3 ESSENTIALS FOR FIRE STARTING ON SURVIVAL
- lighter.
- Iron rod (ferrocene)
- The use of a magnifying glass (sunglass)
In addition to these emergency fire starting techniques, there are a variety of primitive ways that woodsmen have been employing for thousands of years to ignite fires. You will be utilizing an ember to light tinder materials, which is what separates these approaches from one other.
An open flame (lighter), a ferrocerium rod, a magnifying lens, a flint and steel, and a bow and drill are the five fire-starting techniques in which every woodsman should be proficient. These will guarantee that the woodsman is well-prepared and can “smooth it” in a wooded setting, allowing him to be more comfortable and productive.
As a result, matches are not included in this list since I do not feel that they contribute anything to what the first techniques can do, particularly when considering the obstacles that might impede their usage such as dampness, wind, and lack of gross motor dexterity in cold weather.
Always have a supply of matches in your gear in case you need to use them in combination with another type of igniting.
It is vital to grasp the two most important primordial techniques of fire to begin with:
The first step is to bow and drill.
The use of flint and steel is another example.
Material from the terrain as well as your high-carbon blade are used in each of these procedures. Using your stone or glass tools, you can assemble the bow and drill set, but a knife makes the process much more straightforward.
To genuinely master a primitive skill, some people believe that you must constantly utilize primitive equipment. Metal and glass are readily available in today’s culture, which makes them ideal for construction.
MODELING WITH THE BOW AND DRILL
Create an ember, a burning coal, using your bow-drill kit, and place it in a bird’s nest made of flammable materials. The ember is a key component of the bow-drill kit since it is required for the creation of fire and cannot be done without one.
fire to be made You’ll need three essential ingredients known as the “triangle of fire”: heat, oxygen, and fuel in order to start a fire. Your set must take full use of all three in order to make the burning coal.
Survival methods are similar to industrial processes in that all inputs will have an impact on the result. So that you receive the intended result, it is critical that you make sure a number of things happen in a certain sequence.
Basically, there are four parts to the bow and drill set:
- Drilling a hole using a spindle
- A fireplace mantel.
- A bearing block is used.
- The twirl
When used properly, these components function as a basic machine that removes material while causing a fine dust to gather in its wake. Once the dust has been heated up by the drill’s friction, it will ignite due to the presence of oxygen in the surrounding air.
It is essential to understand when and how much pressure and speed to apply, as well as how to choose the appropriate components and use the appropriate shape.
Ideally, the only thing that differs is the resources that you use.
SPINDLE
Make the spindle out of a softwood such that when you push down on it, your fingernail makes an imprint on the wood. It is recommended that you utilize poplars, cedars, willows, and pines. To be effective, the spindle just has to be around the same diameter as your thumb and approximately the same length as your extended thumb to pinky.
It’s OK if it’s a little longer than necessary since you’ll be carving both ends.
The spindle has to be as straight and round as possible in order to function correctly. If your wood piece is a bit crooked or bowed, slowly shave it with the back of your knife, a little at a time, until it is perfectly straight and square. After that, it’s time to get the ends ready to be used.
The one end of the drill should have the shape of a worn eraser on a pencil: slightly rounded but still essentially flat in the middle. In order to maximize surface area and friction, this end will be put on the hearth board.
This is the location where you want all of the friction between the spindle and the hearth. Spindle’s top should be formed like the lead side of a pencil: a pointed shape with a little dinginess to it. It is important to ensure that there is little to no friction at the top of the spindle so that you can push and draw the bow freely.
Board of Directors of the HEARTH COUNCIL
Hearth boards should be fashioned from the same softwood as the spindle to ensure that they match in appearance.
However, the wood should not be rotting or in any stage of decomposition. Wood from the tulip poplar is preferable to other woods because the lower limbs of the tree frequently die and, barring a very heavy downpour, are able to dry off above ground.
In the end, you’ll want the hearth board to be approximately the length of your forearm and around the thickness of your thumb when it’s completed. A branch or piece of wood that is slightly bigger than what you want may be split to create a flat board with the desired proportions.
The most crucial phase is the careful design of the hearth board and notch, which must be done precisely in order to produce a collection of material for a coal while also collecting enough oxygen for ignition. To do this, create a tiny divot on the hearth.
