Quotes on the editor of this blog

Friday, 30 June 2017

17C American Women: 1607 The Settlement of Jamestown by Captain John S...

17C American Women: 1607 The Settlement of Jamestown by Captain John S...: This narrative is taken from the 3rd book of the 5th volume "The Generall Historie of Virginia, New England & the Summer Isles: Tog...

Dave's ACT: A walk to the Theodore Indigenous Grinding Grooves...

Dave's ACT: A walk to the Theodore Indigenous Grinding Grooves...: A walk today to have a look at the Aboriginal Grinding Grooves in Theodore, Tuggeranong, Australian Capital Territory. It has been severa...

Wednesday, 28 June 2017

17C American Women: Food Eaten by Early Virginia Colonists

17C American Women: Food Eaten by Early Virginia Colonists: The animal bones from food supplies found in a pit dating prior to 1610 reveal that the 104 men and boys who landed at Jamestown survived pr...




Tuesday, 27 June 2017

18th Century Period Fire Lighting Methods. Ebook.

Authors, historical, living history, authenticity, flint and steel, burning glass, reading glass, fire-bow, Mountain men, woodsmen, woodsrunners, books, reading, experimental archaeology, plant tinder, fungi tinder, tinderbox, fire lighting, 18th century, 17th century, 19th century, survival, Indians, primitive, fur trade, French and Indian War, Revolution, historical trekking, long term wilderness living, colonial, Australia, North America, cooking, heating, Reenacting, Reenactment, 

Primitive Fire Lighting-Flint & Steel & Fire Bow.

Title: Primitive Fire Lighting
ID: 9784776
Category: History
Description: “Primitive Fire Lighting”, is a hands on guide to how to make fire with flint and steel and fire bow. This includes some history, a variety of methods, tinder plants identification, and tinder production, tips on fire place construction and use, how to prepare and lay a fire, wet weather fire lighting and magnifying glass fire lighting. The skills and methods in this book will be of interest to a wider range of readers including survivalists, historical re-enactors, bush-walkers and campers, historical–trekkers and even historical novel writers. Although the plant identifications list is mainly Australian it also has some information for England, Europe and America.
Publisher: Keith H. Burgess
Copyright Year: © 2010
Language: English
Country: Australia

Table of Contents
Illustrations. 4
FOREWORD. 6
FLINT AND STEEL FIRE LIGHTING. 8
PLANT FIBRE TINDERS: 11
TINDER PREPARATION. 15
Tinder preparation-charring: 15
OTHER FLINT and STEEL FIRE LIGHTING METHODS: 16
Emergency methods: 17
A WORD ABOUT BLACK POWDER: 17
THE CAMPFIRE FIREPLACE: 18
READING GLASS/MAGNIFYING GLASS FIRE LIGHTING 20
WET WEATHER FIRE LIGHTING. 21
A FINAL WORD OF CAUTION. 23
FIRE-BOW FIRE LIGHTING. 24
Introduction 24
FIRE-BOW FIRE LIGHTING. 25
A Brief Overview. 25
The Parts of the Fire-bow. 26
The Bow. 26
The Drill Piece. 27
The Fireboard. 29
The Tinder-board. 30
The Bearing Block. 31
The Bowstring. 32
Tinder. 32
Making Fire. 32
Making Cordage. 37
The Step for making Cordage. 38
AFTERWORD. 40
Fire steel suppliers. 45
About the author. 45

5.83" x 8.26", saddle-stitch binding, white interior paper (60# weight), black and white interior ink, white exterior paper (100# weight), full-colour exterior ink.
Cost: Book $11.00 US. Plus P&P. Download $7.00 US








Monday, 26 June 2017

17C American Women: 1610 "Newes from Virginia" by Richard Rich

17C American Women: 1610 "Newes from Virginia" by Richard Rich: "Newes from Virginia" was written by an English soldier who sailed with Somers's fleet from England to Virginia in 1609, &...

17C American Women: Robert Beverley History of Virginia 1705 - Indian...

17C American Women: Robert Beverley History of Virginia 1705 - Indian...: The History and Present State of Virginia , in Four Parts published originally in London in 1705.   Book III Of the Indians, their Religio...

17C American Women: Virginia, John Smith's Account of The Starving Tim...

17C American Women: Virginia, John Smith's Account of The Starving Tim...: Now we all found the losse of Captaine Smith, yea his greatest maligners could now curse his losse: as for corne provision and contributio...

17C American Women: 17C British Woman by Wenceslaus Hollar (European-b...

17C American Women: 17C British Woman by Wenceslaus Hollar (European-b...: Wenceslaus Hollar (Czech artist, 1607-1677)  'Ornatus Muliebris Anglicanus. The severall 'Habits of Englishwomen, from the Nobilit...

18th Century Jacobite Objects.

Backsword (detail) presented to Prince Charles Edward Stuart by James, 3rd Duke of Perth c. 1740. — Pictures courtesy of National Museums Scotland.
Movement of a pocket watch dug up in a field near Prestonpans, made by I Moncrief of London, late 17th-early 18th century.
Tabard or herald’s coat, Scottish, early 18th century.
Targe possibly used by Macdonald of Keppoch at Culloden.

