Transcript Primitive Fire Starting - Allegheny Highlands Training

Primitive Fire Starting
Boy Scouts of America
FIRE SAFETY
VERY IMPORTANT!
DO NOT COMPROMISE!
JUST AS IMPORTANT as STARTING YOUR FIRE
YOUR FIRE = YOUR RESPONSIBILITY
TWIG BUNDLE
• VERY IMPORTANT!!!
• 2 HAND FINGER CIRCLE
• Tie with cordage (string)
of Twigs
These Skills:
• Require lots of practice
• Have a Failure rate
• Are difficult at times
• Sometimes take more time than you want
Bow Drill
• He who knows bow drill carries matches…MK
• You can do this!
But not without practice
Bow Drill: Parts
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Socket
Fire Board
Spindle
Bow
String (aka cordage)
• Ember catcher
Bow Drill: Parts
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Socket
Spindle
Fire Board
Bow
String
hand hold
dowel-like pointed on top
Medium hardness: thumb nail test
forked, notched or split
natural, manmade or improvised
• Ember catcher leaf, wood sliver etc.
Socket
• Keeps downward pressure on spindle
• Gives more heat to spindle & fireboard
• Rock, Antler, Wood, Hatchet, Magnesium
• Bark: Hemlock, Pine, Locust, Cottonwood etc.
Fire board
• Thumb nail test:
– No dent
= wood is too hard
– Pulverizes = wood is too soft
– Leaves mark = Just Right!
Fire board
• Thick as spindle:
good guide
Spindle
• Top:
pointed to reduce friction
• Bottom: sides rounded
to reduce the sides of fireboard
less wear & tear on string
Spindle
• Carve
branch
(large can be thinned)
• Natural usually wobbly
• Wobble test roll on ground (flat surface)
• Little longer than: thumb to pinky
• Thumb thick
Bow
• Thumb thick
• Armpit to fingertip long
• Forked top
notched
• Peel: if you have time
or holes
less wt. & moisture
String
• String
or Cordage
• Plants:
Barks:
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Willow
Hickory
Striped Maple
Basswood
Milkweed
Dogbane
Stinging nettle
Evening primrose
• Note: taking too much BARK hurts/kills tree (use strip)
• Ok if Survival Situation: your life matters!
Cordage: String
• Peeling stalk
squeeze then split
• Snap pith side up
• Reverse wrap
away then toward
• Adding fibers
“horse-shoe” or “U”
Ember catcher
• Catches ember
underneath Fireboard
• Keeps ember from absorbing moisture---(bad)
• Leaf
• Wood shaving
• bark
Bow Drill: Technique
• Twig bundle & other materials (fuel) gathered
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Ember catcher
Fireboard
Spindle
Bow
Socket
• Burn in hole
• Notch is made
• Ember is made
on floor
next
twisted-in
on top
Technique
Ember is placed in Kindling bundle
Blow in to flame
Twig Bundle is lit
Fire is made!
Technique
• Knife starts hole
• Notch is 1/6 to 1/8
to burn-in
pie slice
• Drill:
warm-up set
don’t go crazy
• Powder fills up hole
• ~10 good strokes gets ember to glow
• May wave/fan ember
Kindling Bundle
• Kindling should not be confused with Tinder
• Tinder: superior form of Kindling that glows
from an incendiary spark
• FINE KINDLINGS: will ignite readily from a
glowing piece of Tinder as from a flame
Coal extender
• Milkweed fluff
rub in hands
• Cattail fluff
• Rectangulated wood rot
• Flammable outer layer needed
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Grass
Inner bark
Leaves
Birch bark (later will intensify flame)
Ember to Flame
2 parts:
Ember
Flame
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Fire is last step
fire is usable
Hand Drill
• Harder than Bow Drill
smaller ember
• More skill needed in making Kindling bundle
• Fewer pieces to make
• BLISTERS!
but may not be DRY!
Cordage: Break Hands: Blister
Hand Drill
• 3/8” diameter
• 18-24” long
works for me
FLINT & STEEL
• Carbon steel or Iron Pyrite
• Flint rolling story
• Flint:
flint, Iron pyrite, other hard stones
• Try rocks
• Tinder: Char cloth, Steel wool (000 or 0000)
• Tinder fungus
• Jute bundle
FLINT & STEEL
• 100 % Cotton
t-shirt
• Hole in can
place on fire
• Smoke comes out smoke stops = done
• CAUTION:
Let can COOL before you touch
Other Methods
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Flint & Steel
Magnesium Ferrocerium
Battery & Steel wool
Soda can
(Bottom)
2L plastic bottle
Magnifying mirror
Magnifying glass Fresnel lens
Fire piston
Other Methods
• Don’t count out:
• Lighters:
very effective, 1 handed, keep dry
• Matches: get good w/ matches & Twig bundle
Bow Drill Woods
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Ash
Aspen
Basswood
Cottonwood
Elm
Hickory
maple
Pawpaw
Spruce
Sycamore
Tamarack
White Pine
Willow
Bow Drill Woods
• Hemlock
get trunk wood
• Cedar
• Yucca
not local
not local
• Fungal fireboards: i.e. Tinder fungus
Hand Drills
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Goldenrod
Mare’s tail
Teasel
Mullein
Cattail
Rose
Seep willow
Yucca
best near water
hard on hands, not 1st choice
Wrap-Up
• Fire Safety is #1
• Practice, Practice, Practice
• Put it Out
Properly!
Questions?