The Trailblazer: Flint and Steel Fire

Today, I will show you how to make a fire by flint and steel method. Although there are many ways to start a fire, which I will get to later on in other posts, I thought this version was a fun one to write a post on.

Here is a picture of the flint and steel. A lot of people when they hear the term, "flint and steel" think of a "Ferro rod" aka, metal match.

To start with, you will need bark from a Ceder tree.

Stick your knife in and peel the loose bark off the tree. Preferably, the bark that is already dead.

Next, use your knife to scrape up a nice pile of shavings from the bark. Make sure the shavings are dry and fluffy, and don't feel too damp to the touch.

Once you have a sufficient pile of tinder, place it on a regular stick-fire base to keep it off the ground. Then, make a pile of dry wood shavings and put them around it. So that when you do have a flame on your tinder, you can place the wood shavings over your flame, so can get your fire going.

Although there are many ways of catching a spark, my favorite method of holding an ember with a flint and steel is the charred-cloth. I will show you how to make charred-cloth on another post.

Place the charred-cloth under the edge of the flint rock.

Take your steel and strike with a brisk motion downward on the flint. The idea is that the sparks that are scraped off the steel will land on the charred-cloth. This may take several strikes before you get an ember on your charred-cloth.

Once you have a small ember on your piece of charred-cloth, time is of the essence! Quickly place you charred-cloth in your tinder bundle.

And blow vigorously on your ember! This part is essential to the making of your fire. Do not stop blowing until you have a steady flame on your tinder.

Once you have a steady flame, place your wood shavings on the flame. Be careful not to smother it! A common mistake that people do, is they bury it in wood shavings and it dies on them. Be careful not to do that!