More on Fire Steels.

Photos By Swampfox.
Many thanks Swampfox. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5gxjx_FiC31ks_aitG4Tyg/featured
Keith.

More on Fire Bags or Flint & Steel Pouches.

Cheyenne fire bag.

Eskimo fire bag.

18th century Finnish fire pouch.

18th century Finnish fire pouch.

19th century Finnish fire pouch.

Undated Finnish fire pouch. 

Fire Lighting Quotes.

Lov na race; čakališče na jezeru pri jami Lisišče (1759) by  Franz Anton von Steinberg which depicts waterfowl hunting.

"There happened to be an iron pot and an ax on board--- they cut off a piece of the boat rope, and picked it to oakum, and putting it in the pan of a gun, with some powder, catched it on fire, which with some thin pieces cut from the mast, they kindled in the pot, and then cut up their mast, seats, &c. for fuel, and making a tent of their sail, wrapt themselves as well as they could;"

From The Pennsylvania Gazette, 1765, 3 men trapped in the ice in their boat during a waterfowl hunt and likely to freeze to death:

Hand Drill Friction Fire Step-by-Step Tutorial: Making Drill to Starting...

This is not an Australian video, but the same applies if you are using the grass tree plant, also know as Yacca. This is the brother of one of our group members on our official forum. Great video & well worth watching.
Keith.

When Making Fire-Safety.

By Robert Griffing.

When making fire be sure that you have placed your powder horn with your gun well away from the fireplace. I suggest that you secure your fire steel to your belt bag buckle. In this way you can simply drop the steel after striking so that you can place all your attention immediately on the making of fire. In this way you are never likely to lose your steel.

Always make sure there is a clear area of at least two paces around your fireplace before making fire. Pay special attention to any debris that may take fire between the fireplace & your shelter.

Keep your fire small, large fires are a danger & they are more likely to attract attention than a small fire.

Make sure your store dry kindling in the back of your shelter in case the fire should go out at night when it is very cold.

If you do not need a fire, do not light one. It may attract unwanted attention. Always carry foods that do not require cooking.

Unless it is very cold & you need a fire for warmth, extinguish your cooking fire when you have finished cooking.

If you need to keep the fire going all night, make sure you have a good supply of firewood close to hand, so you can feed the fire at night without having to leave your bed.

Smoke from a fire made close to a tree will generally be drawn to the tree & find its way upward exiting through the forest canopy. However, this can not always be relied on because of the shifting breezes in forest areas, so keep your fire smokeless when you are able. Small dry wood will create heat quickly & produce less smoke. A hot fire will create less smoke even when larger pieces of wood are used.

Make sure that you always have plenty of dry spare tinder in your pack. If you are carrying gunpowder bags, place spare tinder in these bags as they become empty. Be sure to keep your tinderbox full of tinder.

Keith.

Period Fire Lighting & Tinder Quotes.

American Aloe, Agave or Sentry Plant. Also found in Australia.

Their grow’s here Large Berch trees…on the Root of the branches of the Said tree, grow’s Large Knops of wood of Different form’s, which they style (posogan) which posogan is of great service to the Natives, they use itt to strike Light to, as we do touch wood… itts Substance Resembles Spunge…once Light is Very Difficult to put out…will Clow and Bur’n tell Consum’d to ashes and never Blaze.”
~James Isham, Hudson’s Bay, 1743-49

“They employ tree mushrooms very frequently instead of tinder. Those which are taken from the sugar maple are reckoned the best; those of the red maple are next in goodness, and next to them, those of the sugar birch, for want of these, they likewise make use of those which grow on the aspen tree.”
~ Peter Kalm, Canada, 1749

"Maple trees usually have large growths on them, which are cut and dried in the sun, making a sort of touchwood which the Canadians call tondre."
- Jolicoeur Charles Bonin, 1750’s

“…fungus that grows on the outside of the birch-tree…used by all the Indians in those parts for tinder…called by the Northern Indians Jolt-thee, and is known all over the country bordering on Hudson’s Bay by the name of Pesogan…there is another kind…that I think is infinitely preferable to either. This is found in old decayed poplars, and lies in flakes…is always moist when taken from the tree but when dry…takes fire readily from the spark of a steel: but it is much improved by being kept dry in a bag that has contained gunpowder.”
~Samuel Hearne, Northern Canada, 1772

