im getting frustrated firestarting help

Kevshin,

Here is another thought: There are two sides to tinder, Texture and Flammability.

Texture: is something you can alter by shaving, pulverizing, fluffing, or whatever you need to do to make a "catchers" mitt for the spark.

Flammability: is a characteristic of the material itself.
Example, you can pulverized a rock into small bits, all daylong, and never get it to ignite. :)

Test your tinders.
Using a lighter, grab 10 or so possible tinders and try them.

Observe how they burn. This may tell you the ones that are more viable and the ones that just plain suck. There are plants that you can hold a lighter to, and the moment you pull the flame away, they pretty much fizzle. :grumpy:
There are others that catch so quickly you will have toss them to the ground for fear of burning your hand! :eek:

Once you identify "the burners" , then give the old fero-rod another try.

Here is a beefy fero-rod , one that should last many years, if not decades.
http://www.epcamps.com/4in_Flint.html
 
Remember to scrape/remove the coating off the fire steel to the brighter metal underneath, they coat it so no "accidents" will happen and to make it last longer, you should still have tons of lights/sparks left.
Like the guys said, the fluffy/cottony weed fibers work best and fastest for natural fire starts. Where ever you can find dry/dead weeds, you should find em there. Flower gardens, under porches, by fences, side of garage etc.
 
I hear charred cloth works good.But I haven`t tried it. I used to carry A mangnesium fire stater, But it was more hassle than it was worth. For less weight I carry a bic lighter. I am older. so when I am cold and shivering. I think of the quickest way to get warm. There is usally some business cards in my wallet for tinder.
 
In your first post you said you were able to get "smouldering ashes". When you get the tinder to take a spark, squeeze it together and blow HARD on it. Squeezing will bring more of the tinder into contact with the spark and when you blow hard you will introduce enough air to counteract the smothering squeeze your putting on it. usually works for me. YMMV
 
johnny reb said:
I hear charred cloth works good.But I haven`t tried it. I used to carry A mangnesium fire stater, But it was more hassle than it was worth. For less weight I carry a bic lighter. I am older. so when I am cold and shivering. I think of the quickest way to get warm. There is usally some business cards in my wallet for tinder.
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With charred old jeans cloth, or something like that, you don't get flames, only glowing, so you will have to have some easily ingnitable material to transfer the glow into flames with. I don't know about what plants are available where the topic starter lives and even if they are there it depends on the season, but the dry down from thistles and dandelions can burst into flames from sparks in my experience. If it is not dry it can help to put it in a pocket to dry it out for future use.
 
Hey Johhy reb

johnny reb said:
I hear charred cloth works good.But I haven`t tried it. I used to carry A mangnesium fire stater, But it was more hassle than it was worth. For less weight I carry a bic lighter. I am older. so when I am cold and shivering. I think of the quickest way to get warm. There is usally some business cards in my wallet for tinder.
Click to expand...

If you want to take fire starting seriously, you should think about making some char cloth and learning how to make fire without the Bic.

If your Bic isn't working for many different reasons you are gonna be Pooched!

My son who is now 13 hasn't been allowed to start a fire with a lighter or matches since he was 7..

He however is allowed to make fire by any other means except for those two...

It's a very good skill to know, and if you've got the right stuff,, making fire under almost any condition is a snap..

Get a good Fire Steel,, put together a kit with a bunch of different stuff,, and you'll see what the joy of fire making is all about....

Making fire in this family is more of an art, than it is flicking a bic to some paper...

ttyle

Eric
O/ST
 
Char cloth is easy to make,I use old tee shirts,cut into 2"x2",Stuff em into a new small paint can I buy at the paintstore,with a small hole punched in the lid.Doing this outside on a grill,I put the can on the grate,above the flame/charcoal,you'll see it smoking keep it on the heat until the can quits smoking,then I stick a toothpick or sharpened stick into the hole,let this cool for 1/2 hr. or longer,Presto....
Whatever you do, Do not open the lid until it's cool,or all work will be wasted.
Not tryin to hijack this thread,only trying to help.Good luck & Never Quit!
 
I use a kiwi can or an altoids sours tin, make sure your cloth is 100% cotton, old jeans work great and make a bit tougher char.

