Somebody start the fire...

[CalicoPenn]

"I picked up some sort of fungus at a mountain man reenactor show. One spark gets is started and it's hard to put out."

 

It's called "Tinder Fungus" - its a black knob-like fungus that commonly grows on birch trees. Break it open and it's a crumbly reddish/brown color. You can break it apart, crumble it up, and use it just as tinder, or you can set a spark in it and let it just smolder then a few hours later, blow on it to get it to catch flame again - it was often used to transport fire from one campsite to another.

 

When I rondy, I will use flax tow if I have it. I also have some 4 inch lengths of old rope in the fire starting tin I carry in my possibles bag to break up and use as tinder. The tin carries my flint, steel, char cloth and some tinder, and a small piece of wood which acts as a plug when I use the tin to create char cloth.

 

In the fall, when the cattails are bursting, I'll harvest a cattail head and use that as tinder.

 

I can usually catch spark on my first try - the secret I was taught was not to do it the way I learned it in Boy Scouts which was to put the char cloth on the tinder on the ground and try to aim sparks at it. The secret I earned was to hold the char cloth in its nest of tinder against the flint and strike with the steel right where the char cloth is - if you get a spark, it will catch in the char cloth right away, and since I'm already holding the "nest", I don't have to pick it up to start blowing on it.

[resqman]

Hand sanitizer is mostly alcohol. A few squirts and a spark is all you need.

 

At summer camp, a few scouts filled a soda can about half full of sanitizer. A spark or two and it shot flames about 6-8 feet in the air. A little too effective. Fortunately no one was hurt and very few scouts saw or heard the "experiement".

 

We have been leary of sharing this information for fear that a scout may try More is Better.

[Mike F]

Great ideas!

Instead of cotton balls and vaseline, we partially dip the cotton balls in melted wax. These keep better and aren't as messy as wads of greasy stuff. Also found a saturated cotton ball could be hard to light.

With wax, we keep part of the cotton ball unwaxed. This catches easily with a spark and serves as wick for the mini candle. While we're dipping cotton into wax, we waterproof a few matches and the guys refill their personal fire starter kits.

[Buffalo Skipper]

I have a skill related question for the group. I have a flint and steel kit, but I am having a real time trying to make a spark. I can get a small one every 15th-20th strike, and a medium to large one about every 50th-75th. I have seen others make plentiful sparks with every strike (making this look easy).

 

Any suggestions on how to do this?

 

My goal is to be practiced and proficient so I can really pass this on to the scouts. I am also looking into fire by friction (stick and bow techniques) and finally fire pistons. Thoughts?

[CalicoPenn]

BuffaloSkipper asks:

 

"I have a skill related question for the group. I have a flint and steel kit, but I am having a real time trying to make a spark. I can get a small one every 15th-20th strike, and a medium to large one about every 50th-75th. I have seen others make plentiful sparks with every strike (making this look easy)."

 

It may not be a matter of skill, it may be the kit itself.

 

Where did you get your kit? Is it the BSA kit with the shiny metal rod? I was never very successful with the BSA kit but the kit I purchased at a Rendezvous has never let me down.

 

It is the metal striker that makes the sparks - not the flint as many think. Flint just happens to be a rock at just about the right hardness to cause iron to spark. You can use any rock, or for that matter, any solid material that meets or exceeds flint on the hardness scale.

 

Note something important - not just any metal will do. The "steel" in the BSA kit I had really was steel. And steel won't spark. Neither will aluminum, or most alloys.

 

There are, however, certain metals that are poryphoric (I think I spelled it right). It means they burn. Sodium and Magnesium are perhaps the best known. Another is Iron. Pure iron, when exposed to oxygen, does something interesting - it burns. Yes, oxidizing iron is actually burning. Because of the large size of most pieces of iron, and a small surface to mass ratio, it doesn't feel hot to us. Nevertheless, it is burning. And when it burns, it creates a thin layer of iron oxide which serves to keep oxygen from reaching the iron. The surface of the striker is no longer pure iron - it is iron oxide.

 

When using a striker, we are flaking off a very small piece of iron from the striker - because it is so small, it has a high surface to mass ratio and because it isn't quick to oxidize, we get a spark.

 

If you truly have an iron striker, then the issue is tour flint - it's just not hard enough to be effective in shaving a piece of iron off the striker - then you need a harder flint. If you aren't using real iron, then you need to replace the striker itself.

 

 

Calico

 

[Buffalo Skipper]

Calico, I did take the time to do some more research on this, most everything concurred with exactly with what you said. I belive my main problem was the stone, which was fairly small and had no good angles for striking. One source I found suggested a 30 degrees, which I could not accomplish, as the rock was very "squared." I took the stone and a coal chisel and got some better shapes. First strikes produced sparks (though not as much as I would like). Another source indicated that the "makeup" of high carbon steel allowed better shaving qualities and more sparks. I do not believe my kit has this kind of striker. By the way, I did buy the kit at a summer camp store, but it is not a BSA product.

Though others may be able to find flint in their local area, our local geography is devoid of all natural stone, so I will have to purchase another kit. Can anyone suggest a kit or supplier which has a good reputation?

I am intersted in fire by friction (not fire by fiction, as this sometimes appears to be) and fire pistons; if anyone has any information on these techniques, please let me know.

[eagle90]

I've seen the hand sanitzer thing too! WOW! You have to be especially careful with hand sanitizer as it burns with an almost clear flame. You cannot see the flasmes, but is burning extremely hot!

[roguedawg]

Buffalo Skipper,

 

Google "Crazy Crow". They have flint and steel kits for sale. I have the Conrail Railroad tracks across from my house. I went over and grabbed some ballast. I am not sure if it is flint or dark quartz, but they produce a spark for my char cloth. Check out you local RR tracks for ballast. I use an old file for the striker. You can pick them up at rummage sales or flea markets for pennies. Nobody wants the rusted and plugged up ones.

 

BSA hot spark kits? - I still use mine that I got as a cub scout. It is about 33 years old and still striking. RD