Failure and ouch!

[Vtsmoker]

Got bored today and decided to get out my new flint and steel kit to give it a try. After about 20 min of hitting that little piece of steel with the flint (and my knuckle a few times...with skin removal :cursing: ) I gave up. I can get sparks to fly but very few. Yes the flint is sharp but the sparks don't seem hot enough to light the charcloth and I can't "aim" them into the jute and charcloth. Am I doing something wrong , is there something I need to do to make the steel perform better or do I just need to practice with gloves on? :haha: :idunno:

 

[lonehunter]

Try striking the flint with the steel, instead of hitting the steel with the flint.
You should not have to strike it real hard to produce a shower of sparks. :v

 

[Ranger1759]

Could be one of a few reasons or a combo of them...check your char cloth first, as Ive made char out of a lot of different cottons and some just don't take a spark well...I've had some, the sparks, and good ones mind you, bounce right off the char...so thats could be one reason....

another reason could be the carbon content in your stricker....if the metal used was of a lower carbon content, it will not through good sparks... along with that, if it was not hardend correctly that will also cause problems, just like a frizzen not sparking good...

just my .02...

Ranger

 

[Vtsmoker]

I did try striking the flint with the steel and got slightly better sparks but was chipping the flint away pretty good. The charcloth that came with the kit looks like bedsheet type material. Not really getting a "shower" of sparks..more like 5 or 6 sparks in a strike, and their not very bright sparks. They don't stay lit long enough to make an ember.

 

[necchi]

Try it another way,
Hold the flint steady and swing the stricker into the rock.
The spark will land on top of the rock, so hold a piece of charcloth on top of the flint about twohairs away from the sharp edge your swining at. Blowing on the cloth lightly will help any spark that lands too catch the cloth too glowing.

Once ya got the cloth glowing, place it in the nest,,,
like this guy; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNn0RRi1Ni8

Too date my best "timed event for fire" was 26 seconds with this technique. (not good enough for first place!) Proper chared cloth or what ever is key, many fabrics have a flame retardent added. Even old bulejeans an tshirts still have the stuff in the fabirc and it won't catch spark. If sparks are landing on it and it won't catch you might need to find a different fabric.

tip; Cloth sold to cover ironing boards is chemical free. Gun cleaning patches are usually pretty good for char.

 

[Birdman]

Vt the way I usually do it is to put my piece of char under my thumb on top of the flint with jus a bit of the edge sticking out. The sparks are actually small bits of the steel scraping off into the char.The angle ya hit the flint at makes a difference too. Yer not bringing the steel directly down at a 90 to the flint , its more like yer striking at an angle that slides the steel across the face of the flint n under the flint at the same time a little steeper then a 45 angle but not much. Kinda hard to put into words but so easy to show face to face. The only time I hit the steel with the flint is if I'm hunkered over my tinder to cover it from the weather n trying to get the sparks to disperse downward below the flint instead of over the top into the char my normal way. hope this helps some.Something else, make sure yer char is good n dry, maybe even nuke it a few seconds before ya pack to go just to dry it out, char will be a son of a gun to catch a spark if its damp, n humidity will be just enough to agravate ya LOL Just some thoughts YMHS Birdman

 

[Vtsmoker]

Thanks necchi and Birdman for a different option. I'm going to go try it right now :bow:

 

[Vtsmoker]

Well, It appears my charcloth is crap. Laid out several pieces and put some good sparks on them..nothing! I'll take some dry cleanig patches and make some new charcloth and give that a try. I was wondering as I was doing this if Back in the day, as important as a fire was, would they have maybe used a few GRANULES of black powder to help get their fire lit? I know powder was a premium but if the weather wasn't great and fire meant life would a few granuals make a big difference?

 

[BadHeart]

Go to a fabric store and get a yard of monks cloth and char it. it is the best that i have found. it is an open weave that really catchs a spark. BTW my fastest time to get a flame is 4 seconds. i use monks cloth char and old jute string to make my birds nest. i also strike the striker to the flint with the char on top of the flint. that way the char is right there at the sparks. Good luck

 

[skunkskinner]

would they have maybe used a few GRANULES of black powder to help get their fire lit?

