Lol. I went to hobby lobby today for a pound brick of beeswax and a roll of jute, stopped at the auto parts store and bought brake line, came home and worked on these things all evening. Two for me, one for the wife and one for the daughter. This stuff works great for sure.
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Happy Winter Solstice! 🌇🌃
Ferro rods...
- Thread starter Canotrouge
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Hung out at the house today because of the snow storm, we got a bit over 9" I guess, I ordered a bunch of Firesteel. I wonder if they noticed a spike in sales due to this thread?
Jim
Jim
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Pictures you guys of the stuff!!!
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As an afterthought: I frequently use oil lamp wicks soaked in beeswax as fire starter. I cut them to about 2 inches long, burn the ends then snuff them out. The burnt end then fluffs and takes a Ferro spark. You can hold it like a match to light your fire then extinguish. You can get several burns off just one wick patch. I keep them in an altoid mini's tin and that stays in my pocket with my magic fire stick. Doc.
Ok here are some pictures. I also have one hanging by the fireplace and I light that one twice a day and let it burn for about 30 seconds each time. I want to see how short it gets after a months use or approximately 60 lights.
I have made five other braids with either beeswax or candle stubs, and there are plain drilled ferro rods to go with them. Most of these are going to friends as gifts, but still I will not need to make these again for a long time.
The rods come with these little strikers and it was hard to control the tube when holding with the jute on top so I modified them with a round file. Works nicely now.
I'll report back at the end of the month as to how much wick is used but so far all of my braids are way longer than they need to be for practical purposes. I think two tube lengths are more than sufficient for most trips.
I haven't tried them wearing mittens yet, it's not cold enough here.
Jim
I have made five other braids with either beeswax or candle stubs, and there are plain drilled ferro rods to go with them. Most of these are going to friends as gifts, but still I will not need to make these again for a long time.
The rods come with these little strikers and it was hard to control the tube when holding with the jute on top so I modified them with a round file. Works nicely now.
I'll report back at the end of the month as to how much wick is used but so far all of my braids are way longer than they need to be for practical purposes. I think two tube lengths are more than sufficient for most trips.
I haven't tried them wearing mittens yet, it's not cold enough here.
Jim
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Great work Jim. One thing I was wondering, why braiding the jute twine. Mine comes in a 3 strands rope, and no need for braiding... It fit a 5/16 brake line perfectly after soaking in wax. To day I picked up some brake line for my wife, after she showed her students her xmas gift, they all want one, so she will get them to make one in class for there next week 3 day ski trip!!
After watching Hoops video where he explains and demonstrates his the next video that auto loaded on YouTube was someone else demonstrating his construction literally step by step. He braided his twine. The twine I have is quite small diameter and single strand was way too small for the pipe I had, braided made a nice fit. Plus I get the nice little loop in the back end for tying the string to, that's tonight's job. I think as long as the jute is a nice easy fit in the tube your good, braided or not.
Jim
Jim
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Yes my thought to! Less time spent on making them lol. I also don't bother with the string and loop thing, not needed in my opinion!
The only jute twine that I have on hand is too small to be used without braiding. I have some that will fit a 1/4" brake line when braided and some that will fit 5/16". I'll look for some jute rope when I get to Hobby Lobby. They stock different sizes for macrame and crafts. I'm not convinced that I wouldn't lose the sleeve if I didn't have it tied to the match. I have noticed that the wax breaks where the match is bent in coiling it and that portion is reluctant to push up the sleeve. I've made some using cotton window sash cord and they seem to hold up pretty well. I haven't tried to light one of these with a ferro rod, yet.
Wgiles just make sure you fluff up the end so there is no stiff wax. Soon as a spark hits it it lights right up. What are you waiting for, try it.
