: Mastering Flint and Steel: History, Tools, and Challenges in Humid Environments

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

pray for those who have been harmed by this hurricane

[@TomGellos]

I saw how nasty it was Thank you Blackie for another great class

[@jeffunderwood672]

Done

[@johnherron3961]

Char cloth is best made w/ 100% cotton. I use old shoeshine cans to make my char cloth (1 w/ small hole in the top and placed on the coals of a fire until it stops smoking out the hole, and another to store the finished char cloth in.). Great vid!

[@shastaham7630]

"You can tear the snot out of your knuckles." Blackie, I cherish your precise manner of imparting knowledge.

[@terrycheek4097]

I have made fire from flint and steel but did not know the history of the boxes and their culture. Thanks Blackie.

[@mikelgeren149]

As a society , we need the "use it till it is used up" mindset . I try but my grandmother would consider me wasteful . Good content . 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

Well said

[@Seamus3051]

Thank you for a very clear & useful tutorial Mr Thomas, Thanks also, for the bit of nostalgia; I can still recall, after WWII, my Mum using my Dad's old shirts and other rags at the end of a mop handle to mop the floors in our house, In those days, nothing ever went to waste, people were almost always able to get "one more use" out of an item before it went into the trash bin. Cheers.

[@jeffmccausland3569]

Greetings from Newfoundland Canada, Blackie. Thank you for this video. I've been wanting to get into flint and steel fire practice. You truly are a woodscraft legend, Sir.

[@danscott8094]

worse thing for me is cold hands prayers and glad to see you are ok

[@pilgrimm23]

Thanks Blackie. Always a joy to be informed by your wisdom -Grey Pilgrim

[@outbackowl3040]

Hi Blackie, greeting from Australia 🇦🇺, thank you for your time to make these videos, muchly appreciated thank you

[@skipsalmon6728]

Blackie: I've been doing flint and steel for over 50 years with Royal Rangers and FCF, Once I got flame in less than 5 seconds but came in third place in the competition. This is, by far, the BEST demo of flint and steel I've ever seen. Also thanks for letting me know about Kaufman's Army Surplus. Have gotten a lot of good stuff from them and I always tell them that Blackie sent me. Skip Salmon ( ole eagle eye) Roanoke, VA

[@hanginwithbullfrog4657]

Blackie....u need to make that into production my friend... That's brilliant!!!!

[@williamdroom5789]

I use an altoids tin to make char and char cloth and keep it in a small zip-lock bag to keep it dry. When I was a Boy Scout I earned my fire making merit badge and how to use flint and steel over 60 years ago. I used a carbon steel boy scout pocket knife to strike the flint. Old Boy Scout Handbooks and Boy's Life Magazines taught us a wealth of outdoor skills back then. Some times you can find them in second hand bookstores.

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

thanks for watching

[@marcusalancate1782]

Glad y'all are safe from Helene!

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

thanks

[@Dr.Mrs.TheMonarch]

Hmm, I did not get a notification for this video. Glad it showed up even though a day late. Thank you for explaining the process.

[@PaulDekleva]

Absolutely fascinating!! Wow, I never knew about this way of making fire. I suppose this is the way people made fire for centuries. Another enlightening video Blackie.

[@JoeCool-mj1so]

Great tutorial Blackie. Love the dirty thought reference!!! 😂

[@MichaelR58]

Excellent video Blackie, thanks for sharing, YAH bless !

[@JoeConstante]

Placing Silica Jell or some other form Descants material in your char tin will ensure your char cloth or material stays dry. I use the ones that come in food bags or in MREs. They work well and ensure your char material stay dry.

[@tennesseesmoky9012]

Excellent presentation on the essentials of flint and steel fire making. Thank you!

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

glad to do it

[@PhilipWright-pw3192]

Super stuff Blackie. I wish I was 45 years younger, I'd be around you like a rash to get on one of your courses...!

[@Bravebelly]

Amazing content!! Keep it coming 👌🏼

[@independentthinker8930]

I was walking the shore of Kentucky lake a few years ago, I found a chunk of black flint with a thin layer of quartz on two sides, like a top and bottom. It's about twice the size of a softball!

