Another review of a fire steel on YouTube. I'm sorry. It's just getting to me
Even my cat knows how to use one.
Even my cat knows how to use one.
A rant!
- Thread starter jimbo75
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Traditional or Ferro? I mean they're both fairly simple to use but I almost get a trad flint and steel video.
i don't watch them. They just appear on my list thing. And yes. Ferro rods. The most boring bushcraft accessory money can buy.You dont need to click play you know.
i use mine for lighting my gas stove. Not particularly interesting.
Another review of a fire steel on YouTube. I'm sorry. It's just getting to me
Even my cat knows how to use one.
Not everyone knows how to use them. It's basic to you, to most of us, but if someone got some fun out of making a video on it then fair play to them.
Everything you know can sometimes seem like common knowledge.
I watched a video a while back (sorry if it was someone here) but it was about making a debris shelter and the fella stopped the video because he didn't know how to bind one stick to another.
To me that is easy and straight forward... I could bind two sticks together with a root or some improvised twine... but this fella genuinely didn't know what to do.
On the other side of it, I've been on meets where people have said something that would appear to be common knowledge, but to me it was a revelation. Cotton balls smothered in vaseline for instance... I didn't know about that simple method of firestarting, but sat in front of me now is a massive bag of cotton balls and a tub of vaseline. I also have a large tin that I'm intending on making char cloth/char cotton balls with... might seem common knowledge to some, but to me its something interesting to explore in my 'laboratory'... its an experiment waiting to happen.
Fire steels, I can light a fire with one, but my eldest lad struggles with it... he tries and tries... and those YouTube videos may contain some useful tips for him that I can't provide because to me its just straight forward and easy... I stand there wondering why he can't do it.
I watched a video a while back (sorry if it was someone here) but it was about making a debris shelter and the fella stopped the video because he didn't know how to bind one stick to another.
To me that is easy and straight forward... I could bind two sticks together with a root or some improvised twine... but this fella genuinely didn't know what to do.
On the other side of it, I've been on meets where people have said something that would appear to be common knowledge, but to me it was a revelation. Cotton balls smothered in vaseline for instance... I didn't know about that simple method of firestarting, but sat in front of me now is a massive bag of cotton balls and a tub of vaseline. I also have a large tin that I'm intending on making char cloth/char cotton balls with... might seem common knowledge to some, but to me its something interesting to explore in my 'laboratory'... its an experiment waiting to happen.
Fire steels, I can light a fire with one, but my eldest lad struggles with it... he tries and tries... and those YouTube videos may contain some useful tips for him that I can't provide because to me its just straight forward and easy... I stand there wondering why he can't do it.
I feel your pain Jimbo75, as "reviews" go many of these ferro rod videos are useless and will continue to be until the packaging says what company actually made the rod and the composition percentages.
As "Instructional" videos this blind repetition is even possibly detrimental to the Bushcraft community. During a quick fire starting demo for my nephew and his friends before they went off on a DOE trip several heads exploded in confusion because I used Chinese Birch bark. The chorus of "but but birch bark's white" was kind of worrying. Wasn't sure whether they were going to accuse me of being a liar, incompetent or a heretic. Thankfully Google image search saved me from being lynched with my own knots as they confirmed Chinese Birch is indeed red.
However they do serve a purpose as a record of ones achievements for posterity, think of them as a modern day equivalent to a Scouting merit badge and they become less irritating.
As "Instructional" videos this blind repetition is even possibly detrimental to the Bushcraft community. During a quick fire starting demo for my nephew and his friends before they went off on a DOE trip several heads exploded in confusion because I used Chinese Birch bark. The chorus of "but but birch bark's white" was kind of worrying. Wasn't sure whether they were going to accuse me of being a liar, incompetent or a heretic. Thankfully Google image search saved me from being lynched with my own knots as they confirmed Chinese Birch is indeed red.
However they do serve a purpose as a record of ones achievements for posterity, think of them as a modern day equivalent to a Scouting merit badge and they become less irritating.
I do lol at how super uber alien they are. The whole concept of them being 'bushcraft' is hilarious. What happened to tradition? I guess they have become the new 'tradition'..
C'mon, cratch = sun power mega sparks. Hardly a feat or challenge.
C'mon, cratch = sun power mega sparks. Hardly a feat or challenge.
Look. You have to get used to the FACT that new people are popping up all the time.
a) they are clueless
b) some forum threads have such weird titles that the newcomers would never, ever find any useful information.
Just as a short note added in proof, I was a Biology/Botany professor for 31 years.
I had 31 years of new faces, 31 years of newcomers. Get over it.
a) they are clueless
b) some forum threads have such weird titles that the newcomers would never, ever find any useful information.
Just as a short note added in proof, I was a Biology/Botany professor for 31 years.
I had 31 years of new faces, 31 years of newcomers. Get over it.
There are several methods of using a fire steel some of which aren't obvious when you get your first one, although these videos can be repetitive there will sometimes be a method that you haven't seen before.
I have made many videos for Youtube but I rarely do instructional ones, instead I show what I'm doing and often get comments saying they had never seen that method before.
There are lot of really good people out there making videos which are informative and often funny. Its the prepper ones that get me going, look at all my kit you can steal from me while Im sleeping in till noon! lol
I have made many videos for Youtube but I rarely do instructional ones, instead I show what I'm doing and often get comments saying they had never seen that method before.
There are lot of really good people out there making videos which are informative and often funny. Its the prepper ones that get me going, look at all my kit you can steal from me while Im sleeping in till noon! lol
Some folk just enjoy making and sharing, I for one am extremely grateful for this. I've often found that watching something being done for the 100th time can still teach me something just from it being a different person delivering the information - a thought they say aloud, a sidenote on how they keep *whatever* dry, an ebay seller they had luck with... quite often there's more than face value in these vids, and I doubt it's the information they plotted out in their heads just before recording it.
Fair dos, nobody has to watch anything, but I hope nobody is ever put off from sharing.
Fair dos, nobody has to watch anything, but I hope nobody is ever put off from sharing.
Seconded, I remember the first time an instructor showed me that it was possible to hold the knife still and pull the fero rod up across the spine of the blade. Revelation, no more scraping down and putting the flames out, knocking the tinder flying etc etc. Or carefully scraping flakes off in poor conditions. Or using the rod to hold the tinder in place. Not all obvious, at least to me, first time around.
Sometimes I even use a lighter.....
You win the interwebs for the day.Flint and rotary wheel? Kinda almost a ferro rod and scraper, isn't it
