Uses of Chakma

M

maverick3981

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I had always believed that the Chakma can be used to also start a fire apart from fix some curls on the edge of the Khukuri. Is this correct? If yes, then how can one start a small fire using a chakma?
 
According to Ebay they are Ninja, torture, throwing, skinning knives.;)

Like Harper said, in the old days they would carry a pouch with some tinder and a piece of flint to start fires.

Here's a picture of an old all steel chakma with the tinder pouch.

Steve
Longwoodhilt.jpg
 
Apparently, this had a lot to do with why the chakma and karda are made as a set: you strike them together (spines, of course, not blades), and that creates the spark, lighting whatever you were carrying in your tinder pouch!
 
I have a Swedish Firesteel as well. The magnesium sparks are a challenge to light all but super dry, fine tinder.

I tried it on fine wood shavings, fuzz sticks and newspaper and it didn't light at all - which means with my level of survival skills, I'd be screwed.

I would be VERY curious how a chakma and flint would work in comparison...

I've used the old standby: Firesteel and cotton ball slathered with vaseline. Guaranteed ignition every time. I always carry three in an empty film canister when I'm camping.
 
MrMike said:
I have a Swedish Firesteel as well. The magnesium sparks are a challenge to light all but super dry, fine tinder.
Click to expand...

I think those firesteels are actually composed of ferrocerium, rather than magnesium. Magnesium is used as an intensely burning tinder itself, with the ferrocerium producing sparks.
 
I have played around quite a bit with flint and steel firelighting. The rock does not have to be true flint.... it can be chert or quartz - and possibly other similar rocks as well.

I've often used quartz because it is more common around here.

Although I've read otherwise, in my experience the only substance that will easily 'catch' the spark made with the flint and steel is charcloth. There is plenty of information around on how to make this from pure cotton cloth.

I have obtained sparks by striking my 'flint' with other rocks and softer steel, however the only metal that works really well to create showers of hot sparks is steel with a good carbon content which has a hard temper. I find that a bit of an engineers file is ideal for striking sparks. I grind the teeth off the edge of the file (without overheating it thus softening it) to create the striking edge.

The Chakmas accompanying some modern khukuris may not be hard enough to create a shower of sparks when striking a flint.

The firesteel 'flints' are not a natural stone. They are made up of a mix of metals I believe. Totally different to the old tinderbox / possibles bag flint.

Getting a spark from a flint and steel can be relatively easy compared to turning that spark into a flame. Watch out for bits of flying flint when striking sparks.
 
MrMike said:
I have a Swedish Firesteel as well. The magnesium sparks are a challenge to light all but super dry, fine tinder.

I tried it on fine wood shavings, fuzz sticks and newspaper and it didn't light at all - which means with my level of survival skills, I'd be screwed.

I would be VERY curious how a chakma and flint would work in comparison...

I've used the old standby: Firesteel and cotton ball slathered with vaseline. Guaranteed ignition every time. I always carry three in an empty film canister when I'm camping.
Click to expand...
Dryer lint works very well as well, although I have ignited fine cedar bark shavings with my firesteel. But as you'd expect, starting a fire with a spark isn't as easy as using a match or a cigarette lighter and so you need to start with something very dry and fine. And also in response to some other comments, thats right, firesteels are not magnesium. As I recall reading on the internet somewhere they are ferrocerium, that being some kind of alloy. Iron and magnesium I believe. If used properly they can do more that just create sparks, you can get tiny molten balls of very hot metal. I carry a bar of magnesium also for shavings. Get yourself a good tinder ball, shave some magnesium into it, shower some sparks off a good firesteel into it, and if you don't get a fire my next recommendation is a propane torch! lol
 
charcloth is a traditional tinder, as is the parts of certain dried mushrooms.

see this linky, it has some tips

tho i have not used one, the engineer in me likes the compression fire lighter, where a piston (wood or horn, etc, not metal) is used (with a bit of tinder stuck on the end) inside a mating cylinder, it is struck by hand to compress the air inside, which heats the air to the tinder's ignition point (like a diesel). it is then opened and the glowing tinder piece tipped onto more tinder, and then you have a fire. some surprisingly 'primitive' societies, like in new guinea, use these, they can start afire about as fast as we can with a match or lighter. fairly sophisticated use of their resources i'd say...their societies are really quite sophisticated and 'primitive' is not really the word to use.
 
My friend kala has identified some kind of bamboo shavings as a common tinder type in nepal. However, I hear you about dryer lint: that's what I've stored up, since I've got OODLES of the stuff!
 
I use belly button lint, which i apparently have unlimited supplies of. :eek::barf::o:D
 
MrMike said:
I have a Swedish Firesteel as well. The magnesium sparks are a challenge to light all but super dry, fine tinder.

I tried it on fine wood shavings, fuzz sticks and newspaper and it didn't light at all - which means with my level of survival skills, I'd be screwed.

I would be VERY curious how a chakma and flint would work in comparison...

I've used the old standby: Firesteel and cotton ball slathered with vaseline. Guaranteed ignition every time. I always carry three in an empty film canister when I'm camping.
Click to expand...

The trouble is that you're using shavings. Those are too coarse a material for the fero rod sparks to ignite.

What you need to do is scrape dry wood - or bamboo - or whatever. I use fatwood when I have it. Hold a blade almost at right angles to the lumber. Scrape either with the edge or with a sharp cornered spine, so you get very fine curls. Collect a good handful of those and hit them with fero rod sparks. That should improve your luck.
 
Raymond1000 said:
The trouble is that you're using shavings. Those are too coarse a material for the fero rod sparks to ignite.
Click to expand...

Yep, it's tricky if your tinder isn't just right. I once managed to start a fire with a ferrocerium rod using dried leaves I crushed up by rolling them between my hands. Took some gently blowing on the embers to nurture an actual flame, but I got it eventually.
 
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