KHRM BACK TO BASICS BY DOUG JAYNES "MAKING FIRE" Anyone with a few simple tools can produce fire. The three elements needed to make fire are heat, fuel, and oxygen. Take any of these three elements away and there is no fire. In this article I will give several tools needed to make fire. Though I will attempt to describe how to use these tools, you will have to practice on your own before going to the field as it is sometimes difficult without practice to make fire with some of these tools. Remember that a few minutes of practice now could save your life later when these skills are needed. Before I give the tool descriptions, let me give some definitions first. 1 Ember- An ember is a glowing hot area on the fuel used to create a fire, which is usually caused by a friction device such as a wood drill, a spark, etc. 2. Char cloth- Char cloth is a piece of cotton cloth that has been heated and will blacken to the point of ignition and then extinguished before it actually catches fire. When extinguishing the char cloth smother it, do not use a liquid to put it out. It then will catch a spark from a flint and steel or other device and start to glow red hot. This in return is used to ignite the tender for a fire by putting it in the tender pile and lightly blowing on it until the tender ignites into a flame. 3. Tender— Very small dry pieces of fuel used to start the kindling burning before adding larger fire wood. 4. Kindling—small pieces of dry wood used to start a fire before larger fire wood is added. The smaller and dryer the kindling the faster it will start to burn. Slightly larger pieces of kindling are added to build up to large fire wood. Kindling will start from tooth pick size wood and progress to finger size or slightly larger wood pieces. 5. Fuel – Anything combustible that is used to keep a fire burning for greater periods of time. Wood is usually used but other material can also be used. In the plains states dried buffalo or cow dung is used for fuel as wood is scarce on the open prairie. 6. Oxygen – Oxygen is supplied to an ember or a fire by blowing lightly on the ember or fire. The blowing action causes oxygen in the air to flow over the heat source giving it oxygen needed to burn. The more oxygen supplied the hotter the fire will be, but do not blow too hard as this could extinguish the ember or fire by taking away the heat source. The Tools 1. Flint and steel. -- A piece of flint stone and a striker made of steel when struck together will emit a spark capable of igniting char cloth or tender. The ignition will not be in the form of fire, but as a glowing hot area on the char cloth or tender called an ember. 2. A bow and drill. – A bow is a slightly curved wooden stick about eighteen inches long to string a cord heavy enough from both ends to withstand wrapping around a wooden stick like a belt around a pulley and using a back and forth motion spends a wooden rod on a base board creating dust embers from the friction caused by the spinning process. The drill rod is about twelve inches or so long and at least five eights inch in diameter. A hand block is needed to hold the other end of the drill rod as not to injure or burn your hand. The hand block is a piece of wood about two or three inches in diameter with a small groove cut in the center for the drill rod to rest in. The drill rod is sharpened and placed in a smaller round groove in the center of the hand block to lower friction, because you want friction on the base not on the hand block. The drill rod base area should be larger to cover more area on the base board for friction. Proper downward pressure must be applied to the drill rod to create friction on the base board. It will be like trying to drill a hole through the base board with the drill rod. The base wood must have a V notch cut in the side of the drill area so embers can build up and gather in the bottom of the V notch. Start a drill burn area in the base board before cutting the V notch. The drill start burn should only be about five eights inch from the edge of the base board to the center of the drill rod. Gather the embers up and put in the tender pile. This can be confusing but if you can get help from someone with experience or go on You-Tube you will understand how it works. It is a simple way to create fire but needs to be practiced to create the skill needed to be successful in making a fire in this manner. 3. Magstriker. – A device made of a Magnesium block with a flint rod attached. You start by scraping the Mag block with a knife or piece of a file into a pile of scrapings onto your tender pile and striking the flint rod by rubbing it with a sharp knife or file toward and onto the Magnesium dust pile you made with your knife or file. This will ignite the Magnesium dust, in turn igniting the tender. Note that Magnesium dust when ignited will burn extremely hot and will start a fire even with larger tender, but the smaller the tender the better. 4. Battery and steel wool.—Using fine steel wool and a battery is one of the better ways to create a fire. A battery when grounded out to steel wool, the wool will glow red hot and will catch just about any dry tender pile on fire. I prefer a D size or a nine volt battery to make this process as both are large enough to heat the steel wool to a glowing red hot fire source. Use the battery with two pieces of small copper wire, with one wire on each terminal of the battery. Touch the wires to the steel wool. The electrical charge moving through the wool causes a ground short in the wool making it glow red hot. 5. Wood shaft and friction board.