Jim
Jim
Well I just tried using one of the beeswax braids and had some problems. Yes the wax is more flexible and maybe is a bit more waterproof than candle stubs but for my first try in a nice warm house I found it impossible to fluff up the jute. I did get it to light but it wasn't a one spark job like my other ones. I might try another round of braids with only 25% beeswax instead of the other way around. Or maybe, dip my candle wax ones into the beeswax for a more flexible outer layer.
Anyway just thought I'd share my findings.
Jim
Anyway just thought I'd share my findings.
Jim
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Good to know! I mean is it important that they are more flexible... Never had problems with mine even if they flake a bit when folded and handled, still work just fine!
I just bought a couple of blades that I think will make good scrapers for ferro rods and the jute matches. These are Red Devil 3012 Carbide paint scraper replacement blades @ around $4 US. They are solid carbide about 2" long X 1/2" wide X 1/16" thick. The two sides are sharp for scraping paint and I'll have to knock the sharp edge off with wet or dry paper so I don't cut myself. I'm not going to dull the edge, just change the bevel so it won't be like a knife edge. I want the edge to be more like a right angle that will work with a ferro rod. It's really the ends of the scrapers that I want to be able to use for lighting the match. There will be four edges suitable for scraping and they have two holes that a lanyard string can be run through. Unlike some pieces of steel, they are uniformly hard and should be reliable. I tried one on a new ferro rod that I had just gotten and had some nice sparks. I've got some of the carbide scrapers with plastic handles like Boatman53 shows and, with his modification, I may like them better than the Red Devil scraper blades. I'll have to give them a try. I bought two 5/16" X 3-3/8" ferro rods from a US supplier on eBay for about $7 US and they seem pretty decent.
I jumped on the bandwagon and ordered a few rods from firesteel.com too. I've only messed around with them a little but so far I'm finding them difficult to use. Any input from other users?
My previous experience with ferro rods is from Light My Fire and they seem to be a bit softer and easier to strike. I can do a hard, slow, and controlled scrape with them and it gouges off a lot of material. With the firesteel.com rods I find I have to do a hard and fast scrape (less controlled) to get anything and much less material is removed (fewer sparks). I tried the the strikers that came with the firesteel.com rods as well as the Light My Fire scrapers, which I thought did a little better job.
I have no problem lighting the waxed jute with a Light My Fire rod but it's more hit and miss with the firesteel.com
Alan
My previous experience with ferro rods is from Light My Fire and they seem to be a bit softer and easier to strike. I can do a hard, slow, and controlled scrape with them and it gouges off a lot of material. With the firesteel.com rods I find I have to do a hard and fast scrape (less controlled) to get anything and much less material is removed (fewer sparks). I tried the the strikers that came with the firesteel.com rods as well as the Light My Fire scrapers, which I thought did a little better job.
I have no problem lighting the waxed jute with a Light My Fire rod but it's more hit and miss with the firesteel.com
Alan
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Yes Doc, I burn the ends well before putting it to the test.
Alan mine throw quite a spark but it is a hard quick scrape that works the best. But I get plenty of spark. I haven't really experimented that much with different ways of doing it, just with the tube on top of the striker resting in the hollow I filed in. I guess if I was really shivering I'd have to set the tube on the ground and hit with sparks from above.
Jim
Alan mine throw quite a spark but it is a hard quick scrape that works the best. But I get plenty of spark. I haven't really experimented that much with different ways of doing it, just with the tube on top of the striker resting in the hollow I filed in. I guess if I was really shivering I'd have to set the tube on the ground and hit with sparks from above.
Jim
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This is such a good idea, so I thought I would revive it for the DIY craft folks that need a idea to fill some stockings in late December. The last two Novembers I made some of these for my outdoor type friends. The ones that got them in 2017 talked me into making some for their friends. I seldom use the fire steel, I just use a Bic or paper match to light the Jute/wax match, then use it to light the fire, the length of of the match gets the flame to the places it needs to be. I also include the address to Hoops Video with each set so the recipient can see what it is and learn how to use it.
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Great thread on how to make and use waxed jute fire starter tube.
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