Tomahawk flint and steel set
Flint and steel fire making is another excellent way to get a fire going without matches or lighter.
My set consists of s colonial period replica striker ( made from a pitchfork tine), char cloth made from cotton belts and canvas, Utah flint, petrified wood, an extra striker made from an old file.
There is also a small tinder bundle of cottonwood cambium. The tin is a candy container I got at a department store in Singapore.
I first put this set together back in the early 80's and use to carry it but as my experience in the outdoors grew I learned about alternate strikers, char, tinder ,etc.
Lately if I use F&S to start a fire it is my "Old timer" pocket knife or the back of “Old Butch” that is the striker and any piece of flint, quarts, chert, or pyrite I happen to find. The char is usually from an old fire pit. I once started a fire in Utah using a horse shoe, a piece of flint and charred blue jeans i found in an old fire pit.
The stone is more important than the steel in F&S fire making, I have made sparks using flint on my hatchet head, on pyrite ,my old green river knife, and have seen locals in Indonesia strike a spark with quarts and green bamboo - yup, green bamboo. You can also make a decent F&S set from a small piece of broken hack saw blade and some steel wool.