-- Start by making a friction board about one half inch thick, two inches wide, and fourteen inches long. All wood must be very dry to be successful in building a fire with these tools, and should be of soft wood such as Popular or similar wood.. Use a knife to cut a small groove down the center of the friction board from one end to the other. Cut a hole about one half inch in diameter about two inches from one end in the middle of the groove through the wood block. This is where the embers will gather from the friction board. Using a round dry stick about one half to five eights inch in diameter ,rub the stick backward and forward with downward pressure in the groove you made with a knife in the friction board, making sure the stick passes over the accumulating hole drilled through the friction board. When the friction from the stick rubbing in the groove makes ember dust it will accumulate in the gather hole and start to smolder and glow. Use this ember to start your tender fire. You can put your tender pile under the hole and gather the ember directly onto the tender and lightly blow the tender into a fire for the kindling. 6. Matches. -- A fire started with matches is similar to a fire made by any other means, just easier. Start by putting tender first, then stacking kindling on top of tender in a tipi stile shape. Place small fire wood on top of the kindling pile. Light the match, protecting it from any wind or rain, and igniting the tender pile. When the fire starts add fire wood as needed to keep the fire burning. Never put too much fire wood on a fire all at once as this could smother your fire causing it to go out. Remember that the three needed components for fire is heat, fuel, and oxygen. Oxygen being what is removed from fire by smothering it with too much fuel too quickly. There are many more ways to create a fire in the wilderness. These are just a few of the ways to do so. Remember that the only way to be proficient in fire making is to practice, practice, and practice. Be ready for an emergency long before it happens and you will fare much better when an emergency actually happens. Gather with other interested people and learn together. Also remember that it is better to have something and not need it, than to need something and not have it. Be careful out there and have fun. KHRM Back to Basics Doug Jaynes Making Fire Anyone with a few simple tools can produce fire. The three elements needed to make fire are heat, fuel, and oxygen. Take any of these three elements away and there is no fire. In this article I will give several tools needed to make fire. Though I will attempt to describe how to use these tools, you will have to practice on your own before going to the field as it is sometimes difficult without practice to make fire with some of these tools. Remember that a few minutes of practice now could save your life later when these skills are needed. Before I give the tool descriptions, let me give some definitions first. 1 Ember- An ember is a glowing hot area on the fuel used to create a fire, which is usually caused by a friction device such as a wood drill, a spark, etc. 2. Char cloth- Char cloth is a piece of cotton cloth that has been heated and will blacken to the point of ignition and then extinguished before it actually catches fire. When extinguishing the char cloth smother it, do not use a liquid to put it out. It then will catch a spark from a flint and steel or other device and start to glow red hot. This in return is used to ignite the tender for a fire by putting it in the tender pile and lightly blowing on it until the tender ignites into a flame. 3. Tender— Very small dry pieces of fuel used to start the kindling burning before adding larger fire wood. 4. Kindling—small pieces of dry wood used to start a fire before larger fire wood is added. The smaller and dryer the kindling the faster it will start to burn. Slightly larger pieces of kindling are added to build up to large fire wood. Kindling will start from tooth pick size wood and progress to finger size or slightly larger wood pieces. 5. Fuel – Anything combustible that is used to keep a fire burning for greater periods of time. Wood is usually used but other material can also be used. In the plains states dried buffalo or cow dung is used for fuel as wood is scarce on the open prairie. 6. Oxygen – Oxygen is supplied to an ember or a fire by blowing lightly on the ember or fire. The blowing action causes oxygen in the air to flow over the heat source giving it oxygen needed to burn. The more oxygen supplied the hotter the fire will be, but do not blow too hard as this could extinguish the ember or fire by taking away the heat source. The Tools 1. Flint and steel. -- A piece of flint stone and a striker made of steel when struck together will emit a spark capable of igniting char cloth or tender. The ignition will not be in the form of fire, but as a glowing hot area on the char cloth or tender called an ember. 