“I said to them…you Fools go to the Birch Trees and get some touchwood,”
~David Thompson, Lake Athabasca, 1790s

“This induced me to resolve not to travel more by land without my gun, powder and shot, steel, spunge and flint, for striking a fire…”
~Patrick Campbell, Canada/New York, 1792

“A Canadian never neglects to have touchwood for his pipe”
~David Thompson, Red Lake River, 1798 

"There was Dry leaves and sticks under our shelter. I stoped the tuch hole of my gun with tallow and then did ketch fire and we made up a fire and Dryed our selves."

Westward Into Kentucky, Daniel Trabue, 1779:

"There happened to be an iron pot and an ax on board--- they cut off a piece of the boat rope, and picked it to oakum, and putting it in the pan of a gun, with some powder, catched it on fire, which with some thin pieces cut from the mast, they kindled in the pot, and then cut up their mast, seats, &c. for fuel, and making a tent of their sail, wrapt themselves as well as they could;"

From The Pennsylvania Gazette, 1765, 3 men trapped in the ice in their boat during a waterfowl hunt and likely to freeze to death:

'Our party having separated, the important articles of tinder and matches were in the baggage of the division which had proceeded: and as the night was rainy and excessively dark, we were, for some time, under anxiety, lest we should have been deprived of the comfort and security of a fire. Fortunately, my powder-flask was in my saddlebags, and we succeeded in supplying the place of tinder, by moistening a piece of paper, and rubbing it with gunpowder. We placed our touch paper on an old cambric handkerchief, as the most readily combustible article in our stores. On this we scattered gunpowder pretty copiously, and our flint and steel soon enabled us to raise a flame, and collecting dry wood, we made a noble fire.

http://www.mspong.org/percy/travellers.htm

Birkbeck, Morris. Notes on a Journey in America . London: Severn and Co., 1818.

They rubb'd Fire out of particular sorts of Wood (as the Antients did out of the Ivy and Bays) by turning the end of a hard piece upon the side of a piece that is soft and dry, like a Spindle on its Inke, by which it heats, and at length burns; to this they put sometimes also rotten Wood, and dry Leaves to hasten the Work.

Robert Beverley 1705.

To make Tinder.

Take three ounces of Salt-petre, put it to a Pint and a half of fair Water, set it on a Fire in a Kettle or Pan to heat till the Salt-petre be dissolved; then take a Quire of smooth brown Paper, and

put them in Sheet by Sheet into the hot water till they are wet through, and then lay them on a clean Floor or Grass to dry. You may at any Time tear a Piece off, and put it in your Tinderbox,; it will catch like Wild-Fire. By this Means you may save all your Linen Rags in the Family, keep them clean in a Bag, and, if you are careful of them, they may produce you a Pair of Shoes and Stockings at the Years End; and by this Frugality you will have the Pleasure to think of encouraging the making of Paper, and employing the Industrious.

 Madam Johnson's present: or, every young woman's companion in ... - Page 181 .

"and with a girdle of their making, bound round about their middles, to which girdle is fastned a bagg, in which his instruments be, with which hee can strike fire upon any occasion"

Thomas Morton: Manners and Customs of the Indians, 1637

Thomas Morton 1579-1647

http://www.nativetech.org/clothing/pouch/pouches.html

"Tree fungi are used very frequently instead of tinder. Those which are taken from the sugar maple are reckoned the best; those of the red maple are next in quality; and next to them, those of the sugar birch. For want of these they make use of those which grow on the aspen tree.”
Pehr Kalm,
Travels in North America, 1749

"Maple trees usually have large growths on them, which are cut and dried in the sun, making a sort of touchwood which the Canadians call tondre."
Jolicoeur Charles Bonin,
Memoir of  French and Indian War Soldier, 1750's

Their grow’s here Large Berch trees…on the Root of the branches of the Said tree, grow’s Large Knops of wood of Different form’s, which they style (posogan) which posogan is of great service to the Natives, they use itt to strike Light to, as we do touch wood… itts Substance Resembles Spunge…once Light is Very Difficult to put out…will Clow and Bur’n tell Consum’d to ashes and never Blaze.”
~James Isham, Hudson’s Bay, 1743-49

