What am I doing wrong?

dougo83

dougo83

Joined
Feb 28, 2008
Messages
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I have been playing with my ferro rod thinger that I got off the pay-it-forward from jon. I am noticing a problem, namely that I cannot get a spark to ignite anything. I can get quite a shower of sparks, but nothing else. I tried various types of tinder; dried grass, cedar shavings, PJCB, alcohol-soaked CB, and nothing worked. I only got a response when I decided to douse the tinder pile with lighter fluid. I am not sure what I am doing wrong, but I am glad I noticed it before trying this in the woods or when absolutely needed.


Any suggestions or ideas or something?
 
Sounds like you just need a little practice. Took me awhile to get the hang of it. You may need to get the spark source closer to the tinder and make sure the tinder is in the center of the spark shower.
 
I have been so busy lately, I haven't had much time to post, but I just couldn't resist on this question as I struggled with this for a long time.

Make sure your tinder ball is dry first of all. Dead grass may seem dry, but leave it in a plastic bag in the sun for a while and condensation will accumulate on the bag. To dry it out, simply leave it in the sun or rub it around in your hands. For long term drying keep it in a pocket close to your body.

The next important thing is make sure your tinder ball in well aerated, by this I mean you want it to be a big fluffy ball so lots of air can pass through and so the individual fibers are seperated from each other. One giant compacted ball of tinder won't work. The best analogy I can come up with for this is it is way easier to light a pile of little twigs than it is one giant log. The best tinder I can think of is the fluff from cattails. Just break one apart and fluff up the pile. It will go up like a fireball with just a few sparks.

The final thing is get your ferro rod as close to your tinder as possible because the sparks cool quickly. I personally like resting the rod on the ground right on the edge of a tinder bundle.
 
I had the same problem! Used up half the rod trying to make the first fire. I tried with pine straw and dry grass. Lots of sparks,but no fire. I finally found success when I rubbed the straw or grass in my hands until it was almost powder. Then put the rod right in the middle of it and spark away. Also make sure to draw your striker along the rod in long slow strokes.
 
You can also try holding the striker still at the point you want the sparks to go and drawing the firesteel away from the tinder, rather than trying to aim a shower of sparks into the tinder with the striker.
 
I say this a lot around here. Always carry char cloth! This crowd is the preparedness crowd, so it very much suprises me that people don't have a little bit of this in a tiny ziplock in their wallet. Put it in your wallet. Always carry char cloth. Char cloth will catch a spark from anything and allow you to transfer a coal to tender. It is a much more dependable way of getting fire from ferro rods, or friction methods, and the only way from flint and steel. Additionally, its tiny and takes up no space. So why fight having it on you?
 
Fiddleback said:
I say this a lot around here. Always carry char cloth! This crowd is the preparedness crowd, so it very much suprises me that people don't have a little bit of this in a tiny ziplock in their wallet. Put it in your wallet. Always carry char cloth. Char cloth will catch a spark from anything and allow you to transfer a coal to tender. It is a much more dependable way of getting fire from ferro rods, or friction methods, and the only way from flint and steel. Additionally, its tiny and takes up no space. So why fight having it on you?
Click to expand...

The same could be said for a bic lighter...

To the OP- make sure your cotton balls have a dry spot to catch a spark. For what its worth, I've never had trouble lighting a cotton ball or anything with denatured alcohol on it.
 
it took me a while to learn too!
just keep practicing. i used almost half of my first ferro rod before I mastered fire making with it.
 
I'm with Andy on the charcloth recommendation. Charcloth will save you butt everytime. I keep some in a xs ziplock bag, tucked into my hat headband.
 
IUKE12 said:
I'm with Andy on the charcloth recommendation. Charcloth will save you butt everytime. I keep some in a xs ziplock bag, tucked into my hat headband.
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That hat headband idea is a GREAT idea. Just wrap a little with foil and there you go.
 
I'd say first make sure you practice with an easy tinder. PJ-cotton balls are great, but you don't want to mash too much vaseline on them, and you want to puff them before using by teasing out a bunch of threads to stick out. Another really good tinder is Coglan's firesticks. You just sort of scrape the stick with the edge of your knife to form a little pile of powder.

Now when striking - you want to get your tinder as close to the origin of the spark as you can. The spark is a smoldering chunk of metal filing from the fero rod. The longer it takes to fall from the surface of the rod to the tinder below, the less burn time it has to catch the finder on fire.

Bury the tip of your ferro rod right into the center of your tinder pile. I press on the fero rod to the ground keeping it immobile. Use controlled strokes on the striker. The trick (if striking towards the tinder) is to stop the striker right at the tinder, not knocking it into the tinder.

The other recommended way is to rip the ferro rod toward you while keeping the striker static. This prevents you from accidently knocking your tinder everywhere with the striker. However, by default your striker will always be further away from the tinder than can performed the first way.

I've gotten both ways to work, but I found with practice, I could get my tinder flaming faster the first way. For me, getting closer + controlled strokes works better than being further away with a large shower of sparks.
 
Dryer lint works well too, especially for learning on. I resurrected a 15 year old boyscout rod and after about 5 strikes got it to light up the lint. Snag a wad out of the trap and go to it :D
 
Fiddleback said:
That hat headband idea is a GREAT idea. Just wrap a little with foil and there you go.
Click to expand...

I'd be afraid of getting busted by the cops. Try convincing them that it's char!! LOL! But I agree with Andy 100%. Nothing works quite as well as a charcloth, especially if you make it out of an old terrycloth towel. All those little loops act like traps to catch and hold the sparks.

I've added one little item to my PSK; some magnesium shavings in a 1/2 inch of soda straw. Sprinkle that on top of a piece of char and you really have an unbeatable combination to get your fire started.

Stitchawl
 
Mag shaving are great but there are disadvantages to them. Burn time being the biggest IMO.

On your next hike/walk/trek keep your eyes out for old pine stumps. Open it up a little bit, if it smells like turpentine or pine sol it's Fatwood. Shave a pile up and strike away.

Good hunting,
J.
 
jb3920 said:
You can also try holding the striker still at the point you want the sparks to go and drawing the firesteel away from the tinder, rather than trying to aim a shower of sparks into the tinder with the striker.
Click to expand...

I use this technique and find it to be very effective... you can also control the amount of sparks and keep your tinder from flying all over the place:thumbup:
 
Fiddleback said:
Try putting one in a tiny ziplock back and slipping it behind a credit card in your wallet.;)
Click to expand...

I don't carry a firesteel daily so having charcloth on me isn't beneficial. I keep a few ways of starting fire in my hiking/camping kits.

Using char cloth is still relying on the same method to start your fire. If your firesteel breaks or is lost, you're still up poop creek. The lighter, while not 100% reliable, will save your bacon 9 times out of 10.

In a 'real' survival situation I will be using my lighter first and my steels second.
 
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