Just the best invention in the world - in my opinion - of firestarting. Take a piece of split wood, and run the blade of your knife or axe down one corner of it, taking a thin sliver (the thinner the better)which should curl away from the blade, but not cutting right down to the bottom. The finer your curls, the more easily it will light.
Entwine a small piece of charcloth in the curls: here is one that I made in a great hurry in failing light, made with my trusty Mora knife:
Strike a spark onto the charcloth - here, using the basic Army Surplus kit, it cost about a fiver:
Where a spark struck the charcloth is now a tiny red spot (on the right-hand section of the charcloth, looks grey in the photo). If you leave it alone at this point, it will continue to quietly smoulder, almost invisibly..... but by blowing gently on it, you will see it turn bright red and glow. The trick is to blow steadily, not to blow too hard. Gently does it!
See, glowing embers! Continue to blow steadily.
Da-Darr! Fanfare of trumpets, we have flame. The fluffed-up curls catch fire, we have actual flame, and the whole feather stick can now be placed onto your fire site, and the first layer of kindling laid gently on top of it. Best of all, no need to burn your fingers as you have a handy handle!
