View Full Version : feather sticks
When feathering sticks, how much pressure should you put on the knife because I tried it before to see how sharp my new knife was and I had to put quite a lot of pressure on, I am not sure if my knife is that sharp, or my technique is wrong?
Timtom,
I think it just depends on what type of wood you're feathering and how sharp your knife is. After a couple of cuts, you shold be able to adjust pressure accordingly. Have the blade at a fairly flat angle. I find it easier to use power from the whole arm as oppose to forearm or wrist. Just keep practising with a sharp blade, and have a good base to stand the stick on.
Julian.
bikething
09-10-2005, 09:09
I'll second what Jjv110 said - It depends on the wood - I've tried praticing on some offcuts of pine sawn timber - and some of it was hard work.
Something else to try is turn the wood around - end for end - so you are cutting the other way along it - sometimes the grain cuts one way, better than another - ALWAYS CUT AWAY FROM YOUR BODY!!!
I've also found that sometimes if you rotate the stick, some sides cut better than others :confused:
The biggest problem I have is I get a good group of 'feathers' and then go too far with the next cut and slice them off the stick :11doh:
HTH
Steve
thanks guys, I can get small feathers on the stick but I too go to far and cut them off d'oh!, I will keep trying.
Ogri the trog
09-10-2005, 22:22
Timtom,
It's not foolproof, but if you place another stick horizontally on the ground next to the one that you are feathering, it can/will restrict the cut at the end of the stroke. You can still take too big a cut and split the feathers off, but it might be worth a try until you get the feel for when your stick is about to break!
ATB
Ogri the trog
Even if you cut the feathers off, they still make good kindling. If the feathers stay on the stick, it isn't much different to just placing the remaining stick next to the burning feathered section, if you know what I mean. Try using a few different knives to see which one feels more comfortable to use.
RovingArcher
10-10-2005, 03:50
Generally, my feather sticks aren't very long, so I use a different technique to make them up, prefering to hold the knife, edge towards me, in my curled fingers and using my hand only, drawing it towards my thumb, which supports the near end of the piece I'm working on. Kind of like peeling an apple. I cut the feathers thin and rotate the stick as I go.
Depending on the knife I'm using, I vary the angle of the blade, as compared to the piece I'm working on. The grind and thickness of the blade determine the angle and I adjust my technique until the knife is cutting at it's optimum. I rarely have to apply much pressure with this technique, so control of each cut is much easier for me, than using a pushing technique with full arm motion making the cuts. I guess it's all in how we are shown.
Buckshot
10-10-2005, 08:51
I find if I lock my wrist and elbow and only move my shoulder it's easier to control and put more controlled force into. Because my shoulder can only move a few inches at a time I find it easier to control. That's not to say the feathers always stay on the stick !
Cheers
Mark
Motorbike Man
10-10-2005, 10:00
I'm glad I'm not the only one who slices his feathers off the the stick :lmao:
I've found that I'm getting much better at making feather sticks - the lock-wrist-and-elbow trick certainly helps. Unfortunately it seems that I've been practicing on super-special non-flammable wood, that just blithely sits there while I'm scraping away on my firesteel...!
gregorach
10-10-2005, 11:43
You'll not get far trying to light a featherstick directly with a firesteel, no matter how well feathered it is or what the wood is. You need a better tinder to start with - birch bark and thistledown is my usual choice. The sparks light the tinder, the tinder lights the featherstick(s), then on to larger sticks. :)
You'll not get far trying to light a featherstick directly with a firesteel
...unless your name's Ray :D
http://www.moonshine.co.uk/wg/ray_featherstick.png
Motorbike Man
10-10-2005, 11:59
I find that some vaseline loaded cotton wool shredded into the feather stick does the job
gregorach
10-10-2005, 12:42
...unless your name's Ray :D
I'm certain he cheats! I bet he uses kiln-dried wood and soaks his feathersticks in petrol when no-one's looking. Or, at the very least, that his producer cuts out at about half an hour of trying... ;) :)
Yes, it can be done. But for practical purposes, especially in damp, windy old Blighty, it's probably not they way to go. ;)
You'll not get far trying to light a featherstick directly with a firesteel
Actually it quite possible.. if your using a wood with a high resin content and your feathers a fine (which mine rarely are) and there is enough of them it helps..
