Do you make and use these very often?
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Do you make and use these very often?
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Rarely. Usually I can find enough small material to do the trick.
lol, "feather sticks", not fuzzsticks. :p
And no, not really
lol... lol... lol... fuzzy sticks lol... lol... lol... use'em to cook corndogs in the outback... :D
I don't use them, mostly because I don't even know what the h*** they are.
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.
Yea um no ,never heard of it before!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Beowulf65
Ah dew lik that dare deputy dawg.
I call em, fuzzsticks. Some on other group sites call em, fire sticks. Some here call em, feather sticks. Feather sticks :rolleyes: ticklers! :eek:Quote:
Originally Posted by mitch.chesney
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!Quote:
Originally Posted by trax
Well most of his women are inflatable... lol... :D
Oh Lord!trax and here I thought you were a good boy LMAO!Quote:
Originally Posted by Beowulf65
Nah...one just hears rumors...Quote:
Originally Posted by nell67
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by Beowulf65
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.
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!:DQuote:
Originally Posted by Rick
Feathersticks are made on the spot, no need to carry them, a pleasant exercise in cutting control.
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.
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.
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.
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 :DQuote:
Originally Posted by trax
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
hhhmmm dont nag huh??? better hang on to her!Quote:
Originally Posted by Beowulf65
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
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?
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
Usually wood is dry in the center so there is always a way to make them
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.
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:
Lint in your pockets ? Heck I keep my lint in my belly button
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/prod...ct_line_ID=157
man, that's just nasty.Quote:
Originally Posted by Two Rivers
and it will be really oily
i keep mine in my toes:p
I have used them after a rain to get the fire to the dry part of the wood.
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.
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by corndog-44
I thought pulling birch bark off a live tree was illegal.
Are you saying taking the bark off a live birch bark tree is legal ?
You can take the flaky outer bark off without damaging the tree. You don't have to strip the tree of the bark.