First test of starting a fire with 0000-grade steel wool: first with batteries. These were fully charged AA NiMH cells, eneloop 1900mAh. 1 cell did nothing. 2 cells and I got some smoke, but the tip of my finger that was holding the wool to the positive end got too hot, and I had to let go. Need to watch more YouTube videos and try again.
Then with the firesteel. It catches a spark reliably, blows into a flame reliably, but you need something right then and there to catch that flame and propagate it; it goes out instantly otherwise. It's great as tinder, but that's all.
last updated 2013-03-26 18:06:37. served from tektonic.jcomeau.com