Flint and Steel

[CaptainUCSB]

I am looking for a source for authentic fire-starting kits. Any idea? Matches are all good and dandy, but we really need to get away from using them so much. Thanks.

[Clark Badgett]

Re: Flint and Steel

I am looking for a source for authentic fire-starting kits. Any idea? Matches are all good and dandy, but we really need to get away from using them so much. Thanks.

Why? Matches were very common. Granted they looked a bit different though.

[hardtack61]

Re: Flint and Steel

hi

sometimes they put on a great flint and steel kit on ebay once and a while its looks very promising!

[Johan Steele]

Re: Flint and Steel

Three options here.

1. go to your nearest Buckskinner Rendevous. I guarantee someone will be selling flint & steel kits. I bought mine for $6 at Prarie DuChien several years ago... and lost it a couple years ago. Haven't been back to a Rendevous since.

2. Take a block of balsa wood smear one side w/ glue and attach the bottom of a bundle of matches. THen break off matches as you need them. While a far cry from authentic it looks aproppriate, until someone picks it up and examines it closely. I used to keep mine in a little canvas bag.

3. Buy a period style matchsafe and place wooden matches inside. That's the best way to keep your matches dry anyway.

[Bushrod Carter]

Re: Flint and Steel

I don't understand why we need to "get away from" matches. Strike matches were common before the war. There were, if I remember correctly, individual stick matches (not the fence post Lucifers) found onboard the ARABIA. If they were being sent in bulk out west before the war, don't you think they could be found in almost any dry-goods store or tobacconer's shop?

Also, just something I tend to use as a reference when looking at material culture of the troops: how many "fire starter kits" have been dug from camps? I haven't heard of a great many being found by relic hunters.

Patrick Craddock

[Moonshine]

Re: Flint and Steel

Pat,

If you MUST have a set, Swamp Fox Knives (www.swampfoxknives) sells a good one now and again. In fact they have several now if I'm not mistaken.

Save the $$$ though and stick with the bolt of lightning on demand like I do to start fires...

Hope this helps,

Jim Ross

[Spinster]

Re: Flint and Steel

Patrick,

Please elaborate a bit more on what problem you are trying to solve. Period matches were a godsend at the time, producing useable flame rather then pitiful sparks which had to be nursed to fruition.

If you want a period lucifer (rather than a box of "strike anywheres" in a period safe), I know a gentleman working on a run of them right now--I expect mine to be delivered next month. I was well-pleased with the performance of his initial experiments.

If you really think flint and steel is the way to go, then do you want a manufactured-looking kit from 1820-30's? Or a more primitive looking French and Indian period kit? I've got a friend who can produce either.

And what, in your mind, is contained in a proper kit? Mine is a fitted tin box, with an assortment of char cloth, linen tow, heart pine slivers, candle drippings, and maybe even a bit of fatback, in addition to the flint and steel. Its how my 1740 period friends separated me, kicking and screaming all the way, from my well-camoflauged "strike anywheres". When not in use in 1740, said kit bumps around in the bottom of my CW period stuff, with use only in the worst of weather. I must admit I am a bit partial to the little tongs in it--used to lift a coal to light my pipe---now that IS an improvement over a sulpherous match!

[markj]

Re: Flint and Steel

Hi Pat,

You can get a flint and steel at Blue Heron Mercantile (which happens to be right here in Lafayette IN):

http://www.blueheronmercantile.com/

However, I would suggest another option: Depending on your needs, a "burning lens" (i.e., magnifying glass) would also work (at least on sunny days!). I light my pipe with it all the time and there are wartime references to this practice. Blue Heron also sells these for around $3.50 apiece.

Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[DukeRPSC]

Re: Flint and Steel

I am looking for a source for authentic fire-starting kits. Any idea? Matches are all good and dandy, but we really need to get away from using them so much. Thanks.

While not necessarily agreeing wholesale with your premise ( to wit, over-representation of matches ) I agree that "strike-a-lights" should be represented as well. To that end, let me recommend you contact the following: http://www.foxrivertraders.com/ or http://www.swampfoxknives.com/ and try to get a copy of a little treatise and accompanying package entitled/called "Fire in Five" which tells of techniques for quick firestarting with flint and steel. I think it's a terrific idea for an impression of a period 'country boy' who may not have wide acquaintance with sulfur matches. Failing all of that, contact Frank Aufmuth of the Skulkers as the strike-a-light seems to be his preferred method of firestarting.

I hope you find this helpful.

[D.W. Scalf]

Re: Flint and Steel

I know this is an old thread, but I'm interested in authentic alternative ways to start a fire, other than with matches, which we all agree were usually available.

Has anyone read anything about the use of a hand or bow drill to start a fire during the War? I'm sure the native Americans were using it. It's reliable, once you learn how to do it, and cheap(especially for living historians). No flint or steel necessary. And you can find your materials most anywhere a variety of trees are available. Just wondering....

D.W. Scalf

[Silas]

Re: Flint and Steel

For a second I thought Duke was posting from the grave.

[kevin]

Re: Flint and Steel

Smoke-fire.com has strike-a-light kits. They even come in a little hide pouch. If I recall correctly, they are only about $10.00. I've been meaning to get one myself but as of yet, have not. If you get one, post a review of how it works for ya.

[Adam L]

Re: Flint and Steel

There was a thread I've aparently lost track of regarding fire pistons. Quite a remarkable device and very effective at starting fires and has apparently been around since before the American Civil War.

[Pvt Schnapps]

Re: Flint and Steel

See "Making Fire" in the Camp of Instruction: http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/...ead.php?t=8844

From various sources, some quoted in the above thread, it seems that matches provided the most common method of making fire. Even The Prairie Traveler assumes that most folks will have matches.

After that, you would look at flint and steel. "Match syringes" aka "fire pistons" are interesting but I didn't see much that would tie one to soldiers.

Sticks of wood and fire drills get talked about as the anthropological artifacts that they were fast becoming in the 1860's. But if you know how to use them and can come up with a good back story, it wouldn't bother me to see it done -- it's not like there's a danger of the technique becoming wildly over-represented.

[cprljohnivey]

Re: Flint and Steel

It has been argued in the past that the use of flint and steel as a backup to when matches might become wet. To use flint and steel, you need to have try tinder, slow match, char cloth, fungus, or something of the like. Now think about this... What will keep your tinder, slow match, or char cloth dry while your matches get soaked? I use flint and steel when I do F&I but I much enjoy the ease of just striking a light with a match in 19th century reenacting.