Due to the fact that portion of the board will be beneath your foot, the location of your first beginning point is determined by whether you are left- or right-handed.
Ensure the divot is not too near to the end of the board, as this might cause the board to split or shatter under the weight of the water. Two is an excellent starting place to work from “the beginning of the section nearest your dominant hand The depth of this divot is not critical; it simply has to be deep enough to guide the spindle throughout the combustion process.
CARRIAGE STRUCTURE BLOCK
Despite the fact that the bearing block is a critical component of the set, it is also one of the least understood and most difficult to construct initially. Making it out of the toughest wood available, such as hickory or beech, will ensure its longevity.
As a result of the rapid wear away of softwoods, the spindle rubs against the angled portions below the tip, causing it to break. This typical blunder is referred to as “shouldering out,” and it will leave the operator weary and unable to keep the set working efficiently.
Using an approximately 3″ diameter green sapling, cut a 4″–5″ diameter hole in the sapling using a circular saw “at the broadest point of the piece Next, using your knife, cut a third of the sapling away.
TRICKS OF FIRE STARTING
Bearing blocks are very complex to manufacture because, as previously said, they are in charge of every aspect of the system. As a rule, any hard natural substance will work as a decent block so long as it can have a divot cut into it. Any natural material, such as stones, bones, or antler, will do.
Then, precisely in the centre of this block, make a little indentation with your knife on the flat side. Just enough room is needed in the divot for the spindle’s tip to fit into the hole. It will be simple to run a free-spinning drill.. You should always check the spinning drill first if you are experiencing difficulties with your setup.
BOW
Although any branch may be used to make the bow, it does not necessarily need to be bent in the manner of a bow; rather, it must be reasonably sturdy in order to avoid breaking under effort.
The bow should be around 3′ long and 1′ wide “the circumference of the circle The greater the length of the bow, the less the number of strokes required to complete the rotations of the spindle will be. A typical blunder is to use a bow that is less than 3′ in length.
Simple as it seems, making the bow is as easy as attaching string to a branch. A basic fork on one end of the stick with a loop and a stake notch on the other end, tied with a straight lashing and a clove hitch, has shown to be the most effective method for stringing the bow. In order to load the spindle, the string does not need to be so tight that it causes the bow to bend, but it also cannot be so slack that the drill slides while under downward pressure.
THE NEST OF THE BIRD
The ember that you light with your bow and drill will be utilized to ignite a bird’s nest, which will serve as a critical component of your fire-building strategy. The materials used to construct the bird’s nest must be coarse, medium, and fine in texture. In reality, the majority of the materials you collect for the hearth and spindle may be utilized in the construction of the bird’s nest.
The inner barks of poplar and willow trees, as well as the bark of the cedar, are all excellent choices.
There are a variety of different objects that may be utilized in a bird’s nest, including little dead pine needles and materials that have a natural accelerant, as well as highly flammable oils such as birch bark. Avoid using an excessive amount of dry grass and leaves since these things burn rapidly and it is critical that the bird’s nest burn for an extended period of time in order to ignite the rest of the fire lay materials.
Material for the Bird’s Nest is being prepared.
Processing is the process of shredding barks in order to get a large amount of fine material.
In the process of making a bird’s nest, this is the most critical duty. Make certain that something is in place to collect the shreds so that they do not fall to the floor. If the material you’re gathering is still connected to the tree, you may process the shavings with the back of your knife, which will save you time.
It is important to treat wet material as soon as possible and spread it out across a broader surface area so that it may dry as rapidly as possible. You may either arrange part of this processed material between layers of cloths around the core body region to dry them or spread them out on a dark surface (such as a tarp) in the sun to dry them out completely.
Once the material has dried, it may be shaped into the shape of a bird’s nest if desired. Check out the construction of the nest in the natural if you happen to stumble across one in the wild. When birds are constructing their nests, they start with fine materials in the centre or center and work their way out to the edges, adding progressively coarser materials as they go.
Remember that the greatest bird’s nest for a fire lay is an actual bird’s nest, so make sure to gather one if you happen to come across one that is both accessible and empty while building your fire.
MAKING THE NOTCH AND BURNING THE HOLE.
It’s time to get started with your bow drill now that all of the components have been assembled.
First, attach the spindle to the bow using the string. Placing the spindle in the divot in the hearth board is the next step.