2. A bow and drill. – A bow is a slightly curved wooden stick about eighteen inches long to string a cord heavy enough from both ends to withstand wrapping around a wooden stick like a belt around a pulley and using a back and forth motion spends a wooden rod on a base board creating dust embers from the friction caused by the spinning process. The drill rod is about twelve inches or so long and at least five eights inch in diameter. A hand block is needed to hold the other end of the drill rod as not to injure or burn your hand. The hand block is a piece of wood about two or three inches in diameter with a small groove cut in the center for the drill rod to rest in. The drill rod is sharpened and placed in a smaller round groove in the center of the hand block to lower friction, because you want friction on the base not on the hand block. The drill rod base area should be larger to cover more area on the base board for friction. Proper downward pressure must be applied to the drill rod to create friction on the base board. It will be like trying to drill a hole through the base board with the drill rod. The base wood must have a V notch cut in the side of the drill area so embers can build up and gather in the bottom of the V notch. Start a drill burn area in the base board before cutting the V notch. The drill start burn should only be about five eights inch from the edge of the base board to the center of the drill rod. Gather the embers up and put in the tender pile. This can be confusing but if you can get help from someone with experience or go on You-Tube you will understand how it works. It is a simple way to create fire but needs to be practiced to create the skill needed to be successful in making a fire in this manner. 3. Magstriker. – A device made of a Magnesium block with a flint rod attached. You start by scraping the Mag block with a knife or piece of a file into a pile of scrapings onto your tender pile and striking the flint rod by rubbing it with a sharp knife or file toward and onto the Magnesium dust pile you made with your knife or file. This will ignite the Magnesium dust, in turn igniting the tender. Note that Magnesium dust when ignited will burn extremely hot and will start a fire even with larger tender, but the smaller the tender the better. 4. Battery and steel wool.—Using fine steel wool and a battery is one of the better ways to create a fire. A battery when grounded out to steel wool, the wool will glow red hot and will catch just about any dry tender pile on fire. I prefer a D size or a nine volt battery to make this process as both are large enough to heat the steel wool to a glowing red hot fire source. Use the battery with two pieces of small copper wire, with one wire on each terminal of the battery. Touch the wires to the steel wool. The electrical charge moving through the wool causes a ground short in the wool making it glow red hot. 5. Wood shaft and friction board.-- Start by making a friction board about one half inch thick, two inches wide, and fourteen inches long. All wood must be very dry to be successful in building a fire with these tools, and should be of soft wood such as Popular or similar wood.. Use a knife to cut a small groove down the center of the friction board from one end to the other. Cut a hole about one half inch in diameter about two inches from one end in the middle of the groove through the wood block. This is where the embers will gather from the friction board. Using a round dry stick about one half to five eights inch in diameter ,rub the stick backward and forward with downward pressure in the groove you made with a knife in the friction board, making sure the stick passes over the accumulating hole drilled through the friction board. When the friction from the stick rubbing in the groove makes ember dust it will accumulate in the gather hole and start to smolder and glow. Use this ember to start your tender fire. You can put your tender pile under the hole and gather the ember directly onto the tender and lightly blow the tender into a fire for the kindling. 6. Matches. -- A fire started with matches is similar to a fire made by any other means, just easier. Start by putting tender first, then stacking kindling on top of tender in a tipi stile shape. Place small fire wood on top of the kindling pile. Light the match, protecting it from any wind or rain, and igniting the tender pile. When the fire starts add fire wood as needed to keep the fire burning. Never put too much fire wood on a fire all at once as this could smother your fire causing it to go out. Remember that the three needed components for fire is heat, fuel, and oxygen. Oxygen being what is removed from fire by smothering it with too much fuel too quickly. There are many more ways to create a fire in the wilderness. These are just a few of the ways to do so. Remember that the only way to be proficient in fire making is to practice, practice, and practice. Be ready for an emergency long before it happens and you will fare much better when an emergency actually happens. Gather with other interested people and learn together. Also remember that it is better to have something and not need it, than to need something and not have it. Be careful out there and have fun.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Jul 2013 00:17:02 +0000
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