It's got to that time of year again, when autumn begins to bed in and you sense winter's chill slowly approaching, that I feel it's time to brush up on my bushcraft skills. Number on that skill list is fire; and it's been a while since I've sparked up a small fire. So with a stream side location in mind I sought the components required as we walked; a bark tray to build the fire on, some dried bracken and flaky Sliver Birch bark for tinder and an array of small dry twigs as kindling and fuel. The forest's still rather dry so it didn't take long to get afore mentioned materials together, the forest's a good provider; although of course it's easy to gather for a fire in perfect conditions, and a much harder task in poor weather, which always needs bearing in mind. With the chosen location reached, it took only moments to prepare my gathered materials ready for a fire on a gravelly spot adjacent to the water (for safety); then it only took 2 strikes of the fire steel and the fire was kindled. Again as with gathering the materials, getting a fire lit is quick and easy in perfect conditions, not so in the wind and rain. Incidentally, the fire steel I'm using is a 'Strike Force', which I think I've had for more than 20 years(?), that's a lot of sparks created, and although the ferrous rod is worn concave it still produces a solid spark every strike. A quality tool.
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