Create the proper form by making sure your wrist is locked into your shin in order to prevent the spindle from shifting left and right throughout the exercise: Make certain that there are no impediments that will prevent the bow from moving completely.
With the bearing block, lean forward and provide continuous downward pressure to the spindle to keep it spinning. Your torso should be higher than your knee. Apply enough downward pressure with the bearing block to keep the drill in place while you gently rotate the spindle, but not so much that the drill falls out.
It is critical that you move gently throughout this stage since the drill will be married to the divot in preparation for when you begin to manufacture the coal.
Downward pressure will provide enough friction to start burning the wood if you use the full bow in consistent strokes over a long period of time. Stop as soon as the wood has burnt around the spindle and everything is moving well since utilizing too much of the material at this point lowers the amount of material available to manufacture a coal later on.
Making a notch from the center of the recently burnt divot hole to the edge of the hearth board will be the next step in the process. Creating an accurate notch is critical to achieving the desired result: a collection of particles for coal while also collecting enough oxygen for ignite.
The notch on the front of the board should always be facing away from you, as this will help you to see the process more clearly while running the drill. Make certain that your notch area is not too tiny, as this might cause it to clog up, prevent overspill, and restrict the amount of oxygen that can be delivered to the ember.
Alternatively, make sure the burnt divot hole is not too large since the dust has to be compacted and the oxygen levels need to be maintained under strict supervision. A suitable notch should be made in a V cut, with the bottom of the V extending into the blackened region by roughly the same amount as the size of your burnt divot circle. The V’s angles should be between 30° and 45° in angle.
8 Designing and constructing the bow drill
MAKE AN EMBER OF YOURSELF
Now that you’ve burnt your spindle hole and cut your notch, you need carefully scrutinize each component before trying to manufacture a coal out of it. Any problems that arise at this moment will only worsen in the future.
1. Inspect the bowstring for strain and retighten if required.
2. Inspect the bearing block to ensure that the depression does not become too deep and that the spindle has not started to shoulder out.
You are now ready to start constructing a fire using sticks! There is one more, little activity that will make things simpler and may even prevent a nice coal from dying out owing to ground moisture in the future. You must design a welcome mat, which will serve as a landing area for your coal after it has been formed in the notch.
Small slivers of bark or strips of thin wood that are about twice the width of the slot may serve as a welcome mat for visitors. This component will be placed underneath the hearth board in order to capture the coals.
At first, move the bow gently to get into a rhythm that you can keep up with later. Your chest should be higher than your knee in order to be able to readily view the activity in the notch.
You don’t need speed at this point; instead, you want consistent, lengthy strokes that employ the whole length of the bow while applying downward pressure to the string. Aiming to remove material from the board and drill at this point, as well as fill the notch with dark brown fluffy material, is the next step.
Many people make the error of going too quickly, believing that speed will result in the formation of an ember. However, the truth is that if there is no dust in the notch, there is no fuel to form an ember.
The smoke will appear after a few strokes, and the notch will begin to fill with material after several strokes. Approximately two to three times the cadence of your bow strokes should be sufficient to generate a burning coal after the material in the notch starts to pour forward in front of the notch.
At this point, it should only take approximately 10–12 complete strokes of the bow to make burning coal. Maintain your composure and avoid making a jerky halt that could disrupt the coal you’ve just formed. Slow down during the final few of strokes and come to a complete halt in the same position as you began.
slowly remove the spindle and bow from the coal and look at the coal. If there seems to be smoke outside the board where the dust has accumulated, you are most likely safe and sound. Don’t get too happy, however, since you still have a significant amount of time remaining in the procedure, perhaps about 5 or more minutes total.
Allow for a gradual raising of the board at an angle, followed by a gentle tap with the spindle to release any material that may have been stuck in the notch. If the coal is still burning at this time, you may take a moment to sit back and relax, take a few deep breaths, and grin!
IGNITE THE BIRD’S NEST WITH THE HELP OF THE COAL
The most critical component of the equation is now presented. Ensure that you always bring the nest to the coal and not the other way around. Make any required modifications to your bird’s nest to ensure that there is enough of fine flammable material in the centre of the structure.
Tilt the nest in the direction of the welcome mat and pick up the welcome mat, bringing it closer to the nest. Finally, use a steady tap of your foot to gently deposit coal into the nest.
