Part 2 of Getting Started in Historical Trekking.

How To Get Started In 18th Century Historical Trekking. Part 2.



You will need something to make fire. I suggest you make a fire-steel out of a piece of broken file. These items actually were used in the 18th century, either broken files were shaped by a blacksmith into a knife blade or a fire-steel, or the average person could use the broken piece to make a fire-steel as is.

This is one I made. I simply heated to cherry red in the fire, and let it cool slowly. Then I filed one edge smooth, heated to cherry red again and cooled it fast in water. It works very well, great shower of sparks.


A tinderbox is used to contain your tinder, it is also used to prepare plant tinders, and you can make fire directly from the tinderbox.

Here you can see two tinderboxes, my brass one on the left, and a lolly tin being used as a tinderbox on the right on top of a leather fire-bag.


This is my greased leather fire-bag which I keep my tinderbox in along with some small pieces of kindling and a beeswax candle stub. This is made out of clothing weight leather, which you can pick up at the op-shop in the form of leather coats, jackets and skirts etc.

My fire-bag is carried inside my belt pouch which is with me all the time, but you could start of by carrying yours in your knapsack.

This is my belt pouch which I made out of second hand bag leather. The brass buckle I found second hand at the local saddler’s. The belt I also bought at the op-shop. My fire-steel is tied to the pouch buckle and kept in the pouch.

It is always a good idea as Anne Bailey reminded us in a recent post, to carry some spare tinder in another container. I carry my spare tinder in my gunpowder bag when it is empty. When using it for gunpowder, I carry the tinder in another greased leather bag in my knapsack.

My gunpowder wallet or bag. This is clothing weight leather which you can get from second hand leather clothing in an op-shop. It is easy to sew.