A blast from the past.....
Well, I finally gave this method a try today....sort of.
As it's a while since I had read Rich's notes, I didn't get the details quite right but got flame none the less.
I remembered that I needed to rub and shred my dry leaves and save the 'gold dust' for the point where the ember was inserted. First problem was the realisation that I hadn't thought of what it would sit on. The best I could find was a Rhododendron leaf. I made my pile which wasn't really that big as it was limited by the leaf size. I remembered the need for a roof so had a couple of sticks ready to put on top.
A quick bit of rubbing back and forth with the bow drill and I had my ember (everything sourced at the site except cordage - elder hearth and hazel spindle, lime for bow and bearing block, another Rhododendron leaf for the ember plate)
As I moved the ember over to the pile, I knocked some leaf litter and lost where the gold dust was - ah well, let's keep going. So I pushed it in, and put the lid of sticks on. It just didn't seem right though. The sticks seemed to be pushing down too much. Right, let's try it without the sticks. Hhhm, this isn't working. My ember will be out soon. I quickly grab a dry Oak leaf and put that on top. Good. Long steady breaths and it's growing nicely.
I couldn't remember how it went to flame. Reading back, Rich has combustion of the leaf litter. I didn't get that but then I didn't really push for it. Once the 'ember' was an inch & half across, I quickly grabbed a dry stick from next to me and made a little feather stick. I then lay the feathers across the ember and with another breath I had flame.
Brilliant.
It's not quite as impressive as having a big ball of buffed up material on fire in your hand but it's probably a much more viable option as it's very rare I see much suitable materials to manage a full sized 'birds nest'.
Thanks Rich! You've made my day today.
Well, I finally gave this method a try today....sort of.
As it's a while since I had read Rich's notes, I didn't get the details quite right but got flame none the less.
I remembered that I needed to rub and shred my dry leaves and save the 'gold dust' for the point where the ember was inserted. First problem was the realisation that I hadn't thought of what it would sit on. The best I could find was a Rhododendron leaf. I made my pile which wasn't really that big as it was limited by the leaf size. I remembered the need for a roof so had a couple of sticks ready to put on top.
A quick bit of rubbing back and forth with the bow drill and I had my ember (everything sourced at the site except cordage - elder hearth and hazel spindle, lime for bow and bearing block, another Rhododendron leaf for the ember plate)
As I moved the ember over to the pile, I knocked some leaf litter and lost where the gold dust was - ah well, let's keep going. So I pushed it in, and put the lid of sticks on. It just didn't seem right though. The sticks seemed to be pushing down too much. Right, let's try it without the sticks. Hhhm, this isn't working. My ember will be out soon. I quickly grab a dry Oak leaf and put that on top. Good. Long steady breaths and it's growing nicely.
I couldn't remember how it went to flame. Reading back, Rich has combustion of the leaf litter. I didn't get that but then I didn't really push for it. Once the 'ember' was an inch & half across, I quickly grabbed a dry stick from next to me and made a little feather stick. I then lay the feathers across the ember and with another breath I had flame.
Brilliant.
It's not quite as impressive as having a big ball of buffed up material on fire in your hand but it's probably a much more viable option as it's very rare I see much suitable materials to manage a full sized 'birds nest'.
Thanks Rich! You've made my day today.
