still use the char cloth with my ferro-rod.

Bottom line, because it's light as a feather, I'm definitely adding char cloth to my fire kit. And I'll keep working on my flint striking technique, because it has that primitive cache to it.:thumbup:

The fire bow is definitely labor intensive, the best thing about it that the parts to make can be made in the bush even using an SAK in many cases and materials for it can be found in many places. Even going totally primitive sharpenable rocks; flint, chert, obsidian and wood occur in nature in several places, but steel not so much.

What striking technique are you using? Are you holding the char cloth and flint and striking the steel against it, or do you hold the steel over the char cloth and strike it with the flint? I have success with both methods but have better luck with the latter sometimes.

 

[beanbag]

Nice! Never tried the char cloth. Gotta give it a whirl sometime.
Scott

Thanks. I was under the impression that char cloth was pretty much what everyone is using with flint and steel. Are you you using it just like you would a ferro rod?

What striking technique are you using? Are you holding the char cloth and flint and striking the steel against it, or do you hold the steel over the char cloth and strike it with the flint? I have success with both methods but have better luck with the latter sometimes.

I was holding the char cloth and flint and striking the steel against it because that's mostly what I've seen others doing. I suppose using the latter method might allow you to strike with more force for better sparks without risk of breaking up your char cloth into little pieces.

 

[scruffuk]

Excellent stuff. You must have been real glad to get that fire going...it looks a bit nippy your way!

 

[JV3]

nice! i'll try that someday. as for wheelies - i get better at it when i've been boozing but can't really pull it off.

 

[Shotgun]

Cool. I like flint and steel. The method I learned was to fold the charcloth in half and put the fold right up against the edge of your flint. Then you strike it with the steel and it lights much faster. I think I got it in the first couple of strikes my first time out. The folded area gives the charcloth a little width to catch the sparks.

 

[Mistwalker]

Thanks. I was under the impression that char cloth was pretty much what everyone is using with flint and steel. Are you you using it just like you would a ferro rod?



I was holding the char cloth and flint and striking the steel against it because that's mostly what I've seen others doing. I suppose using the latter method might allow you to strike with more force for better sparks without risk of breaking up your char cloth into little pieces.

It does, and it is also the same technique I've used in punk wood experiments. Besides I'm more used to striking a sharp object against something to cut off parts of it rather than the other way around so the physics are already something I am used to with striking angles. I have success the way you did it as well, I just have a little more or quicker success the other way...but that may not be an option during damp times so I keep practicing both techniques.