Use tinder instead of directly lighting the feather stick? That's cheating isn't it? :)
Fortunately I don't mind cheating, and have had success with thistledown and vaseline/cotton wool. Still, it's a bit annoying when RM does it so easily (or apparently so, as gregorach points out.)
gregorach
10-10-2005, 17:17
Nah - dowsing your tinder in petrol is cheating. Anything short of that is fair game... ;)
You do not need to put a lot of pressure on your knife when making feather sticks, your after lots of fine shavings. Imagine the front of your stick in thirds length ways. Shave a feather off each third in turn. On the front third point the tip of your up and the feather will curl towards the front. On the middle third hold your knife level then it will curl straight away from you. On the back third point your knife down and it will curl towards the back. This way you get a mass of curls.
You can light a feather stick with a firesteel if use maya (resin soaked pine), I was demonstrating this technique to my Mother-in-Law yesterday.
innocent bystander
10-10-2005, 19:09
Or there is the method in Mors K's book, where you feather the whole tree and break bit's off as kindling.
Ok, so it's not the whole tree, but it sounds good... :D
:borgsmile
whats the best wood to use?
Biddlesby
15-02-2006, 11:04
Something dry and seasoned. Ray says "in particular wood that is white", but I don't quite see why it would matter. I believe willow works well, and I've had success with pine (although they may have been treated).
[edit] Have managed a couple of times to get a feather stick lit with a firesteel, but it wasn't really worth the chunks of firesteel that were scraped away to get that final magic spark.
Topcat02
15-02-2006, 11:06
...unless your name's Ray :D
http://www.moonshine.co.uk/wg/ray_featherstick.png
I managed to get dry kindling to light from a firesteel, but it had been dry stored for about 6 months previously.
I find the most important point to remember when making feather sticks, is to use more force to press the bevel flat against the surface of the wood than you are using to push the blade forwards.
Lock the wrist, flex the elbow and push down with your upper body, using most of the force to press the bevel flat against the wood and the rest to push it down in one smooth movement.
also if you angle the blade at 45% or use the curved section of the blade the feathers will curl more, you can also encourage more curls by alternating the blade 45% point up for one cut then 45% point down for the next, this causes the curls to spill of to the left and the right which makes them bunch up nicely.
remember that feather sticking is easier with a single flat bevel as it is easier to keep the bevel flat against the wood with the necessary force.
it is possible to light a feather stick with a firesteel, when you have made your feather stick, add a number very small (a few millimetres in diameter) extremely fine, tightly curled feathers in the split behind the last feather. This series of tiny fine feather is where you need to direct your sparks.
I have found the best wood for producing feather sticks is driftwood picked up on the beach which is bone dry, hard, grey/white in colour and deeply checked.
(it doesnt seem to matter what wood it was before it ended up as drift wood as process of being at sea appears to turn almost all wood into supurb fire wood)
falling rain
15-02-2006, 11:41
You'll not get far trying to light a featherstick directly with a firesteel, no matter how well feathered it is or what the wood is. You need a better tinder to start with - birch bark and thistledown is my usual choice. The sparks light the tinder, the tinder lights the featherstick(s), then on to larger sticks. :)
Have to disagree with you there gregorach.
It definately IS possible to light feather sticks from a firesteel. you need things to be right however. Namely - very fine shavings on the sticks and closely bunched. The right wood (pine and cedar work well), and a good striker and technique (as with most things in bushcraft)
I've been practicing this a fair bit recently. A knife that produces good sparks from your firesteel is very important and the striker that comes with the firesteel are in my opinion not that great.
I use the back of my NL5 idun fallkniven and get fantastic sparks from that. easily enough to light the shavings. I know the woodlore knife produces good sparks too and people with more knowledge than me on knives could probably recommend others that give equally good sparks. It's all about practice..........As everything is :)
thanks, I've never actually made a firestick but next time I'm out in the woods practicing the wonderful art of bushcraft I'll give it a go :)
gregorach
15-02-2006, 12:22
Have to disagree with you there gregorach.
It definately IS possible to light feather sticks from a firesteel. you need things to be right however. Namely - very fine shavings on the sticks and closely bunched. The right wood (pine and cedar work well), and a good striker and technique (as with most things in bushcraft)
Yeah, my mistake has already been pointed out, and spurred on by this thread, I have subsequently managed to do it myself with a little practice... :)
This is will cause responce :ban:
But i find Scandi grinds on knives much easier than convex when making feathersticks! I find it bites into the wood better. Just my experiance and i garuntee others will have differing experience. :sad6:
This is will cause responce :ban:
But i find Scandi grinds on knives much easier than convex when making feathersticks! I find it bites into the wood better. Just my experiance and i garuntee others will have differing experience. :sad6:
Shinken are you trying to cause trouble again. :lmao: