Lets talk firestarting

[DuncNZ]

Except.... for fine grained pyrite. Here is lighting my wood stove using two rocks.

Have you tried striking the pyrites with a piece of flint , Flint and pyrites pieces have been found together in England in stone age camp sites .

 

[DuncNZ]

Wanna cheat just a little on "char cloth"? Keep a little 4F steel wool in your shoe. Yes, the finest steel wool made. Catches fire nicely from your flint & steel spark maker.

Catches well with a spark from a battery short as well .

 

[DuncNZ]

If you want to send me your firesteel, I can reharden it for you and ship it back asap. I harden mine in warmed water so the cold water doesn't 'shock' the steel causing the firesteel to crack.
Ohio Rusty ><>

Thanks for the kind offer Rusty , I live about 9000 miles away in New Zealand . I have just started using my fire as autumn approaches and will try that . Cheers

 

[Tom A Hawk]

I ask is the inner fluff with seeds on it usable to catch a spark, or just the outer part of the pod ??

I have not found the milkweed down to be useful with flint and steel and it is the ovum that catches a spark rather than the outer husk.

 

[Doc]

I’m very surprised at what I’m not hearing, haven’t seen anyone mention fire start at the Rhondys. Some of the Rhondys out west give a point on the rifle trail walk for fire start. Allowed; your flint and steel char and a nest, must have flame within 30 seconds. Using BP or such would disqualify ones in-tier Rhondy score. Other Rhondy you’re given 3 minutes to gather dry grass, leaves, etc in the immediate vicinity for your nest on that one you’re given 1 minute.
Doc,

 

[tenngun]

On treks I have a bag of fluff in my kit. And char cloth in my tinder box. Usually there is enough natural stuff around I don’t have to dig in to my bag of fluff.
I THINK that would have been the way it was done in the old days

 

[toot]

I have not found the milkweed down to be useful with flint and steel and it is the ovum that catches a spark rather than the outer husk.

thank you for the reply to my question. I am going to give it a try. I read that it was used by our indigenous people to put on wounds to stem the flow of blood.?

 

[Rató:rats]

thank you for the reply to my question. I am going to give it a try. I read that it was used by our indigenous people to put on wounds to stem the flow of blood.?

I’ve never heard that but if so that’s pretty cool. Milkweed filament, or down, is hollow and wax coated and has been used commercially as an oil absorbent so it’s certainly possible. The wax coating is what makes it lousy for catching sparks.

I think a lot of us have read the First People used buzzard down to staunch blood flow from wounds. Eckart mentions this many times.

 

[DuncNZ]

I’ve never heard that but if so that’s pretty cool. Milkweed filament, or down, is hollow and wax coated and has been used commercially as an oil absorbent so it’s certainly possible. The wax coating is what makes it lousy for catching sparks.

I think a lot of us have read the First People used buzzard down to staunch blood flow from wounds. Eckart mentions this many times.

Spiders web is recorded as being a good one for staunching blood flow , and a lot easier to find in a hurry than Buzzard down , Aren't Buzzards carrion eaters ? I just did a quick google and some Amerindian tribes associated the Buzzard with death

 

[Rató:rats]

I’ve read that about spiderwebs. Very cool. I’m curious how well they would hold up in a pouch. Certainly buzzards are carrion eaters but I don’t think that’d be an issue for a First Nations person utilizing its downy feathers for first aid. Raccoons are scavengers and carrion eaters but are a very clean animal and lots of people eat them and use their pelts. Some confusion might be happening because when Americans say buzzard they mean vulture but buzzard is a British word for hawks. I’m assuming in my reading the American nomenclature. The taxonomic name for the turkey vulture is Cathartes aura which is Latin for "cleansing breeze” which to my mind, probably wrongly, evokes an image of cleanliness.
Anyway enough hijacking, back to
fire starting

 

[tenngun]

Spiders web is recorded as being a good one for staunching blood flow , and a lot easier to find in a hurry than Buzzard down , Aren't Buzzards carrion eaters ? I just did a quick google and some Amerindian tribes associated the Buzzard with death

They are carrion eaters, and that’s a pretty nasty food. So the neck feathers and fluff are treated to a natural antibiotic. So very ‘clean’ to stick in wound

 

[toot]

I’ve never heard that but if so that’s pretty cool. Milkweed filament, or down, is hollow and wax coated and has been used commercially as an oil absorbent so it’s certainly possible. The wax coating is what makes it lousy for catching sparks.

