Early man's fire

[ripley]

Hi everyone!

In the stone age when the early man had discovered fire (from natural causes like lightning :z: , volcano's, etc..), before being able to make it himself (rubbing sticks, flint,...) they used to carry it around in something that one could call a "ember-container". Even today some tribes of pygmees still practise such ways. Has anyone of you ever tried this? The advantage of such a thing of course is that you already have a glowing ember to start a fire. Disadvantage is probably that it's probably to bulky (and dangerous) to carry around.
But I could imagine that there is some usefull knowledge to gain from this practise.
Anybody any idea how one does keep an ember glowing for a whole day long?

Cheers,
Ripley

 

[TheViking]

I saw on a program on a guy named Peter Dieter (he was shot down in Vietnam and tortured and then escaped into the jungle) that they we're filled a can with embers and hot charcoal. Then they swung the can around and as they went through the jungle, they collected insects and roasted them over the can with the charcoal. By this, they weren't hungry when the evening came. :biggthump

 

[Squidders]

In the first of this Ray Mears' series, he carried around a big fungus (horseshoe?) and used that as an ember, aparently it lasts the day quite nicely. It's an interesting concept.

 

[ripley]

I saw on a program on a guy named Peter Dieter (he was shot down in Vietnam and tortured and then escaped into the jungle) that they we're filled a can with embers and hot charcoal. Then they swung the can around and as they went through the jungle, they collected insects and roasted them over the can with the charcoal. By this, they weren't hungry when the evening came. :biggthump

Portable-insect-BBQ :rolmao:

Ripley

 

[Gary]

Dried birch polypor cut into strips makes a good ember carrier and smoulders wonderfully - if would also make a good smudge too if you were bothered by the wee flying beasties.

 

[Roving Rich]

Well, I believe it was Outzi (the ice man) that was carrying a bark container stuffed with moss as insulation, and containing a fungus as a glowing ember. Obviously it had gone out by the time they found him .
It guess it would have few holes in it to let air circulate, but carryinng an ember must have made firelighting alot easier.
I have tried to make one a couple of times, but i'm not sure birch bark is the best material, as it makes such good tinder ! They also fall apart pretty quickly (bark was a bit rotten i feel), and using paracord as the strap seems like cheating. The other difficulty is stopping everything falling out the bottom of the tube.

Hope that helps :roll:

Cheers
Rich

 

[Adi007]

The key to successfully transporting fire is to restrict the airflow to the ember (well, apart from the other semsible things such as keeping it from getting wet and so on). Too much air and the fuel is consumed too fast, while too little and the ember will be extinguished. Err on the side of packing the ember well, but not too tightly and you will find that you get many hours from it.

 

[Lithril]

I think the way that crampballs smoulder would make them ideal to carry around, keep meaning to try it... keep forgetting to try it too..

 

[tomtom]

are crampballs the same as king alfreds cakes.. black dome shaped jobbies..

i reckon they would be a bit small unless you had a tin full

 

[Lithril]

Yup those are the ones, wouldn't be any good for a whole day but they smoulder nicely for an hour or 2 if they're kept out of the wind.

 

[Roving Rich]

Yup, thats the ones, you do get large ones too.

Cheers
Rich

 

[tomtom]

how big.. the bigest i have ever seen is about 1.5" diameter

 

[Andy]

I had some char cloth that went a bit funny and burnt for a long time maybe there is something we could char to make the perfect solution.

I fear Kath may ban me for saying this though :bu:

 

[Roving Rich]

well i've picked a 4" er before now
Left is on the windowsill to dry out and it left black spores everywhere, and all over the curtains :shock: I was not popular as usual.

Cheers Rich

 

[ChrisKavanaugh]

You have two resources to help learn ember maintenance. Find a dedicated pipe smoker or a re enactor who owns a matchlock firearm

 

[falling rain]

Hi Adi 007.. What did you use for a carrier and ember when you tried it ?
I've also been meaning to try it for a while. How long did your ember last for ?

Cheers

 

[falling rain]

The key to successfully transporting fire is to restrict the airflow to the ember (well, apart from the other semsible things such as keeping it from getting wet and so on). Too much air and the fuel is consumed too fast, while too little and the ember will be extinguished. Err on the side of packing the ember well, but not too tightly and you will find that you get many hours from it.

Adi, I'm hoping to give this a go at the weekend. Sounds like you had great success with yours so what did you use for your roll and what about packing for around the ember. What's best to use.

Cheers :wave:

 

[hootchi]

ive picked cramp ball fungi before but i always feel quite destructive as im not sure how long it takes for them to grow back or if they do? i always pick in 'well populated' areas and never take the biggest. i think that they would have to grow back from a neighbours pores?

your knowledge would be good

cheers

 

[Jeff Wagner]

Walnut sized coals last a very long time in my wood stove when buried in ashes. This arrangment provides insulation and limits air availability to preserve the coal and it can also be adapted to a primitve carrying container.