On Fire

Using fatwood as the source of your scraped "fuzz" and shaved curls generates a fast-igniting long-burning fire. The resin in the wood will accelerate the fire even if your fuzz gets a little bit wet.

To prove this I attempted the firesteel starting yesterday with my Dozier Delta Traveller, my Scout firesteel, and a single piece of fatwood. Scraping the fuzz is a bit of a process on fatwood as the resin that helps it to burn also helps the fuzz to stick right to the knife. I scraped a pile approximately 3" in diameter and 1/4" high. To that I added as many curls as I could shave/carve off the stick.

One strike of the firesteel and the whole mess went up. Poof!

I used the remaining bit of fatwood to spread the fire out and had several tiny fires buring all at the same time.

A few spritzes from a spray bottle did little to deter the burning. I suspect in a downpour you'd still be in trouble but in light mist you should be able to get your fire going without excessive worry.

B