Great Balls of Fire!
When fire was first discovered it was a game changer for humankind. Fire equals cooked food, warmth, and ultimately survival. I’ve always enjoyed watching Survivor on television. It was fun watching the contestants struggle with living in the wild and fending for themselves. One of my favorite parts was watching the contestants try to start a fire. Whether it was the first few days in their camps or at a tie breaker during tribal council, I have been fascinated with starting a fire.
My family loves to have campfires. We enjoy the conversations, laughter and yummy food which comes from a good backyard campfire. So when I was ready to conquer my fire starting skills, it was decided to do so at a family campfire in Michael’s backyard in Gainesville during graduation weekend. I had some good dry split wood for me, palm tree husky material as well as dried pine straw for my tender. A survival flint/steel stone was ordered from Amazon and I was all set for this experience.
I was surrounded by family, as they were eagerly watching me try to make fire. I used a brick from the fire pit to be the platform for my baby fire. I set up pine needles in the fire pit with the dry wood Michael had saved for me.
In a squatting position, I began by scrapping the steel tool along the steel side of the flint bar to see if I could start the fire without magnesium from the flint. I was able to generate a few little sparks but not enough to catch the husky palm tender. My knees ached and I recycled two Amazon bubble envelopes to protect them as I knelt on the hard dirty ground. I scrapped off some of the magnesium, but it came off in little tiny bits, not long curls. I scrapped harder and faster along the steel edge with the only byproduct being sweat dripping off my face. The peanut gallery of family and friends kept shouting out suggestions. Alexandra was right next to me and was an encourager. While taking a break, I looked down at my right hand and discovered while I had been using such force and speed trying to create a spark I had actually created a gnarly open blister on my index finger. Uh oh… this wasn’t working out so well. I asked for a pocket knife and my Uncle, who is always prepared for anything, had one ready for me to use.
Wow- what a difference the right tool makes! I was able to get much better sparks from the steel with the pocketknife than with the little steel tool included in the survival kit. Michael’s roommate, Kyle, suggested I stop trying to be so fast with the motion and start to slide the knife much slower across the magnesium and the steel.
It made all the difference in the world! Almost immediately I was able to create good sparks and smoke and then… FIRE! I was so surprised with the actual flames I almost allowed the fire to burn out before I had moved it to the fire pit. The well dried wood and pine needles took almost instantly to the flame and we had a very nice backyard campfire almost ready for marshmallows.
After my experience others wanted to try to make fire too! Some, after my seasoning of the flint and learning the best techniques, were successful almost instantly; some were successful with a bit more time and some met no success.
It is nice to know if I’m stranded with flint and a knife, I too can survive. #21✔
