I used to consider archaic forms of pyromania to be a soothing pastime and I farted around with char cloth…but…what a friggin pain. Nowadays my fire kit is a Bic, some birchbark, and some of those cotton swabs coated in Vaseline. All a that in a metal tin and I’m done! If anyone starts babbling about bow drills…I’ll give them the frowning of their life! I might tolerate the ferro rod guys… barely.
My ancestors did not survive the ice age, create the atom bomb, or invent the computer so that I could start fires with my bare hands or other austrolapithican or Neolithic methods.
The idea is not to start all your fires this way, it is to be *able* to start a fire when you need to, and have found yourself unprepared due to events beyond your control.
You're not making one of these off the cuff to avoid freezing to death. Takes too long, you'll freeze. A bow drill is far quicker to make, and a hand drill far easier still, but you can damage your hands if they're not in shape, and get an infection. If you carry any of these, and could have carried a bic, yeah, you're gay.
In a world where all the bics and ferro rods are unobtainium, *now* a fire pump can make sense. A magnifying glass is easier still, but only works when there are shadows. Easiest are shredded bark "cigars" that native americans used. They keep a coal going for up to 4 or 5 hours, then you stop and light another one.
Fire is important. It's good to know this crap, but.... have a supply of bics. Great sweetener in barter deals after the collapse.
Only because the weather was damn fine, I took the dog out in the bush yesterday and made a pretty decent fire. Started it with some dry wood shavings I took off a piece of deadfall and one of those flint & magnesium things I picked up at Dollarama, of all places.
I hadn't used one of them in years and I was awfully surprised that the Dollar Store version worked as well as it did.
Some of us intend to persevere after we're all well and truly fucked, and plan accordingly. I'm old. I saw collapse as an inevitable result of simple math, cause and effect, at age 14. I grew up in a city, and believed I was alone and help was not coming. I spent my youth largely studying how to survive without assistance from my species. No bics. Make all your own shit, from dirt, rock, and plants. Turned out the rest of the world wasn't like the city, and there can be better ways... bics.... but I don't count on that continuing, as that's beyond my means to ensure.
Where does the 'Permanent Match' fit in this ? A metal box,filled with cotton and lighter fluid with a striker w/cloth wick,struck like a match and lights like one.
It's wonderful to have the tools to quickly and easily start a fire. But sometimes life deals you a sucky hand and you MUST start a fire without benefit of modern technology. That's when the old skills determine who lives and who freezes.
Actually, the principle of fire piston is pretty old technology. Sometime near the birth of Christ, if Wiki isn't speaking out of their butt.
"The antiquity of the fire piston in Southeast Asia is unknown, but it definitely pre-dated the Austronesian colonization of Madagascar (c. 100-500 AD). It was one of the early definite proofs linking Madagascar with a Southeast Asian origin.[6]"
So modern construction with proven ancient design - who would have thought ?
in my get home bag is a 4 oz. plastic bottle of lighter fluid. plus storm matches and a zippo lighter. plus a small metal can of cotton balls soaked in petro jelly. my time with ferro rods and things like that are long behind me these days.
I don't believe he discusses how to make char cloth, a vital part of the tool. There are vids on oytube that better cover this. I have made several fire pistons, kind of a novelty at this point but if you have used the last match AND you have dry char cloth and tinder you can still get a fire going.
Yeah I made it once…it wasn’t very good. I think you have to burn it without oxygen…? I put mine in a can, threw it in the fire and it would hold an ember… for a bit. Gawd - it was dirty stuff!
I carry a page size Fresnel lens (used for magnify pages for vision impaired) in my pack. It is flexible, thin and weighs nothing. With ANY sunlight it will lite paper, dry grass etc. instantly.
The idea is not to start all your fires this way, it is to be *able* to start a fire when you need to, and have found yourself unprepared due to events beyond your control.
ReplyDeleteYou're not making one of these off the cuff to avoid freezing to death. Takes too long, you'll freeze. A bow drill is far quicker to make, and a hand drill far easier still, but you can damage your hands if they're not in shape, and get an infection. If you carry any of these, and could have carried a bic, yeah, you're gay.
In a world where all the bics and ferro rods are unobtainium, *now* a fire pump can make sense. A magnifying glass is easier still, but only works when there are shadows. Easiest are shredded bark "cigars" that native americans used. They keep a coal going for up to 4 or 5 hours, then you stop and light another one.
Fire is important. It's good to know this crap, but.... have a supply of bics. Great sweetener in barter deals after the collapse.
Only because the weather was damn fine, I took the dog out in the bush yesterday and made a pretty decent fire. Started it with some dry wood shavings I took off a piece of deadfall and one of those flint & magnesium things I picked up at Dollarama, of all places.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't used one of them in years and I was awfully surprised that the Dollar Store version worked as well as it did.
I’ve been thinking of getting a proper ferro rod… but I just have so many darned lighters now… I will never run out!
DeleteYeah, if your down to where a Bic is now unobtanium, that means we're all well and truly fucked.
ReplyDeleteSome of us intend to persevere after we're all well and truly fucked, and plan accordingly. I'm old. I saw collapse as an inevitable result of simple math, cause and effect, at age 14. I grew up in a city, and believed I was alone and help was not coming. I spent my youth largely studying how to survive without assistance from my species. No bics. Make all your own shit, from dirt, rock, and plants. Turned out the rest of the world wasn't like the city, and there can be better ways... bics.... but I don't count on that continuing, as that's beyond my means to ensure.
DeleteWhere does the 'Permanent Match' fit in this ? A metal box,filled with cotton and lighter fluid with a striker w/cloth wick,struck like a match and lights like one.
ReplyDeleteIt's wonderful to have the tools to quickly and easily start a fire. But sometimes life deals you a sucky hand and you MUST start a fire without benefit of modern technology. That's when the old skills determine who lives and who freezes.
ReplyDeleteActually, the principle of fire piston is pretty old technology. Sometime near the birth of Christ, if Wiki isn't speaking out of their butt.
ReplyDelete"The antiquity of the fire piston in Southeast Asia is unknown, but it definitely pre-dated the Austronesian colonization of Madagascar (c. 100-500 AD). It was one of the early definite proofs linking Madagascar with a Southeast Asian origin.[6]"
So modern construction with proven ancient design - who would have thought ?
in my get home bag is a 4 oz. plastic bottle of lighter fluid. plus storm matches and a zippo lighter. plus a small metal can of cotton balls
ReplyDeletesoaked in petro jelly. my time with ferro rods and things like that are
long behind me these days.
I don't believe he discusses how to make char cloth, a vital part of the tool. There are vids on oytube that better cover this. I have made several fire pistons, kind of a novelty at this point but if you have used the last match AND you have dry char cloth and tinder you can still get a fire going.
ReplyDeleteYeah I made it once…it wasn’t very good. I think you have to burn it without oxygen…? I put mine in a can, threw it in the fire and it would hold an ember… for a bit. Gawd - it was dirty stuff!
DeleteErrr… does char work when it’s wet?
I carry a page size Fresnel lens (used for magnify pages for vision impaired) in my pack. It is flexible, thin and weighs nothing. With ANY sunlight it will lite paper, dry grass etc. instantly.
DeleteBeen there , done that. I prefer my method of dry bark, small sticks and a backfire fusee. I like my fires to be rippers.
ReplyDeleteMeh, best way to start a fire with two sticks is make sure one is a match.
ReplyDelete