Jacobite sites.

Thursday, 15 June 2017

17C American Women: 17C British Woman by Wenceslaus Hollar (European-b...

17C American Women: 17C British Woman by Wenceslaus Hollar (European-b...: We have few depictions of women in the 17C British American colonies, but the prints by Wenceslaus Hollar (1607-1677) allow us to see the...

Museum of Appalachia Independence Day Celebration & Anvil Shoot


While most Americans celebrate Independence Day with fireworks, we mark the occasion by using gunpowder to launch a 200-pound anvil sky-high! Join us as we carry on this pioneer tradition. 
Anvil shoots are scheduled for:
10:00 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1:00 p.m., and 2:30 p.m. 

Monday, 12 June 2017

17C American Women: Sir Walter Raleigh & Roanoke Island, North Carolin...

17C American Women: Sir Walter Raleigh & Roanoke Island, North Carolin...: In 1618, Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618), English adventurer to the new world, writer, & favorite courtier of Queen Elizabeth I, is behea...

17C American Women: Sir Walter Raleigh & Roanoke Island, North Carolin...

17C American Women: Sir Walter Raleigh & Roanoke Island, North Carolin...: In 1618, Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618), English adventurer to the new world, writer, & favorite courtier of Queen Elizabeth I, is behea...

18th Century Brass Tinderbox with Burn Marks Inside.


This is claimed to be an original 18th century brass tinderbox. Note the burn marks on the inside of the lid, suggesting that this tinderbox was indeed used for snuffing out smouldering tinder. This indicates that this item was used for preparing tinder & for making fire from the tinder whilst it was still in the tinderbox.

Sunday, 11 June 2017

Saturday, 10 June 2017

17C American Women: The Unhealthy 17C Chesapeake - Desperate for Women...

17C American Women: The Unhealthy 17C Chesapeake - Desperate for Women...: Life in the American wilderness was nasty, brutish, and short for the earliest Chesapeake settlers; malaria, dysentery, and typhoid took a c...

17C American Women: Portrait of an 17C New York Dutch or British-Ameri...

17C American Women: Portrait of an 17C New York Dutch or British-Ameri...: Unknown Woman New York, 1690–1700 Attributed to Gerret Duyckinck from New York, (New Amsterdam) 1660–1710) (2)

Dave's ACT: Jedbinbilla Mountain

Dave's ACT: Jedbinbilla Mountain: From the signage at Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve. A brief description of the importance of the area to Australia’s First People. A beautiful ...

Thursday, 8 June 2017

17C American Women: Indentured Servant Richard Frethorne's 1623 Letter...

17C American Women: Indentured Servant Richard Frethorne's 1623 Letter...: Planters in early 17C Virginia had bountiful amounts of land and a profitable crop in tobacco, but they needed labor to till their fields. ...

Wednesday, 7 June 2017

17C American Women: Portrait of an 17C Boston British-American Girl

17C American Women: Portrait of an 17C Boston British-American Girl: The Freake Limner (American Colonial Era Painter, active 1670-c 1680) Margaret Gibbs of Boston c 1670 Age 7. Not long after Boston was set...

17th Century Sea Chart.

Portolan chart of the Mediterranean, 1637. 
Newly Discovered 17th-Century Secret Sea Chart Leads Bonhams' Fine Book Sale

Tuesday, 6 June 2017

17C American Women: The Chesapeake Headright System Increases Numbers ...



17C American Women: The Chesapeake Headright System Increases Numbers ...: Both Virginia and Maryland employed the “headright” system to encourage the importation of the servant workers, that they so desperately nee...

Colonial Williamsburg plans tomahawk throwing range in Historic Area

Colonial Williamsburg Foundation has submitted a proposal to the city’s zoning board to construct a “tomahawk/axe throwing range” in the Historic Area at the old military encampment site at 311 East Nicholson Street.. (Courtesy Google Maps)

Australian Survival and Preppers..: Testing For Edible Plants.

Australian Survival and Preppers..: Testing For Edible Plants.: I will eat berries that are known to me, other flora I will test first before eating. Personally I would not bother testing for edibili...

"Once Upon a Time": The work of Jacob Sell the Elder.

"Once Upon a Time": The work of Jacob Sell the Elder.:            The Elder (1741-1825) was the patriarch of the Sell gunmaking family and almost certainly the father of Ja...

17C American Women: The Chesapeake Tobacco Economy - Indentured Servan...

17C American Women: The Chesapeake Tobacco Economy - Indentured Servan...: The Chesapeake was immensely hospitable to tobacco cultivation. Profit-hungry settlers often planted tobacco, before they planted corn; seek...

Friday, 2 June 2017

17C American Women: The Unhealthy 17C Chesapeake - Desperate for Women...

17C American Women: The Unhealthy 17C Chesapeake - Desperate for Women...: Life in the American wilderness was nasty, brutish, and short for the earliest Chesapeake settlers; malaria, dysentery, and typhoid took a c...