Viking Fire Lighting: Flint and Steel Fire With Birch Bark, Norwegian Winter
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- čas přidán 22. 02. 2018
- The Vikings' most important tool was not the Viking sword, but the fire steel or fire striker. In this video, I use birch bark instead of dry grass to light my primitive style fire. I also show you some different materials like the chaga and the horse hoof mushroom.
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About using fresh charcoal: It will only work with certain porous wood sorts and I would never rely on charcoal to catch the spark, but it can be done. However, if you use a ferro rod, charcoal is well suited for catching the sparks, but this can not be compared to using a traditional flint and steel.
Oh, I am looking forward to that 20.000 subscriber milestone myself! About my books, the one I had published last year, Jomsviking, has now been sold to 8 countries, but my agents are still looking for the right publisher for the English language market. I will keep you up to date on the development!
Hello Bjorn, I prefer the hand drill for making my fire, but I do have a steel which I use with quartz. I've had good results by charring the inner pith of mullein stalks (one of my top two choices for hand drill spindles). When my spindles of mullein get too short to float an ember, I save them to chat the pith for use with the steel. Perhaps it would also be kind to you 🙂
Flint and Steel is my favorite way to start a fire. It is a great idea to know several ways to start fires especially when you live in cold climates. If you get lost in the woods in winter it can save your life !!! Thank you Bjorn and wishing you and your family a very Blessed and Safe Christmas Season.
I agree with your comment about 'not knowing'. They were the ultimate survivalist with what nature offeres. If we get out in nature, we can find solutions too.
Absolutely, Monika.
Love it man. I'm in Kentucky in the United states. I recently did my ancestry and found out I am 31% scandinavian. I've been into bushcraft for years but now I'm researching as much about scandinavian culture and history as possible to share with my daughter when shes older. Shes a year and a half old right now. Her name is Emberlynn Iris. Thanks for the videos. Big fan.
I like your videos so much! You are very easy to listen to.
Flint and steel - by far my favorite method! I know what you mean about natural tinders being used more widely perhaps, but I was reading that going back a few hundred years ago when this was the general method of lighting household fires, there are references to people saving up old linen and recycling it for rags etc. Apparently charring it for fire lighting was one of these common uses. It makes sense as it is so easy both to make and use - why wouldn't you!! I'm sure back in the Viking age it would have been little different. Another great vid! Skal!
I will be making a video about natural materials for the flint and steel, so that's coming up. It is my favourite method as well...
I beleive that i need to get a Flint and striker now! I'm also going to make some Char cloth soon too, i didn't know about it until i saw it on your video and it looks super useful. Thanks again for the useful tips and tricks!
I hope you're well!
Thank you, Jacky. It is very satisfying once you master it. It connects you to the past, I believe.
I’m new to the steel and flint but I’m definitely getting the hand of starting a fire with this method.
11 people couldn't lite a fire with this method. Ha! Ha! I love the content. This is my favorite way of starting a fire and I have found my self collecting fire steels lately. Just ordered a remake of a viking fire steel. The viking way of life really fascinates me. Thanks for the video Bjorn! You are one man I'd shake hands with.
Thanks Bjørn for another great and informative video. As usual… a well told info with a Viking touch 🤗😎🔥🌲
Thank you! And thanks for your great videos!
That tin has attained a fantastic iridescent paterna in the fire.
Hello from the US Bjorn. CZcams suggested your video channel. Glad to have found it. I am a Mountain Man enthusiast and a Bushcrafter. Thanks and I will go back and watch all your prior videos.
Awesome, Jack. Thank you.
I love your technique bjorn, Certainly learned from you this video. humbled me just a tad, just shows you can always learn more. Thank you! :)
Thanks a lot, Cory!
What a great video to spend lunch watching! Thank you, Bjorn!
And thank you, Ron!
