Striking the softer steel against the harder flint will produce sparks to flame your fire. The curved steel striker provided with flint and steel kits is easiest to use, although with some practice you can produce sparks by using the back of a carbon-steel knife blade. (Stainless-steel knives are usually much too hard to shave sparks from.) An old bastard file or an axe head will also work.
Step One Grasp a shard of hard rock, such as flint or quartzite, between your thumb and forefinger with a sharp edge protruding an inch or two.
Step Two Tightly clamp a piece of your homemade char cloth or a lump of birch tinder fungus under the thumb holding the piece of flint. Grasping the back of the striker, knife blade, or file in your other hand, strike a glancing blow against the edge of flint, using a quick wrist motion. If you're using an axe, hold the head still and sharply strike the flint near the blade, where the steel is harder. Molten sparks from the steel will fly off and eventually be caught by an edge of the char cloth, causing it to glow.
Step Three Carefully fold the cloth into a tinder nest and gently blow on it until it catches flame.
Another option is to use a magnesium-and-steel tool, which is an updated version of an ancient method that creates a strong shower of sparks. The advantage of this method is that the magnesium shavings flame briefly at an extremely high temperature, eliminating the need for char cloth or tinder fungus.
Step One Using a knife blade or striker, shave a pile of magnesium flecks into a nest of tinder.
Step Two Strike the steel edge of the tool with the back of a knife blade or the scraper provided to direct sparks onto the tinder.
Step Three When the tinder starts to smolder, gently blow on it until it bursts into flames.
Rock Striker
An ideal tool for starting a spark-based fire, the striker should be made of flint for best results. If you can't find flint, look for quartzite, which is much more common and is hard enough to strike sparks from steel.
Step One Identify quartzite by the many crescent-shaped fractures on the surface.
Step Two Choose a quartzite boulder that is flat or discus-shaped and drop it against a larger rock to chip off an edge. Round or oval rocks are more difficult to break.
Step Three A flake broken from the quartzite boulder is usually sharp enough to use as a striker or knife. If you can't find one to your liking, break the boulder again.
Photo by Steve Sanford
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