It's all about good tinder...

[Toadflax]

...or at least, that is my conclusion after getting my first Swedish firesteel just over a month ago. Since then I've been trying to get a flame to catch from all sorts of different tinders - and it's surprising how much I've worn down my firesteel in that short time. I'm happy now that I can get a fire going once I have the tinder lit (i.e. going through the stages of small kindling, etc), but I've been practising firelighting in preparation for lighting from a bow drill. I figured that I didn't want to expend all that effort getting a coal and then not be able to turn it into a fire.

I'm coming to the conclusion that if the tinder doesn't catch quickly, then you're wasting your time continuing to scrape at the firesteel - you need to work at improving the tinder you have or find something else.

I have had very good success with

• cotton wool
• charcloth (and have been able to light this with an old file and a bit of flint)
• well scraped birch bark
• properly dried cramp balls (though it can be tricky getting a spark to land on a cramp ball and stay there so I now tend to hollow them out a bit)

What I haven't found to work well (so far) are

• pulverised rotted wood
• feather sticks (though I have subsequently tried to light my feather sticks from a flame and they haven't really burned, so I suspect that they aren't very good feather sticks)
• dry grass (though this pretty well always works as a secondary tinder once I have a flame)
• clematis bark (I have found with some of these more fibrous tinders that the sparks tend to fall through the gaps)

So I'm wondering if this is other peoples' experience - if the tinder doesn't catch quickly then you need to improve or change the tinder.



Geoff

 

[British Red]

Punk wood (rotten wood) - no problem, but I char it like char cloth
Ferather sticks - they have to be fine but I can get them that fine with an axe (its just a practice thing)
Dry Grass (easy but you have to dry it out in your pocket for a while) - ditto clem bark

Very dry and very fine is the key!

I did a write up about firecraft in the "articles" section that spent about 7 pages exploring it but basically "fine and very dry" covers it for tinder!

Red

 

[Toadflax]

Yes, I would have to confess that my 'influences' on how to light a fire with sparks are:

• Ray Mears (TV and books)
• British Red (BCUK articles)
• Wayland (his own web site)
• [EDIT]Tadpole (charcloth article)[/EDIT]

If I've missed any other BCUK people whose written word I have studied, I'll acknowledge them in due course, but these are the people who spring to mind.


Geoff

 

[gregorach]

There's the old 80gsm paper trick - you'll never get it to catch first time, but after a few strikes you can char it enough that it will catch in the end...

Feather sticks... I've done it before, but only with softwood that's been indoors for a long time. Lots and lots of practice required to be able to do it reliably in the field, I reckon.

I think everyone wears out their first firesteel in double-quick time - there's just so many things to set fire to!

 

[Toadflax]

One of the problems that I have with the firestick is that the sparks seem to go all over the place (or at least when I'm up the garden playing in the twilight to avoid the obscenities coming out of the TV when the rest of the family are watching Gordon "£!%^&*£$%" Ramsay).

My current technique is to hold my Mora with my hand resting on top of my foot , with the blade just above the tinder, and then to pull the firestick back to scrape it agains the back of the knife. This seems more accurate for directing the sparks than scraping the knife down against the stationary firesteel.



Geoff

 

[falcon]

The secret with dry grass and clemetis bark (....which it took me quite a while and a friend's advice to come to terms with....) is to buff it up vigourously so as to break down the fibres. Once you've done that enough it lights pretty easily.

Another friend is also a dab hand with feather sticks and there are two things which make him successful. One is when you've shaved your "normal" feathers, shave up several more very, very small fine ones with the tip of your knife.....these are the ones which will catch. The second one is the action with the firesteel. After a bit of practice it's possible to achieve greater control by applying backward pressure with your knife against the steel and to apply the forward push with the thumb of the hand holding the firesteel (ie. the left hand if you're holding the knife with your right hand). You only need to strike the bottom 1cm or so of the steel and, assuming the spine of the knife has a decent edge, you get a concentration of hot sparks exactly where you want them.....and there's no big follow through with the knife to scatter your tinder. Give it a go....

 

[Chay]

I use the exact same striking technique as you Geoff and it does seem to achieve the best results. The best tinder that i find are cramp balls that are brown on the inside, these don't even seem to need drying in my pocket. Also there are a few dead standing oaks in a forest near to me, they have kinda hollowed out and the rotting stuff left in the middle are amazing for an ember, catch with one strike and rarely go out.
I will try to get some pictures of it and post them on here next time i go.

Chay

 

[Ogri the trog]

My current technique is to hold my Mora with my hand resting on top of my foot , with the blade just above the tinder, and then to pull the firestick back to scrape it agains the back of the knife.

Geoff

Hi Goeff,
My favourite method in striking the firesteel is to hold it in my left hand, palm forward, little finger grasping the top of the steel. The back of my left index finger both supports the tip of the firesteel and holds the tinder in place. Right hand holds the knife and the only force is to hold the spine against the steel - definately not pushing down! Sparks are generated by pushing forward with the tip of your left thumb and not allowing the knife spine to drop off the end of the firesteel. An alternative is to hold the left thumb rigid and pull back on the handle of the knife so that the tip pivots down the steel. Just ensure that you don't smother the potential flame with a large lump of cold knife blade or scatter the tinder by pushing the spine too far!

Good luck

Ogri the trog

 

[Toadflax]

Do you all have trouble in the Winter?