As a retred history professor my research showed the flint and steel was used but not the charcoaled fabric. The original charcoaled fabric wasn't done in a nice tin with a hole in it held over a fire. They put worn out garments on sticks and held them over the file. The results were rather patchy as parts of cloth were too burned in places, not charcoaled enough in other places and OK in some areas. They mostly used punk, dry crumbled up leaves and grass. Our native peoples used Birch Bark they ground up into a powder.
Flint and steel is the real way to start a fire, matches and lighters make it too easy. Thanks for yet another amazing video Bjorn!
Thanks, Euan. I agree!
Cedar charcoal takes a spark well. Flint and steel fire is my preferred method. Great video 🎯
Thank you! I will look further into this. I suspect charcoal for flint and steel is something you can't easily do with Norwegian woods (unless it's punkwood), but I have to investigate this thoroughly.
Bjorn Andreas Bull-Hansen yes of course that was cedar from Arizona where anything will take a spark☺
Bjorn Andreas Bull-Hansen Cimbrer Bushcraft just did some punk wood. Check him out when you get a chance. Cool dude
I love your love of bushcraft and your culture Bjorn!
I am Reading your book right now and i am terribly impressed by the correct way of describing the past and historic accuracy in your book. I graduated on the subject Vikings and a lot of research I did can be found in your book. Well done!
That tree you are sitting on if you strip it's bark works good for kindling too :)
Great Video Bjorn !! Thank you and Happy New Year 2022 !
Hei Bjorn!
That horse hoof fungus should be anti-inflammatory too. And I've heard, inside a sheath it protects your blades from rust.
Thanks for your videos, keep up the good work. You're such a lovely person and inspiration!
Hjertelig hilsen fra Tyskland
Thank you!!!
Just finished watching your livestream and now get to see another great video! Great information here! Thanks, Bjorn!
Glad you like it, Steve.
Well done Flint and Steel Video 😎👍
Thanks!
Your channel has become one of my top 5 favorites! Keep up the great work and look forward to learning and experiencing more!
Thanks a lot, that is a great compliment.
Very helpful! Thank you! A lot of videos on this that i have watched seem to have the charcloth on top which never makes sense to me because i always seem to send the sparks down over. Thank you for sharing! I always enjoy your content.
Great fire kit, love that fire steel.
I like it too! Thank you.
That’s pretty cool how you can do that. I recently managed to start a fire in our heater with my dad’s fire steel for the first time. And I’m gonna use your tip and try to light a peace of dry charcoal with it next time. Thanks for the info.
Very interesting. Vikings were very ingenious.
Thank you for sharing.
I don’t always pick up my cell phone. But when I do, I watch your videos
Thanks for the history lesson Bjorn, honest and interesting. I recently watched an episode of Vikings and Ragnar was striking a flint against his axe, which created more sparks than a Swedish fire steel. But then I consider this programme a history inspired fantasy show anyway, but I guess many people take it as real history.
You should really hold your char cloth on top of the flint, instead of beneath it, when you strike. The reason being the sparks fly upwards when you strike steel on flint. Cool channel btw. Greetings from India..
Nice vid Björn
Thanks, Stephen!
Birch bark as you have shown and from personal experience barks like ash, linden, and cherry can all be dried out into flakes that can be very carefully prepared the same way as char-cloth, one just has to pay more attention when making it. It immensely helps if you pre-soak it in urine or ammonia like with the "false chaga" or amadou mixed with ash-leaf ash and lye before doing so, a method used with many variations. For instance, a mix of black walnut husk boiled with deer urine for prepping birch bark and elm bark for winter tinder when the grass was dead was employed by the Iroquois Confederacy, Huron, Ottawa, and Cherokee (if you were only drinking a horn of mead for each time I brought this personal subject matter up, lol) for centuries. Shavings of finely-cut and dried bark are a great tinder, especially if treated in which case they can be used as a substitute or even replacement for char-cloth. :)
Always enjoy your videos
Thank you, Bjørn!
Love the video
Thanks!
We boil the amadou in water with ashes from a hardwood fire. We add extra ash and water and boil it down until most of the water evaporates and add more water and more ash. I do not know if this is the ancient way, but just what I was taught to do.
