How to Start a Fire

Simple instructions for lighting a fire with Fire-Fast™ Fire Starters

The Fire-Fast Trekker, Kamper, and Fire Fly are all made with the same components, only varying in quantity of material. Obviously the larger the fire starter, the easier to use. The components are as follows:

European Flint (Ferro Rod)
Military Grade 95% pure Magnesium Rod
Hardened Steel Striker/Scraper (sharpened)
Hardwood Handle
550 lb, 7 strand paracord.

To start a fire in the great outdoors requires some beginning steps. First thing is to make a safe fire pit by digging a shallow hole. If you can ring it with rocks and stones, all the better. Next, gather tinder, kindling and larger fuel.

We recommend placing a flat stone or piece of wood at the base of your fire pit. Pile your tinder on top of that, then anchor your fire starter down into the pile of tinder against the stone. Literally stick the nose of the fire starter right into the pile. Take your striker, start at the very top of the flint, and scrape down the rod. You want to get the feeling that you are scraping pieces of the flint into the tinder. Scrape hard, it’s not going to bite you. Usually that one strike will get your fire going.

If your tinder is damp or wet, or you are in rainy or snowy conditions, that’s when you use the magnesium. Again, press the nose of the fire starter right down into your tinder braced against the stone, but now scrape a bunch of shavings off of the magnesium rod. We find that bracing your fire starter against the stone or piece of wood gives you much more leverage and makes starting the fire incredibly easy. Then turn the fire starter around and now scrape the flint, again directing the sparks into the tinder/magnesium.

If you are having trouble finding tinder, material to burn, that is when you would flip the fire starter around and start scraping your handle, again bracing against the stone. You can scrape together quite a large pile of shavings with just a couple minutes of scraping.

Remember, the tool to use is your scraper which is attached with the paracord. A knife or a hack saw blade are far less effective.

Once you have ignited your fire, gradually feed in larger pieces of kindling and larger fuel until your fire is sustaining itself.

See our videos on the website for visual demonstration.