How To Use A Firesteel 

BIG NEWS: I have designed my own Survival Knife called “APO-1”. You can get it now at my online store: www.survivallilly.at/ Thank you so much for your support

The dog looks like the happiest dog in the world :)

When I first seen the title I thought "gawd not another firesteel video" was I sure glad I clicked by the end, you managed to provide a few unique tips and successfully challenge one of the most common firesteel techniques. Great job!

My goal in life is to one day be as happy as that dog.

Hi, Lilly, I'm a fan and have been watching for years! I'm sending this video to my aunt in Belize she lives in the bush and at 75 years old she could use some help making her morning fire for coffee. A profound thanks for keeping this channel going.

Great lesson on fire steel basics Lilly. Thanks.

After trying 20 minutes to start a small fire without success and I said "omg I've got a looong way until I get >0% chance to survive out there", I googled and spotted this video. And on 1:20 was the most valuable info ever! Needless to say, I went straight to try again, and I succeeded with the 1st trial. Omg the power of info!!!

So great to see an older video of yours Lilly. Awesome stuff and very informative.

My son and I are camping beginners. We each started our first fires thanks to this video!! Thank you so much for your help!!

I like that you not only showed wat you consider a better technique for the fire steel but then followed threw and proved it

One of the best reviews I've seen using fire steel.

Is that an emergency arrowhead necklace thats a really cool idea

Excellent Demonstration Lilly! I totally agree with you on your technique. I also love that you were using the scraper that comes with the firesteel so efficiently. So much more practical that using the knife for everything. As always, It's always a pleasure to see you and Dax, and I hope your enjoying your weekend. :-)

No one has ever shown me the different techniques and why they work. THANK YOU!! this helps me and how to teach it.

While Lily is recovering I have been catching up with all of the old RU-vid clips. 5 straight hours, so far.

I admire your survival skills and enjoy your videos. Thanks for sharing.

Great video. All of your videos are very informative. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with the rest of us.

NO ONE loved bushcraft and the earth more than Dax... cracks me up every time I see a video with him just wallowing on the ground joyfully, or digging frantically for something! Hope you're in doggie heaven little buddy...

Regular camping and tips are by far your best vids !!! With the fun retakes thrown in...

Lilly.. I always enjoy watching your videos! One variable for you on fire steel/ferro rods is whether the ferro rod is hard or soft. A soft fire steel will have more magnesium in it and the sparks will burn longer and hotter than ones struck from a harder fire steel, giving more options to technique and tinders. Thanks for the video.. Shad

Great stuff Lilly, please keep the videos coming!!!

Hi Lilly. If you put a little of that magnesium in the middle of the pine nettles the flash will ignite the nettles. they just have a low flash point.

LOVE the new adventures of "SURVIVAL LILLY" Watching you and Dax outdoors is always a treat !

I'm brand new to bushcraft and have been struggling due to my bad technique. This video is really helpful. Thank you!!!

I appreciate your no nonsense videos.

Hi Lilly, Thanks for the info. Dax is playful as always. Your country looks beautiful right now. Looking forward to see your next video.

i like to save the lint from the dryer to keep in a tin for emergencies. it's kinda cheating, but it works great!

This really was helpful. Others make it look like it could light anything but there are other factors I didn't know about.

Finally a video on fire steel that shows one the best method to use with the steel to get the best spark and actually what forest products to use to light it rather than relying solely on carrying around 400 cotton balls or blocks of magnesium

Thanks, Lilly!! Love your videos!

Thank you for your concrete examples.

Thanks. Great to see the basics.

Good video Lilly, Keep them coming.

Hi Lilly, I got a new Schrade knife today and it came with the firesteel and scraper and a sharpening stone. Carbon steel 1/4" thick blade SCHF36 $30. and you just showed me how to use the firesteel and I got it to make many sparks. Thank you so much. love you, Nimrod

Great demonstration of what techniques work best for different tinders. Thanks for that. +1 for Light My Fire ferro rods - great product, the striker works fine (no need to grind the back of the knife) and has a built-in emergency whistle.

