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Le Loup

32 Cal.
Joined
Feb 15, 2010
Messages
465
Reaction score
268
Location
New England Australia
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You made a believer out of me Keith. My belt pouch tinder box has charred punkwood in it. I can even throw a spark downward onto it and get a viable ember. Thanks!
 
Keith, I really like your fire and steel kit as well. If I can get my forge running, I'll forge a steel. I haven't used flint and steel to start a fire since Boys Scouts back in the 1960s.
I wonder what the Scouts are using these days Bill. That steel of mine is an original 18th century steel forged from an old metal file. The file teeth marks can still be seen on it.
Regards, Keith.
 
Keith, I am sorry to say we often cheated 50 years ago and scraped our sparks into wads of 0000 steel wool if we couldn't get regular char/punk/lint to catch a spark. The standard Scout contest was to start a fire and get it going well enough to burn a string tied above the kindling.
We had a wonderful member here who passed a few years ago -- Mike Ameling -- and he was a genius with hot metal. He made some wonderful strikers in patterns going back to the Romans. I keep some old Nicholson files in my stash and will start with one of those for the carbon.
 
Keith, I am sorry to say we often cheated 50 years ago and scraped our sparks into wads of 0000 steel wool if we couldn't get regular char/punk/lint to catch a spark. The standard Scout contest was to start a fire and get it going well enough to burn a string tied above the kindling.
We had a wonderful member here who passed a few years ago -- Mike Ameling -- and he was a genius with hot metal. He made some wonderful strikers in patterns going back to the Romans. I keep some old Nicholson files in my stash and will start with one of those for the carbon.
I did not know that Mike had gone under, very sorry to hear that.
I think I may have some Nicholson files myself in the workshop, good files.
Keith.
 
I wonder what the Scouts are using these days Bill. That steel of mine is an original 18th century steel forged from an old metal file. The file teeth marks can still be seen on it.
Regards, Keith.
Keith,
They are primarily using Ferro-rods and lighters. The Scout Flint & Steel set I had years ago contained a soft steel bar and a chunk of quartz - never did work. Perhaps today, I could coax a spark from the kit. My friend always has plenty of Bright-ovals and other strikers with flint pieces for sale to the boys, so there are a few around here with quality equipment. That said, fire-lighting/building is a dying art. The preferred method seems to be Diesel oil-impregnated wood chips and a road flare....o_O
 
Keith,
They are primarily using Ferro-rods and lighters. The Scout Flint & Steel set I had years ago contained a soft steel bar and a chunk of quartz - never did work. Perhaps today, I could coax a spark from the kit. My friend always has plenty of Bright-ovals and other strikers with flint pieces for sale to the boys, so there are a few around here with quality equipment. That said, fire-lighting/building is a dying art. The preferred method seems to be Diesel oil-impregnated wood chips and a road flare....o_O
When I was a primitive skills instructor many years ago, I had an annual contract to teach the Scouts at Lynchwood Scout camp near Tamworth NSW. The first time I went there arriving at night for a start the next day, my 7 year old son & I got to witness the Scouts & the Scout Masters trying to light their camp fires with matches & lighters. It was raining, & no one in the whole camp could get a fire going. My son took his flint & steel kit & lit all their fires, some of which used fire from other fires. That was a long time ago, so these skills have been dieing out for a long time now.
Keith.
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I'm a sucker for a nice fire kit... I personally carry many natural materials within my belt pouch that is strictly reserved for my tinder box, steel, flint and a small poke that's greased containing tow. In my larger pack I stow a larger waterproofed linen sack that contains more elements to procure fire, IMO it's wise to carry separate methods of fire if one becomes separated from the two. In the larger linen bag I carry two heavily greased pokes with various natural tinder materials, cedar bark being my favorite and extra tow. I also have a spare striker, flint, fire glass and a small river cane tinder tube along with a gourd canister that holds a small beeswax candle, punk wood chards and pieces of fatwood. I for one choose to forgo making charcloth in a wilderness environment as it's not readily something one would make away from a homestead. I do carry a few pieces to use upfront to conserve my other resources, but I feel many get hung up on the charcloth idea as a base to their fire kit.

I personally believe fire is one of the most important survival skill to master, having your bases covered for all environmental conditions while in the forest is of the utmost importance when fire is a must!
 
View attachment 1544 View attachment 1543 Here's a couple of original tinder boxes and strikers. The one on the left was found in Wisconsin by Lake Superior and the one on right was found in Virginia. Both had the steels still with them. The boxes are just about identical.
Jerry
Jackly,
Interesting that there is only enough room for the steel and shard of flint.
They are brass?
 
it looks like you are using old discarded gun flints for your flints? am I rite? as that is what I do with them when I replace them with new ones in my weapon, you will still get many fires/ sparks out of them. just curious. today I see guys at shoots when there flint stops sparking they change them out and discard them on the ground and I pick them up and repurpose them.
 
I never use these steels or boxes. Those are just flints I put in there for display. But I like you get the most from a flint that I can. Musket flints get resized to rifle size, than when they wear out, they get resized to a smaller size. I have been at shoots where guy's throw away flints because of to big of a hump. I pick them up and grind down the hump. When I'm hunting or trekking I'm always looking for flint or chert for my fire kit.

Jerry
 
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