Using a fire steel with natural tinders

I

IA Woodsman

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Sep 21, 2009
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One very important skill to own is the use of the fire steel. It is reliable,cheap,waterproof, and easy to practice with. Once you get good with it you can focus on collecting tinders in the woods. They are free and satisfying to use.
Natural tinders take a little prep most of the time. Some have to be broken down and roughed up to expose the fibers which will catch a spark. Others have resins and need no prep.
Here are some examples of natural tinders.

Naturaltinders.jpg


Most of these tinders are covered in the video.
[video=youtube;DN2tjcXwVmg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN2tjcXwVmg[/video]
 
Wow, it's like you just read a post I made this very morning about never being able to start a fire with firesteel and natural material. Thanks!

I think I'm doing something wrong with the scraping, also. I can't even get fatwood to ignite... any ideas? Actually, I've held a match up to the same fatwood and it still didn't catch.
 
Thanks, IA. Another great video. I would like to know more about prepping the bark from trees like Cedar. What mechanical process do you use to make it fibrous?
 
Neat Video. I have used a few of these tenders but didn't know what they were called.

Thanks for sharing this knowledge with us. :thumbup:
 
uyotg said:
Wow, it's like you just read a post I made this very morning about never being able to start a fire with firesteel and natural material. Thanks!

I think I'm doing something wrong with the scraping, also. I can't even get fatwood to ignite... any ideas? Actually, I've held a match up to the same fatwood and it still didn't catch.
Click to expand...
Here are a couple of videos that might help.

[video=youtube;eltjfIeTsxU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eltjfIeTsxU[/video]

[video=youtube;6I_WSt4tJu0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I_WSt4tJu0[/video]
dogstar said:
Thanks, IA. Another great video. I would like to know more about prepping the bark from trees like Cedar. What mechanical process do you use to make it fibrous?
Click to expand...

I have been asked that same question by a few other people. It is easier for me to do a video, so I will do one on that.
 
This is a very important issue that is seldom addressed-fantastic how-to for beginners and seasoned bushcrafters alike.
 
IA Woodsman said:
Here are a couple of videos that might help...
Click to expand...

Awesome. Thanks, IAW. I'm going out this weekend and I'll do exactly what you did to start off until I get a fire going successfully, then I'll experiment some on my own to see what works better for me.
 
The view directly to the left of iawoodsman :D
0420-0906-1223-5753_fire_in_los_angeles_m.jpg
I'v always enjoyed your videos.
 
Last edited:
uyotg said:
Awesome. Thanks, IAW. I'm going out this weekend and I'll do exactly what you did to start off until I get a fire going successfully, then I'll experiment some on my own to see what works better for me.
Click to expand...

Good luck, keep us posted on your progress.
 
Great stuff Terry and very timely given a couple of posts that cropped up in the outdoor gear section questioning firesteels as survival tools.
 
Thanks IA Woodsman - that's the one I'll get.

Your videos have inspired me - thanks again!
 
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