Hi all,
First post (aside from my introductory post).
Ages ago I purchased a cheap Mil-Tec firesteel which has always been okay for use with my Trangia (meths burner) or my Coleman F1 lite, however as I plunge further into the bushcraft rabbit hole I find it frustrating that I can't get a flame on anything other than (dry) cotton wool balls. (It wouldn't light my p-jelly soaked ones)
I have tried Light My Fire tinder sticks which I shaved down into a bundle with some tinder but it just won't take.
This compounded by the wonderful pre-spring blanket of snow we are currently inundated with.
The striker I have been using is the standard one that came with the steel, but I have read that the striker is somewhere between rubbish and appalling.
I've tried adjusting how I strike, how close to the tinder the steel was but no dice.
I could resign myself to carrying cotton wool with me everywhere but that won't satisfy my need to start a fire more naturally (with a firesteel, I'm not bow drill ready yet...)
So my question after all that:
Does the cost of a fire steel affect how well it works or is it more probably something I am doing wrong?
Sorry for the long winded post
Thanks in advance
Joe
First post (aside from my introductory post).
Ages ago I purchased a cheap Mil-Tec firesteel which has always been okay for use with my Trangia (meths burner) or my Coleman F1 lite, however as I plunge further into the bushcraft rabbit hole I find it frustrating that I can't get a flame on anything other than (dry) cotton wool balls. (It wouldn't light my p-jelly soaked ones)
I have tried Light My Fire tinder sticks which I shaved down into a bundle with some tinder but it just won't take.
This compounded by the wonderful pre-spring blanket of snow we are currently inundated with.
The striker I have been using is the standard one that came with the steel, but I have read that the striker is somewhere between rubbish and appalling.
I've tried adjusting how I strike, how close to the tinder the steel was but no dice.
I could resign myself to carrying cotton wool with me everywhere but that won't satisfy my need to start a fire more naturally (with a firesteel, I'm not bow drill ready yet...)
So my question after all that:
Does the cost of a fire steel affect how well it works or is it more probably something I am doing wrong?
Sorry for the long winded post
Thanks in advance
Joe