Fire starters? 🔥 🔥

[nhmoose]

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082484/

Quest for fire

 

[coloradoclyde]

Every time I pull out my burning lens the sky clouds over... :cursing:

 

[tenngun]

Well last time I read any research on it first evidence of humans having fire is about eight hundred thousand years. First evidence of humans making fire is about eighteen thousand years.
However fire drills don’t leave much of a trace.
Quest for fire had some neat scenes but I couldn’t understand a word of it. :haha:

 

[coloradoclyde]

Over 2 million years....And that's Just what we have found. Human civilization is far older than most realize....Fire is evidence of civilization but not necessarily the beginning of it.

 

[Black Hand]

There are a lot of people raised these days that can't start a fire even if they have matches, unless they have a ton of accelerant to pour on their wood/charcoal.

The art of properly preparing a fire lay and lighting a fire is, for the most part, a lost skill. I see this all too frequently, where people just heap up a bunch of crap and try to light the pile....and then complain it didn't light. As you don't just start slapping paint on a wall without preparation, your don't light a fire without preparation.

 

[dsayer]

This is turning into quite the discussion, much to my delight. Lots of good information coming together in here! I take quite a few solo backpacking trips in the summer for elk scouting and am in need of activities to fill the time at camp. Looking forward to building a kit and honing my skills.

 

[Black Hand]

Work on Flint & steel and make a bow-drill friction fire set (Cottonwood works well for both the spindle & hearth). Both these will keep you busy for a while, especially the friction fire...

 

[nhmoose]

There are a lot of people raised these days that can't start a fire even if they have matches, unless they have a ton of accelerant

Twenty five years ago my family and I were camping in ME on Arcadia Island after the ME NMLRA terr. It Was a drizzly day and the fog had rolled in.

I was sitting at the fire with my then 8 year old son cooking supper in it.

A little voice behind us asked "can I borrow your fire" A tiny girl was standing there with a marshmallow on a stick. She then said her dad could not get a fire going. I said sure and asked where is your parents. They were camped across from our site.

Spoke with them while my wife watched her and my son. This was their first time camping and they were from NYC. They had no clue how to make a fire but were nice folks.

I went back to our site and told my boy "go get their fire going" He came back 5 minutes later and their site had a good blaze going. :grin:

 

[necchi]

You've made some really good points in your posts today tenngun,, :thumbsup:

 

[coloradoclyde]

I had a similar experience a few years ago....I was at a campground, and right at dusk a nice Asian couple and their kids rolled in next to us and began to set up camp....Now with less than an ounce of light He gins to try and start a fire in the dark with what couldn't have been much more than a pen light. They were going to cook over the fire. All he managed to accomplish was some irritating smoke......I grabbed my flint and steel and some tinder and kindling.....Walked over and had a nice fire going in short order.. Much to their amazement..... I also loaned him my headlamp so he could see what he was cooking hands free.
They were extremely grateful....and treated us to some Tempura.

I once camped at a campground where the people were so bad at starting fires that I seriously considered giving lessons. Right before dusk all you saw was thick columns of smoke, gas cans, oil can, garbage, cardboard etc........

 

[coloradoclyde]

Looking forward to building a kit and honing my skills.

If you have the will and perseverance, you will succeed.....Do not give up.

I tried to teach one young man who did not have the will to succeed, and he failed....Repeatedly until he gave up.

If you reach a moment where things don't work, don't try harder, you'll only repeat your mistakes....Instead, pause and reflect, then begin again.

 

[tenngun]

Over 2 million years....And that's Just what we have found. Human civilization is far older than most realize....Fire is evidence of civilization but not necessarily the beginning of it.[/quote

I think that’s iffy, it’s hard to tell natural from controlled. Old charcoal red clay burnt bones might be human or might not.
Even fire in caves could be natural, could be purpose laid. It’s a little later we start seeing identifiable hearths. Though I think more then one of my camp fires in the tall timber could pass as natural remains a year later.

 

[Kansas Jake]

I agree with your previous post about most people being close to each other even in rural and "close" newly settled frontier areas.

 

[Cruzatte]

I had an experience many years ago where the shoe was on the other foot. We were camped near Estes Park, CO. Time came to think about cooking up supper. So, I gathered up what tinder I could find, plus a little help from what I had brought along; charred cloth, a little jute twine, and of course my flint and steel. Now, I had been practicing at home before the trip, so I was pretty confident. I set to work.

Out of the corner of my eye, over in the next camp site, I saw a gentleman studiously watching me. I had a hunch I knew what he was thinking. The story has a happy ending, Of course I got my fire started quite handily. The gentleman came over to congratulate me, and confessed that he didn't think I could pull off this trick, and was prepared to come to my rescue when my old timey way didn't work....which it did admirably. I just grinned from ear to ear.

 

[coloradoclyde]

If I'm out and about and I fall into a creek and my char becomes soaked and useless, no worries......I prepare a fire lay as I normally would and pour a little bit of my rheumatism medicine on it and give it a spark.....I can also dip a splint into it and spark it, giving me a match for lighting a candle....I hate to waste good rheumatism medicine. :haha:

 

[coloradoclyde]

:thumbsup: :hatsoff: Good one....

 

[Cruzatte]

If I'm out and about and I fall into a creek and my char becomes soaked and useless, no worries......I prepare a fire lay as I normally would and pour a little bit of my rheumatism medicine on it and give it a spark.....I can also dip a splint into it and spark it, giving me a match for lighting a candle....I hate to waste good rheumatism medicine. :haha:

You, and Granny Daisy Moses, eh? :haha: :haha:

 

[Black Hand]

If I'm out and about and I fall into a creek and my char becomes soaked and useless, no worries......

Maybe you need to rethink your kit rather than wasting Rum...

 

[coloradoclyde]

The Angels drink more than I waste.... :wink:

 

[crockett]

On the rubbing two sticks together, I must admit I have little success with a drill and bow and zero with a hand drill and yet on the net you can see folks starting a fire with a hand drill without much effort. When I was a kid the Boy Scouts had an event and an adult worked about 3 minutes with a bow and drill to start a fire but the folks on the net do it right away. I think at least part of the secret is getting the two right types of wood.
Fitzgerald rubbed two sticks together to start a fire when he lost his gear to Blackfoot.
There are quire a few accounts of using a flintlock pistol to start a fire. I think the flash hole was plugged but obviously there should not be a load in the barrel. A patch rubbed with a little powder was put in the pan. The patch with an ember was put in the tinder and blown into a flame.
You read a lot of diaries of mountain men where they had a percussion lock rifle and a flintlock pistol, I have wondered if the flint on the pistol was to do double duty to start fires.
And several accounts of mountain men in rain being unable to start a fire.
If you live near white birch- there is oil in the bark- it will ignite when wet. You can take a roll or tube of the bark, stuff it with tinder, and get a fire started, once it burns through the tube/roll it is pretty much rain proof.
I used to make char until I got going on the tinder tubes. I think the mountain men came across them in New Mexico when they got there but they may have been used before in the States (don't know). They are so easy to get started and keep going that I use them a lot. You can strike a flint on the char part or use a burning lens. If it is sunny out, I always use a lens and save the flint.