Stoneage firemaking

[Omega]

I want to learn how to make fire without anything I cannot find in wilderness.
I tried making fire using a rock flint (though I suspect I mistaken it for a dark quartz), a stone and some natural tinder. I get small sparks, but my tinder does not want to ignite. I tried using crampballs, papery bits of birch tree and some seeds which look like cotton from some bush as a tinder. They all ignite easily if I use a Swedish firesteel, but don't work with rock flint and stone.
I am actually considering to make a charcol cloth and use it initially as a confidence builder, but is it really so labourious to get fire without using anything man-made? It seems to me it is quite logical that some ingenious tribes in the wild still carry fire with them instead of making it, and if they behave like this, so perhaps I should not even think I can confidently get fire all the time I need by using only resources I can find under my feet...
Thanks,

 

[torjusg]

I think fire by friction is the way to go, but I am definately not good enough to pick up any piece of wood and rub away. I usually (not always) need wood that has been stored indoors for a while. Some people here may be though.

 

[rich59]

I have suceeded with the hand drill, without drying anything first, an a warm autumn day. I took a dead elder upright nacent stick from the centre of the bush as the drill. I used some ivy wood as the hearth board.

 

[Diederik Pomstra]

Hello again,
I got a handdril fire a couple of times now with dead willowsticks found in the woods (always on dry warm days). But if you're after stone-age skills, there's no evidence I believe of friction as a way of fire lighting, only of marcassite and flint. And these things must have been carried around...
Diederik

 

[torjusg]

But you agree Diederik, that the lack of friction fire evidence may be due to that wood rots?

 

[Jeff Wagner]

The ability to venture into the wilderness and make fire using only the materials provided by nature is certainly a worthy endeavor and one that few possess. I can do it by hand drill, but the fire gods have to be smiling at that moment. I suggest the bow drill offers greatest probability for success. With a little training and experience, finding the right materials for bow drill construction, at least in my part of the world, is not all that difficult. Splitting, shaping and cutting can be done with a rock. Most challenging is finding suitable cordage for the bow. Rootlets from evergreen trees offer a quick and reasonably low time investment / low effort solution.

My advice is to learn how to do it using whatgever modern advantages you need at first. This will provide you with the skills, knowledge, experience and confidence with the technique, then advance ( or rather regress ) to a truly primitive method.

Oh...and I am absolutely certain that fire by friction came first. I saw Rae Dawn Chong do it in the movie Quest for Fire.....

 

[Diederik Pomstra]

But you agree Diederik, that the lack of friction fire evidence may be due to that wood rots?

Sure, that's absolutely a possibility, but there've been finds of marcassite/flint firemakingsets in old, middle and new stone age in Europe. Friction could have been used of course, but if you want to use stone-age technology, you're sure to be right with marcassite. But I prefer friction-firemaking too...
Diederik

 

[Omega]

Thank you for replies.
I did bowdrill fire already, hand-drill for some reason does not attract me, but i thought you can end up in desert places where trees are rare, so bushes will be used to feed the fire, i.e. little luck with bow or hand drill. That is why I thought about a stone and a flint...
But I see it is not a common knowledge, so I am glad I am not alone

 

[torjusg]

I believe most people in those days knew both methods. The flint and iron pyrite may have been more convenient when on the move, but the bow-drill can be made from scratch.

Appearantly, the bow-drill as a means of fire survived until only a few centuries ago in some places in Northern Europe. There has to be a reason why they kept it all that time.

Maybe flint was expensive in Scandinavia, because of no natural sources?

 

[Mike Ameling]

Catching a spark from flint and iron pyrite in natural materials is very very hard to do. It's kind of hard even with charclothe. The heat in the sparks is just fairly low, while the heat in sparks from steel is a lot hotter, and very hot when using modern ferro-cerium.

Some people have luck using cattail fluff and thistle down, but those are pretty seasonal. Some people use punky wood from oak, maple, or elm. But even with these you have to find the right tree that works well, and catch it at the right "punky" stage.

Now, if you char any of the above, catching a spark becomes many times easier. Still hard, but a lot easier. And you can char most any punky hard wood. To make it, get your punky wood burning in your fire. When it's glowing just like all the rest of the coals in your fire, rake it out and smother it with dirt. This charred punky wood will catch a spark fairly fast - not as quick as charclothe, though.

I have used one natural material to catch sparks - without any other preparation. It's a fungus that grows on Birch trees called Tinder Conch or Tinder Fungus - innonotus obliquus. Here's a picture.

The outside is hard black and somewhat spiky. The inside is reddish orange, possibly with some white specks. The inside stuff is what you use. This will catch a spark as-is fresh off of the tree - no charring or other prep. And once a spark does catch, it's very hard to put out. It will slowly spread through the whole chunk you have - giving you lots of time to work it into a full fire/flame. Tinder Conch is supposed to grow on a few other types of trees, but I've only found it on Birch. There is also a fungus that grows on some pine trees that works the same.

I hope this helps in your quest for all-natural fire starting. I really like using fire steels (I make them), and have used a bow drill. Of course, being a blacksmith, I've hammered cold iron until it got hot enough to start punky wood burning. Still working on the hand drill and fire piston. And, now that it's finally gotten cold, I'll have to try molding ice into a magnifying lens. The "quest for fire" goes on.

Just my humble thoughts to share.

Mike Ameling

 

[Marts]

And, now that it's finally gotten cold, I'll have to try molding ice into a magnifying lens.
Mike Ameling

I'd be very interested to hear how you get on with this Mike. Keep us updated

 

[Mike Ameling]

Here's an article from Primitive Ways about forming a lens out of ice and using it with the sun to start a fire - with pictures.

http://www.primitiveways.com/fire_from_ice.html

I haven't tried it yet, but this article has inspired me.

Thanks
Mike Ameling

 

[Omega]

Yes, I read this article before. My favourite part is "boil water..." in the second sentence

 

[Mike Ameling]

Yeah, "boil water" first. Kind of reminds us of the age-old question: which came first - the chicken or the egg? Well, the only real reason for boiling the water is to help get the water to freeze clear, not cloudy.

It's also like making charclothe or charred punky wood to catch your sparks to start your fire. First you have to have fire to char things. That's why I luv the Tinder Conch off of Birch trees. It will catch a spark fresh off of the tree, without any other preparation. Fresh seems to work a little better, but aged/dried still works well.

Mike Ameling