Yeah no luck here either. Tried it as a kid a bunch but I didn't have the patience I guess. I did get the magnifying glass to work though!
Yeah no luck here either. Tried it as a kid a bunch but I didn't have the patience I guess. I did get the magnifying glass to work though!
The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
Thomas Jefferson
If your lucky, you may be able to find a flint rock and use a knife or similar to create sparks to ignite tinder...
When using the bow & drill method, make sure the drill is made from a hardwood, oak, maple, cherry. Then the base board, where the drill contacts to generate the heat, needs to be a softwood, pjne, poplar, hemlock. The hardwood drill will build heat quickly and wear the v-notch down and form a hot pile of residue. This all needs to be worked out onto a very fine pile of tinder like a cotton ball with petroleum jelly, or dryer lint. As soon as the enbers hits, start blowing gently to bring this up to a flame.
When making the v notch, don't cut to deep, you only want enough space for the bot material being generated by the drill to trickle out onto the tinder. One other thing to remember,this is one of the most labot intensive methods there are if your not super good at it and can make it happen quickly.
Good tips. I'll try again one day.
For me it's an ongoing thing. One time it works ok, next time not at all.
i'll agree, the bow method failed me as well as a kid, maybe i was using the wrong wood?
alot of times working for uncle sam i used the liquid bug repellent to get the fire going, with a match or a magnesium fire starter, don't know if any commercial bug repellents will work to fuel a fire?
Last edited by greg48; 01-07-2013 at 08:56 PM.
I've had the good fortune to befriend a 'smith' down at a local campgrounds (70 miles out) he's a 'mountain man' almost his whole adult life (also army trained) he's shown me flint and steel and how to make char cloth how to gather tinder and use punky wood. And more.
The biggest problem I've seen with people and fires is that they try too fast to make them.
Slow meticulous shaving of the tinder getting a good 'birds nest' to hatch your spark on char, and having the wood stack already in place is essential...
The spark is easy. Nurturing that into a fire seems to be the problem for most.
That said I have several spark methods (maybe too many) but flint and steel is my first go to for a fire.
As far as dryer lint I've not had much success as a spark holder it'll burn but I like shaved wood for my birds nest.
Cheers X
I like the old Boy Scout quick method.........
Firewater!
Yep........Coleman fuel and road flares were always prevalent on out troop campouts.
I remember somebody saying something about fire safety. I dunno, I wasn't paying attention. I was too busy burning off my eyebrows.
WARNING: This post may contain material offensive to those who lack wit, humor, common sense and/or supporting factual or anecdotal evidence. All statements and assertions contained herein may be subject to but not limited to: irony, metaphor, allusion and dripping sarcasm.
The scoutmaster used to complain about that being cheating and I always countered with "is it available? Then it isn't cheating!"
In fairness, I did have one of my graduating boys (Cub to Boy Scouts) start a fire with a Swedish fire steel, a best of dried grass and the cotton from a q-tip about 3 weeks ago. I was very proud.
That is great stuff there DL.Originally Posted by DarkLight
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