Flint and steel - how to get a spark?!

[Mrs_Ursus]

I'm after some advice from you good people if I may.

My other half bought me a primitive firelighting kit for Christmas (e.g. several lumps of flint, a curly-ended steel all trussed up in a very lovely reindeer leather pouch). Once my initial excitement had abated, I spent the latter half of Christmas Day becoming increasingly frustrated whilst bashing the 2 bits together in a variety of configurations. Occasionally I'd get the tiniest of sparks which seemed to have no consistancy in terms of what I did to generate them, nor which direction they went - hence I had absolutely no luck getting any to come into contact with my tinder (I tried with a variety of tinder: charcloth, birch bark, horsehoof fungus, cedar - all to no avail).

A couple of weeks on and I've made zero progress - all I have to show for my efforts are sore and grazed knuckles. I'm getting really disheartened now.

Can anyone please explain in really really simple steps how you successfully use a flint and steel? How do you hold it? How hard (& how quickly) do you strike the flint? Where do you have your tinder?

I've tried youtube but all I seem to be able to find is people effortlessly going 'clink clink' a couple of times and the next minute they have a nicely smouldering ember. If only it were that easy!

Any/all help/advice gratefully received!
Ta muchly in advance
Mrs_U

 

[durulz]

OK, here's how I do it.
I have the steel in the left hand and have the flint in the right.
I hold the steel steady and strike it with the flint in a downward motion. This sends sparks down, where I usually have a piece of charcloth sitting in a tin cup waiting for the sparks.
The idea is for the flint and steel to hit each other at an oblique angle - they are effectively glancing off each other rather than being smacked into each other. Do this in a quick, sure, short, motion; with one part of the kit scratching the other in a quick motion.
I am sure there must be Youtube videos to show you.
That's how I do it. There are several methods and I'm sure others will give you other tips and techniques.

 

[John Fenna]

Make sure the flint has a sharp edge and the steel is clean and bright.
Hold the flint horizontally across the index finger of a closed fist, held in place with the thumb. Hold the steel so that it is comfortable to strike downwards so the long edge has maximum contact with the flint.
strike the steel so that the steel scrapes down the edge so that the flint actually carves off some of the steel (the spark).
If you hold the flint in your left handand the steel in your right and are right handed the spark will tend to go upwards so the charcloth is best placed on top of the flint.
I hope that helps.....

 

[SimonM]

I'll try...assuming you are right handed:

Step 1 - getting sparks:

• Hold the flint in your left hand, the steel in the right.
• You are aiming to shave off some steel with the flint, so a sharp edge is needed on the flint.
• Keep the flint still, aim to graze the sharp edge at an acute angle with the steel (moving the steel vertically down) - a flick of the wrist is needed here, not lots of brute force.

Step 2 - catching the sparks:

• Place your tinder (char cloth) on top of the flint, about 1 or 2 millimeters back from the edge you are striking.
• When a spark is caught, it will glow a dull red...blow on it and it glows brighter and gets hotter.

Step 3 - taking the ember to flame.

• Make a birds nest from suitable material - dry pet bedding is good for practice with, but I find that plumbers hemp is excellent for this. I use it with the Scouts as it is always better to let them succeed on the first few goes!
• Place the glowing char cloth into your birds nest, put your back to the wind, raise the nest and blow for as long as you can.
• When you need to take a breath, lower the birds nest to waist level - this has 2 functions - you get a breath of clean air and keeps air moving through it.
• Keep blowing until you get flame and then build your fire....try not to burn your fingers!

HTH

Simon

 

[launditch1]

I know you said that youve already tried youtube but this is the simplest video on there http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzeY1usbiVk

Its the one i send to folk who have bought one of my steels
Keep at it and the best of british to you!

 

[hog]

Dont give up, I thought I was a special case being the only person on earth not able to do this, but suddenly it worked AND I got a fire going.

Just keep going and you will get there.

 

[JamieG]

Hi,
SimonM's advice is fantastic, I add a bit of Greater Reed Mace (Cat's Tail) down as an extender to the ember from the charcloth. I put the down in the centre of my tinder bundle then position the ember into this bed. When used with natural materials this helps ignition greatly. I use dry pet bedding for showing Scouts.
JamieG

 

[Daegurth]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzeY1usbiVk

is the one i keep looking at... one of these days i'll actually get some flint and steel to try it out.

edit: hmm, no video embedding.

edit2: beaten to it... that's what i get for only skimming the thread.

 

[Mrs_Ursus]

Thanks for your help folk

 

[Wayland]

This is my method

It's a bit different to the way some others do it so it might help if you're struggling

 

[Chainsaw]

mine here;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlcZ46RulOY

note how sharp the shard is to shave bits of steel off and the angle of holding the flint to the steel. The Dave Budd steel I was using was brand new and sparks a lot better now it's been worn in a bit.

Cheers,

Alan

 

[Miyagi]

Hi all,

Some fantastic footage of you all using flint and steel to get things started. To be honest I feel a bit of a fraud now and take my hat off to your firelighting skills. Puts me to shame.

Time for me to get me a new flint and steel to be honest - the old bit of hacksaw and rod I have is almost worn out, mind you I've been using it since 1986ish and the rod is as thin as a matchstick now.

I used it today (it was snowing steadily most of the day) in a local wood. The dog had streaked off after a deer so I stayed put and got a brew on.

Throughout the year I save wood shavings, pick up tinder etc and fluff from pockets and keep them all safe. I always have a wee bag of these with my flint n steel and brew kit.

I have a tub of calcium carbide rocks that I used to use, but which is now just powder so probably no use now. Mind you, pop the lid off and you get a whiff of gas all the same.

I must admit to cheating today though as I used a tuft of cotton wool, a dab of vaseline and a few "pubes" of kitchen scourer (not the Brillo soap pads) that I used with the flint and steel, THEN I added the tinder and so on.

The dog came back, minus the deer as expected, and pretty well goosed so he enjoyed the tea break too. He's only 18months so he'll hopefully learn.

Q? has anyone tried firelighting with pottasium permanganate or is it magnesium(?) and a cracked "Locketts" throat lozenge?

Many thanks for posting all those vids on Ya Tube!! Everyday's a schoolday. :-D

Liam