I do a bit of fire lighting with school groups and both adult/family groups.
A couple of weeks ago I failed completely with my friction fire bow drill demonstration. I have shown this method many times to many groups, and I have had the odd failure before but this time got me thinking.
It has been at least 8 months since I last used my set and I have probably lost both the muscle memory and familarity with the technique, as well as using both a new drill and hearth (the old set I knew well is now finished). I wasn't too stressed by failing in public because I never profess to be an expert, merely some bloke who dabbles with lighting fires for fun, and I used my failure to point out that sometimes in life things don't go your way.
Mind you, if that was my cold, hungry tribe wanting to cook their sabre tooth tiger then I might have got a club on my head for my trouble!
I shall use that experience and tell that story in my future sessions so failing isn't all bad, it depends on what you take from it.
A couple of weeks ago I failed completely with my friction fire bow drill demonstration. I have shown this method many times to many groups, and I have had the odd failure before but this time got me thinking.
It has been at least 8 months since I last used my set and I have probably lost both the muscle memory and familarity with the technique, as well as using both a new drill and hearth (the old set I knew well is now finished). I wasn't too stressed by failing in public because I never profess to be an expert, merely some bloke who dabbles with lighting fires for fun, and I used my failure to point out that sometimes in life things don't go your way.
Mind you, if that was my cold, hungry tribe wanting to cook their sabre tooth tiger then I might have got a club on my head for my trouble!
I shall use that experience and tell that story in my future sessions so failing isn't all bad, it depends on what you take from it.