fire-kit made with stone tools

[Moonraker]

Very nicely illustrated web page produced by a guy called Mark Whitcombe based in Toronto, CA describing the bow drill technique using a kit made with only stone tools.

Really excellent photographic guide (photos by his daughter Gillian Whitcombe), not overly complicated and great tips/ details at the end.

Site is here:

Fire-by-Friction - Using a fire-kit made with stone tools

There is also a link to another similar guide, equally well produced, to making Basswood (lime) bast (bark) cordage which takes you right through the entire process, just using equipment made in the field.

Making Basswood Twine - A means of understanding a lifestyle

The written end section on the 'Fire-by-Friction' entitled.....

'Time, knowledge, and skill — putting this into some sort of context of life ‘in the land'

.....is well worth reading as it touches on some fundamental aspects of what the 'lore' of (as we term it) bushcraft is about, to me.

Here is the part which really drew my attention:

People living ‘in the land’ would not have likely been concerned with matters of time, for many reasons, but most importantly perhaps because they distributed efforts over time. Out hunting, they might well notice a good fire bow shape, or a fine source of bark for tinder, or a particularly good socket rock. They might gather the material then and there, or they might store that knowledge in their mental map of the landscape — which map must be so much more complex than we can fully understand, mostly because we use the landscape for so few things, and therefore have such a limited narrowly-dimensional view of it.

The issues of skill and knowledge are quite difficult for us to understand as well. Selecting, modifying, and using stone tools would have been second nature to them — common sense — whereas we have to think through these steps very carefully, or risk blundering along using the limited techniques we are familiar with, instead of having ready access to a much wider range of more efficient techniques. Take the use of a flat rock to abrade the spindle. It was a student of mine, totally frustrated with slow laborious planing and spoke-shaving, who showed me that by forcefully rubbing the spindle on concrete, she could achieve much more efficient results.

For me, this whole exercise of making a fire kit using stone tools gives me what I think of as significant insights into the lifestyle of a person living ‘in the land’ — a much fuller understanding of their relationship to the environment around them. The value for me is not in producing the flame, though that’s a wonderful feeling. It’s in more directly understanding how fully our ancestors had to integrate all aspects of their existence in order to live.

On a personal note, these are JUST the type of well illustrated, uncomplicated yet enlightening guides I find most useful when trying to work out how to do stuff.

Simon

 

[Snufkin]

Excellent link, thanks

 

[jdlenton]

very nice find that

J*

 

[Not Bob]

Great link!
I note lime was used for cordage - has anyone have any info on any other useful natural cordage for bow drill fire lighting? I'm especially interested in expedient cordage that doesn't need a long time to prepare like lime does.

 

[Moonraker]

Great link!
I note lime was used for cordage - has anyone have any info on any other useful natural cordage for bow drill fire lighting? I'm especially interested in expedient cordage that doesn't need a long time to prepare like lime does.

Check out this thread on cordage NB:

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=5592

Something like nettle cordage or from another perennial plant with similar fibrous stems. Like I said in that link the new Ray Mears DVD has a nice short film on how to make it in the field. Some effort. Only problem is that a fire-drill requires a lot of force to be put onto the cord and many of these types will probably fail quickly. Leather hide strips are more durable but tend to stretch and why modern cord is used a lot. I am not sure which of the plant cordages are the stronger.

 

[Not Bob]

I was thinking more of an article I read long ago on using roots and even thin branches (you end up with cordage about as thick as your finger) but can't remember where I saw it. Has anyone any experience of this? I've tried nettle but break it before I get a coal. Better materials selection and improved bow drill technique would help no doubt. It just seems a bit odd being into using natural materials and then using cordage made by an industrial process e.g. paracord.

 

[Wayland]

Great link!
I note lime was used for cordage - has anyone have any info on any other useful natural cordage for bow drill fire lighting? I'm especially interested in expedient cordage that doesn't need a long time to prepare like lime does.

Sinew is a possibility.

 

[Moonraker]

I was thinking more of an article I read long ago on using roots and even thin branches (you end up with cordage about as thick as your finger) but can't remember where I saw it. Has anyone any experience of this? I've tried nettle but break it before I get a coal. Better materials selection and improved bow drill technique would help no doubt. It just seems a bit odd being into using natural materials and then using cordage made by an industrial process e.g. paracord.

The use of roots and all natural materials for the fire drill string is discussed here:

Fast Survival Bow Drill Strings by Barry Keegan

A illustrated page for gathering pine roots is here:

Getting spruce roots for sewing

This site is related to sewn boats but the method of collection is the same.

Hope that helps

Simon

 

[Not Bob]

Thanks Moonraker : - the very article if memory serves me right.

 

[eraaij]

Thanks for the links - very inspiring!

-Emile

 

[tomtom]

thats some beautiful cordage he had going there!