A feather stick (sometimes referred to as a fuzz stick) is a length of

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin ...

which has been shaved to produce a cluster of thin curls protruding from the wood. It allows damp wood to be used to start a fire when dry

tinder Tinder is easily combustible material used to start a fire. Tinder is a finely divided, open material which will begin to glow under a shower of sparks. Air is gently wafted over the glowing tinder until it bursts into flame. The flaming tinder i ...

is hard to find. It is believed to be a traditional method of fire starting, using basic tools and methods.

Use

Feather sticks are made from dead "standing" wood, such as a branch that has broken from a tree and died, but has not yet fallen to the ground.Towell, Colin, and Inc Publishing. Essential survival skills key tips and techniques for the great outdoors. London: DK Pub., 2011. 95. The bark and the outer layer of wood are removed to reveal the drier

heartwood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...

. This is then shaved, with axe or knife, to produce as many curls as possible. While the flakes can be fairly coarse, the finer they are shaved the more easily they ignite. Feather sticks can be used with

char cloth Char cloth, also called char paper, is a material with low ignition temperature, used as tinder when lighting a fire. It is the main component in a tinderbox. It is a small swatch of fabric made from a natural fibre (such as linen, cotton, jute ...

, where a small piece of the cloth is wound around the curls and a spark is struck on to it, using either the traditional

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...

and steel or a modern

ferrocerium Ferrocerium (also known in Europe as Auermetall) is a synthetic pyrophoric alloy of mischmetal (cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, other trace lanthanides and some iron – about 95% lanthanides and 5% iron) hardened by blending in oxides o ...

striker. This is then blown onto until the curls catch fire: the whole feather stick is then placed into the waiting kindling to start the campfire.

References

External links

Feather sticks
Website showing feather sticks in use. {{Woodworking Firelighting materials