Hi fellow Hiveians,

Today I wanted to celebrate learning how to better use flint and steel for making fires!

Stepping Up My Flint Game

One of the things that I've been trying to do is learn some of the basics for life and being in situations where we are able to fend for ourselves. I'm not the best at it yet that's for sure however I think I am learning and getting better at it all slowly but surely. It's best to learn these things now rather than later when we need to!

One of those things that I've been trying to figure out how to get better at is starting fires without the use of a lighter. With this in mind, I've been experimenting with different flint and steel setups. I know there are some that are incredibly versatile and handy such as the ones that you can punch it down and it's all encased in one unit. The Outdoor Boys on YouTube often use this style and I know it's incredibly helpful and easy to have that. I'm also a bit stubborn in that I want to learn from the basics before I make advancements!

I made a few mistakes when trying to start fires with flint and steel. One of those mistakes that I've just this week figured out is to, if you can, don't keep the unit too far from the source that you're trying to light!

When I was originally starting to light something up with the flint and steel set up such as this one here, I was holding the flint and steel a good few inches away from the place that I wanted to get the thing lit. This only worked if what I was trying to light was a square of toilet paper or a cotton ball. Those are both excellent mediums for lighting fires that's for sure however they are also not going to be super realistic! Lol.

I will be putting together a little fire making kit to keep with us when we go out on our hikes in the coming weeks now that the cooler weather has started to come about here and there. In the meantime though, I've been experimenting with different mediums for what I have been using to light the fire. One of the most common ones for me has been dryer lint for those of us that use dryers. This is highly flammable stuff and it's good because it's incredibly dry and it's nice and fluffy so that you don't have to go crazy tearing it apart to break it down so it burns easier. That was a big win for me when I realized that lol. Now I will have to start collecting it in bunches and put in our hiking backpack!

I think I've gotten pretty good at using this specific unit of flint and steel. It's incredibly small and lightweight which makes it good for a travel pack or something. If I were to choose though, I would prefer to have one that's a little bigger. I've gotten a knuckle buster or two with this small one where my hand slips and smashes into the wall lol.

One of the most satisfying things for me and likely many other guys and gals who do outdoor things like camping and hiking, is successfully getting a fire lit! That's the shit right there lol.

The little man, obviously my little partner in these endeavors has been a bit fascinated by the coals in the fire. He made me grab a coal with some sticks and kind of act like they were chopsticks. He found this cool stick that's got a nice hole in it and he stuck the coal in there and was walking around like it was a torch. That entertained him for a good 10-15 minutes, having the coal there and walking around with the smoke circling off the end of it.

With having the good access to the different materials though, sometimes when you are lighting fires you end up being a little lazy! Lol. We have this nice butane torch here that I originally bought many years ago to work on something for the car and this thing has lasted me quite a long time and it's in great shape! Let me tell you though, lighting fires with this thing is a fucking dream hahaha. It's got some serious energy behind it so it makes starting the fire a piece of cake.

With fires and things related to that though, one of the things you can see in the above picture is a big bottle of water. Every time we light a fire, I make sure to bring water with me in case things get out of hand. We aren't that dry right now where I would be nervous of it getting out of my control but I'm trying to instill that notion in the little man so he's familiar with the need to be able to put out a fire or douse a good portion of it. When we are done with the fire as well for the evening, the first two or three times I wasn't putting it out but now I've been making it a point to put it out. The thing is incredibly safe where we leave it, just some rolling coals and the fire is incredibly low which will just use up all its energy before smoldering out but I want to get in the habit of doing that and keeping the little man aware that we shouldn't leave a fire still burning when we are out unless we are coming back or need it to be burning while we are away. Neither of those situations apply here however it's good to keep these things practiced so that when he gets older and he's in a situation without me, he will be responsible enough to do what he needs to.

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