Flint trouble

N

NB16

Joined
Jul 22, 2006
Messages
98
I got a lite my fire flint for christmas was really excited too. but when i went outside to try it i couldn't get the sparks to flame up the tinder. Any help here?
And it wasn't damp or wet.
 
Sparks "spark", they don't flame. You have to nurture and work that spark into a steady glow that grows, then into a flame. For instant flame, add lighter fluid or Calcium Carbide. Poof!

Codger
 
The sparks from these "flint" rods are quite hot and usually work easily with fine steelwool. Also try cotton balls (real cotton) smeared with vasaline and pulled out into a small bowl to catch the sparks.
 
What Codger said. You are tryingto get a little orange glowing ember, typically the size of the tip of a ball point pen. Then slowly blow on it, and get the ember to grow bigger and hotter.

Also try other tinder, like the cotton balls with Petroleum Jelly.

Also, you need to use the right amount of pressure while scraping.
If you are doing light pressure, and quick, you may be getting spark, but not a good thick burst of spark. Don't be afraid to put a little ass into the striking pressure.

Get a flat piece of wood, 2x4, or 2x6, or plywood scrap, whatever.

Take some toilet paper lay it flat, hold sparker/flint/rod right over the TP and strike several times. You should see where the sparks have been hitting.

Use coarse sand paper or a file and make some wood dust. Try sparking into that.

Also you can try different types of metal for scraping along the Flint Rod.
Try a small edge of a file, or if you have a small round chainsaw sharpening file they work extremely well.

You will get it.
 
Thanks after following some of your advice i got it. I wasn't striking hard enough and too far away. Thanks
 
It's more a rapid scrape than a blow. Hence "scraper."

Some favor moving the flint -- pulling it up past the tinder - rather than scraping the scraper down.
 
I second TL in that pulling the firesteel backwards works very well. For me I try to kinda rest my elbows in my knees to stabilize the firesteel. Probably looks goofy but it works.
 
I use dryer lint as a tinder its free and Ligts even from sparks with no blowing or coaxing, I started a campfire like this yesterday.
 
I've been using the scout model for about month and love it. For tender try flat doubled wax paper,cotton,lint shavin cedar or poplar bark or dry grass . I like to use the flat edge of the striker instead of the groved portion. A good tool and alot of fun for $10!
 
have you tried char-cloth? it gets good and hot.put on a cotton ball .in a ball of dry grass.then blow lightly. and fire.this is what i use when I'm using my flint and steel.
 
i like to scrape a little pile of fine scapings and dust from a stick of fatwood with a razor (also the striker), set the end of the steel in the middle of the pile, and shave down the steel with the edge of the razor. i actually shave the steel with the edge, not just scrape it, which is where my really big pile of sparks comes from. because all of those sparks are actually little tiny bits of burning metal that you just scraped off of the rod, it is better to actually shave the rod.

another good way is to use a tuft of cotton to light a scap of wax paper. if you hold the tuft of cotton right between the striker and the rod, and then scrape so that the cotton falls right into the rest of your tinder, the cotton usually lights right on fire and then lights the rest of stuff on fire. just keep practicing, and eventually it will come very easily.
 
I use larger pile of pitchwood (fatwood) half the size of my fist to increase my chance of getting a spark to hit home. Also, I've had the best luck using a slow, but hard, scrape on the flint. This creates a shower of sparks that lasts nearly a full second.

Once you find a technique that works for you, practice practice. :thumbup:
 
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