I've had great success with birch bark over the Spring and Summer, and stocked up at the weekend on a good collection of birch bark, but found it impossible to light when I've tried over the past couple of nights. It has been fairly damp, and temperature at or below freezing, but my normal method of scraping up a good pile of shavings from the inner side of the birch bark just isn't catching.

My firesteel is getting really thin now after all the scraping and I'm thinking now that if the tinder doesn't catch quickly from a swedish firesteel, then it probably isn't going to - i.e. if it doesn't go quickly then I've either got to improve the tinder or give up on lighting a fire this way.

Anyone else with similar experiences?


Geoff

 

[Dr Onion]

You can help out the birch bark scrapings by adding some scrapings from your fire steel - seems to work most of the time for me this way.

Dr O

 

[chem_doc]

And I thought I was the king of the "Hey, can I light that on fire with my Firesteel?" game.

One thing that I've "discovered" messing around with this is that while I'm pretty bad at carving feathersticks, you can reather readily build up a mound of "stickless feathers" that'll take the spark readily.

Some other things that I've messed with:

Spent dryer/fabric softener sheets (this surprised me, as they're not plant matter)
The inner bark of many trees (it just has to be worked until it's a very fine fibrous mess)
Wax paper (I just love this one... It's waterproof and easy folded up to take up less space)
Paper folded over your knife and used to strike the firesteel works well too (there was a video on here somewhere about this technique)

And remember, the more whatever it is you're trying to light looks like a cotton ball or somthing very fine/thin, the easier it will be to light. A lot of stuff needs some massaging to get it into that condition. A rule of thumb I've come across that seems to work pretty well is that if it's not going to be lit by a simple match, it's not going to be lit by a Firesteel.

For example, the only way I've ever gotten punk wood to light is by literally grinding it up in my hands to make super fine sawdust. That sawdust needs to be bone dry, but it will take a spark from a Firesteel and slowly, and in my hands, a pretty small flame at first, burn.

 

[spamel]

I posted a vid showing the best way to use a firesteel that means your firesteel isn't worn to a nubbin in no time! I've lit wet birch bark in the rain, so you shouldn't have any trouble, but bark from different birches tend to light easier than others. I've had a red tinged bark before that wouldn't light with a lighter!

 

[bushcraftbob]

I've been practising with feather sticks over the last few weeks and can now light them consistently with my Firesteel. I've been using very dry willow which I find carves really well and takes a spark easily too. I've even managed to cut down a fresh stick (hazel I think), dry it for a day or two and light it while its still relatively green. I've used the technique as described above, do your normal curls then some really fine ones to take the spark. A sharp knife is a must, I was struggling to produce thin enough curls with my 2 yr old Mora (my sharpening techniques leave a lot to be desired!) but now I have me new one its very sharp and much easier! A good tip which I found on this site somewhere(?) is to score some lines down the stick which makes making the curls, especially the fine ones much easier.

 

[Greg]

My latest find although no doubt its been used before by people on here is lint from a tumbledryer, I have collected a small bag of it and have managed very easily to blow it to flame after getting an ember on charcloth using a traditional flint and steel.
I also got hold of some Cedar Bark from Ogri (Thanks fella!) that when prepared will blow to flame using the same method.
Other man-made tinders that I have found very good are Magfire Sheets (Treated Compressed paper) and Wetfire blocks(shaved).

I personally find that the very thin paper like bark from certain species of birch (I've read that some people on here actually call it the 'Paper Tree' I don't know if this is it's proper name but that is what I call it now!) is the easiest to get to catch a spark and doesn't need much preparation either.

As yet I haven't had much luck on the feather stick but as some of you have already said it will come with practice. At the moment I use them as kindling to get the fire established once I have a good flame from the tinder.
Note to one's self: Must practice getting feathersticks to catch a spark!

Geoff, speak to Ogri and ask him to describe how he sets up his bow drill, he showed me his method and I haven't failed since and it doesn't make you expend as much energy as the normal method!

 

[Ogri the trog]

Geoff, speak to Ogri and ask him to describe how he sets up his bow drill, he showed me his method and I haven't failed since and it doesn't make you expend as much energy as the normal method!

Greg - you're welcome
Geoff - no need to worry, I'll post the photo for all to see.
Instead of using the classic "Single Twist" method, I go for a very loose string, tied in a clove hitch around the spindle with the spare string wound onto either end of the spindle (three turns should suffice, giving six revolutions per bow stroke). Seeing as the string is now secure, and with a little practice, it can't slip and wont flick out of the string during early attempts. Shamelessly stolen from Seoras - cheers buddy!

Please ignore the actual photo - it's a hand drill dressed up to show how I lace a bow drill spindle!

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[bushcraftbob]

I learnt the lesson of its "all about good tinder" the hard way the day before xmas eve.

I planned to go in to our local copse and build a small fire to roast some chestnuts on the embers - but I failed in getting the fire going! I was gutted. I planned on collecting some tinder on my way to the copse. It was a very foggy morning and the all the grass i could find was sopping wet. Anyway I collected a few good bundles and put them in my trouser pocket in an attempt to dry it while i was walking to look for good kindling.

So after spending 45 mins scraping the damp bark off my dodgy kindling and building my fire pyramid I got down to the nitty gritty of starting the fire. I managed to get a flame by scraping a small piece of silver birch bark (which i had brought with me so v dry) but the grass would not go in to a flame for love nor money! I fluffed it to try and make it fine but still just too damp. I also collected some dried hemlock plant, which usually is very good for firelighting but even that was too damp! So no roasted chestnuts for me that day - next time I will take some a good dry tinder bundle with me. Lesson learnt