Firesteel advice wanted

[Calurix]

I have had a firesteel for a while but never used it until this week and now I find I have two problems .

1. All I can get to light is cotton wool. I watched a few clips on the internet which seem to light all maner of tinder easily, what tinder should I try apart from cotton wool ?.

2. I have a folding Spiderco knife which throws a good shower of sparks when I draw the back of it down the firesteel, but when I try with my fixed blade knife (I think it is carbon steel) I cannot get sparks. Any idea why ?.

Any advice to help is appreciated.

Cal

 

[marcusleftthesite]

Whats the spine like on the fixed blade ? I find the blade has to have nice sharp 90 degree angles to work properly.

 

[JonathanD]

Toilet roll goes up a treat. Try scraping the tip slowly but quite hard, not so you are trying to create sparke but more like trying to shave large chunks off. You'll soon get it.

 

[Golb]

You never used it until now? Maybe you still have to remove the black oxidation layer? So the more you use it, the better it will perform. And like mentioned earlier, the spine of you knive needs to have a sharp edge.

 

[lannyman8]

Birch bark is good, use the very fine layers that are all fluffy and wispey..........few sparkes and they light just like that........realy dry grass is good.....this time of year though the air is damp and tinder will be the same... this makes it harder to light.......in the summer most things are ok to light if they are dry and soft/fluffy...

also think about how you use the fire steel......try pulling the steel away from your blade and the tip of your blade(thats the back edge not the sharp side).....have a play around and see what works for you

 

[Calurix]

Thanks for the replies,

You were right Marcus the back of the knife did not have a great 90 degree angle where I was trying to use.
Using more pressure on the steel and moving the knife slower definetly helped I managed to light cotton wool toilet paper and I fluffed up some hessian sack and got that to light also. Now to get some birch bark .

 

[rancid badger]

The thin papery stuff is okay and excellent in a tinder bundle but the thicker stuff is much easier to carry and does not suffer from damp as badly as the papery bark.

You simply scrape up the thin layers from the bark as you need it and even if it's wet, you can scrape away the damp outer layers and then shave up fresh, dry tinder.

I always collect and use the thickest bark I can find and only ever from dead tree's, usually lying on the ground but occasionally from standing dead wood.

The only way to get this to work efficiently, is with practice.


If you pm your address, I'll post you a few bits you can practice on.

best wishes

R.B.

 

[Robbi]

now here's a strange question,......do you guys hold the firesteel stationary and scrape the knife down it, or do you hold the knife stationary and pull the firesteel back from it ?

 

[JonathanD]

now here's a strange question,......do you guys hold the firesteel stationary and scrape the knife down it, or do you hold the knife stationary and pull the firesteel back from it ?

I scrape the knife down the last half inch of the firesteel whilst holding the tip right next to, or over the tinder.

 

[ged]

For some strange reason I find I'm a lot better at it when I hold the striker in my right hand and the steel in my left than the other way round.

It's worth trying several different makes of firesteel, some are a lot better than others. The one on the genuine 'BlastMatch' is my favourite, I have a Chinese ripoff copy of it and it's noting like as good. Almost anything will do for the striker as long as it's got a nice sharp corner on it.

 

[marcusleftthesite]

now here's a strange question,......do you guys hold the firesteel stationary and scrape the knife down it, or do you hold the knife stationary and pull the firesteel back from it ?

I find it best to keep the blade stationary and slowly drag the f/steel back

 

[rancid badger]

Hah! it just goes to show.................

I always use the same method as Jonathan and that's how I teach it to my students too.

However!:

experiment; develop your own method, then practice it till you can do it first time.

all the best

R.B.