Easy woods for good feather sticks?

[Billy1]

I'm currently trying to get better at making feather sticks. I have no problem getting the really small fine curls which ignite easily.

However, I am pretty terrible at making the big long pieces with lots of curls which should make make up the main part of the bundle and act as a longer lasting tinder/kindling. They normally break off, don't have enough curls, I'll cut too shallow or too deep, or I'll graze the side of my thumb along the edge of the wood etc.

I know what I need to do to improve these things, I was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions for types of wood (or the state of the wood) which are easy to carve into feather sticks. Again I'm not worried about how easy it is to ignite them when they are made, just that they are easy to make initially so I have an better time whilst practicing.

Thanks

 

[Dave]

I have a hard time and Ive been doing it for years. If you hold it slightly upwards, you get a 'bugle' down angle a different shape.
Concentrate toward the end of the cut and pry out slightly. Work your way around the stick.
Youre supposed to use your entire arm, and push down, instead of bending your elbow. Although in reality you do bend your elbow a bit.
Try small pine branches. Try quartering it first. You dont have to get ten curls everytime. So long as it ignites, and gets a fire going.
It just takes practice. I watch some people do it, and they seem to have a knack which I dont have...but I can always get a fire going.

Theyres loads of videos on youtube, but If you look at diagrams in 'older' books, which discuss feather sticks, from real woodsmen of the 19th century, or early 20th, the diagrams, show feather sticks which you and I would consider really poor by todays standards, and they seemed to get by ok...So dont let it bother you. Better to learn 2 or 3 good fire lay constructions I think.

http://paulkirtley.co.uk/2013/how-to-make-fantastic-feathersticks/

[video=youtube;TdbwJJkPGXA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdbwJJkPGXA[/video]

If youre having issues with the above methods, Id advocate, trying the 'gypsy flower method' off your knee. Knife fixed in one spot, so you dont slice open your femoral artery!

[video=youtube;Mw_K1C6Kd5s]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw_K1C6Kd5s[/video]

 

[barbourdurham]

i tend to keep the knuckle of my index finger as close to the stick as i can. this affords me good control over the angle of the cutting edge. if the blade sticks on the way down i dont force it, i just return to the top and go again but slightly to the side of the sticking point. i cant make beautiful looking feather sticks but they work! (i almost always use pine, from dead branches taken straight from the truck).

 

[Ruud]

Knot-free pieces of pine

 

[Goatboy]

Have you seen the ones over on the "Georgia Traditional 'Bushcraft' Christmas Trees" thread? Some of the biggest, nicest feather sticking I've seen. They were using chestnut I think.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[Macaroon]

Hazel every time. Get the long straight knot-free stave once, and cut into the lengths you want your feathersticks and you've got a few of them in one go.

 

[rancid badger]

Hazel, followed by split/riven ash, with birch just as good.

You can dictate the direction of the curls by adjusting the angle of your knife as you cut. I can't remember which way they go just now but try cutting with your blade level for a few cuts, then point tip down for a few,followed by lifting the tip and you'll find the curls change direction.

Nice long, shallow cuts with adjustment of the tip should give you nice bushy results.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

Steve.

 

[nephilim]

You know....I like larch. It catches easily, burns hot and spits which is ideal for spreading the flame a bit.

 

[threetree]

i always use hazel. You can coppice it, so theirs no unnecessary wasting of trees when you want to practice without a fire.

 

[Dave]

You've succeeded when you can make the last few curls so fine, that you can throw a spark on them, from a firesteel, and it lights.