Hallo Lilly, tolle Vorstellung wie man einen Firesteel am effektivsten einsetzt und das Video ist natürlich super gemacht. Danke fürs zeigen. LG Jürgen

As always you show what will and won't work, thanks for the information and the demonstration.

Extremely informative, and wonderfully helpful demonstrations.

The doggo is loving it

another excellent video. Love the photography and Dax.

excellent to review the fire technique so we can correct it too. Thank you for your useful videos. Success in all your future projects

Just bought an ember rock firesteel .its a beast , 6" long and almost half inch thick perfect for months in the wild 😀😀😀

Nice closeup filming of all your examples!

Your dog is living the good life, love it.

Good lesson, thanks! Where did you get your necklace? Looks like another handy item.

Your videos are really informative and well made. Thanks for sharing.

Simpy a wonderful tutorial. Love that Dog.

Nice video Lilly! Informative and entertaining to boot! Dax makes me laugh!

Thanks Lilly . Great video

Great Video. A simple but often overlooked part of firesteel technique. If the sparks aren't getting close enough to the tinder, you won't get fire. You are right on. Great job!

Another great video Lilly . Because of the abundance of pine, you should be able to find "fat lighter". Another excellent fire starter, especially if you have a lot of wet or damp wood.

'Light my fire' is my best ferro rod so far, too. And if you would like a more powerful striker, please try "Speedy Sharp" sharpener. It's better than anything else. Thank you for your detailed lesson and demonstrations.

I also heard that most guitar picks can work similarly to the magnesium shavings if you shave guitar picks if you have no better choice.

I had not thought of the third way of doing it thank you Lilly

Perfekt erklärt Lilly. Ja unser Mike hat schon einiges am Kasten. Danke dir fürs genaue erklären. LG Carlos

Good job on the feather stick! I'm impressed!

Another fantastic video! I love seeing you and your dog having fun in the woods!

This is great and covers much of what I teach...thank you, will pass on!

Excellent video Lilly x

Liked your use of the fuzz stick with the fire steel.

Lilly its great to see a woman who practices survival skills as much as you do also i would like to say you are a very pretty woman who is very confident in your skills thanks for the videos and your thoughts on survival skills

that was really helpful =) thank you

I've seen feathering done to make a firestick for once the tinder is lit but never used as the tinder. Great idea.

It's really cool that you used the striker the whole time not a knife it shows the versatility of a good striker not just using your knife because it would be easier.

Sorry- the video I was referring to was starting fire with no tinder. Its amazing how quickly the stick with minimal shaving on the stick actually lit up! Thanks again for helpful tips- as always very informative!

Thanks again. Very helpful.

Very nice video. Excellent, practical recommendations. Thanks!

항상 재미있게 보고있습니다.

Thank you. I´have finally realized where I did mistake all the time :)

Pretty cool necklace/pendant, Lilly.