“They employ tree mushrooms very frequently instead of tinder. Those which are taken from the sugar maple are reckoned the best; those of the red maple are next in goodness, and next to them, those of the sugar birch, for want of these, they likewise make use of those which grow on the aspen tree.”
~ Peter Kalm, Canada, 1749

"Maple trees usually have large growths on them, which are cut and dried in the sun, making a sort of touchwood which the Canadians call tondre."
- Jolicoeur Charles Bonin, 1750’s 

“…fungus that grows on the outside of the birch-tree…used by all the Indians in those parts for tinder…called by the Northern Indians Jolt-thee, and is known all over the country bordering on Hudson’s Bay by the name of Pesogan…there is another kind…that I think is infinitely preferable to either. This is found in old decayed poplars, and lies in flakes…is always moist when taken from the tree but when dry…takes fire readily from the spark of a steel: but it is much improved by being kept dry in a bag that has contained gunpowder.”
~Samuel Hearne, Northern Canada, 1772

Fomes fomentarius - the tinder fungus

-a wood rotting fungus (Aphyllophorales) that produces hoof shaped basidiocarps up to2 feet in diameter; basidiocarps are prennenial, producing a new layer of pores each year; was once

common in North Asia, North America and Europe

-suggested to be the earliest fungus to have been used by humans with discoveries dating to

mesolithic settlements around 8000 BC

-flesh of basidiocarp was treated to produce amadou, which had two functions depending upon method of treatment

1. softest part of flesh was removed, soaked in hot water and pounded with a mallet until it was felt-like; resulting material was very absorbent and was used as a styptic; also used to make parts of hats and purses

2. tougher parts soaked in hot water with ashes, pounded and soaked again in potassium nitrate; end product was excellent tinder

http://www.plant.uga.edu/labrat/mims/overheads03.pdf

“Mr MacKay lighted a bit of touch-wood with a burning glass, in the cover of his tobacco box…”

                Alexander Mackenzie, 1793.

“Fire making is a simple process with the mountaineers. Their bullet pouches always contain a flint and steel, and sundry pieces of “punk”-a pithy substance found in dead pine trees-or tinder; and pulling a handful of dry grass, which they screw into a nest, they place the lighted punk in this, and closing the grass over it, wave it in the air, when it soon ignites, and readily kindles the dry sticks forming the foundation of a fire.”

Ruxton, 1848.

“…rain began hammering down so heavily that, one hundred miles from the nearest trees, and with nothing available but moss, nobody could start a fire.”

                Samuel Hearne, 1770.

 “…he was left to amuse himself all night a long side his fier (fire) which he made with his gun.” ~A. McKenzie, 1804.

“In the woods we were under some disadvantage, having no fire-works”. Journal of John Woolman, 1720-1742.

Take those great things which are called olde Todestooles growing out of the bottomes of nuttrees, beechtrees, okes, and such like trees, drye them with the smoke of fire, & then cut them into as many peeces as you will, and hauing well beaten them, boyle the  in strong lie with waule floure, or saltpeeter, till all the lie shal be consumend. After this laying them in a heape uppon a boorde, drie them in an oven which must not be made verie hotte, and after you haue so done, beate them well with a wooden mallet, and when you shall haue cause to use any parte of those Todestooles (now by the means above declared made touchwood) rubbe well that parte betweene your handes for to make it softe and apte to take fire. But when you will make tinder for a Gunners tinder boxe, take peeces of fustian, or of old and fine linnen clothe, make them to burn and flame in a fire, & suddenly before the flame which is in the  doth die, choke the fire, & keepe their tinder so made in a boxe lined within with clothe, to the ende that it may not be moyste at any time.

Appendix 20-1,  Lucar, C., Translation of Tartaglia, Three Bookes of Colloquies Concerning the Arte of Shooting in Great and Samll Peeces of Artillerie with Appendix, London,1588.

 “An Indian often goes off alone…with only his musket, powder and shot, and tinderbox… 
Pouchot, Pierre. Memoirs on the Late War in North America between France and England pg. 482 

 “…by the help of their punk, made a fire.” 

