"Doc" Rannie FLINT AND STEEL FIREBUILDING
Fire building with "Flint and Steel" requires (1) "Flint", (2) Steel, (3) Charred "stuff", and (4)Tinder. To do it well you will also need Knowledge and Practice and, for sure, a SHARP pocketknife!
Flint
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"Flint" should be any hard, quartz based stone (flint, chert, quartzite, jasper, etc.) found on thereservation that is harder than steel. Such stones are all over the (HRB Scout) reservation. Lookdown! How do you determine if a stone will work? Best bet )) Try it!
Steel
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"Steel" should be a knife (back of the blade), a section of a file, a striker (properly tempered!)from a boy scout Flint & Steel kit, or a "pioneer" type of striker (that wraps around severalfingers.)
For the best performance the edge of the steel should be smooth, as is the case with the back of aknife or a boy scout striker. When using a file, it will be best to grind the edge smooth. In thefield, sandstone or some other abrasive rock may be used to grind the edge of a file.
Striking Flint and Steel
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When you strike flint and steel together (technique (a) or (b) below) you may get "sparks.""Sparks"are tiny burning pieces of steel (iron) that have been shaved from the steel by the sharpedge of the "flint" (remember that flint is HARDER than steel!). The friction of the shavingprocess has heated the iron above its ignition temperature and the iron has ignited and is nowburning (reacting with the oxygen in the air) and releasing enough energy for the spark to ignite acharred material (usually charred cloth) when the spark comes in contact with the charred cloth.
(a) Flint Striking Steel: In this situation a long (8 to 14 inch) file is held (inclined about 30degrees from vertical ) in a "death grip", with the left hand while the right hand holds the flintand strikes the sharp edge of the flint a glancing blow downward against the steel file. This willshower sparks downward toward the base of the file where the charred material is located (and infact the charred material may be pinned in place by the file.)
Safety: It is important that the sharp tang of the file be broken off or ground off, bent over, orcovered with a handle.
(b) Steel Striking Flint: In this situation the steel is usually short (from 2 to 4 inches in length)and the flint is now held in the left hand and the steel (held in the right hand) is struck a glancingblow downward against the sharp edge of the flint. Since the flint is shaving steel from thestriker, the charred cloth is now placed on TOP of the flint (and close to the sharp edge of theflint) so that the sparks can "spray" directly into the charred cloth. The left thumb is usuallyemployed to hold the charred cloth in place on top of the flint.
Guidelines
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Note: In accordance with our native American traditions, only real steel and real rocks (from ourreservation) should be used in firebuilding with flint and steel. In addition, the material used tocatch the sparks should be a charred version of the plant material available to native Americans.
The so called "flint" found in lighters and in "Sparky Bear" and other fire starters is NOT a stonethat is harder than steel, but is a product of modern technology called "Misch Metal" which isactually softer than steel.
Accordingly, good firebuilders should have no need for modern materials such as steel wool,Misch Metal ("Sparky Bear"), or any accelerants ("scout juice", etc.) in fire building.
Sharpening or Resharpening Your Flint
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Making a sharp edge on the flint: Flint-like rocks break with what is known as a "shell shaped"fracture. This produces the sharp edge that may be seen on "flint" arrowheads. The best way toobtain a sharp edge on a piece of flint is to hold the flint in your left hand and hold your steel
in your right hand. You should hold the steel very close to the end (so that less than 3/4 inch ofsteel protrudes from your right hand.)
Now holding the flint at or below waist level strike the steel down against the portion of yourflint where you wish to create (or recreate) a sharp edge. Your intention is to chip off a smallpiece of the flint. The edge of the resulting fracture will be VERY sharp (beware of cuts!) andcan probably be used to produce sparks many times before you will need to "resharpen" yourflint.
Safety: When chipping flint remember safety! Hold the flint below waist level (see above.) Faceaway from others. Warn others not to be looking as you chip. Close your eyes as you strikeand/or use eye protection as appropriate.
Charred Cloth
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"Charred Cloth" For thousands of years firebuilders have understood that in order for a sparkfrom flint and steel to ignite a material and for that material to then continue slowly burning, thematerial must be charred.
