For the first time in my life, I finally (FINALLY!) got a fire going with a firesteel and natural tinder.

I watched a YouTube video a few days ago using birch bark. I tried that night, with no success. Today, despite morning rains, I tried again. Didn't expect much.

Then...bam! A tiny, one inch flame burst forth! Lasted about 3 seconds. I started over, scraping and scraping til I had a nice bundle of shavings. I even peeled the piece after I finished scraping. Scraped like crazy...and bam! again! Hurrying, I placed the partially peeled bark over the flame, and it took off. I carefully added the other few birch bark pieces nearby, and despite being damp, then went up like crazy.

I tell you, I was dancing around the yard, a la Tom Hanks. phenomenal feeling!

Does this make me a real outdoorsman now?

Might actually spend some more money in a few more firsteels now...

Congrats!!! I got my first one going a few years back using cattail fluff, in February, in new england. it was COLD. But, I got a fire going fairly quick. I had backup of course; mainly petroluem cotton balls. Now, if only I can do a bowdrill again!!!
Congrats though, its a great feeling!!!

LOL, yup.
So now you understand about fine tinder.

Nice going MDinana!

You should look around the woods in your area, especially on birch trees for some Tinder Fungus. It is very easy to light with a fire steel, so easy that I use it when I am teaching kids because I know it will work.

An excellent website on Tinder Fungus is Wildwood Survival , it is also an terrific survival site with lots of useful information, especially about fire.

Mike

Great, congratulations. Firesteel requires a lot of experimenting before you get to know its benefits and also limits. I reccomend buying one piece just for training and experimenting. Like you have seen 95 % of the success is the tinder. This can´t be stressed enough. I have learnt it the hard way too.
I have seen a lot of complaints from people on the Internet about ferrocerium being too difficult to start fire with and that you would be better off using a lighter but they miss one part of the equation - the tinder and how to prepare it.
One should also keep in mind that with firesteel you trade easy-of-use for reliability.

I would say once you know and have/carry the right tinder it´s really the most reliable way to start a fire.

One tip (maybe you know this already): try to rip/mill the birch bark into the smallest pieces possible. This applies to almost any tinder. Generally the fibrous stuff works best. Birch bark is great because it burns even wet.

I found out that birch burns when wet! And while I do carry man-made tinder, I prefer trying on natural (since synthetic will eventually wear out). And so far, the firesteel IS my play with piece. The sparklites I have I've been less than pleased on natural tinder.

I'm suprised cattail worked. I've tried for ages with that stuff. Also hair, leaves, grasses... and like I said, man-made stuff. It's no challenge when you toss PG into your dryer lint though! I'll keep an eye out for the moss; tried some last time I was on a hike, but it might have been too wet.

I think I'll do it again tomorrow and make sure it wasn't a fluke.

Good Work!!--but this is why i see these and others like them as a last ditch method when everything else is lost or wet.

Its just like using a match - many people new to starting fires will have a difficult time even with this. But once you learn, you are all set.

Great stuff! Also, +1 on the following (+3 actually!):



IMHO, if you rely on your firesteel as the primary method of starting a fire you need to carry proper tinder in a waterproof container at all times as well. The tinder can be prepared at home (charred cloth, cotton ball, maya dust...) or gathered in the bush and kept aside.

There are plenty of options for natural tinder in the bush but it has to be absolutely dry. Chances are, you won't be able to find good, dry tinder when you really need it so make a habit to gather it beforehand (Les Stroud also makes that point often). Birch bark works well but it's best to use the inner, not the outer layer. It has to be scraped very carefully with a sharp knife so you produce a lot of almost microscopic shavings. Anything bigger than that is kindling, not tinder. Once you produce an open flame though plain birch bark will ignite very easily, burning longer and hotter than paper even if wet.

Aside from cotton lint another useful emergency tinder that catches a spark easily is hemp rope. it has to be absolutely dry, though. Separate the fibers, pound them with a rock and arrange into a fluffy mass. BTW, while paper is generally difficult to ignite with a ferro rod, small, torn bits of dry newspaper might actually work. Whatever you try, stay away from the wind and damp.

Cattail fluff worked likely because it was completely, utterly dry. I tried it with dead grass too, and that didnt catch (in retrospect, I didnt work it enough, making it nice & fluffy). So, I grabbed cattail fluff from a frozen pond, and had instant success. I only tried it once though...now, I want to go give it another shot, as I am wondering if it was a fluke myself!!!

Well nice try.

Now wait until you are hungry and thirsty, then try to start a fire with the firesteel again.


No way

[quote=MDinana]For the first time in my life, I finally (FINALLY!) got a fire going with a firesteel and natural tinder.[quote]

"Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair!"

