Firesteel - Clematis

[Biddlesby]

I have been periodically trying over the past few weeks to reach sucess with my firesteel. Cotton wool is, of course, no problem, but my two major problems come in the form of feather sticks and clematis bark. The former I have succeded with once or twice and the latter never.

With the feather stick it must be an inadaquecy to manufacture fine enough shavings, which I hope can be solved with practice. With both I seem to be producing many sparks and wearing away my firesteel quite nicely; it may be a point to note that I am using the technique of moving the knife with the thumb whilst keeping the firesteel stationary. The clematis bark is dry (I have dried it in front of the fire before) and has been rubbed to fibres. It of course whooshes up with a match. Is it perhaps that the clematis bark is not dense enough or too dense? I have tried both extremes, both to no avail.

Any help/advice much appreciated .

 

[Longstrider]

Hi Biddlesby, You might find it more effective to hold the knife stationary close to the tinder and draw the firesteel against it hard, pulling the firesteel towards you. This can help by concentrating the spark shower onto one spot on the tinder rather than scattering it over a wider area. The clematis bark should be a good tinder, especially if it's well fluffed up and nice and dry. I've used it in the past and found that a handful of it, squashed and rolled between the hands to resemble a ball of string gives a neat ball that takes a spark well.
The feather sticks are generally harder to light than the clematis. As you suspect, the trick is to get a dense enough concentration of really fine feathers that are thin enough and dry enough for the sparks to ignite.
Try getting hold of some nice papery birch bark and scatter your sparks onto a heap of that. A mixture of fine stuff to catch the sparks well, and some slightly larger bits to sustain the flame will quickly see your fire lit.
As with so many things in life, the key to consistent success is practice (or as I like to think of it "playing about with my toys!" *LOL*)

P.s. Where abouts in Naarfolk do you "play"? I'm often out in that sort of direction myself.

 

[Biddlesby]

I can usually light birch bark in the first few strikes. I found that pulling the firesteel did not produce as many sparks but did seem to concentrate them as you say.

Nowhere exciting, usually just around my house in nearby patches of woodland, but I'm not in Norfolk as much as I'd like to be (I board at college in Colchester).

 

[British Red]

Try using jute as well (you know - brown hairy string). Fluff it and untangle down to fibres first. Cramp balls (fungus) glow hot from a fire steel but are tricky to find at first. Also try charcloth - that easy to make.

I'm with you though - hard to beat birch bark

Red

 

[demographic]

Try using jute as well (you know - brown hairy string). Fluff it and untangle down to fibres first. Cramp balls (fungus) glow hot from a fire steel but are tricky to find at first. Also try charcloth - that easy to make.

I'm with you though - hard to beat birch bark

Red

I know it might not be regarded as bushcraft but I struck a light with a swedish army firesteel and a teabag the other day, got to be Tetley though