Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Details Of 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.

Fire is needed when cooking them which matches or a lighter could start it but sometimes you can not use them because of weather conditions. Flint and steel fire starter kit will be useful in these situations where matches or a lighter is unusable. The following are several of the materials this kit has included to help you produce a flame.

Flints or cherts are family of rocks with different colors that depends on their chemical content and hardness. They could be harvested easily in several unglaciated areas and ideally should have a sharp edge which would bite out steel. Sometimes, they need to be knapped using a hammer or other flint in getting that edge properly.

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 the tinder and have it ready for accepting an ignited char cloth. Create a nest then and place it where you could easily reach it. Kindling and fuel should be ready on the fire bed for burning tinder.

Place a small char cloth above the flint then shave off a little steel strip which will ignite the cloth. Blow gently on the cloth where the spark landed until a glowing crescent is seen. If successful, fold it and blow gently to help the spark spread.




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