How To Make A Fire With FireSteels

 

When any of us get into the Topic Of Zday, or WROL we tend to focus mainly on what weapons we are going to use, and what we are going to wear/drive/who we are going to take. But one of the main things we tend to overlook is how we are going to prepare for such an occurrence. surely if we have some sort of massive apocalypse we are going to protect vital services such as water/electricity/Grocery stores right? I wouldn't count on it. Just this is enough to write volumes on ranting about important skills that have been lost. I don't have the time to write that kind of article, and Im sure you would not appreciate reading a rant ;p

So lets look at this; It has been seen in recent disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, the Japanese Tsunamis, and Haiti that the first things to go down in a disaster (Natural or otherwise) is Utilities (Electricity/Water/Natural Gas). So We don't have access to public water, we cannot keep our food that is currently in our refrigerators fresh for long, and if it is winter we are now needing to find alternative methods on how to keep ourselves and possibly any dependents warm. Depending on your plans, resources and region this can easy all the way to a nearly impossible situation based on where you are. For alot of us outdoors types who grew up camping we would simply state "well I'll go out into the woods and survive there," while this would sound logical and poses the best bet in long term survival we need to account for a few things we are going to need first.

The most important thing that one can carry while going out into the woods, or the wild to live is means to make fire. as long as one has a knife or other tool weapons while crude can still be made from nearly anything one might find in the wild. what is not so common is the ability to make fire, and use an implement that is man portable.  Many are first to say "no prob, I've got a stash of waterproof matches" or "I've got a zippo/butane lighter" the issue with these modern conveniences is that they eventually run out. Matches are Portable but require a suitable striking surface to ignite and have a limited burn time. They are immediately effected by the elements (rain, wind, snow) and at best are finite because you can only dedicate so much pack space to them.
Lighters are their own deal; while they are probably the easiest way to start a fire (granted you actually know how to start a fire quickly) you have to deal with the fact that they too are a very finite source of fire given that they will eventually run out of fuel. So now that we have debunked Matches, and lighters as a "Long-Term" fire starter we need to look back to what Our ancestors did for thousands of years.

So as a kid I often remember seeing cartoons where a character would rub two sticks together to create fire:

This Video Demonstrates the use of the Hand Drill as a fire starter. While if mastered this could be a very useful skill. It is not the most time effective way to make a fire. what is not shown here in this video is the failed attempts to create an ember to even create the fire.

So What is a primitive way to make fire that does not include "rubbing some sticks together"? lets look back to a somewhat lost practice of fire steels. Based on some pretty interesting Science that basically states. "Iron burns when it comes into contact with oxygen, the heat from this burning dissipates quickly due to the lack of surface area to burn before the iron creates what is called Iron oxide. when there is more surface area to burn with less mass the iron will burn to yellow or white hot."



thats prettymuch a TL;DR:
Whats important to note is that the Fire Steel is carrying out a chemical reaction. whats better is that this chemical reaction is based on Oxygen which is found in all environments one  would be needing to survive in. This means that it would be relatively easier to start fires in the rain.

So how proven are these fire steels? well granted that they have been used from the roman empire all the way to the late 1800's by Cowboys and Mountain Men in the American West they have a proven track record. Granted that over time improvements have been made to the system.

Here is an example of one of the popular systems in use:

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Note that this system makes plenty of sparks with which to start fires granted the proper use of tinder and other burnable materials.

firestarters like in the video above can be had at reasonable prices, Like these Products:

The reason that the firesteel is the most effective fire starting tool because of its light weight, the fact that it has a near infinite number of uses, and that it can be used in any climate. I hope this was helpful to you guys in finding alternative methods to starting camp style and emergency fires.*Note* that learning to use this system does take some time. so I would encourage you guys to get out and try these firesteels and other methods out in the field to gain some experience using alternative firestarting methods.