Lighting a fire using a flint and steel
On the spur of the moment I bought a flint and steel. This was mainly because it seems manly and cool. My main problem is I really struggle to light a fire with the thing and normally give up and use a lighter instead.
Can someone give me some pointers to lighting a fire successfully using a flint and steel?
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A quick search yielded this video, which seems straightforward enough.
I have never seen anyone use charcloth like in the video, but it seems to work nicely.
To summarize the video:
- Place the charcloth on top of the flintstone with your fingers.
- Strike the flint until the charcloth is lit.
- Put the glowing charcloth into a tinder bundle (old rope that has been pulled apart, wood shavings, dryer lint, cotton wool, etc.) and blow gently until you have a flame.
- Slowly add more fuel to the fire. Start with small twigs, dry grass, etc. until the flames are high and hot enough to add firewood.
Most importantly, have something that immediately starts glowing or burning, like wood shavings etc. Start the fire by igniting the smallest fuel at hand and build your way up from there.
You might consider "cheating" using wax paper or a magnesium bar, which can be bought online or in outdoor equipment stores.
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Simple demonstration https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVpGFAJmG3g.
The trick is to pull the Flint-stick towards you while keeping the scraper stationary. Make sure you are using something dry, tiny, or chard cloth, or fine steel wool works well. I've never had a problem with mine, but I still like to rough it a little more and use the Bow and Drill method.
This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/6649. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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