I don't think it is a hijack just good info for tender. Chris
 
I use pine needles(pine straw in Georgia) that has been ran over in my driveway for a month or two, it becomes finely shreaded & when dry & made into a birds nest it will ignite & burn very easy with just a few hot sparks. I keep a bag of it in all of my kits! I have pine trees on the edge of my driveway & I can get pine stray all year long, it works great!
 
Tim the Slugman said:
I use pine needles(pine straw in Georgia) that has been ran over in my driveway for a month or two, it becomes finely shreaded & when dry & made into a birds nest it will ignite & burn very easy with just a few hot sparks. I keep a bag of it in all of my kits! I have pine trees on the edge of my driveway & I can get pine stray all year long, it works great!
Click to expand...

Tim, thanks!! It's good to get other recommendations!!
I've got two pines right beside my driveway! I'm checking it out soon!
 
To get the best effect from the ferro rod place the tip on the edge of what you want to light. Then have a good scrapper (saw blade) and scrape down. This will shave off some of the ferro rod and make big sparks that last a moment.

Test your tinder with a lighter first. It is does not catch easily then the ferro rod will not work.
 
thanks for the advice people, quiet mike I tried to blow lightly and hard but it just makes it go out and just makes the tinder warm. Anyways I went for a walk and I collected some long stranded dry grass, some weeds and some pine needles, so far I was able to get a small flame but when I tried to give it air it dies. Am I using too little tinder too? I am gathering about a palm sized material
 
kevshin21 said:
i live in a urban/suburban area of southern California near LA
Click to expand...
I did most of my Scouting (as a Scout) in the same area. We used:

>pounded dead grass (take grass and pound with a wooden mallet or stout stick -- or a rock if that's all you have)

>crumbled leaves of the Washington Fan Palm (The ones with all the dead leaves the city has not gotten around to cutting off)

>cattail fluff. They grew in many ditches in agricultural areas.

>dry, rotten inner bark of cottonwoods

>pounded dead nettles

>powered leaf gauls from "Live Oaks"

Really easier to start a fire in SoCal than to put it out. :eek:
 
would using the steel thing that comes along with the fire steel increase my chance of a fire greatly or is it the same with my stainless beater knife? (i'm not gonna ruin my rat-3's spine)
 
Have the making of a fire all ready, and add to it in stages of increasing size.
I use shredded birch bark and old mans beard if available ( the yellowy green moss that hangs from old pine trees, looks like a beard)
then some dry twigs once thats going (usually old dead pine tips, they are only about as thick as fork tines)
I always like to use the teepee method, using pencil to thumb sized dry sticks, and a fairly big opening to give you room to work.
I like to keep all my wood at hand so I can make a good big fire and not have to worry about it, but the teepee should stay lit for a while while you gather more wood.
My house growing up had a wood stove and my parents would always say "dont let the fire go out" and I always did when they were out, so I got pretty good at making fires before they got home.
Practice practice practice.
 
kevshin21 said:
would using the steel thing that comes along with the fire steel increase my chance of a fire greatly or is it the same with my stainless beater knife? (i'm not gonna ruin my rat-3's spine)
Click to expand...
Any sharp, hard edge will produce sparks from a fire steel -- even using glass or stone for that edge.
 
If you want a small scraper that's got a good edge, pick up a cheap hacksaw blade at a hardware store. Now break off about 4-5 inches of it and wrap some tape around the broken end. You can tie it to the tool through the hole in the blade, and the sharp back edges strike sparks quite well. If you don't care about long-term use of the firesteel, the "toothy" side of the blade will throw a ton of sparks.

I've got one attached to my mag-block, and the saw blade is also good for getting fine magnesium pieces without dulling my knife.
 
Practice with jute or cotton,and prepare your natural tinder so fine it wants to fly away;) Just kiding but with a little practice it becomes easy to determine what will burn and what want.Also if it takes more than say 4 or 5 tries to catch a spark go to work on your tender instead of wearing out your striker. Good luck:) :)
 
kevshin21 said:
would using the steel thing that comes along with the fire steel increase my chance of a fire greatly or is it the same with my stainless beater knife? (i'm not gonna ruin my rat-3's spine)
Click to expand...

The stainless "beater knife" could be part of your problem.

Get some ferrous metal, can be anything, just not stainless, not aluminum, not brass..etc. Carbon steel is best. Metal that can rust.

even a jigsaw blade from an elec jig saw. Small fine file.

Hacksaw blade is the defacto tried-and-true item.
 
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