I just picked up a steel fire striker and piece of flint and I'm working on making it work. I've made char cloth and I can catch a spark, but I'm hit and miss on blowing it from an ember to a flame. So far all I've tried is cotton balls as tender, I figured they'd be easiest, but now I'm not so sure. Anyone have any tips?

Try dryer lint, especially after a load of cotton.

Perhaps the best tinder ball I've ever made was by accident. I took a soup can and rubbed the end back and forth on a piece of tablet paper for about a minute or so. When I was done, I had a loose ball of paper lint that was extremely easy to ignite.

have you tryed a bigger piece of charcloth? Fold the cloth a couple of times and blow on it, so the ember increases in size.

I haven't tryed cottonballs, dry grass seems to work just fine for me..

After lighting an ember on your char cloth, it should be placed into a prepared nest of tinder. Wrap the tinder loosly around the char cloth. Now you are ready to blow your bundle into flame.

Char cloth won't burst in flame on it's own.

todd

Cotton balls did not work for me either. Juniper bark works really well. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

If you have birch trees around, try the bark. I am from a birchless area, but while in Alaska this summer got my hands on some for the first time in my life. Neat stuff, burns readily. Adding some small strips to your tender nest should really help it get going...

I have never had any problem getting cotton balls to light with a flint. Most of the time they light on the second or third try

Lance,

We are not talking about sparks. We are talking about getting an ember and then blowing it into a flame.

I can spark a cotton ball to flame easily! Try thin wood shavings. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I soaked some dental rolls (compressed cotton) in a mixture of melted wax & vaseline. They came out fairly hard & not sticky. I broke one open, fluffed it up, & ignited it with one set of sparks from a Doan ferro stick & a knife back! It even surprised me!

Wow, so with further experimentation and some accidental research I've learned a few things. First, blowing steadily and more gently works far better then blowing with all your might. Second, blowing into the tinderball then waving the thing around in the air works really well. Finally, I still need to work on not burning my hand when I start a fire like this. Just the glowing char cloth will burn you when blown on. Cheers everyone, I will try juniper bark and dried grasses when I get up to the hills sometime. Do you strike the juniper bark straight from a bush or tree or do you try to find it dry on dead branches?

Juniper is a kind of pine tree. You collect some bark (pry off with your knife) and shred it to make a tinder bundle. Have some stiff stuff around the outside to hold it together and sprinkle fine stuff in the center to catch the spark. You place your ember in the center and then fold the bundle around the coal. Then you blow into the bundle to get a flame. My 11 year old son breathed in some of the smoke, so be careful.