Awesome 👍👍😊
Great video!! Thank you!!
I am practicing flint and steel fire!
Perfect! It is not so hard once you get some practice doing it.
Great Video. Thanks a lot.
Greetings from South Germany
Hi there, Jan. Thank you, and greetings from Norway!
Nice vid bro.I love flint steel and i like that to make personal great review
Great job! I just bought some flint and steel.. I am going to try it out. Thinking it will take a lot of practice. Would love to see a video on how to catch a fire not using cotton char cloth. I love the mysteries too. I learn a lot from you, thank you.
Thanks! I am planning a video where I use natural materials. Charred punkwood is easiest to obtain and make, although it doesn't look so elegant, because I have to strike many times before one spark lands where I want it to.
Thumbs up! Love your videos!
Thank you.
Great job Bjorn. Very nice demonstration and explanation. I usually put the chared cloth on top of my stone and it works good for me also. I had a problem if I held it underneath I would hit my fingers with the striker. And I agree with the fact that a lot of knowledge has been lost - for better or for worse, that what makes rediscovering these techniques so interesting.
-Matej
Hi Matej! I have seen so many different techniques, so I think it is a matter of personal taste. I am not a big fan of hitting with the flint, though. As it can cut the fingers. But some feel it's totally safe to do it that way too.
thanks
So happy to see this after watching the live stream. This great interest for me as starting to get my first steel and flint. Rather than my rod and steel.
Enjoyed
Love the video, I want to learn this technique, Got to get a flint ant steel!!!
I recommend it. It is very satisfying once you get the technique right.
the vikings also treated their tinders with their own urine, they would boil the likes of their amadou in urine which is rich in sodium nitrate and chemically very similar to potassium nitrate and that would make the tinders thus treated like a slow match.
Nice videos you have.
You earned a sub, from a fellow Norwegian 🙂
I used to carry one of those Hudson Bay tins with the built in magnifying lens for holding my fire kit. Only used the magnifying lens twice. I bet where you live with the nights of sunlight it would come in more handy.
In summer, yes. During winter it is hard because the sunlight is not very strong then. But those tins are so nice. I have to get one of those.
Nice one Bjorn, it's the same story living here in the Downs about people encroaching onto the landscape here though it's mostly farmland , there is still very old hill forts although many of the archiological sites have been ploughed out by farmers, it would be very interesting to see more of your Viking skills from your ansesters, I studied ceramics years ago and how skill sets migrated from European countries and crossed to Britain ,it's interesting how cultures mix though time and history. All the best Will
looks like a nice day to be in the woods :)
Thanks, Kyle. It always is!
...flint & steel is my favorite method of fire making.
…and, yes Björn, the silence is there to allow you to listen to the Ancestors…!!!
Stay well…!
You have sub from me,realy good and beatifull video
Thank you! Glad to have you here!
The horse hoof fungus is used in New Zealand by the Maori to transport fire. It would be dried and one edge set to smolder. They will burn for about a week like that.
Pieces of tree fungus, burned without access to oxygen, catch a spark from flint and steel very well. I recommend.
I found out that I have some viking DNA in me, very interested in looking deeper into my heritage and history.
You and I share a certain look so may have a similar ancestor, definitely have the same hair, no doubt about that. I do know my grandmothers side is from Germany 4 generations back and my fathers from Wales about 8 generations back.
Who am I?
Still figuring that parr out...
My survival pack has 4 different ways to start a fire. My striker set is the most reliable. Thanks bud.
you do it opposite to me, I place the char cloth on top of my stone. If you watch the way the sparks fly as you strike the stone many drive up. Plus I always rip my char cloth in half to expose ragged edges that easily catch sparks, and lay that ripped char cloth ragged edges right at the strike face and then strike.
I would love to see a video of you using your seax knife
It is coming up!
Bjorn Andreas Bull-Hansen I'm very excited!
Interesting, what would they use for bleach? They likely did not have chlorine bleach. Possibly pot ash or perhaps stale urine?