A Narrative of the Captivity of Mrs. Johnson (1754-57) as found in Calloway, Colin G. North Country Captives pg. 61 .

Shall I instruct you in the practical science of getting a light with flint and steel? The first thing is to make your tinder, by burning or rather scorching a piece of rag. Toast it or char it till it is tenderly made into tinder. Neither do it too little, nor too much; cook your rags to a turn. Be very mindful to keep your tinder dry as a bone; for a spark will be of no service if it does not fall where it will be nourished; and the least damp will kill it. The sparks of temptation would be harmless if it were not for the tinder of corruption in our hearts. Good teaching is also lost unless it falls upon a mind prepared to receive it: so that the metaphor can be used either way.
Having secured your tinder, you had next to know how to strike your flint and steel so as to create sparks. Many a knock of the fingers would you get if you did not look alive. Possibly you would also bark your knuckles if you did know the art, if the weather was cold and your hands were half frozen. So is it in your dealing with men's consciences: you may give a hard knock and fetch fire out of them, or you may break your own knuckles by bringing upon yourself personal ill-will.
If you were so skilful or so fortunate as to cause a spark to drop into the tinder, you had to blow upon it very gently; just as the first sign of grace in any heart needs encouraging with the fostering breath of sympathy. How often have I seen a servant go down on her knees to blow at a coal which seemed to have a little life in it! Let us do the like with those persons concerning whom we are somewhat hopeful.
When the spark had become fairly prosperous in the tinder, then you applied the point of your brimstone match. You do not quite know what I mean. Well, mind you do not make a brimstone match when you get married. The brimstone, at the sharpened point of the match, would take fire when it touched the spark, and then your labour approached its reward. When you had your match flaming, and smelling, you lighted your candle; and having done with your elaborate apparatus, you popped the flat lid of the box upon the tinder to put it all out.

http://www.spurgeon.org/misc/candles2.htm

“He carrieth about him a purse of tewed leather, a mineral stone and a flat emery stone, tied fast to the end of a little stick. Gently, he striketh upon the mineral stone, and within a strike or two, a spark falleth upon a piece of touchwood and with the least spark, he maketh the fire."

- John Brereton describing the firemaking skills of the Wampanoag Indians (early 17th century).

Fortunately the water was not deep about the rock, nor between it and the land, and though a thin ice had formed, I was able to break it, and carry my children on shore. But here we had nearly perished from cold, as my spunk wood was wet, and I had no means of kindling a fire, until I thought to split open my powder horn, when I found in the middle of the mass of powder, a little which the water had not reached. This enabled me to kindle a fire, and was the means of saving all our lives.

Owing to our hands being benumbed with the cold, it was long before we could extricate ourselves from our snow shoes, and we were no sooner out of the water than our moccasins and clothes were frozen so stiff that we could not travel. I began also to think that we must die. But I was not like my Indian brother, willing to sit down and wait patiently for death to come. I kept moving about to the best of my power, while he lay in a dry place by the side of the bank where the wind had blown away the snow. I at length found some very dry rotten wood which I used as a substitute for spunk, and was so happy as to raise a fire. We then appliedourselves to thaw and dry our moccasins, and when partly dry we put them on, and went to collect fuel [Page 24] for a larger fire than we had before been able to make.

The wind was high, and the snow driving violently. In a vast extent of the plain, which we overlooked, we could see no wood, but some small oak bushes, scarce as high as a man's shoulders; but inthis poor cover we were compelled to encamp. The small and green stalks of the oaks were, with the utmost difficulty, kindled, [Page 50] and made but a poor fire. When the fire had remained some time in one place, and the ground under it become dry, we removed the brands and coals, and lay down upon the warm ashes.

The prophet, we are told, has forbid us to suffer our fire to be extinguished in our lodges, and when we travel or hunt, he will not allow us to use a flint and steel, and we are told he requires that no man should give fire to another. Can it please the Great Spirit that we should lie in our hunting camps without fire, or is it more agreeable to him that we should make fire by rubbing together two sticks than with a flint and a piece of steel?" But they would not listen to me, and the serious enthusiasm which prevailed among them so far affected me that I threw away my flint and steel, laid aside my medicine bag, and, in many particulars, complied with the new doctrines. But I would not kill my dogs. I soon learned to kindle a fire by rubbing some dry cedar, which I was careful to carry always about me, but the discontinuance of the use of flint and steel subjected many of the Indians to much inconvenience and suffering.

