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Concept
Tinderbox
Summary
A tinderbox, or patch box, is a container made of wood or metal containing flint, firesteel, and tinder (typically charcloth, but possibly a small quantity of dry, finely divided fibrous matter such as hemp), used together to help kindle a fire. A tinderbox may also contain sulfur-tipped matches.
Tinderboxes fell out of general usage when friction matches were invented.
Throughout prehistoric Europe flint and iron pyrites (commonly known as fool's gold) were struck against one another in order to create a spark for firelighting. As an example, Ötzi (the natural mummy of a man who lived some time between 3350 and 3105 BC, discovered in September 1991) was found with tinder fungus along with flint and pyrite for creating sparks.
With the development of iron ore smelting in the Iron Age, the firesteel eventually replaced pyrites. This was simply a piece of carbon steel (it is difficult to obtain sparks with ordinary iron), which was usually wrought into a 'D' shape, or an oval ring, so that it could be conveniently looped around two or three fingers for striking. The flint was sometimes chipped to provide a suitably sharp edge to obtain a spark and if necessary other hard stones, such as quartzite, chert or chalcedony could be substituted.
The charcloth was fabric made from vegetable fibre (e.g. cotton, linen, or jute) which had previously been charred via pyrolysis, giving it the low ignition temperature and slow burning characteristics suitable for use as tinder. Rotten wood, known as touchwood, was also used, as well as amadou, which was a tinder prepared from fungus steeped in potassium nitrate (saltpetre) and dried.
In use the flint was struck in a vigorous downward motion against the steel, sending a shower of sparks into the tinder which was arranged in the bottom of the box. The sparks (actually pieces of burning steel broken off by the harder flint) created very small embers as they fell onto the charcloth, the glow of which, with some gentle blowing, would be enough to ignite a sulfur tipped wooden splint.
Official source
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