Finally someone who knows what she's talking about (and thank you, Mike, for informing her). It's actually pretty logical thinking, isn't it. The further a spark has the travel, the lower its temperature will be when it hits the objective, hence the less chance you'll get to lit it from the first strike. Specially with materials that are wet and in windy conditions. Now, with that being said, the pull-the-rod-back method works excellent for wood stoves by the way (in case you forgot to buy matches, which your spouse asked you to do several times LOL), where you can't afford to get your layers of tinder and wood to buckle on you, unless you want to start properly stacking everything again. Furthermore, usually the tinder that people use in wood stoves is pretty dry and there is no wind that divert the sparks, so the sparks don't need to be that hot either. The directly-on-the-tinder method is the perfect way to go when hiking outdoors and dealing with wet materials in windy conditions. Personally I think that the Coghlan's firesteel works the best since you can scrape off a bunch of magnesium shavings that gets +5000 degrees CELSIUS, which helps a lot in harsh conditions. Those firesteels are actually the same type that the military uses around the world, if I'm well informed. One downside on them: the rod itself is pretty small in diameter, thus it won't last as long as its bigger brothers and sisters (that don't have the extra magnesium bar). But in survival situations you'll be safe for a damn good amount of time tho and you don't need to go on a search for (super) dry fire starters. Concerning fire starters themselves, or tinder as we say, to take along on your travel: here's a neath trick that only costs a few bucks to nothing. As a woman you know those 100% cotton pads, right? The kind you use to wipe off makeup from your face? Get the cheapest you can find (100 pieces for a dollar or something) and go to second-hand stores in search for old candles. Or buy the bulk packed tealight candles as cheap as you can. Step 1: brake the candles into smaller pieces if needed. Step 2: carefully and slowly melt down the candle wax in an old pan. *Do not* and I repeat *DO NOT* let it smoke or boil, which means it's close to it's ignition point > not good. So keep a close eye on it at all times and turn off the heat source even before everything is melted down (the rest will melt down by itself). Step 3: when melted and moved away from the heat source (!!!!), dip a pad at a time in the melted wax for about a second, let it drip for a few seconds and place them flat on a sheet of waxpaper or tin foil (which is reusable by the way for future DIY fire starter makings). Step 4: once completely cooled off - which takes about 15-20 minutes - store them in whatever container of your liking. This can be a simple plastic bag by the way, since the cotton pads are now entirely waterproof. Step 5: when you want to use them, rip off a piece. 1/2 or 1/4 of a pad, it doesn't matter and only depends on the situation you're in of how much you need. Step 6: bend the piece into a V shape to expose a bit more cotton, if needed - again, it's all about the situation you're in. Step 7: ignite the exposed cotton (only needs one strike with a good fire steel). DONE. Works like a charm and if you're not able to find dry fire starters in the woods: they are a life saver! And easy to store in your backpack too. Oh and the fun thing with those: even with the cotton exposed and you accidentally drop it in water (our luck, huh) > it will still lit without a problem, no worries. You're welcome and cheers!

Great job sharing good information on the proper use of the fire steel.

What a great dog!! Good info on how to properly use firesteel.👍

That dog is living THE life!

Thank you for a very well done and informative video. I leaned a lot and my vizsla Hunter very much enjoyed watching and listening to Dax.

That dog is hilarious!

Haha gotta love that dog :D Great video.

Schön schön, Firesteel Videos sind immer zündend:)LG Jörg

I just love your dog!

Lilly , you are the best .

i like this dog more and more, he's never tired...

Thank you

great demonstration, ... looks like dax is enjoying himself, as normal,

Good video i destroy one magnesium rod trying to start a fire and after watching your video i did it in 10 sec. Good job.

Great job and video.Them arm guns of yours are getting cut!!!!!!!!!!

I use the cold steel fire steel that domes with certain knives of theirs with an opinel and it sparks beautifully they usually keep burning for a second when they hit the ground

I like the way you used your firesteel striker to shave off fat wood and birch bark. nice and saves your knife edge. I do use the back f my knife for this but this method (striker) is also great.

Thank you, you just teached me how to use the fire steel properly. I just made fire with a dry leaf and with dry moss that i found outside :-) feels good

Different trees and tinder grow in Australia. Dogs love digging and exploring though just the same. Thanks for these tips. Peace.

Oh ... that's good to know! You did a lot of work on teaching what woods to use! Thank you! Would you recommend carrying some fire starting tinder in damp weather when backpacking?

Wonderful videos, I watched three hours straight!

Love your dog, love your channel, just bought a Fire Steel. Thank you!

Thanks Lilly. Is this the one that works when it is wet?

Dave's fire steel on the pathfinder store is really good too the sparks are hotter and last longer

Gute Erklärung, vielen Dank!

Great refreshing video Lilly. Gracias

Another thing to try is making a fire with flint and steel. Only problem is where you are at the flint would probably be "freeze fractured" due to the cold exposure above freezing. and it would fracture easily.

good video loved the ending

Nice to see Lilly. Maybe crushing a handful of needles between flat stones or rolling them with a small log would give them a bigger surface area. They should be waxy and and burn with a good heat if they got started.

FireSteel is my preferred, go to method, for starting fires. I commonly use Magnesium filings for my tinder, however I do the filing off the block at home, put the filings in a small pico tube. I have 3 pico tubes full of magnesium filings. It's much easier to file the magnesium bar at home than trying to do it in the field when your hands & fingers are cold, when a person's motor skill are limited.. Just for the record, magnesium burns at 5,500º (F) which is going to get a fire going even with wet wood.