Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Information About Flint And Steel Fire Starter Kit

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.

High carbon steels are good kinds which you could give them their proper hardness if you quench them in oil and would resist pressure more aside from that little piece for ignition. If the alloy is properly treated, it could spark a thousand or a million times before its effectiveness is lost. They are shaped usually like letters C and U depending on hand size.

Char cloth is either linen or cotton that were burned down in an environment with low oxygen like a small tin with a small hole on top for the pressure and smoke to escape. This is where the sparks will land and would then lit up because of it. Making one is through cooking it inside the tin on a fireplace or campfire until the smoke dies down and cool it after overnight or else it would catch fire if opened.

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.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment