Flint is a dark gray, smoky brown, or black variety of quartz that commonly occurs in rounded nodules and whose crystal structure is not visible to the naked eye. Prehistoric people used it for making their stone points and tools. For our purpose, you need a piece of flint that is two or three inches across and has a sharp edge on it.
A good piece of steel to use is an old file that has had the teeth ground off of the edge, so that, when the flint is struck, the steel will slide across and not chip away the sharp edge. Striking the flint with the steel will make brightly colored sparks fly. These sparks are what will start the fire. But you need a flammable material that will start smouldering when the sparks contact it.
One of the materials that will do a good job is charred cotton cloth, such as terrycloth or a piece of an old sheet.. Set a piece of clean cotton cloth on fire, allow it to burn until it is well charred, but still burning, then cover it with a pan lid and give it time to extinguish before it burns completely away. There will be enough fuel left in it to smoulder when the spark contacts it.
A Native American friend of mine, Donnie Heffley, said that his ancestors used a lock of their hair for this purpose. Another friend told me that certain types of fungus have also been used.
You also need something under the charred cloth that will blaze easily when ignited, such as shredded cedar bark. Shred some of the bark with your hands, then make a little bird nest shape and place a piece of the charred cloth in it.
Strike the flint directly over the charred cloth until one of the sparks causes a tiny orange glow. The moment you see the glow, pick up the bird nest and gently blow on the charred cloth to cause it to glow brighter and get hotter. Soon the heat will cause combustion in the bird nest and it will start burning.
Place the burning bird nest under a previously prepared stack of small sticks. Continue blowing gently until the sticks catch fire, too.
You may never need this information, but, then, it doesn't hurt to know it.
by Dale Moore