I think a lot of us have read the First People used buzzard down to staunch blood flow from wounds. Eckart mentions this many times.

gotcha, I read it also in ALAN W EKARTS, BOOKS. one of the greatest series on the subject!

 

[toot]

Spiders web is recorded as being a good one for staunching blood flow , and a lot easier to find in a hurry than Buzzard down , Aren't Buzzards carrion eaters ? I just did a quick google and some Amerindian tribes associated the Buzzard with death

I read that they used GOOSE down, easier to get. they carried it into battle with them.

 

[toot]

I’ve read that about spiderwebs. Very cool. I’m curious how well they would hold up in a pouch. Certainly buzzards are carrion eaters but I don’t think that’d be an issue for a First Nations person utilizing its downy feathers for first aid. Raccoons are scavengers and carrion eaters but are a very clean animal and lots of people eat them and use their pelts. Some confusion might be happening because when Americans say buzzard they mean vulture but buzzard is a British word for hawks. I’m assuming in my reading the American nomenclature. The taxonomic name for the turkey vulture is Cathartes aura which is Latin for "cleansing breeze” which to my mind, probably wrongly, evokes an image of cleanliness.
Anyway enough hijacking, back to
fire starting

I think that COB / BARN DUST, webs is what was used, and could be easily carried in a pouch. my grand father 100 yrs ago cut his leg cutting wood and his wife took a broom out to the barn and gathered up a wad of it and applied it to the wound and it staunched the flow of blood.

 

[Tom A Hawk]

I’m very surprised at what I’m not hearing, haven’t seen anyone mention fire start at the Rhondys. Some of the Rhondys out west give a point on the rifle trail walk for fire start. Allowed; your flint and steel char and a nest, must have flame within 30 seconds. Using BP or such would disqualify ones in-tier Rhondy score. Other Rhondy you’re given 3 minutes to gather dry grass, leaves, etc in the immediate vicinity for your nest on that one you’re given 1 minute.
Doc,

At the North East.

 

[Doc]

At the North East.

View attachment 129739 View attachment 129740

How much time are you given for a point, or was this just a demonstration.
Doc,

 

[Tom A Hawk]

How much time are you given for a point, or was this just a demonstration.
Doc,

Just a demo. Same with fire pistons.

 

[Africa58double]

I understand the traditional aspect of this thread. I respect it- yet I should show something. I hope you can see something and not be all over me about it.
This is just a neat little item that works even after being submerged in water for a period of time. Tiny ferro rod and a wax like tinder all in a little coiled cork screw.

Just to cool not to share-

Please carry on with friction fires and such. Very interested thread Gents, Honest.

 

[beardedhorse]

I ran the flint and steel fire starting competition more than a couple times at the Western National Rendezvous. Startws timer when flint hits steel or vice=versa and stop when there is flame. Marcasite (a specific iron pyrite) hit with flint will ignite Fomes fomentarius or tinder fungus. The ovum in the milk weed is small and when lit with a spark needs to be transferred to a coal extender as it doesn't burn for long. Neither the tinder fungus nor the milkweed ovum need to be charred. NOr does true tinder fungus - Inonotus obliquuous (sp?) Charred punky cottonwood, Jerusalem artichoke pith, cattail stalks, mullein pith and even charred orange peel will catch a spark. They are not NUTs. - natural, untreated tinders but need to be charred. Bow drill and hand drill friction fires will not require flint, steel or char cloth or punk. Burning lenses work when the sun is out and not cloudy or smokey from forest fires. I remember being one of the first to take a fire piston (of vera wood) to a Rocky Mountain Western Nationals and demonstrated it. Also the Phillipines and even Europe had fire pistons, I never came across any documentation of a fire piston showing up at an 1825-1840 rendezvous. The challenge of re enactors is to make a flint and steel fire without pre-made things from "civilization" like jute (macrame) rope and charred cotton or linen fabric. Fire plows, fire saws, pump drills, toggle drills are other forms of friction fires. A good site to check out is the fire making section of Paleoplanet Forums.

 

[Johnny Tremain]

Here is a trick we did in the Army (cept with modern ammo).
Set your birds nest on the ground, pour a bit of holy black on it.
Next put half charge down your barrel. Prime the pan. Turn the barrel slowly towards the burn pile.
pull the trigger, flame out the barrel will start any fire.
We used 5.56 round and would rip the bullet off with pliers and dump the powder out.