A LIVING HISTORY BLOG.

18TH CENTURY LIVING HISTORY IN AUSTRALIA.

Wednesday 16 February 2011

Reading Glass Fire Lighting.

5 comments:

Gorges Smythe said...

I think I remember hearing that putting a bit of water in the concave side of youe spectacles gives the system more power. I'd think you'd have to be starting your fire near noon, though, or you'd spill the water from tilting the lense.

Keith said...

I would think one would need a steady hand too, no ripples! Unless it was winter & the water froze. I hear it can be done with shaped ice also.

Hutch said...

I have also heard of shaping ice into a lens for this, though in North Texas I don't have a lot of practice with ice. Our storms are usually fierce, last for a day, and then 50 degrees the next day.

John B. Todd said...

I find some punky wood works, some doesn't. What kind of punk wood were you using?

Keith said...

Hi John. I don't think it is a matter of which punkwood per se, but more the quality of the tinder. I have used punkwood from a couple of different Australian native trees and from a pine tree, and they all work well.
But they do need to be soft and spungy, in fact I recall an 18th century term for it is "spunge" or "sponge". Some punkwood I have found has not been fully formed, and had hard spots & this did not work as well.
Keith.