“Rubbing two sticks together to start fires is just Soo-oo Caveman, dearie. And using flint is just a disaster for your nails”. Well here is your modern equivalent for the sophisticated camper. Firesteel uses the modern version of flint as a survival tool for starting fires.
“Continue reading” for the interesting metallurgy and how to make a fire.
It works by providing a tinder of wood shavings, magnesium shavings which are then ignited.
Here’s how to light a fire. Using the striker, scrape shavings off the paudauk wood handle as tinder. Paudauk is an oily wood that doesn’t get waterlogged if wet. Unlike matches.
Scrape magnesium shavings into the wood shavings to increase the combustion markedly once it gets going. The magnesium rod is the lighter coloured metal. Get it?
Then scrape the “flint” to make sparks to ignite it. In fact you can light some shredded tissue paper alone fairly well too.
My wife bought me this small survival tool that for cooking meals when I spend long days in my shed.
Modern day “flint” is ferrocerium. From Wikipedia: A modern ferrocerium firesteel product is based on an alloy of rare earth metals. This is called mischmetal and contains approximately 50% cerium, 25% lanthanum, and small amounts of neodymium and praseodymium. Iron and a small amount of magnesium are added for hardness to enable better striking. This ignites at 150 – 180 C and burns at 3000 C.
Interestingly Carl Auer von Welsbach who invented this, also invented thorium containing gas mantles.
Hey buddy, got a light?
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External links
Ferrocerium – Wikipedia
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Photo Date: July 5, 2012