Anyone use a fire striker before? Just picked one up and it's a lot harder to get a fire going than I thought.
>>769725
Starting a fire from just sparks can be difficult
Most important thing is that you have some good kindling like a ball of really dry grass or twine thats been pulled apart
>>769725
Every day
with a gas burner
>>769728
Just tried it with some balled up dryer lint. Started instantly.
>>769725
Some people use ferro rods in combination with vaseline soaked cotton balls or something similar. Training is more important obviously.
making a fire with them is easy enough normally I use them instead of lighters same time to make it so I minus well.
>>769725
I've been starting fires with hot sparks for over a decade. they're incredibly easy once you get the hang of it. If you need to git gud quick just use charred cloth.
You should practice technique though. 30 minutes and you'll be throwing showers of sparks. Use the and you use to sharpen a knife, use a light touch and strike it quickly for 10-15 seconds and you'll have multiple embers going in your tinder bundle once you get the hang of it.
ideally you want to strike it once. either get a larger and higher quality rod to do that, or make a better tinder nest
>>769822
>git gud quick
>use charred cloth
????
>>769732
back in high school we had these to start up the bunsen burners. I fucking hated the scratching sound it made when you tried to spark it, it's like nails on a chalk board.
>>769725
I haven't used one yet- I wouldn't suggest relying much on a compass like that though. You can't get anything resembling high accuracy readings with it.
>>769725
They work well, but like with anything practice makes perfect.
>>769825
>what is google
Put strips of cloth in metal tin
Punch hole in metal tin
Put in fire
Char the cloth
???
Profit
>>769725
Are you using it correctly?
>>769895
Not what I meant.
I meant that charred cloth is no different from bringing vaseline-soaked cotton or whatever. It's no way of "getting good", as it's literally no way of practicing.
>>769918
rip shitty knife's shitty edge.
>>769725
Get proper tinder and a proper scraping surface and no wind.
Some come with magnesium for you to scratch a pile and then that will melt for some time with the sparks.
I recommend you always carry like 3 different fire making tools, since they are so light and small.
Carry a lighter and if on long trips, cotton with vaseline.
Vaseline can also be good for carbon knives.
>>770075
I've seen videos of SERE instructors doing that.
Not saying it's correct, just saying it's more common than one would think.
>>769725
Dryer lint. If you can't start a fire with it and a spark you can turn in your /out/man card at the door and leave.
>>769725
never
i bought one because it might come in handy one day when i run out of lighters.
but so far i only used lighters.
i have this sequence: lighters -> matches -> candles -> ferro rod -> pray for lightning -> friction fire
>>770075
I mean, it shouldn't do much to the knife edge assuming you have a good knife. The knife should be much harder than the ferrorod so a strike or two on the edge will leave it relatively the same.
Obviously try to use something else first, but as a last resort, the knife edge isn't a terrible choice. Knives aren't hard to hone back up anyways.
>>770133
>pray for lightning -> friction fire
Kek
>>770215
Assuming you have a fixed blade like in the pic, why would you not use the back of the knife at all times?
>>770299
The coating will make it harder for sparks, though the shape of the spine looks like it could work well. The spine might not be a good angle to throw sparks too.
My main point is that though using the cutting edge seems really dumb, it's actually not a big deal if using a quality knife.
>>770541
> it's actually not a big deal if using a quality knife.
If you're buying a quality knife you'd want one with a squared spine to throw adequate sparks, and if it doesn't you could just grind a striking spot yourself.
>>770084
hence the popularity of flat spines, to be able to use it as 2 more edges. because you do need an edge to grab a ferro rod, and if your knifes only edge is the blade, thats what its going to be
>>770643
i would rather use a sharp rock or a piece of glass than my knife edge
i seen plenty of times these 3000 degree hot sparks often leave a glowing residue on the edge. if that doesn't fuck up the heat treat it's a miracle.
