One question people tend to ask when using natural materials with flint and steel is does that material need to be processed. By this I mean dried over an extended period of time there by making it's use in the field within say 24 hours impossible. There are a few materials which can be gathered and used that same day that will actually catch a spark from a carbon steel implement such as a purpose made striker or edge tool, milkweed ovum comes to mind but are there any others? I never had any luck with fluff catching the marginal red spark from carbon steel and all the chaga I showed in other threads were dried for weeks or months. But what about wet and wild chaga?
I gathered this around 7 pm during an outing the previous day. It rained on and off so the environment was damp.
The chaga felt wet so put the smallest piece in a plastic bag. By doing this no moisture would escape.
Now for the untamed rock. The question of how best to get a sharp edge on a rock to be used to toss a spark from the carbon steel is another issue which often arises. In keeping with the minimal processing theme I looked through this bunch of natural rocks for the sharpest one. No knapping or smashing on my part.
This one looks great! I Kinda lucked out here. Also foraged some cedar bark.
So it's now the next day around 12 pm on the top of another mountain. The chaga and rock are double bagged.
The temperature was around 82F with some wind. I would call it sunny but a few times the sun was obscured by clouds. The chaga was wet so my plan was to limit my processing to 1 hour in an attempt to simulate a field firestart with these marginal materials within a reasonable amount of time and effort. I tried to dust the chaga however it was too wet, clumping rather than producing finer dust. Used the same untamed stone as a sander/scrapper. The clumped up chaga was placed in a leaf near the larger chuck. I then walked around the top of the mountain looking for bears and berries.
Also took the opportunity to fluff and dry the chaga bark in the sun.
Processing done. This takes only a few minutes.
It's a GO!
45 minutes later I made my first attempts. The larger chuck still felt damp refusing to catch a spark but the little clumps did however requiring many more strikes than usual. The coal also expanded slower. Dumped the leaf contents into the tinder bundle. I was actually afraid it would go out which again wouldn't have been a concern if bone dry.
Success. It was a bunch harder using wet chaga than dry but that's not surprising. To gather materials for this fire I covered over 10 miles and it took a good deal of time to make this work. That's one reason why the video is so long for a simple firestart. Granted I am no expert at anything so perhaps this might be easier for another. In short it's possible to make wet and wild chaga & untamed stone produce flames.
Thanks for looking.
My long winded video for people who have too much time on their hands.
[video=youtube;Zt-iLLYUoR8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt-iLLYUoR8[/video]
I gathered this around 7 pm during an outing the previous day. It rained on and off so the environment was damp.
The chaga felt wet so put the smallest piece in a plastic bag. By doing this no moisture would escape.
Now for the untamed rock. The question of how best to get a sharp edge on a rock to be used to toss a spark from the carbon steel is another issue which often arises. In keeping with the minimal processing theme I looked through this bunch of natural rocks for the sharpest one. No knapping or smashing on my part.
This one looks great! I Kinda lucked out here. Also foraged some cedar bark.
So it's now the next day around 12 pm on the top of another mountain. The chaga and rock are double bagged.
The temperature was around 82F with some wind. I would call it sunny but a few times the sun was obscured by clouds. The chaga was wet so my plan was to limit my processing to 1 hour in an attempt to simulate a field firestart with these marginal materials within a reasonable amount of time and effort. I tried to dust the chaga however it was too wet, clumping rather than producing finer dust. Used the same untamed stone as a sander/scrapper. The clumped up chaga was placed in a leaf near the larger chuck. I then walked around the top of the mountain looking for bears and berries.
Also took the opportunity to fluff and dry the chaga bark in the sun.
Processing done. This takes only a few minutes.
It's a GO!
45 minutes later I made my first attempts. The larger chuck still felt damp refusing to catch a spark but the little clumps did however requiring many more strikes than usual. The coal also expanded slower. Dumped the leaf contents into the tinder bundle. I was actually afraid it would go out which again wouldn't have been a concern if bone dry.
Success. It was a bunch harder using wet chaga than dry but that's not surprising. To gather materials for this fire I covered over 10 miles and it took a good deal of time to make this work. That's one reason why the video is so long for a simple firestart. Granted I am no expert at anything so perhaps this might be easier for another. In short it's possible to make wet and wild chaga & untamed stone produce flames.
Thanks for looking.
My long winded video for people who have too much time on their hands.
[video=youtube;Zt-iLLYUoR8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt-iLLYUoR8[/video]
