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corndog-44
11-21-2007, 02:03 AM
Do you make and use these very often?

http://thumbnails2.imagebam.com/97/606487964912.gif (http://www.imagebam.com/image/606487964912)

RobertRogers
11-21-2007, 08:21 AM
Rarely. Usually I can find enough small material to do the trick.

MCBushbaby
11-21-2007, 12:31 PM
lol, "feather sticks", not fuzzsticks. :p

And no, not really

Beo
11-21-2007, 12:33 PM
lol... lol... lol... fuzzy sticks lol... lol... lol... use'em to cook corndogs in the outback... :D

trax
11-21-2007, 01:28 PM
I don't use them, mostly because I don't even know what the h*** they are.

Beo
11-21-2007, 02:14 PM
A feather stick is a length of wood which has been shaved to produce a head of thin curls. It is used when starting an outdoor fire or campfire when dry tinder is hard to find, and is often used in conjunction with charcloth.

PERSONALLY I USE FLINT AND FLINT STRIKER, WORKS EVERYTIME FOR ME.

nell67
11-21-2007, 02:34 PM
Yea um no ,never heard of it before!

corndog-44
11-21-2007, 04:57 PM
lol... lol... lol... fuzzy sticks lol... lol... lol... use'em to cook corndogs in the outback... :D



Ah dew lik that dare deputy dawg.

corndog-44
11-21-2007, 05:02 PM
lol, "feather sticks", not fuzzsticks. :p

And no, not really

I call em, fuzzsticks. Some on other group sites call em, fire sticks. Some here call em, feather sticks. Feather sticks :rolleyes: ticklers! :eek:

trax
11-21-2007, 05:40 PM
Mostly they don't sound like anything to do with anything about survival or outdoor life with names like 'fuzz stick' or "feather stick". Sound like something you pay a buck for in a men's room vending machine...or it used to be a buck....it's been awhile....

nell67
11-21-2007, 05:43 PM
Mostly they don't sound like anything to do with anything about survival or outdoor life with names like 'fuzz stick' or "feather stick". Sound like something you pay a buck for in a men's room vending machine...or it used to be a buck....it's been awhile....

:eek: sounds like experience talking there!

Beo
11-21-2007, 05:45 PM
Well most of his women are inflatable... lol... :D

nell67
11-21-2007, 05:48 PM
Well most of his women are inflatable... lol... :D
Oh Lord!trax and here I thought you were a good boy LMAO!

trax
11-21-2007, 06:01 PM
:eek: sounds like experience talking there!

Nah...one just hears rumors...

trax
11-21-2007, 06:02 PM
Well most of his women are inflatable... lol... :D Do you have any idea how much fun a slow leak can be?? :D:D Oh of course you do, I forgot about 'Cindy' folded up neatly in her case in your trunk.

carcajou garou
11-21-2007, 06:16 PM
Yah, I try to carve a feather stick every week or so just to keep my carving up to snuff. Great exercise for new people who are not that handy with their knives yet, gives them a project to learn and knife techniques to acquire.
I 'll use a knife, hatchet, ax, chert or even just a freshly shattered piece of stone, just to keep in practise.

Rick
11-22-2007, 12:18 PM
Seems like one more thing to carry to me. You should be able to create some quick tinder in the wild with a good knife/hatchet and some seasoned wood (don't forget about the lint in your pocket either). Even if it's raining the wood is only wet on the outside. Chop it down a bit and you have dry wood to make shavings from. It generally works for me unless you're in a downpour. By the way, I'm talking about the fuzzstick, not the inflatable lady. You guys are way bad.

nell67
11-22-2007, 12:28 PM
Seems like one more thing to carry to me. You should be able to create some quick tinder in the wild with a good knife/hatchet and some seasoned wood (don't forget about the lint in your pocket either). Even if it's raining the wood is only wet on the outside. Chop it down a bit and you have dry wood to make shavings from. It generally works for me unless you're in a downpour. By the way, I'm talking about the fuzzstick, not the inflatable lady. You guys are way bad.

They are arent they!:D

carcajou garou
11-22-2007, 12:56 PM
Feathersticks are made on the spot, no need to carry them, a pleasant exercise in cutting control.

trax
11-22-2007, 05:23 PM
Guess it comes down to the environment you're in. I've started fires with birchbark when it was raining and snowing and about a 25 mph wind. I think if I asked someone else to get the fire started while I gathered wood or put up a shelter and came back and saw them whittling...I might not be all that impressed. On the other hand, if they can get a fire going where I can't I'll be very impressed.

Rick
11-22-2007, 08:58 PM
Man, Trax. You are so on the money. If I asked either of my boys to start the fire and went to gather wood then came back and found them whittling I'd probably loose it. Just goes to show you. Another new trick for this old dog.

corndog-44
11-22-2007, 10:04 PM
A fuzz stick, feather stick, fire stick or a sliver stick...whatever you want to call them is used as a kindling, not as tender. If your kindling is damp a fuzz stick comes in handy.