While I agree it is nice to have old, undisturbed forest, there is a problem with it. the deadfalls, and duff build up over time and provide fuel for wild fires. Controlled, periodic burns, actually help keep the forest healthy.
very beautiful forest its a shame they cut some of it down
Yes, I often think about it. Just before I started this CZcams channel, it was all classified as "old forest" and it was immensely beautiful everywhere.
Nice break by proxy from my corporate grind
💪🔥👍
I prefer charcloth myself. But I am not unfamiliar with using punk wood too.
I find and char punkwood but I also do have some charcloth just in case
Ill try my flint and steel with ordinary coal from my barbeque next.
Should catch a spark just fine, unless i misunderstand how this business works...^^
I don't know if that will work. I think only porous woods will do. Or charred punkwood, of course. I will be making a video about this.
Aw thanks man. Looking forward to that video!
(I will try nonetheless and just see how it goes...)
We're would you get the flint and steel from ? I'm a simi-professional at starting fires !, I can share a bit of knowledge i learned through time. One" Chars are what you need to have to build the fire ! The heat builds quicker the more you have of a char burning ! Putting Kindling and small sticks is a good start ! I honestly would love to find a flint like that ! It reminds me of the ring they wore back in the Viking era and also what my ancestors used as a SYMBOL of faith !. Very neat !.
Sincerely
Paul Hampton~.
I place my char cloth on top of the stone and a “nest” of flammable material under.
Great video and i like your seax , where can i get one like that ?
Can you make a video concerning looking for food sources?
I have made a note, so it's on the list.
Is this public land...can it be protected so it doesn't get cut down?
Where can I get a hat like that?, It's so cool man👍
I bought it at a living history festival. But thank you, glad you like it!
HI, that's a nice anorak you are wearing. Do you mind sharing what kind it is? Thanks
Hi Bob. It is an anorak made by a brand called Swedteam. I think it's called "Hunter Anorak."
Thanks much.
I've noticed from your videos that you own both the tbs boar and a casstrom bushcraft knife. I am looking at these two brands myself right now. Which one would you recommend for norwegian woods?
Hi Martin! It depends on your hand. I like the Boar best, but they are both very good and I prefer the Boar because it fits my hand better. They are both well suited for the boreal forest.
Ok so you make that look easy Bjorn but as you say you have a lot of practice at it, so you can use quartz rather than flint? I don't think flint can be found in australia well not in tas
Quartz yes and the rare bit of obsidian,grimfrost has a steel like that one I may have to try that thanks Bjorn
Hi there! Quartz can be used and I have many times. Obsidian should be perfect, though I have never tried with obsidian.
Are your books published in English? I really like your channel, very informative and great to watch.
Thank you! My agents are working on it. They have sold my latest novel, Jomsviking, to several countries, but still not to any English language publisher.
Bjorn Andreas Bull-Hansen looking forward to reading them, thank you again for the great content i really enjoy the festivals you go to, so full if culture and skills.
Great video. I have a question though. What would they have charred their materials in? What methods would they have used to char?
Hi Joshua! You can char fabrics by wrapping it around a burning stick and let it smolder. You can also use natural containers like, just from the top of my head, an empty mussel from the sea.
Bjorn Andreas Bull-Hansen Thanks Bjorn, I had no idea that could be done. I appreciate you answering, and I really like your channel!
Thanks a lot!
Har du noen gang prøvd og lage charcloth av lin???
Yes, and it works fine. However, as linnen was probably for the wealthy or at least not for the common man, I don't think it was widely used for that purpose.
I must say that you forget something almost every time! 😜
I missed the troll video what did we talk about
Trolls and I announced this video.
Bjorn Andreas Bull-Hansen thank you
Be my dad
Sorry I'm leaving youtube
Nice vid thank you i will be subscriber in your channel and if you want check and my channel
I did, and subscribed!
Dood you gotta try water fasting. Read “The Miracle of Fasting” by Paul Bragg.