This should be limited to a single comma “At the very least, drop! Fold the nest slightly and begin to supply some oxygen to it by blowing into it gently, not strong blows, but soft breathes.
Fold the nest somewhat further if necessary. If the coal is still burning hot, you may tilt the nest slightly so that you are blowing up into it, which will cause the heat to ascend into the main body of the nest, making it to be more comfortable. In order for the ember to expand, smoke will begin to billow out of the rear of the nest, signaling the need for you to blow a little harder.
As the smoke builds, you may gradually increase the amount of oxygen in the air until it starts to burn. The nest should be turned over after the flames have started to appear on the bottom, allowing heat to climb through to the nonburning materials. In the end, set it in your fire pit and light it up!
A METHOD USING FLINT AND STEEL
Knowing how to use flint and steel is crucial for the same reason that you should be familiar with how to use the bow and drill method:
in the event that you are forced to abandon the bulk of your equipment due to a disaster of some kind. You should be able to discover a rock in most places that will force material from the rear of your blade and aid in the achievement of this way of ignition as long as you do not lose your main cutting instrument, which should be high-carbon steel.
Even while it may take some research to locate a rock that will work for this activity, generally speaking, any flint, chert, or quartz rock will do if you can shatter or find a sharp edge.
Using a rock, you may remove tiny pieces of iron material off the back of your knife and use them as a splintering agent. At 800°F, the friction and oxygen in the air will cause these particles to burn.
The significance of this is as follows: Recall that if you are forced to make a bowdrill fire, it is because you have misplaced the bulk of your equipment. Whenever possible, you should avoid having to build two bow-drill fires, so as soon as the first fire is started, you should start making charred material as well.
FOR FLINT AND STEEL IGNITION, MATERIAL TO BE USED
The most effective technique to guarantee a simpler fire after the bow exercise is to have charred materials available for the next time so that a flint and steel fire may be started instead. In certain cases, such as chaga (a genuine tinder fungus), the spark from this approach may be used without the need to char the material. Additionally, certain shelf fungus (Fomes fomentarius) dust may be made to receive a spark by heating it up.
A little mound of dust that you have made with a saw cut or by scraping with the back of a knife will be required in order to complete this project. It is important to leave the dust to burn until it turns into a coal; however, the actual tinder fungus may be lit inside a bigger piece of wood without the need for more dust.
Use the softer inside materials in either case rather than the harder outside surfaces….
Alternatively, you might use char material, which provides an even higher chance of getting a spark to ignite the flame.
A variety of materials found in the environment, including punky, rotting wood and the inner pith of plants such as mullein, may be used to make char in a variety of ways. If you have clothes or a kit that is made entirely of cotton, you may utilize those items as well.
Methods of Producing Char The quickest and most straightforward method of producing char is to put your chosen material in a metal chamber where it can be subjected to high heat while being restricted in the amount of oxygen it can get.
The material within this chamber is heated to the point where gases are able to escape. The use of a stainless steel bottle and nested cup, or even an old can with a flat rock, can suffice in an emergency. Placing your substance into the chamber and then placing the chamber in the fire is the next step.
Direct flame is preferable than coals, although either will do the job just as well. If any part of the material is not entirely sealed off, smoke, which is really gas, will begin to leave the chamber as the substance is heated. If oxygen is unable to enter the chamber, then this is just OK.
Charring should be completed after the smoke has died down. The chamber must be entirely cold before it can be opened, since if oxygen comes into touch with heated material, it will cause the substance to catch fire.
TRICKS OF THE TRADE
Char material has a number of benefits over other types of fuels. Adding char to marginal materials like as feathers and grasses in a bird’s nest, for example, provides a longer heat source from which to ignite the nest.
It is true that charred material may be ignited by nearly any spark, including those from ancient lighters, ferrocerium rods, or even the rays of a sunglass. In light of the wide range of ignition techniques available, char is a critical component to have on hand in your pack.
Examine the charater.
In most cases, if it is black and frail-looking, it is ready to be used. Closing the chamber and re-introducing the material into the fire will be necessary if the substance becomes brown. A tiny bit of charcoal may be tested to ensure that it is ready to be used.
The term “char tin” refers to a container used specifically for storing firewood for charring, such as an Altoids can or an old shoe polish can.