Once you have good char to work with, one strike with the steel will get your char to glowing.

Practice, practice, practice :grin:

 

[Mort Scott]

I have found that not all strikes put out proper spark. When shopin for one I always check them out and make sure they will throw a lot of spark. Same as char cloth they are all different, once you get the right combo figured out your set.

 

[necchi]

Go to a fabric store and get a yard of monks cloth and char it.

Yup, that's some stuff that covers them ironing boards

BTW my fastest time to get a flame is 4 seconds.

That's darn good alright, I forgot that 26 seconds was to get a candle lit,,

 

[Macon Due]

VTS
I made my char cloth out of 100% cotton flannel and literlly if one spark hits it........it's glowing.You might try putting a piece of your char cloth in your tinder box on top of your char wood pieces then when your char cloth starts so does your char wood just add your tinder on top and blow.soon as ya get flame transfer to your fire pile and close the lid on tinder box to smother it. Also watch the vidios on this link, they are great! http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=historicaltrekking&aq=f
Macon

 

[shortbow]

Yes, a good striker is of the essence. I've always had good luck making them out of files, heating to cherry and quenching in cold water. If you are not throwing good sparks, perhaps try this heat and quench with the striker you have in case it was too cool when quenched. If that doesn't work, you don't have enough carbon in your steel.

For char I use old white t-shirt material, you want it black and almost too fragile.

When striking, I fold the char over the edge of the flint, this doubles your chance of catching a spark. I hold the flint in my left hand hard against my chest and strike with my right hand, also with the right elbow held tightly against my side. You want most of the movement to be in the right wrist. With this method you should get a glowing char usually in one or two strikes.

 

[Birdman]

Vt one other thing concerning yer char, make sure it is completely n totaly black with no trace of any other color such as brown on it. You'll have all kinds of troubles if yer char isn't cooked all the way. and like I mentioned make sure it good n dry, it may feel dry but humidity can make it hard to light due to just a tiny bit a moisture in the char. just some thoughts YMHS Birdman ps Frosty is about the quickest with a steel going, he even beat my time of 5 seconds that dirty rotten cranberry picken Jerseyite :blah: :surrender:

 

[trent/OH]

I guess I'm a little late to the party, but give this a try: when your new batch of charcloth is ready, set a piece alongside your first batch, a put a lit match to them. I bet you'll see a big difference between the two. Whether the difference is the material, or how it's charred, remains to be seen.

Oh boy!!! An experiment!

 

[Vtsmoker]

Tried it again today with new charcloth I made from cleaning patches. Wasn't getting good spark from my striker and decided to knapp the flint, as it was getting dull from my many attempts, with the striker and BROKE the striker :cursing: . Think I'm just going to go with a more modern flint and steel(I think they are called BIC) :haha: :surrender:

 

[tg]

One thing that helped me was to remember what was happening ( flint shaves off small hot slovers of steel) and holding things in a position where the best chance of catching the slivers into the Char or other material, one can fiddle around and see where th stuff wants to go when using differnt positions and pressure of striking, the hardet hit may not be the best hit, one has to havce a steel of proper makeup and hardness to start with as if there is no spark the you are kind of s(&^d from the start.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Go to a fabric store and get a yard of monks cloth and char it. it is the best that i have found. it is an open weave that really catchs a spark. BTW my fastest time to get a flame is 4 seconds. i use monks cloth char and old jute string to make my birds nest. i also strike the striker to the flint with the char on top of the flint. that way the char is right there at the sparks. Good luck

Monks cloth? :shocked2: I thought that was my own personal, private secret. :wink:
Yes, for char cloth, far and away the best stuff I have found. It chars well and has a lot of little holes and threads to catch the spark then it burns well.

 

[fatboy]

I have used old worn out blue jean cut into squares seemed to be about the best so far. I too like the char under my thumb and on top of the flint strike the flint with the steel works well and a good edge on flint does really help