Flint striker

An effective fire starter is an artificial flint striker. There are a number of different shapes and designs available on the market. To use it, you scrape hard to produce a shower of sparks to catch your fire.


Tinder

First, you will need some tinder to start your fire. The tinder must be absolutely dry and fluffed very well. The finer and dryer the material used, the better. It should only take a spark to ignite!

There are a number of things you can use for tinder, for instance, dry leaves, fine dry grass and bark, cloth fibers, paper or any other flammable material. Use your knife to turn dry sticks and pieces of bark into powdery tinder. Prepare your tinder carefully, it's crucial to the success of the fire making process.


Ignite

Place the sparking stick close to the tinder. Use a knife or the attached edged tool and draw it slowly downwards over the sparking stick. Hot sparks are produced. If you have prepared you tinder appropriately it will catch fire.

Shield your fire area. When the fire is becoming established, slowly add more tinder, then add thin sticks of wood. Build your fire up gradually.


Recommendation

If you are not used to a fire starter like this, I recommend you first test it with fluffy paper. Dry fluffy paper is very easy to ignite. If you practice with easily ignitable things like fluffy paper, you will improve your skills. Trust me, you need some practice. Don't give up, you will succeed.

Personally, I almost always use a flint striker to start my fires. It doesn't get bad if it gets wet, and it will keep for years. Make sure you have one in your backpack and can manage to start a fire with it.