Using a metal instrument, strike sparks into the tin directly, therefore increasing the surface area available to capture an ember. As with the bow-drill fire, after an ember has been formed, it should be placed into a bird’s nest.
FIRE FROM THE SOLAR SYSTEM
Using a sunglass to make an ember has a number of significant advantages. Because the sun is a renewable resource, when you use your kit, you are not depleting any of the resources contained inside it. All of the elements needed to construct an ember may be found in nature and are not difficult to gather and utilize.
A sunglass may ignite any char material or any of the fungus species previously mentioned—which can be utilized in a raw condition, typically right off the tree, for this method—and can be ignited with a match or lighter.
Horse foot fungus may be more effective as a dust, but it may be turned into a good coal in a short length of time if prepared properly.
An ember may also be made from natural materials such as cattail down or poplar barks, which can be compressed into a tiny, tight ball of around ” in diameter. Then, using the glass, burn through the substance, resulting in a smoldering ember as a result of your efforts.
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT MATCHES
Matches have been the go-to method for starting fires for more than 150 years, but they should only be carried as an additional resource in addition to the three primary ignition sources: a lighter (or big ferrocerium rod) and a sunglass. Matches are particularly sensitive to weather and moisture, and you can only carry a limited number of them with you at all times.
An open-flame lighter with the power and long life of a single BIC cigarette lighter would need many boxes of matches to come close to its performance. The only little advantage of matches may be the small quantity of tinder required by a wooden match, although this is trivial in the context of a well laid fire.
Fire lighting using matches is still taught at many institutions, but I feel this practice adds nothing to actual long-term survival in the wilderness, and so should be discouraged.
ADVANCED BUSHCRAFT INSTRUCTIONS
The back of a knife may be scraped over the surface of most softwood species to make tiny shavings that can be ignited with an open flame or a ferrocerium rod in most cases. If left to dry, the inner barks and barks of plants such as cedar, poplar, grape vine (water vine), and honeysuckle will combine to form a flammable nest.
Fatwood is a woodworker’s tool, and it works well even in the wettest of circumstances, according to legend. Easily ignitable fine scrapings and shavings of sticky fatwood pine will ignite and burn for an extended period of time, allowing them to capture marginal tinder sources.
Birch bark, which contains a volatile oil, will likewise be very flammable when exposed to an open flame, but it may be treated to increase the surface area so that it can be used with a ferrocerium rod, if desired.
When starting fire, the Sami traditionally roll the tinder in a birch bark tube, put an ember in the rear of the tube towards the mouth, and softly blow the tube. This shields the ember while yet enabling heat to ascend through the tinder and birch bark to reach the ember. Once the fire has been started, it will also provide fuel to ensure that it will burn for a long time.
SUGGESTIONS AND TECHNIQUES
It’s important to remember that the bow and drill is a machine. The longer the bow, the fewer strokes it takes to get a revolution of the spindle, and the smaller the spindle, the more rotations it takes to create a stroke.
There is a happy medium that can only be discovered via trial and error. Much will depend on your personal approach and body shape, but a reasonable starting point is a thumb-sized spindle and a 3-foot bow for beginners.
Secondly, always be on the lookout for pebbles that could be hard enough to create a spark from high-carbon equipment. Pick up some pebbles when you’re out strolling and give them a try. Dump them into your pack if they are useful; if they aren’t, toss them out immediately.
During damp conditions, quartz will have a slick sheen and may be white, gray, or mild shades of red or pink; quartz is a safe option at all times.
3. Gather tinder sources whenever the chance presents itself, even if it is just traveling from one spot to another. Keep an eye out for any stringy bark elements that may be dangling from the trees. Honeysuckle vines will continually lose small layers of bark throughout the year.
4. Dead plants, particularly goldenrod, contain combustible blossom tips and hollow stalks, which make them particularly dangerous. The majority of these trees grow in big groves in open fields, making them excellent sources of tinder and kindling.
5. When a fire is started, a short stub from a spent candle is usually an useful safety measure to have on hand. Using the first open flame, light the candle and leave it away until the fire has gained enough strength to maintain itself.
If you need a longer open flame for inferior materials, this will save you money on lighter fluid since it will conserve it.
Making candles is far less difficult than purchasing a new lighter.