[@williamdroom5789]

Another place you can sometimes find chert is walking old railroad beds. Carry a bag and steel and and see if the rocks you pick up will spark.

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

yall are lucky where i live it is not common at all

[@independentthinker8930]

@@BLACKIETHOMAS I actually live between Birmingham and Huntsville, was up at Kentucky lake visiting inlaws

[@timlacy2284]

Blackie, Great Video on Flint and Steel information, How To. I am wanting to know about Light Gray Flint color we have a lot of it just North of Paris, Tennessee in West Tennessee . My mother in law grandmother farm just down the road from where I live on my farm . There is a place where light gray Flint is everywhere ,lots of arrowhead points, scraper , spear points lots of chips. I don't have access to the land anymore. But I do have several pieces left . God Bless Y'all You and Mrs. Blackie and Family.

[@keithmoore5306]

lucky son of a gun!!!

[@smoothvern165]

This is very good flint and steel info. Thanks, Blackie!

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

glad to help

[@FredFreiberger-pk6wc]

Living in Louisiana humidity is a big factor on what fire making tools I carry and practice. Flint and steel require very dry char . Bow drill is another method that humidity affects

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

yep biw drill is ok in winter when humidity is below 50%

[@mrkultra1655]

Thanks, Blackie

[@tjfm59]

laughing over the calif. reference. stay safe. long range forecast is showing another system that may follow helene.

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

i see that we will be ready

[@zachariahlee3393]

Old Charcloth will also become less and less able to ignite carbonized cotton. I find using Punk wood instead of jeans as char-material.

[@A_Meek_lake_Dweller]

Punk wood from a pine tree charred or chaga roughed up work's well in this neck of the wood's to catch a spark. No flint in this area so chert is what's used. Small roll of jute twine for tinder and tying is a nice touch also. Great video! : )

[@neitzsche5150]

I learned something new. I didn't know about the black flint. You are the O.G. of flint and steel! Flint and steel is a skill that takes a lot of practice. Where did you get that hinged char cloth tin? I want one!

[@unclebobsbees4899]

I would like a char tin also. Very cool.

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

dixie gun works

[@ostekuste3646]

I’m up here near Erwin, Tn and it looks like a war zone. It will never be the same after this storm. The Nolichucky River didn’t just flood, it ate into hillsides and communities completely changing the landscape. Thankfully we are further away, but local communities are impacted everywhere in the area with utility outages, bridges out, and more. They are just now starting to get to areas isolated by debris and destroyed roads to look for missing people. This wasn’t what people assume when they hear about floods. The water didn’t just rise and get everything wet. The power the river had literally ate roads away, cut into hillsides, changed the river channel. All in a day. The landscape doesn’t even look the same.

[@oldminer5387]

Great tutorial Blackie, thank you.

[@pB-vp3mo]

Another Great video! Thank you for revisiting the basics.

[@Dusk3e]

high humidity is probably why those brimstone matches were so popular, just need the coal to last long enough

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

very true

[@billydobbins8308]

Thanks for another great video.

[@simplemanduke7128]

Always watch your videos and bears videos. Love your content. You're so good you can make people watch you make lunch! Thank you for your time and efforts in making these videos. You make a daunting task approachable.

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

I appreciate that!

[@gerardmartyn7596]

Great video. Always learning a little bit more. 😊

[@DamianBloodstone]

Great vid on the subject. I wish I had seen yours before buying my little kit. I couldn't get my flint and steel to even spark when I got a kit. Then I found it was a very low quality chert and not flint in the kit. I found rose quartz worked but iron pyrite threw crazy sparks from my steel. I still haven't gotten hold of good flint yet, but I have a bag of pyrite now to use. This is, however, the last way I'd want to light a fire in an emergency.

[@standingbear998]

I keep a small silica moisture absorber in my char tin. I think flint and steel works as easy as bowdrill or anything else short of a lighter. I can find plentiful chert around here and made my striker from an old file.

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

That's a great idea!

[@apar1560]

Pretty awesome , THANKS

[@gerardmartyn1738]

Great video/information, thank you. Struggling with this, no flint only quartz. 😊

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

Good luck!

