Fire Making: Flint & Steel (flint and flintlock)

Making fire with Flint & Steel

Using a flint and flintlock is a beautiful and historic method of making fire. A flint is an iron rod used to make sparks. Flint or also called flint (wafer-thin) is a rock called flint because a strike with a piece of flint on a piece of iron (stem) can result in sparks created by small iron particles that spontaneously oxidize in the air releasing a lot of heat so that the particles glow. By trapping these sparks in tinder (such as a piece of charred cotton, dried moss or tinder fungus) it is possible to create a flame with, for example, a dry piece of grass.

Supplies

What exactly do you need to make a fire with a Flint & Steel? We ourselves always use char cloth (charred piece of cotton) and then you need the following:

• a fire
• a metal lockable box
• a knife
• a piece of cotton
• Flint & Steel
• a good handful of dry grass

Not sure where to get the above material. No worries! Below we have some tips for you:

• No dry grass nearby, hay for the rabbit at the pet store you can also use
• For a piece of cotton, use an old t-shirt, boxer shorts or jeans
• A complete set of Flint & Steel with a metal box, you can buy at Bushpappa 
• Through our discount code you will get a nice discount at Bushpappa, ask for it in the link at the end of this article.

How does it work?

To finally get a flame, take the following steps:

1. Make a fire (ok, ok.... you may use your lighter for this, but any other more challenging way is of course also allowed😉)
2. Using the tip of your knife, make a small hole in the metal sealable box
3. Cut a piece of cotton (3×5 cm) with your knife and put it in the metal box
4. Place the box of cotton with the open hole facing up on the glowing coals next to the burning fire
5. The cotton will now char, releasing smoke in the process. This smoke comes out of the small hole in the metal box. After about 5 minutes no more smoke comes out of the hole and the cotton is charred, now take the box out of the fire and place it upside down (hole facing down) on the ground. Be careful the box is red-hot! Because the box is upside down, no oxygen can reach the charred cotton and therefore cannot burn any further.
6. Once the metal tray has cooled, remove the charred cotton and repeat previous steps so that you have several pieces of charred cotton
7. Now take the dry grass and turn it into a kind of bird's nest, make sure you have a kind of handle at the bottom that you can use to hold the grass and wave it up and down
8. Place 1 piece of char cloth in the dry grass
9. Now it's going to happen! Take out your flintlock and flint. Practice several times until you continuously get nice sparks. Try striking at different angles and find out what works best. Don't hit too hard, but don't hit too soft either. We always say, ''try to hit the flint just barely or just barely'', as it were scraping along the stone until you get nice sparks.
10. Once you have mastered this then take the^2nd piece of charred cotton and place it under the flint
11. Make nice strokes with the flare on the flint and try to get a spark on the charred cotton.
12. Did it work out? YES! Now you will see a little glow on the charred cotton. Relax, this won't go out overnight and you now have time to put your Flint & Steel away quietly. Place the glowing charred cotton on top of the previously placed cotton in the dry grass.
13. Hold the grass by the ''handle'' at a good distance from your face. Blow slowly and quietly on the glowing part. Keep the wind at your back so that the smoke blows away from you.
14. You see the glowing part turn even brighter red and then......Fire!

Information and discount code

Are you also such a firestarter and want to give this a try yourself, but want more information or the discount code to purchase a Flint & Steel? Feel free to contact us via the button below.