Pros and cons of primitive (pre-matches) firemaking as a hobby*
*NOT AN ARSONIST I FUCKING SWEAR I always feel like I have to include that.
Pros:
Opens you up to a wide variety of new knowlage! Including:
Local flora and trees overall and the ways they burn/best ways to clear if needed/scent (I can usually tell you what is burning like hardwood vs softwood, oak and pine have very distinctive smoke scents, as do paper, paper pulp, green woods, etc) as well as where they are likely to grow and how to identify them.
Fire safety, conservation, and local ordinances on fires.
Survival and first aid skills, including the very important and wide variety of ways to treat burns.
Did I mention PHYSICS?! Sure a basic overview of physics is all you need, but learning more can be incredibly helpful in building an efficient fire.
OH MAN AND CHEMISTRY! Knowing what compounds occur in what trees (and occasionally during what season) can help out as well!
Geology too! That’s mostly for flint and steel type firemaking, but knowing what rocks are safe to build a fire up against or put in a fire is very important. I mean, if you like exploding rocks, be my guest, but wear eye protection please.\
History and even a bit of anthropology! It IS primitive
Party tricks! Wow your friends, family, classmates and colleagues by starting a fire using a rock, some metal and a grass bundle!
Reasonably cautious bravery! You get used to sticking your hands practically INTO in a fire and picking stuff up to move it. Then again, that might just be my weirdass.... Also counts as a party trick!
AND SO MUCH MORE!
Cons:
*Sneezes a puff charcoal powder and ash*
Smoke is smoke. It gets in your eyes and in your lungs. Let’s hope you don’t accidently burn anything that coincidentally smells like some recreational substances before a class or important meeting....
No joke, even if you aren’t blowing the fire and getting close to do so (and thus leading to the interesting sneezes), your snot is going to be grey or black for a few days after a fire. This is just a general thing with fires if you’re semi-close to them. Because again, smoke.
If you’re in a warm or hot climate, the hobby can be dangerous (don’t do this in wildfire regions. Pick another hobby. Knitting is actually quite nice!) or just downright hot. Expect to sweat. A LOT.
Yeah your clothes are gonna smell like smoke. Washing helps, but sometimes it just soaks in if you’re burning or working with something that produces an oily or greasy sort of smoke.
You learn a lot of different when you start looking into primitive tech and firemaking. It’s interesting from a variety of fields! If you’re interested, feel free to PM me!
Bow Drill Fire. This is a down and dirty way I make a Bow drill set and fire. If you want it in more detail let me know in the comments. FOLLOW ME: Facebook ...
I figured that while we were practicing our bushcraft skills, we should revisit making fire with a bowdrill.
This is just the way that I was taught to do it when I was a kid. For the definitive guide, I would recommend you go watch Dave Canterbury's video on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fONz6j7zgFE
For those not familiar with it, bowdrill is a friction-fire technique where you rub two pieces of wood together to create tinder (punk) and heat in order to make an ember.
Wood choice is very important. You want a soft pithy wood. Good choices are Poplars, Cottonwoods (shown above), Sagebrush, and Yucca. Willow and Aspen can also be used.
You don't want woods that are hard or sappy like conifers or hardwoods.
Cottonwoods shed their branches, so it is quite easy to find a dry dead hanging branch. You need two board-like pieces and a spindle.
Here we have our fireboard and spindle. Make the spindle with a pretty good diameter, one stubby end, and one pointy end. The larger diameter will give you more bearing area for friction (stubby end), while the pointy part reduces the bearing surface on the handboard.
The weather was bad so our birds-nest is pretty pathetic. When the nest is damp like this, I like to pile up thin shavings. Use Pine for those as the Cottonwood doesn't seem to be particularly flammable.
This is my handboard. I like to try and find a small knot in the wood and use that as the socket for the spindle. I picked a couple leaves on my way and will use them to lubricate the top of the spindle. You want maximum friction on the fireboard end and minimum friction on the handboard end.
Pack the leaves into the socket. Saliva works well too.
This is my preferred position for bowdrill. You want a steady base and to use your body weight to push down on the spindle.
I am using my axe as a bow. If you can find a nice bent stick, use that instead. The weight of the axe makes this much more difficult. You want a bow that is rigid for this. The string does not have to be tight on the bow as long as it is tight once you wrap it around the spindle. The spindle should be to the inside of the string. For some reason that seems to make things easier.
If you have two people, have the other person work the bow, it will make it much easier and increase your success rate.
Carve a little hole into the fireboard, and then use the spindle to make it the right shape and size.
Once you have a good fit, notch out your board. This provides a place for the punk to gather and concentrates the heat for your ember.
I like to make mine like this. Too narrow and there is not enough punk for a strong ember. Too wide and the heat dissipates and it takes longer to get to temp. I also like to chamfer the bottom edges of the notch (not shown) to allow air to get to the ember.
From here, use long, slow strokes to build up a mound of punk in the notch. Take it easy for this part, you will need your strength later to make the heat. Once your notch is completely full of punk, take a rest.
To make the ember, you will have to put more force down on the spindle and really go at it until you have billowing smoke.
Carefully remove the spindle. Smoke should continue to rise from your punk at this point. Tap the fireboard to loosen the punk from the notch and carefully remove the board. You should have a little notch shaped mount of punk with a smoking ember in it. Blow on it a bit to get it strong and then transfer it to the birds nest. Then it is just a matter of blowing into the nest until you get a flame.
If you are having trouble getting the nest to catch, you can build up some punk in the notch and transfer it to your nest before making your ember. This will give the ember more fuel. It took us a few times to get it to go, so don't be disappointed if it doesn't work out the first time. When I first learned to do bowdrill it took me a whole day before I could get a fire, just have to keep trying at it until it works.
Any questions or comments for me? Please feel free to ask/comment.