Sparks falling on ordinary (not charred) material will create a minute"burn" but the gasses andvapors produced by this tiny burn immediately extinguish any combustion. Just as charcoal issuperior to wood (charcoal is wood with all of the gasses and vapors driven out of it), so charredcloth (which is ordinary cloth with all of the gasses and vapors driven out of it ) it is nearly purecarbon), is better (necessary!) for catching flint and steel sparks.
Charred material (usually cotton cloth, but some other vegetable products will also work) is madeby heating the material (e.g., cotton cloth, canvas) in an enclosed space where air cannot reachthe material and burn it up. An enclosed space might be between two tin can lids, or in a metalband-aid box (or in some other enclosed metal container.
Note: The Mountain Men would set fire to the end of a strip of cloth and then smothered itsomehow (perhaps with the other end of the cloth.) The burned cloth would then have a portionthat was charred (black!) and this is the part that would then be saved for starting fires in thefuture.
Charred Cloth can be made by placing 1 to 3 pieces (approximately 4 to 5 inches square) betweentwo # 10 tin can lids and putting the lids on the burner of a gas stove (electric ranges just don'twork!*) Metal "Altoids" cans work very well. You can put seventeen 2 inch by 3 inch rectanglesof cloth in one can. Gasses are driven off by the heat. They will be seen burning around the edgeof the lids/cans.
After a few minutes, (shortly after the gasses are no longer produced), remove the lids/cams andset them aside to cool. DO NOT! separate the lids at this time as the still burning charred clothwill burn up! After allowing the lids to cool (to where they can be handled) separate them andremove the charred cloth(s).
The increasing use of synthetic fibers in blended fabrics can create a problem in the manufactureof charred cloth. In some cases there will be enough of the charred cotton left to provide aworkable spark catcher. In other cases the blended fabrics just won't work! Fabric made fromcotton ONLY is really the best way to go!
Before storing charred cloth, you should test it to confirm that it will catch sparks from your flintand steel. Charred cloth can be stored conveniently between the pages of a TV Guide or anysimilar booklet.
In the field charred cloth may be made "Mountain Man" style or a band-aid can or a pair ofmeshed cans may be used to good advantage in a campfire.
Tinder
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"Tinder" Best tinder is dry shredded cedar bark. Pounding with a stick gives even better smallfibers. Some dry grass will work well. Leaves are almost Never any good, except to add bulk tothe outside of the tinder bundle. Four (4) feet of 1/4 inch rope (cut into 1 foot lengths )
disassembled into strands ) strands disassembled into yarns ) yarns broken into at least twogroups of strands) will create a pretty good tinder bundle. Form it into a "birds nest" about 6inches in diameter.
Turning a Spark into Fire
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When a spark has caught on the charred cloth, the charred cloth should be (Gently!) placed in acompact (folded up) form in the center of the birds nest. Avoid undue haste. The burning clothwill continue burning reliably in almost every case! Now fold the tinder around the charred cloth.(The cloth MUST be in contact with the tinder if it is to ignite the tinder!)
Leave a very small opening in the tinder so that you can blow (long....and steady) on the charredcloth.
Turn so your back is to the wind so smoke will be carried away from you. Hold the bird's nestABOVE your head! Failure to do this will result in smoke from the bird's nest coming up intoyour face. If you have properly "surrounded" the charred cloth with the tinder, you will not haveto worry about the charred cloth falling out of the bird's nest. Blow long and steady (hard isneither necessary nor good) on the charred cloth in the tinder bundle. When you need to take abreath, LIFT THE BIRD'S NEST ABOVE YOUR HEAD AT ARM'S LENGTH SO YOU CANGET A BREATH OF NON SMOKE AIR! Continue until you have a fire!
Words of Wisdom for Firebuilders
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There are two kinds of Firebuilders, those who have burned themselves, and those who have notburned themselves, ....... yet!
* Indicates that additional information is available upon request.
Recommended books:
"Outdoor Survival Skills", Larry Dean Olsen, BYU Press
"Bushcraft", Richard Graves, Schocken Books
This description of "Flint and Steel Firebuilding" was prepared by Dr. Robert P. "Doc" Rannie,Assistant Scoutmaster, Troop 223, Blue Elk District, Heart of America Council, Boy Scouts ofAmerica, in June, 1996, (and revised in May, 2002) for friends of Scouting, and in particular, for
Firebuilders, Scouts, and Scouters at the H. Roe Bartle Scout Reservation, Osceola, MO.
