need some help using my fire steel

B

benchmadebob

Joined
May 12, 2008
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756
i have the small light my fire fire steel and i havent been able to start a fire with just natrual materials such as paper towels. So i tried pine needles they didnt work and i tried fuzz sticks they didnt work. So im helpless.
 
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"natrual materials such as paper towels"
paper towels aren't natural. ;) the other stuff is. did you get it mixed up?

you are skipping a step; the tinder. you are trying to light kindling. you need to get some dryer lint and spark into that, POOF!

grab some cotton balls and play with those. take whatever you have left and much it around in some petroleum jelly. try that.

with any of these to take the spark, you should be good to go onto bigger stuff, like what you said you tried.

i have been able to get a paper towel to light before, but its tricky and not worth it.

what i love about the firesteel is that a firesteel, striker, and a film canister with 100 fires worth of PJCB takes up the same space as couple of boxes of matches, is waterproof, nearly indestructible, and will last forever.
 
i mean that all i could start it with was a paper towel i wraped it on the stricker it works first try but in the wood whats the chance i will have them on me.
 
you'll only have them on you if you carry them with you.

i carry a small pocket ripped off of a pair of Pajamas (100% cotton) with several small sticks of fatwood and a film canister of PJCB as well as the firesteel corded to the striker. i have made many fires with this kit, and don't have to restock often as for the most part i don't use the fatwood, mostly just make a pile of fuzz sticks.

i'll try to get some pics tomorrow
 
I'll be messin' around this weekend with my Light my Fire steel.

I've started to gather up some different types of tinder and plan on figuring out wich ones work best. I've never tried the PJCB thing so I'm interested in seeing how it works.

Good luck getting yours to work better next time. I've got little experience with a fire steel so I'm still learning also.
 
I always carry pre prepped tinder on me in the woods...usually vaseline doused cotton balls & jute twine ...I've had good luck using the saw from a sak to make some fine sawdust get a good lot of it (it'll catch) it sounds like most of what your using is too dense strikable tinder needs to be really fine to catch..than you need to have your nest ready to transfer the baby flame to more tinder and kindling...for natural tinder..Sawdust, powdered cedar shavings...tinder fungus and fat wood, Goats beard (the plant) but it burns really quick.. Cat-tail stuffing... Stuff like that..think about things in your environment that you wouldn't leave resting on a100 watt bulb and I bet your off to a good start..but think 3 F's fine, Fibrous, or fluffy and above all experiment...Good luck.
 
for natural tinder, look for some standing dead trees or some dry logs with some bark on them ( not all bark will work unfortunatly) peel off the bark and scrape the inside of it with a knife and most of the time, you cill end up with some fluff. this tecnique works especially well with white cedar from my expirience.
 
I have good luck with white cedar, birch bark, cat tails, and dry moss.

Jute twine is the shiz too man, can use it for cordage and, it takes a spark awesome..

Ive never used the pj cotton thing, havent needed too. Im pretty good with just a chunk of fatwood. shave some off takes a spark real well.....
 
benchmadebob said:
i have the small light my fire fire steel and i havent been able to start a fire with just natrual materials such as paper towels. So i tried pine needles they didnt work and i tried fuzz sticks they didnt work. So im helpless.
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Dude, you are missing one of the best reasons to use your knife, FUZZ sticks.
Man they are fun to make and if you do it right you can get fire with a ferro rod. Search these forums under "Fuzzsticks." There are some beauties. :D
 
I have found the best natural material to use is fatwood dust. I use the file on my Multi-Tool to make the dust. If it's a windy day you can file the dust straight onto a piece of duct tape to stop it blowing away !!!!
You will find that a lot of the natural materials people recommend, don't actually work very well, maybe they get the info from books and don't actually try it for real, I don't know !!!

PS Fuzzsticks are a second or even third form of tinder, for when you have the fire started !
 
bmb,

Like everybody else has said, right now I think you are having trouble identifying proper tinder. Personally, I don't care for pine needles, as they usually are too thick and too wet to be a good tinder. (Great for making smoke on an existing fire, though!)
RescueRiley's 3 F's (fine, Fibrous, or fluffy) is great. Fire needs fuel air and ignition. In order for your ignition source (your fire steel) to light your tinder on fire, it has to be TINY. You couln't light a 2x4 on fire with a match, because the volume of the fuel was too great for the tiny flame to raise it to the necessary temperature.

Rather than telling you specifically what tinder to use, here is a test. If you gather some natural material, like bark or thistle fluff, and are curious if it is dry enough or fine enough, try lighting some with a match or lighter. If you really have to hold the flame under the tinder for a while before it lights, it will give you fits trying to light it with a ferro rod. You may be able to redeem it by shredding or pulverizing it so that it has fine fibers to catch a spark. Try it again with a match. If it catches right away, you may have good tinder for your ferro rod. After a bit of practice like this, you'll get the hang of what good tinder is.

It is a good practice to carry some prepared tinder with you, and practicing with them will help you get the hang of using your fire steel. That being said, learning to identify, evaluate, and prepare natural tinder is an important firestarting skill. You'll have this in no time.


-- FLIX
 
You can carry ideal tinder (aka cotton balls, lint), I carry half a PJCB in a nitro pill fob on my key chain.

But, if you want to go natural, there is one key tip to make it work.

Instead of trying to slice thin curls from a stick, put your knife parallel to the stick and SCRAPE it so that you get really fine curls and shavings. If the spine of your knife is sharply squared off, you can use it instead of the edge so as not to ruin it. Get yourself a nice pile at least the size of a quarter and quite thick. Try this and I bet you will be able to light it no problem, just make sure the wood is dry.
 
Flix, awesome advice! I am going to teach that to my teenage sons.

I have taken a square of TP, wrapped it around the striker and with one or two passes, had it catch and I can transfer it to my waiting bundle. I always have toilet paper in my kit or car...
 
pitdog said:
PS Fuzzsticks are a second or even third form of tinder, for when you have the fire started !
Click to expand...

I am not sure if you are referring to me. Just to be clear, I have made fire directly from fuzz sticks several times. It is quite easy. Of course, maybe it takes a Fallkniven F-1 ;)
 
psy-ops said:
I am not sure if you are referring to me. Just to be clear, I have made fire directly from fuzz sticks several times. It is quite easy. Of course, maybe it takes a Fallkniven F-1 ;)
Click to expand...

Sorry bro, I hadn't even read the other posts really, I just read where he mentioned them and I always start my fires with some other ignition source and then add the fuzzsticks. And your right, if you can get the fire going with just the sticks and a ferro rod then maybe I should be getting an F1 !:D
I'm not the greatest Fuzzstick maker in the world but they are improving !!!!:thumbup:
 
No problem pit,

youtube has some videos for ferro rods in use with all kind of materials. K-estella has one too! really superb ferro rod light in wet weather.
 
The easiest natural element that I use is grab so bark and scrape it with a knife till I get a cotton ball sized ball of fluff.
 
I tend to bring a ziploc bag with some dryer lint with me.

The key points have been covered here though. Get fine, dry tinder and it should be burning quickly.
 
Dry birch bark: make shavings with the scraper thing. Poof.
Cotton discs (for makeup): turn it "inside out". Poof.
Cotton + PJ: same as above but burns longer.
A saw and resin wood or any wood: pull the saw slowly to make really small curls, almost like powder. The SAK saw and Bahco folding saw are great. Poof.
Scrape the steel slowly two times and quicker the third to make a small pile of unburnt firesteel in the pile of whatever. Poof and sparks.
Tampons: some brands works well, others dont. Cut it in half. Poof.
Algogel for hand cleaning: poof.
 
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