Re: flint & steel fires

I also have managed to start a fire with flint and steel. I bought the
flint and the steel at a Voyageur-era reenactment that is held locally every
year about 1/2 mile from my house. The Voyageur era I will roughly define
as that time when French, English, and other nationalities would trap beaver
and other animals in Canada and the upper midwest, canoeing them in packed
bales in the spring down the Great Lakes into the Chicago area, to be
shipped down the Chicago, Des Plaines, Illinois, and Mississippi river to
New Orleans for shipment to Europe. The trick was that the Chicago and Des
Plaines rivers are not normally connected, but spring flooding made overland
transfer between the rivers possible and made the Chicago area the easiest
transfer point on the North American continent between the Great Lakes and
Mississippi watersheds.

Anyway, I purchased a flint and steel from a merchant after he and I both
started fires with them, to the wonderment of a group of kids who had
gathered around. The steel was a square steel bar, 1/4" thick and about 6"
long, that was bent in a U shape so that it would fit over the fingers. You
can then strike the flint hard against it while minimizing (but not
eliminating) the hazard to your knuckles.

The secrets seem to be 1) have a lot of fiber available (shredded old rope
works great), and 2) have a lot of charred cloth in the "nest". Get an old
tin (shoe polish tins work fine) that has a tight fitting lid. Pack this
tin tightly with shreds of 100% cotton cloth. Make a hole in the top of
the tin about 3 mm across. Throw the tin in a hot fire. Wait until a while
after no visible smoke comes from the hole. Your tin is now filled with
charcoal cloth. Keep it dry. Strike the flint on the steel and get the
sparks in the cloth. Cup the fibers around the cloth and start steadily
blowing. The spark will grow to a coal in that cloth, and eventually catch
the fibers on fire.

I've managed to nick up the flint to the point that there's no good edges
left, and I've broken new edges enough that it's too small to hold. Luckily
the reenactors will be back the weekend after Labor Day.

mailto:ronfox@mindspring.com
Scoutmaster, Troop 69, Des Plaines Valley Council (W&SW Chicago Suburbs)
Pachsegink Lodge 246 | >>>------> |
"... and a good old Eagle, too" (C-19-96)

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