[@cordellkent4790]

Thanks for this tutorial. Greatly appreciated. I learnt many things.

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

You're very welcome!

[@earlshaner4441]

Outstanding video brother

[@clarencesmith2305]

Another tough spot for flint&steel is the western (west of the cascade mountains) PNW IE Oregon & Washington.

[@57WillysCJ]

Good tutorial. I think half the reason guys carried a pistol was to start their fire and why you look at late 19th century and early 20th century guys always carried matches. Best flint and steel today is a lighter. 😛

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

i used my flintlock rifle to make many campfires in my living history days

[@user-bh3ew6ii4g]

I have one of those tubes with the cotton wick that's charred on the ends, but it's a bit awkward to hold onto the flint so the sparks can get on it. Unfortunately that jump cut totally skips over the technique. Some helpful tips and information, a lot I already knew though, but it would have been much more helpful to see the technique for lighting the charred wick in the tube as well.

[@keithmoore5306]

looks like your J striker could use some steel wool on the striking surface i saw some light rust! you might want to let Dakota know Dave Canterbury has a couple damn good videos on flint and steel he can look at too!! on your charring tin i put my vent hole on the side under where the lid will cover and leave the lid up cockeyed for lack of a better term and when the char is done i just shove the lid down over the hole and take it out of the fire! if he needs a source for cloth old underwear and tee shirts make good char cloth!!

[@JohnTBlock]

You can make char from punk wood, too....fill your Tin and put it thru the fire....

[@reneschaap8091]

goedemiddag Blackie 👍

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

thanks

[@michaelallen9571]

Can you go into more detail or show how to make char from previous fire?

[@jeremymoses7401]

I keep a ziplock with my char tin. As soon as its made while its still warm, in that ziplock it goes to keep the moisture out of it... then when the tin cools completely i store it all back in there.

[@natesaquatics5248]

I have a 1984 canteen i got from a flea market

[@Jerrylance-ty1re]

Mt man here watching 👍👍 can u make those 4 sell

[@Ozarkwonderer]

Hey blacky I ve watched your vids for a long time. I do flint and steel fires in bushcraft outings alot of the times and even have vids of my own.... But, question..... I've come across a description of a tender box with flint and steel in a Dungens and Dragons book for traveling and exploring gear. And I it it describes peaces of oiled cloth as a tinder to take the sparks. Any idea if that would work? Historical at all??

[@peterslabinger6221]

Hi Blackie, what time period was matches use or ready available? It must have been better that slice bread. Lol

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

civil war had a form of them not sure how much before then

[@seseblades1791]

Is that tube just rolled cotton? Then you push it in and pull out as needed? Not a braided cotton rope?

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

yes rolled i believe

[@johngraesser4911]

As i understand from what i have read, with flint and steel, you are using the flint to shave off metal sparks while with a knife and ferrorod, the knife doesnt throw off metal, it is all from the ferrorod.

[@skovbo65]

If you take some stinging nettles even green ones and separate the fibers from the stock and dry them in the wind and sun and then compact them you can use them to catch a spark without char them first and use them to ignite your tinder with. kzbin.info/www/bejne/kJzVZqOflKaondU&ab_channel=WildernessStrong

[@Johnhanddrill]

I think I covered some pretty decent Flinton steel content on my channel🎉

[@jasonedwardledburynewzeala9897]

Charred Punkwood is a renewable resource. Char cloth wasn't. Cloth was to valuable to waste on fire making.

[@tikkidaddy]

I took a leg off a worn out 100% cotton jeans material we got at Goodwill. Took one of those Pirouette cookie tins, the straw shaped thing? Trimmed off the hems etc, rolled it up good and shoved the whole thing in there. I mean it was a ROLL of heavy denim😂 Set it on the fire with a hole punched in the lid and cooked it till all the gas and everything off. Sat it off to cool, and I'm here to tell you it took a minute😂 That stuff was great, rip off a chunk, frayed carbon threads? BANG!

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

yep thick denim is my choice for charcloth

[@tikkidaddy]

100% cotton rope about 1 inch? It'll produce a coal literally the size of a cigar. You talk about warm that tinder bundle? Yeah buddy!

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

nice