My firesteel turned up today, I had a quick blast on it and got showers of sparks first time. I can only thank Jason for sending this to me and getting it here so quickly, I think he sent it on Monday, that's not bad to Germany I think you'll agree!!
Also, this is the second one he has sent, but Royal Mail or BFPO have lost the original one, which is a bit of a nuisance. So thanks very much Jason.
I'm off to Canada in the next few days on a military exercise, and this will be going with me. Hopefully, I will get R+R out to the Rockies and use this as my primary fire lighting source. I will review it properly as soon as I get back, and hopefully have some nice photos to put up of the terrain and the firesteel in operation. For now, I'll do a first impressions to whet the appetite.
It was safely packaged in a jiffy bag and the three bits inside were wrapped aswell. The firesteel is good looking, I love the elegant curves, and it came with a small plastic bag full of charcloth and a nice piece of flint to get me started. The missus bought me a leather drawstring pouch in suede for my fire kit, and I love the way it all looks together.
I took a small piece of charcloth and rested it atop the flint, and held it in place with my left thumb. Then I skimmed the flint in a sweeping arc with the firesteel, and the charcloth took the spark straight away! Is this beginners luck? I tried another piece. Sweep, strike, spark, glow. Fantastic!! I reckon my daughter could do this. Hang on, lets try.
Well, she's only four, and she didn't light the charcloth, but she got sparks from it all by herself!! Well done Jo'anne!!
I can just imagine this being used by an actual viking, starting his fire up to get a joint of meat cooked, washed down with copious amounts of mead and debauchery, excellent!! The firesteel is addictive, I'm glad I also made some charcloth, I can't get over the magic of making fire!!
This is priced the same as the woodlore firesteel, but looks much more traditional, if you look at the ones on rays' site, the arms seem to be swept back, whereas Jason has neatly tucked the arms back onto the firesteel. It just looks better, trust me!!
I will be playing with this for the rest of the evening, the missus will be pleased!! Cheers once again Jason, and if anyone is thinking of buying one, you can't go wrong with one of his firesteels. More info when I get back from Canada!!
Cheers
Spamel