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flint and steel Saturday

C

Chigger

John McDouall Stuart
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Cherts can give surprising results. A few years back was camped on the banks of the Turon River and idly noticed some nice dark stones lying about. A breaking up a bit to get sharp edges struck with the steel and there was good showers of sparks.
Upon fire lighting time got the punkwood glowing with just one strike of the steel. Had a fire going in about a minutes time.

Only a few weeks ago stopped on the Sofala Road only a few k's from Ilford for a rest break and whilst wandering about noticed some dark stones. Picked a few up, very hard stone and some with veins of quartz through them so presume a sedimentary chert formed under great heat and pressure many millions of years ago.

At home starting playing with the steel and well.... these stones picked up from the side of the road spark better than my choice Norfolk flint or the best of the S. Aust flints !

Know the spot where these stones were found (travel the Sofala Rd a number of times) and next trip will take a bag and gather more.

A photo of the stones found.

DSC00264 (1).JPG

On the subject of steels not sparking reliably found one of my steels seemed to loose its sparking ability a bit. Suspect some of the steels about are not thoroughly tempered right through the metal.

Only the outside skin gets tempered.

The steel bought from Ravenforge a few months ago is going well.
 
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Wave Man

Wave Man

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this is the exciting part of flint and steel, the finding and testing of new and viable rocks.

I love testing rocks and seeing what sparks and how well they spark.

I also feel that found rocks and rocks you harvest yourself from your travels are more satisfying in use, for one you didn't have to buy it, and it is just something about finding the rocks and then using them to spark on that I find very satisfying.
 
C

Chigger

John McDouall Stuart
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S. Aust flint is good value and being in bulk gives opportunity to practise spalling and knapping. (think those are the correct words)
 
C

Chigger

John McDouall Stuart
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My attempts with the white tree fungus I have was not successful despite a number of attempts. The stuff I have is very crumbly and of a rather open nature. The sparks just fell down into the fungi but did not ignite it.

Although with charring the fungi was dynamite. The slightest spark would get a glow going and made a top grade tinder although very quick to combust away.

Still messing around with various stuff trying to get a non charred substance that will take a spark from flint and steel.
 
K

koalaboi

Ray Mears
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Chigger said:
Cherts can give surprising results. A few years back was camped on the banks of the Turon River and idly noticed some nice dark stones lying about. A breaking up a bit to get sharp edges struck with the steel and there was good showers of sparks.
Upon fire lighting time got the punkwood glowing with just one strike of the steel. Had a fire going in about a minutes time.

Only a few weeks ago stopped on the Sofala Road only a few k's from Ilford for a rest break and whilst wandering about noticed some dark stones. Picked a few up, very hard stone and some with veins of quartz through them so presume a sedimentary chert formed under great heat and pressure many millions of years ago.

At home starting playing with the steel and well.... these stones picked up from the side of the road spark better than my choice Norfolk flint or the best of the S. Aust flints !

Know the spot where these stones were found (travel the Sofala Rd a number of times) and next trip will take a bag and gather more.

A photo of the stones found.

View attachment 29128

On the subject of steels not sparking reliably found one of my steels seemed to loose its sparking ability a bit. Suspect some of the steels about are not thoroughly tempered right through the metal.

Only the outside skin gets tempered.

The steel bought from Ravenforge a few months ago is going well.
Click to expand...
Doubt it’s chert..probably igneous or metamorphic in origin.

KB
 
Wave Man

Wave Man

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white punk fungus is frustrating for me, sometimes it will take a spark from flint and steel with no problems then other times it won't despite doing nothing different.

I would not rely on it as my only tinder, or I would use solar for reliable results. That being said I would still harvest it whenever the opportunity presents as it is still a valuable fire resource.
 
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