Fire skills

[Eric C]

Okay, here's a request for one of those gems we lost when Andy had to leave us for a while (if you see this Andy, thanks again for your service).
So I have my flint and steel (thanks again Pete). I can make my charcloth. I can make a spark . . . but then it goes out! What I don't remember and thought would be worthwhile for someone to post here is what other items do we need to get the fire going? I do have some- what we call here- fat lightered pine. I've also once heard it called "pitchy" wood. I was thinking of slicing off long, thin strips and weaving it into a birds nest into which to put my charcloth and- what other item?
So, what is that item that I am missing? What do you think of the idea with the lightered wood? What other methods do you use to start fires? And no! A cigarette lighter doesn't count!

[Peter Remling]

Even dried grasses will work well. Take a hand full and rub them together so they start to fray and break up. Make a small cup out of them and allow your sparked tindercloth to fall into it, blow out it and increase the force of your blowing once you see smoke starting to billow out of the far side. It will either burst into flames or die out and you'll have to try it again. If it does go out and you have to start again , the most common problem is you're not blowing onto the embers hard enough.

A sudden gust of wind may blow out a fire, but you need a good strong steady wind to get one going.

[Steven S.]

My person favorite material for making "spark nests" (as I call them) is shredded hemp. I have a ton of 3" by 1/8" dia. pieces of 3-ply hemp in my fire kit, and when I want to make a fire i will unravel a piece and shred one or two of the plies. It usually catches almost immediately.... so, i would suggest something like this to start, so you can get an idea of what you are trying to achieve with the grass. Then, you want to try starting a fire with it. for me, what works best is to set up two logs about 4" apart and build up a small layer of TINY twigs spanning the distance with the "nest" somewhat underneath and sticking out (by the way, the whole assemblage is parallel with the wind and the sticking out part faces up wind so that when you go to spark it, you are facing downwind.... this makes it easier to provide oxygen to the fire and block out the wind if it is too strong). Once you get the twigs lit, quickly add more and larger twigs/sticks/logs until you have a nice fire (make sure you put the new stuff on fast enough, but dont smother it).

Also, there are some interesting fire building designs in the Air Force Field Manual, including a Dakota fire pit.. this design in particular seemed rather applicable to rangers.

[KerryTracker]

Stephen, thanks for the tip with Hemp. I have had similar success with Jute. It can be found in most hardware stores and elsewhere. It comes from the inner bark of a tree. It really catches the coal quickly.

My favourite fire starting method is fire by friction. Using a bow drill kit kept dry in my pack, getting a coal is doable even in the wet SW Ireland.

I also have flint and steel but find the ambient moisture sucks all of the heat out of my kit.

[Pwyll]

Greetings, all,

For those who use flint and steel, what have you found to be a good steel for this purpose? I understand that it should be quite hard, so as to get a good spark. But as for what to use?

[Peter Remling]

Virtually any hardened steel will throw sparks. If you don't happen to have one you can use a fine file. It's a good all purpose sharpening tool anyway. I took a fine file and ground off the handle/tang to make it small enough to fit in a belt pouch.

The only drawback to a file is that it chews the hell out of your flint.

You can take a piece of steel barstock heat it with a torch and quench it in water or oil and come up with a decent steel. Bend it to it's desired shape in a vise before heating it though, unless you have forged iron before otherwise you'll snap quite a few pieces before getting one that works.

[Eledhwen]

I find carbon steel works best. You can forge a nice piece from an old file which takes off most of the teeth.

Siani

[Le-Loup]

This is a video I made some time ago. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSwLly61QJs

If you are using charred cloth, it could be that [a] it is not charred enough, the material is impregnated with a fire retardent,[c] it is not pure cotton or linen [d] the material comosition is just not the best.

I recommend you start using plant tinders instead of charred cloth. Woodsrunners/Rangers only used charred cloth in the home, not in the woods.

This is another good one to watch:

And this one:

[Jonathan B.]

Great videos I'll have to give your method a try and I may switch from using char cloth all together.

[Dailir]

Well, it sounds like you're not really missing anything except perhaps more tinder, and it might help to use a larger pice of charcloth. Whenever I make charcloth I make copious amounts because I end up using quite a bit more charcloth than most should need. Although, with the tinder, it can be nearly anything thin and fiberous.

[Jon]

Yea, char-rope works best for me and the ember seems to stay alight a lot easier than with char cloth.

[Le-Loup]

Just a quick reminder for the Pilgrims on here.
Tinder is a substance that will catch & hold a spark struck from steel with a sharp edged hard rock. Soliceous rocks work best such as chert, agate, flint and quartz etc.
Kindling can be anything that will take flame easily such as dried grass, coconut fibre, disused bird's nests, some barks, twigs, dried leaves, dried bracken fern, small sticks. You get the idea.
If you have plenty of tinder which is prepared properly, and you have some good dry kindling, then you should not have a problem. IF the kindling is damp, then I suggest you use a candle under it to dry it out. The candle can be lit directly from the smouldering tinder.

Candle & Tinder Fire Lighting.

Spunks were generally for use in the home, though Gandalf may have used them in the woods along with the elves.

[Le-Loup]

I'm back! But only just. Who would have thought I could have had so many problems in two Sydney hospitals! Never again!

Followers of my blog & others on other forums have been asking me for ages to make a video on how to make fire with the Fire-Bow. Many other people have made such videos, so I was reluctant to make one of my own at the time. But finally I decided to make one.
This was made before my recent complete hip replacement surgery, & I had difficulty in getting down on the ground. I decided to improvise & made a platform from stacked tomahawk targets.
Please note that I add one other process to this fire making method, I use extra tinder to transfere the ember from the tinder dust to the kindling.

Part 1

Part 2

Regards to all.

[Kiriana]

Well I do hope you are feeling better.. oye I'm hoping I never have to have hip replacement

[kaelln]

Welcome back, Le-Loup! I'm sorry to hear about your hip replacement. From another old-timer, I can say with authority that getting old just bites! Anyway, I hope you're all better!