 A narrative of the captivity and adventures of John Tanner, (U.S. interpreter at the Saut de Ste. Marie,): during thirty years residence among the Indians in the interior of North America.

https://archive.org/details/cihm_42507

http://imp.lss.wisc.edu/~jrvalent/AIS/Assets/Pdfs/BookTanner.pdf

Fire From Marcasite.

Marcasite Australia Goongewa mine, near Fitzroy Crossing

http://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/imagedisplay.php?irn=217909&reftable=ecatalogue&refirn=47276;

Galena on Australian Marcasite.

http://museum.wa.gov.au/research/collections/earth-and-planetary-sciences/mineral-collection/short-history-mineralogy-collection;

CALCITE on MARCASITE. Renison Bell Mine, Rosebery, Tasmania.

Australian Marcasite & Pyrite Info:
http://www.mrt.tas.gov.au/portal/documents/10184/30804/OCCURRENCE_GEMSTONES_V8.pdf/2e719519-eafb-4002-baac-6ce3dd994150

http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/SR03079.htm

http://eprints.utas.edu.au/8930/1/Groves_DI_PhD_1968.pdf

More on Punkwood or Touchwood.

Recently someone contacted me and told me that to date they had not managed to make fire with flint and steel using uncharred punk wood. At the same time he quoted a passage from an Indian captivity document claiming that a John Tanner had indeed accomplished this. 
However, having read the passage that I think he is referring to, I think it more likely that John Tanner used gunpowder on the rotten wood in order for it to catch a spark. Here below is the quote in question:

"Owing to our hands being benumbed with the cold, it was long before we could extricate ourselves from our snow shoes, and we were no sooner out of the water than our moccasins and clothes were frozen so stiff that we could not travel. I began also to think that we must die. But I was not like my Indian brother, willing to sit down and wait patiently for death to come. I kept moving about to the best of my power, while he lay in a dry place by the side of the bank where the wind had blown away the snow. I at length found some very dry rotten wood which I used as a substitute for spunk, and was so happy as to raise a fire. We then applied ourselves to thaw and dry our moccasins, and when partly dry we put them on, and went to collect fuel [Page 24] for a larger fire than we had before been able to make".

Now although no mention is made here of using gunpowder, it is obvious to me that this method was known to John Tanner, and that he had used this method before. Note this earlier comment by John Tanner:

"Fortunately the water was not deep about the rock, nor between it and the land, and though a thin ice had formed, I was able to break it, and carry my children on shore. But here we had nearly perished from cold, as my spunk wood was wet, and I had no means of kindling a fire, until I thought to split open my powder horn, when I found in the middle of the mass of powder, a little which the water had not reached. This enabled me to kindle a fire, and was the means of saving all our lives".

Note also the term "spunk" is used and not "punk". This I think is the first time I have heard this term used for tinder rather than sulphur tipped splints which are known as spunks.

Here are a couple of videos I made on the use of gunpowder for making fire:

Another Plant Tinder For Fire Making.

As I have said many times before, once you become familiar with what plant tinders look like & feel like, you can start to identify many more. Some such as the beaten inner bark of the Stringybark Tree are not so readily recognised, but still the same thought processes enabled me to see the possibilities.
The inner core of the Sunflower plant again is not so readily identified, just like the inner core of the Yacca Plant, it is hidden from view until the stem is cut open. Here in the images below you can see the soft white pithy core of the Sunflower stem. Treat this as you would punkwood, & char it to prepare it. This stem is still green so you can better see the core, but for tinder use use only the dried stems.
Not a native to Australia, but many of you may grow Sunflowers in your gardens, as we do for chook feed. The Sunflower is believed to have originated and was first domesticated in Mexico. The Sunflower is a member of the Jerusalem Artichoke, which is native to the Great Lakes area in the Americas. The stem pith of the Jerusalem Artichoke can also be used as tinder, but the stems are much smaller and thus yield far less tinder.

This is a dried Sunflower stem cut open.

