Ors,

We have a Dutch Oven table in our back yard that we practice fire making on. With the leaves or dry grass try holding some in your hand with some sticking out the end. Then smash them against a rock or something hard. The grass will crumple into little pieces and some will be powdery. It will then be easy to light with your ferro rod. Remember only the fine, frayed, stuff catches a spark and starts to burn. The Magfire is great! Take a piece of scrap pine wood and whittle some thin curls. Once you have a little pile try sparking it with the Magfire. Try putting the end of the Magfire in the pile and scrapping down into the pile. It should light right up. Everyone in my family has been able to do it.

For wet wood, here is where a fixed blade knife and a folding saw come in handy. Cut a likely piece of wood to a usable length with the saw and then use the fixed blade to split the wood into kindling. Get some inner pieces and make thin shavings from it. Use your ferro rod to light the shavings.

With some treated cotton balls you can skip the thin shavings. With a few sticks of fatwood you can add them to your kindling to keep the fire going long enough to dry and burn the kindling. You have to get embers to have a sustainable fire. The embers heat the wood that vaporizes the oil in the wood and the vapors burn in the air as a flame.