Starting a fire

Throughout history there have been different methods to start a fire. One method that was commonly used in many different time periods was using a flint and a fire striker.

What do you need?

-flint

-fire striker

-char cloth or wax cloth

-flaxcord 

-kindling

How to start a fire using a flint and striker:

Step one:

Flax cord is made of thinner threads that are twisted together. Pull these thinner threads loose and make a bird's nest out of them. This will be your fine kindling. 

Step 2:

Lay your char cloth or wax cloth on the flint. Make sure it’s right on the edge where you’ll be hitting with the fire striker. Hit the flint with the fire starter until a spark catches on the char cloth. When this happens, you can see a small red spot on the char cloth. You can make this grow a bit larger by carefully blowing on it. 

Step 3:

Place the char cloth on the fine kindling you made and loosely fold it around the cloth. The flex kindling should now start burning. You can aid this by again blowing on the starting flame gently.

Step 4:

Place the burning kindling in the item that should hold your fire, like a brazier, fire plate or previously prepared fire pit. Add the kindling to the flame to grow the fire.

Depending on how large you need the fire to be, you can further feed it with twigs and branches. 

Click here for our fire starting tools.