Beo
11-24-2007, 12:11 AM
Do you have any idea how much fun a slow leak can be?? :D:D Oh of course you do, I forgot about 'Cindy' folded up neatly in her case in your trunk.

Yeah, and she don't mind the cramped seat, and don't bleat or blither like some nag eaither, just can't stand that damn plastic smell :D

Tony uk
11-24-2007, 02:12 PM
I make them up here loads, Everything is damp in the woodlands unless its summer and we have had any sun, i think that they are quite reliable but i put something else on top of a medium pile of them, Maby a bit of steel wool or A cotton ball dip in a flamible liquid like kero to make sure i can get them going

nell67
11-24-2007, 02:21 PM
Yeah, and she don't mind the cramped seat, and don't bleat or blither like some nag eaither, just can't stand that damn plastic smell :D

hhhmmm dont nag huh??? better hang on to her!

Borelli
12-02-2007, 04:29 PM
The author named Bradford Angier (or somthing like that) is what is being refered to here. In his book "Basic Wilderness survival skills" he calls them fuzzsticks.
Yes i have used them before with excellent results. Expecially when all the nearby tinder was soaked on the outside. When wood is wet on the outside that does not mean that the entire log, stick, ect is wet...the center of it may be dry. And after that dry tinder is on fire you can dry out wet tinder resulting in more fire.


Dom Borelli

Rick
12-02-2007, 05:57 PM
This one is new to me. I've never seen or used one before. Do you make them up at home before you go, while you're in the field or both depending on your need?

Borelli
12-02-2007, 06:08 PM
I always make them in the field, Otherwise you get a buch of mess on your other stuff that you are carrying. I make them simply by makeing a bunch of slices into the same spot, then cutting all the slices off creating a peice of wood with a bunch of curls on it. or you can cut curls into a log and burn it like that.

Dom Borelli

Borelli
12-02-2007, 06:09 PM
Usually wood is dry in the center so there is always a way to make them

Rick
12-02-2007, 06:55 PM
I've always just split my wood to get a dry inside. I carry a Ghurki so splitting small stuff isn't a big deal. I like the idea of the fuzzstick. It seems like it would be pretty quick and easy to make up. I'll have to try that on my next outing. Thanks for all the info. One more thing you guys have taught me.

Sarge47
12-02-2007, 08:43 PM
With all the posts on "fuzz sticks" I checked my library and found five books, so far, that mention them. Not always as a "Survival" aid, although it can help there as well, but as an aid to starting a campfire. Here's where I found them.

1.) "Fieldbook for Boys & Men", 1969, Boy Scouts of America. pg. 86.
2.) "Complete Book of Camping", 1961, by Leonard Miracle with Maurice Decker;
pg. 327.
3.) "Survival in the Outdoors", 1972, by Byron Dalrymple; pg. 196.
4.) "The SAS Survival Handbook" 1999, by John "Lofty" Wiseman; pg. 269.
5.) "Camping & Wilderness Survival": The Ultimate Outdoors Book", 2001, by
Paul Tarwell (his 1st book); pg. 126.

Guess the idea's been around for awhile, huh?:cool:

Two Rivers
12-08-2007, 02:05 AM
Lint in your pockets ? Heck I keep my lint in my belly button

Gray Wolf
12-08-2007, 11:50 PM
If I'm going to use a firesteel and it's raining and all the wood is wet, I'll use a wetfire cube, it works in pouring rain. You can light it while it's floating in water and it will keep burning. After I saw the picture of that I had to try it, and it does!!! It burns at over 1300 degrees. It will dry your tinder.

http://www.ultimatesurvival.com/product_view.cfm?product_line_ID=157

toasta
12-13-2007, 12:48 AM
Lint in your pockets ? Heck I keep my lint in my belly button

man, that's just nasty.
and it will be really oily

i keep mine in my toes:p

hermitman
01-30-2008, 02:50 PM
I have used them after a rain to get the fire to the dry part of the wood.

wareagle69
01-30-2008, 03:06 PM
actually just made my first one today, i tried first with my leatherman not very comfortable to carve with next with my fixed blade buck much better.

RBB
01-30-2008, 05:26 PM
Do you make and use these very often?

http://thumbnails2.imagebam.com/97/606487964912.gif (http://www.imagebam.com/image/606487964912)

Once or twice in my life. They had them in the boy scout hand book when I was a kid. Mostly, we have enough birch bark around to make them superfluous.

hermitman
01-30-2008, 05:30 PM
I thought pulling birch bark off a live tree was illegal.

hermitman
02-03-2008, 09:53 PM
Are you saying taking the bark off a live birch bark tree is legal ?

Rick
02-03-2008, 09:56 PM
You can take the flaky outer bark off without damaging the tree. You don't have to strip the tree of the bark.