Bamboo fire saw

[typha]

Does anyone know of a good detailed description of the bamboo fire saw friction
fire lighting technique?
Preferably with photographs , web site or book will do.

 

[dommyracer]

http://wildwoodsurvival.com/survival/fire/firesaw/index.html

Ray also does this one in an episode of "World Of Surivial" - I think it was the Spice Islands episode.

I think it's in his 'Essential Bushcraft" book as well.

 

[typha]

Thankyou for your help. I was following the description in essential bushcraft where it describes the dimensions of the pieces and how they should be made.
The problem I am having is how to prevent the black powder generated from flying all over the place, perhaps not enough tinder.

In the book it states "On the inside carve a shallow groove in line with the grain.This will be the hearth" which refers to the hearth section which is held in the hands, I feel this could be critical for success but I am unsure of the size to make the groove.Garden centre bamboo isn't cheap so I do not want to waste it.

 

[BobFromHolland]

I've tried this technique at home (without success yet :bluThinki ).

I have a hard time finding bamboo that is thick enough. I could only get hold of 2cm diam. peices, which aren't good enough I've found. You saw them in two before you've got coal.

It is really easy to get tinder from bamboo. First scrape of the laque-layer and then scrape your knife perpendicular to the bamboo back and forth to create neat little curls that can be used as tinder inside the bamboo.

It is quite easy to get the bamboo smoking when you start sawing.
In order to reach success I have now put my focus on one of those bamboo garden candles, which are 4-5cm diam. Which I think should work.

I will keep you informed of the progress, but please share your experiences as well.

Bob

 

[PatrickM]

Does anyone know of a good detailed description of the bamboo fire saw friction
fire lighting technique?
Preferably with photographs , web site or book will do.

Typha - this may help.

You need to ensure that your bamboo is at least 4mm thick. Cut a groove 2mm deep with a small hole in the middle. Create a small shallow basin on the other section, as shown. Burn in as you would do with a fire-bow and then go for the production of an ember. This technique requires a lot of speed, not to mention elbow grease !

Best of Luck !

Patrick

 

[typha]

Thankyou for your help Patrick I shall give it a go over the next couple of days.
The method you have demonstrated should help solve the problem I am having
with containing the black dust from friction which produces a coal.
Your help is very much appreciated.

 

[Galemys]

Thank's Patrick, very clear tutorial as always.
Has anyone ever managed to get a coal with this method from native plants?
I once tried it with two pieces of dead elder (Sambucus nigra, it seems the best candidate for replacing bamboo to me) but after initial scorching the two pieces became glossed & shiny, rendering too little friction. Next time I will take some sharp sand with me to try and solve this problem. Maybe I should try bamboo first to master the technique before wandering of to different materials.

Tom

 

[Galemys]

Hi all,

after some searching in my hometown I found a supplier of bamboo thick enough (± 8 cm) to try using as a bamboo fire saw. I split the pieces & practised one morning with Rob Hofman before taking some pieces of bamboo to the Dutch Bushcraft meeting in Apeldoorn at 4-5 november. There we gave an experimental workshop in both the bamboo fire saw and the fire thong method. Because we both hadn't had any luck with creating a coal with these methods the main aim of the workshop was getting to know these relatively unknown techniques a bit better by showing the principles to the ten participants before they could try them out themselves. I am very pleased to say that some of the participants managed to get a glowing ember out of the bamboo fire saw (and in doing so have beaten Rob & me to it!).

During our initial morning of practice, Rob and I already had discovered that the saw must be positioned very steady, that the hole needs to be rather large to prevent clogging and that after 'warming up' with long strokes, you must concentrate on a short stretch of the saw with intensified vigorous strokes and by adding a lot of pressure, thicker smoke will rise in seconds. After that, persistence seems to be the key word.
At the workshop we also learned from those that were succesful that there must be enough room in the tinder nest for the ember to form.

For the Dutch or Belgian people interested in these methods, I have made a sort of review articles (in Dutch) on both these two friction fire methods and also on the fire piston with notes on historical distribution, pictures, how they work, links & a kind of tutorial. If you are interested, PM me and I'll mail you a copy.

Tom

PS The fire thong was also briefly tried during the bushcraft meeting at Apeldoorn using hemp & flax rope or rattan as thong on a piece of wood (lime and elderberry). It resulted in some cases in smoke just before the thong broke.

 

[rich59]

Very well done. Is it a definite 2 person thing or can it be done with one?

 

[Galemys]

Is it a definite 2 person thing or can it be done with one?

Rich,
the method we used is the same as shown by PatrickM and by Ray Mears in the extreme survival episode about Costa Rica (and briefly in the one on desert islands). So it´s a one person job with the saw either wedged between a firm object and your body or pushed in the ground and held in that position by your body.
We haven´t tried the two person variation.

A two person version (with the saw as the moving piece) can be found at the primitiveways website:
www.primitiveways.com/pt-firesaw.html
Two pictures (figures XL and XLI) of a one person and a two person bamboo fire saw in it´s original tribal context (Philipinean negrito's) can be found at:
www.bohol.ph/books/nz/nz.htm#d0e8296

Interestingly, in the desert island episode of Ray Mears´ extreme survival a picture is briefly shown of another one-person bamboo fire saw variation. The saw is not wedged between the body and something static but is laid on the ground and the sharp side is held upwards by sticking sticks in the ground at either side.

Tom

 

[Galemys]

Nice video bit of a bamboo fire saw:
http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=rgiy2eJ6DD4

Cheers,

Tom

 

[Toadflax]

People are probably going to get sick of me going on about the collection at the Pitt Rivers , but there are quite a number of both saws and thong fire sets there, with some photos of them being used. There is even one instance of a wooden shield that was used as the 'hearth' for a saw. I could get some photos if anyone is interested. My last photos of the Gaucho method were taken on a camera phone, but flash photography is allowed there, so I could take in my proper camera. There's a panoramic picture of the display case here: http://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/oxfordtour/pittrivers/panos/groundfloor2.html - you need QuickTime to see it.

Geoff

 

[cicelythepotter]

RE. Fire saw, I'd take a look at Dan humes book, ( think he has a website but its on amazon too) its got fairly detailed instructions on a whole load of fire techniques. It hasnt been out long but I've enjoyed leafing through it. The percussion technique with bamboo is incredible.... i honestly wasnt sure, but he literally demonstrated it in front of me. Its pretty cool

 

[Wayne]

People are probably going to get sick of me going on about the collection at the Pitt Rivers , but there are quite a number of both saws and thong fire sets there, with some photos of them being used. There is even one instance of a wooden shield that was used as the 'hearth' for a saw. I could get some photos if anyone is interested. My last photos of the Gaucho method were taken on a camera phone, but flash photography is allowed there, so I could take in my proper camera. There's a panoramic picture of the display case here: http://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/oxfordtour/pittrivers/panos/groundfloor2.html - you need QuickTime to see it.

Geoff

The Pitt Rivers Museum is simply a wonderful place to observe First Nations artefacts from across the globe. From fire Making to simple weapons. shrunken heads to embalmed mummies.

I have lots of thick bamboo off cuts from Bhutanese Bow Making Courses. I Shall put some aside for a bamboo fire workshop at this years moot.