Playing with fire....steel

I've been messing around with alternative methods of firestarting a lot lately. I've been watching videos, reading blogs and researching articles trying to figure out some "easy" ways to light fires without using stuff like alcohol, drier lint, petroleum covered cotton balls or other cheats. I've come to a few conclusions. First and foremost...if you have anything on hand to cheat with then USE IT! It will save you much frustration. A bit of rubbing alcohol works wonders and it's cheap to stock up on. I just can't believe that some of these guys making these videos didn't pour a bit of alcohol or some gas on their kindling before lighting it with one or two strikes of their firesteel. I can shoot sparks over a pile of bone dry grass with absolutely no wind all day long and never achieve more than a few wisps of smoke. I pour a few drops of alcohol or a dab of petroleum jelly on it and it goes up in no time.

Even magnesium firestarters are garbage. The gust of wind created by swiping your knife across the flint is all it takes to blow the little pile of magnesium slivers to the four winds. Usually I just take the slivers and mix them up with my kindling to keep them from blowing away. Even that doesn't result in much more than a few extra sparks and some smoke. Once again, though, with a bit of extra fuel it's easy to get it burning in no time.

Give me a match or two or a lighter and I can get a campfire going in a thunderstorm. You can even give me a firesteel and some lighter fluid and it's at least possible. Tell me to gather some kindling and try to get something going, though, and we'll all freeze to death before I can get that fire started. I haven't even bothered attempting the bow and drill method. If I can't even get a fire started with a firesteel then how am I supposed to get one going with a couple of pieces of wood and some string? So what's the trick? Maybe I've missed something. Once I get the flint and steel method down then I'll work on getting more primitive.

Comments

mmpaints said…
LOL, I'm right with you! I've got livestock so there's always a bit of straw or hay laying around, I've even had success with leaves. I "cheat" when I build a fire always. Not a big fan of fluids tho and have also tried the magnesium block, I hated it too. Good old fashioned stick match or bic for me. Got a ton of both in the prep kit!
January 19, 2009 at 9:38 PM
Shy Wolf said…
With the flint and steel, try useing a piece of charred cloth as the tinder and hold it in the striking hand. You can make charred cloth from anything made with cotton thread: use your favorite match to light a 2" wide by 12" long piece of cotton (on the narrow end), blow it out and store it with your steel and flint. That may work a bit better than grass.
One secret to maing fire without matches is a very fine tinder and soft puffs on it, not hard blowing. Make it gentle. See if that works better for you.
January 19, 2009 at 9:58 PM
Anonymous said…
I have personally watched this guy:

http://www.trackerdan.com/

make fire with the drill method in less than 15 seconds of drilling. The rest of us spent 2 hours and I think one person in the group got it. It is all in the technique. Tracker Dan will tell you that making fire is a skill you have to learn, practice, and keep practicing for life.
January 20, 2009 at 11:04 AM
Anonymous said…
I agree,give me a lighter any day! I know knowing the other skill's would be beneficial in the long run,but I'm sure we'll be busy with way too many other thing's to bother with this! I alway's have a bunch of bic lighter's, a couple of cheap zippo's, flint and fluid ready. A zippo can use gas, fluid, or even rubbing alchohol in a pinch. Just a note,pinecone's make a great kindling! burn fast,but light easy.
January 20, 2009 at 12:43 PM
The Urban Survivalist said…
I know that it's easier with a lighter. I also realize that building a fire without one is a skill that you're not going to be able to suddenly learn the day that you need it. That's why I want to figure out how to do it now. I don't want to worry about learning how to do it when I need it. I want to already be able to do it easily.
January 20, 2009 at 6:59 PM
Aaron Thorne said…
I understand the frustration, but I've had good luck with my firesteel. Admittedly helps to have something VERY fluffy/combustible
January 26, 2009 at 5:00 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Some Self Defense Basics

Image
Hey, everyone. If you haven't noticed by now I've been focusing a lot on self defense lately. It seems to be almost completely ignored by people in preparedness circles. I can understand why. It takes a long time to get good at it. There's a lot of getting sweaty and rolling around with other sweaty people. It's pretty easy to get hurt. Especially, if you're just rolling around with your buddies in your backyard. Quality training is pretty expensive. Besides, why learn how to fight when you can just carry a gun? Realistically, though, there aren't too many situations that we should be prepping for that are more likely than getting jumped on the street and sometimes pulling a gun will get you in a lot more trouble than it's worth. Here are some really good videos on self defense basics. Stephan Kesting has a lot of BJJ videos online and he's one of the better "youtube instructors" that I've found. He sticks to the basics and he ...
Read more

Why you should train jiu-jitsu (or some other "real" martial art)

"Where there's discomfort there's fear. In these very tough positions you're in a little piece of hell. And through this daily suffering, you learn to survive in these situations. You have to find comfort in uncomfortable situations. You have to be able to live in your worst nightmare. Jiu-jitsu puts you completely in the moment where you must have complete focus on finding a solution to the problem. This trains the mind to build that focus, to increase your awareness, your capacity to solve problems. Sometimes, you don't have to win. You cannot win. But that has nothing to do with losing." -Rickson Gracie This is why I continue to train jiu-jitsu. At a good school you'll do a lot of live grappling (we call it rolling). You get choked out, arm barred, leg locked and put into plenty of other uncomfortable situations all the time till you get used to them. Then you start learning how to defend. Then you find yourself submitting people. Then a...
Read more

10 Natural Disasters Caught on Surveillance

Image
Today I've got a guest post for you all. If you've got an idea for a guest post you can shoot me an email at artyboy at gmail dot com. If I like it then I'll post it up. Just make sure that it's original content and not something that's been posted on a million other blogs all over the internet please. Anyway, on to the post. About the Author: This article was written by 2MCCTV Surveillance , international supplier of surveillance cameras and complete systems . They offer complete security solutions for home and small to enterprise-level businesses. 1-877-926-2288 The past decade has been filled with natural disasters. These recent disasters have had drastic consequences on the environment and the people affected. Tsunamis and earthquakes destroyed homes and displaced millions. What are your plans for a natural disaster; do you know what to do? There are thousands of recorded videos on the internet depicting the tragedies. Here we’ve compiled 10 natural ...
Read more