Very cool, all I use now is my firesteel for camp fires, I can get a fire burning in a few strikes. I've been teaching my oldest boy to do this.

A few things to put in your pack, rope, natural fibers or a Manila rope, then make yourself some char-cloth, between the two you will never have to scrounge around for tinder, you can then get a stack of sticks and fuel. Take the rope and pull it apart into a nest, then place the char-cloth in the center and send your sparks to the cloth, will hold the spark even when soaked. This winter I did this with my Boy Scout troop, to show them it works when wet I took the rope and char-cloth and balled it up in some snow, then shook it out and with one strike the char-cloth took the spark and within a few blows of air I had flame

My pack is never without

There is a bonus with looking for dry tinder.
It will educate you about where the dry spots in the forest are.

Hey, that's neat!
I remember the first time I made fire with two sticks. It was on Christopher Nyerges's survival day outing in the mountains near LA about 11 years ago. I wonder if he still does those. He was teaching how two people can accomplish fire by hand drill and I decided to try it on my own since I was the only one who came without a partner. Walla! It works. I was so stoked. The other guys marveled because they couldn't do it. "WOW! How'd you do that?!" I could see they had their rhythm wrong, as during the second they kept losing each time they switched back and forth allowed a loss of momentum. They couldn't really work together in a fast steady flow, but one of the guys succeeded when he tried it on his own.
Chris made it easier because he had the ideal fine-tuned wood pieces.
I had tried unsuccessfully to make fire with a bow drill a few times over the previous years, having read "Tom Brown Jr.'s Wilderness Survival Guide" in the 7th grade, but I could never get a handhold piece that worked for me.
After Chris taught us how to make cordage with Yucca leaves I made a thick cord and tried again, using a plastic soda top as a handhold, which was working until the shaft drilled through the soda top. I switched to an abalone shell handhold, and WALLA! I made fire; with a cedar baseboard, a false-willow shaft, Yucca leaf string, and an Abalone shell! Dried Mugwort leaves are a great tinder.

Practice, practice, practice.

Pay carefull attention to how you strike a spark and to your tinder. makes all the difference

I second charcloth and natural twine. This is what I use with flint and steel. I keep an Altoids sours tin with my flint, steel, char cloth with jute twine wound up around the inside. The twine makes really compact tinder until you fluff it up to use it. It also seems to catch fire at a lower temperature then cotton balls.

I actually did practice some more yesterday, again. This time I used the BSA Hot Spark. A little more difficult (due to the smaller size). I also realized if I started striking too quickly, I'd easily smother a flame on my second or third strike in quick succession.

I've made char cloth; I think it's in my BOB. Looks like some more would be a good idea. I'll try and scrounge up some twine, as most of my stuff is synthetic. Good ideas!

If your using a ferro rod then Tinder-Quick tabs or Cotton wool and vasiline are much better choices.

Char cloth is alright when you have time to play, but it's a fatally bad idea in a serious situation.

Also, pull the rod back against the striker. Most beginners make the mistake of running the striker down the rod. If you do that, and do it too hard you will strike your tinder and scatter it.

Well done!

Leigh beat me to the punch on drawing the ferro up instead of striker down...but one other thing that beginners almost always do is "hover" the ferro over the tinder nest (you *do* have a tinder nest, don't you?) instead of placing the end of the ferro rod right into the nest and touching a flammable substrate, like a split piece of wood.

Instead of striking the ferro with the steel all the way to the bottom in a quick strike, try exerting more pressure against the ferro, and slowly grind the steel down the rod...you will get HUGE glowing embers falling into your nest.

Not to brag, but I usually am disappointed in myself if I cannot get a natural tinder to flare up in my first strike. My daughter at 7 years old was teaching scouts (12 y.o.) how to do it. They couldn't believe that this little kid could start a fire from one or two strokes.

As has been said so accurately before, 95% of success is preparation of the tinder. I can get about any brown stuff to burn, just give me enough chance to scrape/pound/shave the stuff and I'll have almost a fine powder which will flare up every time.

But again, congrats! That first time is magical. Soon, you will get addicted to seeing how far you can take it (raining, blowing, snowing, etc.) and still get it going with just natural tinder.

That said, it's infinitely wiser to carry good, dry man-made tinder with you than depend on nature to provide. A lighter, etc., just makes things that much easier when you may be injured, hypothermic, etc. But I've found (by observation) that some who haven't practiced with natural tinder have a difficult time making a fire in less than ideal situations (rain, wind, etc.)

Just found a Youtube video on this. It is funny as most people on this site will complain about how terrible it is to make a fire using Mg shavings off of a comboMg/firesteel. But this is NO differant as you have to protect you tinder. I am sure that birchbark dust would blow away very easilly. But it was a good thing to see.
Congrats on your fire now your a master of your domain.
cheers