Flint and Steel

[jdw276]

Never had quite as much fun as this weekend. Had 33 boy scouts from 11 to 17 in 4 patrols. Gave them each a flint and steel and 2, 1 inch square pieces of char cloth and told them to make a fire or eat their dinner raw and cold.

After about 20 minutes all 4 patrols started a fire for their first time in their lives with flint and steel. How do I know? you should have heard the cheers and screamin in happiness on the first start. Adults watched and no matches or lighters were used. They figured it out! Thanks guys for giving me ideas on working with these boys...

 

[vthompson]

I am glad that things went well for you. And your boys learned a valuable lesson.
I taught my 10 year old grandson how to make fire with flint & steel and now he thinks that is the neatest thing.Every time that I need a fire now he wants to get it started.
Thanks for your time and dedication to working with the young boy's.

 

[wildeagle]

Good for you, our youth are missing a lot of information from our past, some of which will be invaluable to there future. Thanks to you these young men will have learned an important skill. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: After all, fire is what moves us up a few rungs on the ladder.

 

[fatboy]

people both young and old are amazed at starting a fire with flint and steel when we do demos

 

[Curtis Makamson]

I suspect each and all have grown weary of Katrina stories, but here is the shortest of short versions of another one. When you return to your flooded home and among many, many other things find there are no matches that haven’t been ruined that flint and steel becomes something more valuable than a mere hobby related item.

 

[jbtusa]

Next is to have them do same but with bow and drill!

 

[sniper68]

What I enjoying doing with both adults and youngins alike, is to show them my flint and steel and axe them if they want me to start a fire. A surprising number will say NO WAY!! Whether in or outside, I have "them" gather the material. Grass, leaves, newspapers, paper towels, cardboard or what ever. Then make my birds nest with it. When a sparks is caught by the char, I show it to them and say, there's the fire, Its just to small to see all the flames. I hear the word NOT quite often. Then I put the char in what ever they gathered and start puffin and say lets make it grow big enough to see. The smoke holds their attention and when it erupts in flame, most are stunned to say the least and want to try for themselves...... :shocked2: :thumbsup:

 

[paulvallandigham]

I agree. :thumbsup:

Making Fire does draw the interest of young and old alike, AFTER they have seen you do it. Its a great way to teach people some of these primitive skills, and get some of them interested in our sport.

One thing for sure, the folks who watch a fire starting demonstration will Not forget it. I have done them with flint and steel, and rarely, with a bow and drill. More recently I demonstrated it using a Fire piston, made of Lucite, so that people could see the before and after glowing tinder-to-ember at the bottom of the tube. Now, that caused a lot of instant interest. :hmm:

 

[Steve French]

Something else the scouts like to make and that's a box oven from a card board box. If made right, they work very well. :grin:
http://usscouts.org/scoutcraft/oven.asp http://www.buckskin.org/Resources/Outdoor/Files/boxoven.pdf

I used to work with the scouts, both cub and boy scouts, so I figured I'd pass on some scouting fun.
And hobo meals, they love that, no cleaning after eating.
Pustic

 

[wayne1967]

I noticed at my last event most everyone was holding the steel steady and striking the flint down. I always held the flint with the char under my thumb against it and struck the steel down.

 

[gearheart]

That's how I do it too. Easier to get the sparks to land on target.

 

[pa woods roamer]

I hold my striker right on the Char. Then using a short slicing stroke, with the Flint, the Sparks fall fan shape on the Char and Birds nest.

 

[fatboy]

I always held the flint with the char under my thumb against it and struck the steel down.

Thats how prefer to do it works better quicker for me most of the time

 

[LRB]

Me too!

 

[pargent]

Me too I cant get much in the way of sparks the other way

 

[Bob Gular]

I bring the flint to the steel. My rifle does the same.

 

[Celt5494]

Me too, just seems to make more sense doing it that way. :idunno:

 

[Ketchakah]

I make my tinder nest with the char on top and strike the flint against the steel. Seldom takes more than one or two strikes.
The spark falls to the char and then i fold it all up and blow to flame.

Im not coordinated enough to hold the char and flint together, But that works well for others.

 

[fatboy]

It's all in what your comfortable doing and works for you

 

[Flint311]

Well, I tried it today and got fire twice. Both times I needed to use charred wood pieces along with the char cloth (could NOT get it to work without). Any idea why? First time I used tow and the second time I used the jute from the flower basket material. Both worked the same I'd say, but these are the first two times starting fire this way. It is amazing when it works! I was having trouble getting sparks, at first. Then the char cloth wouldn't hold spark well, but when it did, wouldn't start the nest material. Had to blow on it real hard. Is that normal? This was a "kit" from the Kalamazoo Living History show about 4-5 years ago, so not sure on the quality of char cloth. Maybe wrap the tow tighter to the glowing char?