05-12-2008, 10:56 AM
GJ is there a cutting edge on the flint you're using? If not, crack the flint with a hammer (beware! it throws very sharp pieces of stone in unpredictable directions--eye protection highly recommended) until you get a sharp edge. What happens in firemaking is that the flint actually cuts off some very small parts of the steel, which reach combustion temperatures. Pressure, I think, causes that heat.
The first rule of firemaking is this: before you kindle a flame, have a method instantly available for putting it out. Fires that never get lit don't burn forests or houses. For public demonstrations, I've found a bucket of water is just right for dropping the fire into. I always repeat that rule while doing the demo, too. People today are not as smart about fire as our grandfathers were, because they deal with it less often.
Here's the method that has always worked best for me. I've tried several ways, but this seems easiest for me. Hold the flint in your left hand, with the cutting edge upwards at about a 45 degree angle, or a little more toward vertical. Bring the steel down so as to glance across the flint, dragging the metal along the cutting edge, moving straight down. This should produce sparks, most of which will fly upward. These will sting your skin, and make a real irritant to your eyes. Pay attention. If everything is dry, I can get a spark to catch on the first or second strike.
If you get no sparks, adjust the angle of the flint. Always strike the steel against the flint, not the flint against the steel, because blood dripping from your knuckles will interfere with the fire starting process. Done that--doesn't work. It's much easier to control where the smooth steel impacts the irregularly shaped flint that way. And most strikers are curved, designed to help protect your hand behind the striking surface, like "brass knuckles", so to speak.
When you have that action so it will usually produce sparks, take a piece of charred cloth or moss, or fungus or whatever your pre-tinder is. Hold it on the top surface of the flint, and repeat. Some of the sparks should hit the underside and catch. One or more of them will make a red, glowing spot on the pre-tinder. If you blow on this spot, it will increase in size. It is from this glowing pre-tinder that you produce your flame in your tinder. Leaves of dried grass are good tinder. A fist sized bit is good enough to get a fire going in most conditions.
Put the glowing pre-tinder in a "birdnest" of the dry grass, and continue to hold the combustible material in contact with the glowing spot, and blow across it, to transfer the heat to the tinder. You should be able to produce a flaming mass of finger blistering actual fire in a few seconds.
Of course, if you're really making a fire, lay more tinder, cover with tiny sticks, etc., before you strike the spark (the word "strike" seems reasonable, doesn't it?). Have your other firewood at hand, and whatever you will be using to put the fire out later.
If you need to know how to produce charcloth, let me know, and I'll tell you an easy way.
The first rule of firemaking is this: before you kindle a flame, have a method instantly available for putting it out. Fires that never get lit don't burn forests or houses. For public demonstrations, I've found a bucket of water is just right for dropping the fire into. I always repeat that rule while doing the demo, too. People today are not as smart about fire as our grandfathers were, because they deal with it less often.
Here's the method that has always worked best for me. I've tried several ways, but this seems easiest for me. Hold the flint in your left hand, with the cutting edge upwards at about a 45 degree angle, or a little more toward vertical. Bring the steel down so as to glance across the flint, dragging the metal along the cutting edge, moving straight down. This should produce sparks, most of which will fly upward. These will sting your skin, and make a real irritant to your eyes. Pay attention. If everything is dry, I can get a spark to catch on the first or second strike.
If you get no sparks, adjust the angle of the flint. Always strike the steel against the flint, not the flint against the steel, because blood dripping from your knuckles will interfere with the fire starting process. Done that--doesn't work. It's much easier to control where the smooth steel impacts the irregularly shaped flint that way. And most strikers are curved, designed to help protect your hand behind the striking surface, like "brass knuckles", so to speak.
When you have that action so it will usually produce sparks, take a piece of charred cloth or moss, or fungus or whatever your pre-tinder is. Hold it on the top surface of the flint, and repeat. Some of the sparks should hit the underside and catch. One or more of them will make a red, glowing spot on the pre-tinder. If you blow on this spot, it will increase in size. It is from this glowing pre-tinder that you produce your flame in your tinder. Leaves of dried grass are good tinder. A fist sized bit is good enough to get a fire going in most conditions.
Put the glowing pre-tinder in a "birdnest" of the dry grass, and continue to hold the combustible material in contact with the glowing spot, and blow across it, to transfer the heat to the tinder. You should be able to produce a flaming mass of finger blistering actual fire in a few seconds.
Of course, if you're really making a fire, lay more tinder, cover with tiny sticks, etc., before you strike the spark (the word "strike" seems reasonable, doesn't it?). Have your other firewood at hand, and whatever you will be using to put the fire out later.
If you need to know how to produce charcloth, let me know, and I'll tell you an easy way.
M. Demetrius Abicio
(David Wills)
Saepe veritas est dura.
(David Wills)
Saepe veritas est dura.