Another type of Sunflower in our garden with multiple flower heads.

http://archive.archaeology.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/800px-girasoli.jpg

Sunflowers drying in the sun in front of a stand of corn.

Jerusalem Artichokes in our garden. These are also prized as a food source. You will never starve if you are growing Jerusalem Artichokes. The dried stems make excellent kindling.

18th Century Tinder Box Types.

A wood tinder box showing the damper on the left for smothering the smouldering tinder, and a lid.

My brass tinder box which is a copy of an original. Those tinder boxes which are smaller and shallow I assume were for carrying on the person, either in a pocket or pouch. Though we can't say for sure that larger tinder boxes were not carried beyond the home.

My brass tinder box opened, showing the tinder inside.

A Dutch tinder box made from wood with a carved design and a sliding lid.

This is a Russian tinder box which appears to have a ceramic inlay to the hinged lid.

Four small tinder boxes with hinged lids.

This tinder box is dated 1734.

A wood tinder box with a sliding draw dated 1761. Wood tinder boxes were typically used in the home.

http://www.google.com.au/imgres?rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-US%3A%7Breferrer%3Asource%3F%7D&rlz=1I7ASUT_enAU383AU383&biw=1366&bih=643&tbm=isch&tbnid=dJ2jcP0RSYhidM%3A&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.oldandinteresting.com%2Ftinderbox.aspx&docid=5mlUuiDhKwG4MM&imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.oldandinteresting.com%2Fimages%2Ftinderbox%252520with%252520rushlight.jpg&w=180&h=219&ei=L2r5Up2eEsWpkwW2lYB4&zoom=1&ved=0CFkQhBwwAg&iact=rc&dur=1160&page=1&start=0&ndsp=5;

A brass Russian tinder box found in a shipwreck. Dated 1714.

This tinder box reminds me of a period spectacle case, and it may have been so. What is important is that it has been used as a tinder box. 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/162094795/Lighting;

My copy of a candle holder tinder box. Again a clumsy shape to carry in a pouch or pocket and typically a style used in the home.

The same tinder box with a beeswax candle.

Reading Sign, and More Images of The Grass Tree or Yacca Plant.

Echidna diggings. Some natives here call them Porcupine. Food in an emergency survival situation, otherwise let them be.

Grass Tree, Goonagurra, Black Boy, Kangaroo Tail, Yacca, all the same plant. Uses: The inner core of the dried flower stem is used as tinder, the stem itself is used for hand drill fire lighting & making the parts for the fire-bow. The flower stem can also be used to carry fire. The nectar can be sucked from the flowers, or the flowers can be soaked in water for a refreshing drink. It can also be fermented to make alcohol. The base of the leaves when pulled can be eaten. Dried leaves make good kindling.

Fire Lighting Problem-Not Enough Tinder.

One of the problems I have noticed of late is people having trouble making fire with flint and steel. Either the kindling is damp, or hard to take fire. In either case the problem has been a lack of enough tinder.
Instead of blowing and blowing until all the tinder is spent, add more tinder to your smouldering tinder. This tinder does not have to be prepared, you can just add a plant tinder as is and it will char when in contact with the smoulding tinder you are already using. This will add heat, it will also last longer until the kindling has caught fire.

Uncharred Bracket Fungus added to my tinderbox.

Uncharred Punk Wood added to my tinderbox.

Different Ways Of Making Fire.

The Kindling Bag.

The Kindling Bag.

Some things you just don’t read about in period journals, other events are recorded but they are far and few between. We as Living Historians and Experimental Archaeologists are given the job of reading between the lines and filling in the gaps. For instance, what information do you glean from the following quote:
“Fierce winds and blowing snow reduced the men to huddling among large rocks, unable even to start a fire.”

Samuel Hearne, Canada, 1770.

I deduce from this journal record that these men had no dry kindling, or, they had run out of tinder. For one man to run out of tinder I might expect, but for two or more men to neglect to collect more tinder seems unlikely. So I suspect the problem was no dry kindling being available given the weather conditions.
A smart man or woman in this period under these sorts of living conditions is unlikely to make this same mistake twice. So I think it is safe to assume that at least some people would have made provision for carrying dry kindling with them in future and certainly to make sure their tinderbox was well stocked with prepared tinder.

