Roman flint and steel

[MarcusMemmiusFalco]

Salve,

How did the Romans start fires? Did they use flint and steel?

Valete,
Marcus

[Lucius Aurelius Metellus]

Yes, they did. You can see a good web site with Roman fire steels at:
[url:2dfd1a6k]http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/firefromsteel/[/url]
and two examples of Roman fire steels on my own web site at:
[url:2dfd1a6k]http://www.greeneknightforge.bravehost.com[/url]

[Mithras]

I'm in the process of learning this very skilled and very vital craft. I picked up a Viking steel from the Jorvik museum in York, but Jelling Dragon also sells them. After surfing several wilderness sites I picked up the basics of this lost art, and now I'm practising actually transfering my initial 'flame' into a fire. That's hardest of all for me

[Tasciavanous]

Hey Paul
have you tried starting you flame in a small bowl or tin and then building a mini fire to transfer rather than fiddling around with a transferring a tiny flame? I have used this method with a good degree of success for a few years now, I use a little tin but I suspect that isn't a terribly "Roman" way of doing it but a ceramic bowl or some such should work just as well.
Tasciavanous
(James Mckeand)

[Mithras]

I don't know - I'll try anything. I can get my tinder to flame, but when I try to build a fire with it - I kill it. I think I need to have a range of sticks and logs, some tiny some big, and to start small. I'll keep your method in mind...

[Tasciavanous]

Yep lots and lots of small dry wood shavings is the way to go with some wee sticks to help the sticking power. oh yes and a lot of patience!
James

[Lucius Aurelius Metellus]

Hi Paul, et al,
Yes, start with very small tinder like the resinous "fat" part of a piece of pine or similar evergreen. If that can't be had, we used to make in wilderness survival school what we called "fuzz sticks", which is a sliver of pine or similar stuff that is very dry, and you take a knife and carve small slivers along the stick so that they stick up like a pine cone or a porcupine's quills. Make several of these and place them "tee-pee" style over your bundle of tinder (dried leaves, straw, shredded bark or hemp rope, etc), and then quickly but carefully place your flaming ball or "nest" of tender under the teepee so that the tinder under it catches, and you should have no problems. And always start from tiny sticks and twigs, then go to larger stuff as the flames begin to catch and grow stronger. It's definitely not as hard as it sounds, and I actually carry some of this dried tinder in my kit; things such as char cloth, shredded hemp rope, and dried "fat lighter" kindling twigs cut into small lengths. Hope this helps!