I MADE FIRE

[Billhuntz]

I got home from work today and had some time so I made some char cloth, (using instructions I found here)and took the flint and steel I just bought from TOTW, grabbed some tinder from one of my wifes flower pots (excelsior like straw stuff) and with 2 strikes of the steel made a fire!!!

Pretty cool stuff. I just got the flint and steel and have never made char cloth before but I loved it!!!!!!

 

[sidelock]

:hatsoff: :hatsoff: :hatsoff:

 

[Wes/Tex]

Wait till the wind's blowing light mist...that's when it really makes you strut!

 

[JWP]

Bill, now carry your flint and steal with you when you go to the woods, gather what materials you think you'll need (from the woods)- and see what all you can use to make fire. It's a hoot, plus good experience. :hatsoff:

 

[oldsarge]

Sounds like you got the fire makin bug bite alrite. Now like JWP said go into the woods and try to make fire with stuff you gather. Heres some tips, gather toothpick sized twigs from the waist high sapplings/bushes but test them by bending. If they snap then take em, if they bend but don't break they are too wet. This works all year round. next take some tree moss (any kind will do, Spanish, deer, silvery etc...) and put a bunch in your pocket. your body heat will dry it out in about 6 to 24 hours depending on how wet it started. This stuff makes great tinder. Pine pitch slivers are another great fuel, you can find this in the stumps of some felled pine trees. You gotta tear em up pretty good to find it but when you do you'll know it because it is a realy dense wood grain usualy an amber color and has a strong aroma like kerosene. Or you could just scrape some from a break in the skin of a pine where it has gathered in dry rivulets but this doesn't burn quite as well. When you can make a fire from what you have gathered and its raining and has been for weeks then you are a man above men. :v

 

[paulvallandigham]

Check out this site for more information on making primitive fires. [url] http://wildwoodsurvival.com/forum/index.php?sid=2b92c3f0f8e636a442b25297f3f2f770[/url]

 

[biliff]

Congratulations. Its kind of a neat feeling to make it work.
I watched the fire starting station at a trappers run last year and was amazed at how those guys got a fire going in about 30 seconds. And that was in a light rain.

 

[jim m]

cool webb site Paul, thanks :hatsoff:

 

[Billhuntz]

I watched a kid who couldn't have been more than 10 start a fire at Dixon's last year complete with instruction to the small group that gathered to watch. I was amazed at how easily he did it so I figured I was gonna try sooner or later.

 

[paulvallandigham]

When you practice this enough, you can make a fire faster than someone using lighter fluid and their favorite lighter to start a BBQ grill!

I once did a fire starting demonstration at a local Girl Scout Camp, with my friend, Don, where we alternated demonstrating the technique before having all the girls make their own nest, and then use charred cloth and the flint and steel to start their own fires. Don got a spark in his charcloth the first strike, and then blew the charred cloth into flames in his nest on his first blow!This does not happen frequently enough, however, to suggest it will happen to anyone else except on the rarest of occasions. It was the first and last time it ever happened to Don! I have gotten sparks in my charcloth on the first stroke, but never fire that fast in my nest. ( I accused Don of putting some lighter fluid in his nest, jokingly, of course, but he denied it! )

A scout leader who was watching told the entire group it took him longer to get his morning fire started to serve the girls breakfast than Don took to get his fire started. He was amazed, and talked to us afterwards on where he could buy a steel and some flint to practice.

 

[TANSTAAFL]

Kids learn fast. Once in Cody WY back in the 1970's, a couple of skinners and I were doing a show & tell for a group of Cub Scouts down below the rodeo grounds. We did the usual demo on flint & steel fire starting, then let them have a go. Next thing we knew, some of the little turkeys, unbeknownst to us, had set the dried grass on the hillside ablaze. So we then had to do an impromptu frantic fire fighting seminar. :surrender:

 

[Halftail]

Thanks for the Link Paul!
Interesting site,it's got my interest in Primitive Fires roaring again... :winking: :thumbsup:

 

[xxgrampa]

halftal

if the flint and steel dosen't work.you can always 'bic' it :grin:

..ttfn..grampa..

 

[Halftail]

halftal

if the flint and steel dosen't work.you can always 'bic' it :grin:

..ttfn..grampa..

No problems Grampa with flint and Steel here.I haden't done it for a few years so Yesterday I made a fresh batch of Char cloth and went out to the shed in a few seconds I had flame.Next time I head into camp I going to take along my kit and light everything the traditional way. :thumbsup:

 

[Tuco]

I was at cub scout camp with my son recently and the boy scout that was demonstrating fire starting was as good as anyone I've ever seen, had flames in 15 seconds. He had a steel made from a file, and a handful of frayed out hemp twine to put their char cloth in. Worked well. Same stuff they used when making ropes. I was really impressed.