Flint And Steel Fire Starter Kit Information

By Deborah Collins


People like going camping, hiking or trekking into areas where nature has grown with minimum or no human intervention. These places may have structures for accommodating participants there but some could be into forests, hills and mountains with no shelter available aside from the tents they brought. You could also bring food for your consumption and cook it there.

Cooking them needs fire which can be started with a lighter or matches but sometimes you could not use them due to the weather conditions. This is where flint and steel fire starter kit is useful as you can make fire without needing lighter or matches. The following are some of the materials included in this kit for the fire to start.

Cherts and flints are rock family with various kinds which has different colors depending upon their chemical content as well as hardness. Harvesting them is easy in various unglaciated areas and must have sharp edges ideally to bite out the steel. A proper edge is needed so they would be knapped with a hammer sometimes.

People have a common misconception that the flint particles are making the spark because they see something similar inside the disposable lighters which are continuously struck by the metal wheel and wears it down. This compound is actually iron and cerium that burns when scratched. The sparks are not from a chert but instead from little steel curl which a high pressure exertion would peel off.

Steels with high carbon are a good kind which can get their proper hardness when quenched in oil and resist the pressure except for that little piece that ignites. If this alloy is treated properly, it could thousands, or even millions, of sparks before losing its effectiveness. They are usually shaped like the letter C and those for bigger hands, letter U.

Char cloth is linen or cotton which were burned down inside a container so the oxygen will be low like small tins which have a small hole above for the escape of pressure and smoke. This is where you will land the sparks and it will light up then. Make one through placing it inside a tin and cook it in the fireplace or campfire and when the smoke is gone, cool it overnight or if opened, it would kindle.

Lastly, you will need tinder which is a material that burns when a spark has landed on it such as dry lint or grass. You could find them in different places depending on your current terrain but the usual substitute people use is oakum. This is made of jute fibers and was traditionally used as caulking for wooden boats.

Prepare your tinder so it would be ready in accepting the char cloth. Then create a nest and place it somewhere you can easily reach it. The fire bed should have a kindling and fuel ready for your burning tinder.

Place char cloth above flint and shave off little steel strip to ignite the cloth. Gently blow on it until the sparks would become glowing crescent. Spread the spark by gently blowing the cloth after folding it.




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