My close friend the late Arthur W. Baker and I shared many adventures over the years, travelling on the Great Lakes in winter by boat and canoe, being caught in sudden storms before we could reach shelter we have huddled under canvas and spent some cold nights using our boat as a shelter turned on its side. We never failed to make fire even under the most arduous weather conditions because we both learnt early on how important it was to be well prepared when travelling in the bush and never to take anything for granted. A week or more of wet weather can reduce your tinder and dry kindling supplies to nought.

 This bag was Arthur’s kindling bag. On short trips he may not bother to carry this bag with him, but on longer trips and certainly when he was travelling by water, he always carried this bag containing dry kindling. It weighs very little when packed, but is a little bulky, but well worth the effort of carrying it along.

Recently I did find myself in the position of having run low on supplies of kindling which I carry in the bottom of my fire-bag. A week of wet weather meant everything was at least damp if not totally wet, so I had to resort to using a lot of tinder and fanning the fire with my hat to get it hot enough to flame. Had I been carrying this kindling bag it would have made my fire lighting much easier.
Maybe Mr Hearn did not learn the lesson the first time: “…rain began hammering down so heavily that, one hundred miles from the nearest trees, and with nothing available but moss, nobody could start a fire.” Samuel Hearne, 1770.

“In the woods we were under some disadvantage, having no fire-works”. Journal of John Woolman, 1720-1742.

There is also an Indian kindling bag in the United States National Museum. Figs. 19-21.—Fire-making set and extra hearth. Cat. No. 10258, TJ.S.N.M. Frobisher Bat.

Collected by C. F. Hall. 20, Moss in a leathern case. Cat. No. 10191, U.S.N.M.

Collected by C. F. Hall

Making Fire By Mike.

Mike is one of our group members and one of those chaps who does not give up easily on any project. A while back Mike made a video on making fire with flint and steel, and he had some problems. It is fortunate that Mike is very open about his experimental archaeological efforts, win or lose he still shows his results. This can be a specially frustrating when Mike sees me make fire in a very short time and it looks easy. But I must say here, that it is not always that way.
A while back I was making fire with flint,steel and tinderbox and the grass kindling I was using would NOT take fire. It smoked a lot, but I just could not get flames. I changed the grass, and made fire as usual. Some grasses/kindling are just like that. Probably damp, but not damp enough for me to feel it.
Anyway, you will see in this video that Mike did everything right, and should have made fire easily. But it just did not turn out that way. Thank you Mike for letting me share this video. It shows people that sometimes, through no fault of your own, things just don't always work out the way they should.

Collect dry kindling grass whenever you can and if you have a chance to warm it in front of a fire before putting it in your fire bag then do so. Make sure your charred plant tinder does not attract moisture in a cold tinderbox!!! It might pay you to open the tinderbox up after the tinder is smothered (when making it) and warm it in front of the fife before closing again and putting in your fire bag or pocket. I suspect this too may have happened to Mike, because he was creating good sparks with that steel of his but it still took a while to catch any on the tinder. Anyway, watch this video and learn.
Thanks again Mike, very much appreciated.
Keith.

Eastern Woodland Indian Use Of The Fire Bow.

Not much information to be found, certainly not primary documentation.

http://books.google.com.au/books?id=pZBPkOYTDvMC&pg=PA108&lpg=PA108&dq=great+lakes+indian+fire+bow&source=bl&ots=J-O3apCnBK&sig=o6KlEAGGYEWidpRJPia4ngpcqw8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=qbHfUMCcCumSiQeBgoGYAw&ved=0CFoQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=great%20lakes%20indian%20fire%20bow&f=false

Page 108.

Barry Rivera demonstrates how to make fire with a stick and a bow during a program on Woodland Indian culture and history.

http://southwhitehall.patch.com/articles/viewfinder-northeast-woodland-indian-culture#photo-6940226; 

Photo Credit: Betty Cauler

From the Horse's Mouth. A New Australian Trader!!!

Just thought I would give you all the heads-up early. A good friend of mine and fellow 18th century living historian is starting his own Trading Company here in Australia. To start off he will be selling just flint, steel and tinderbox kits and hand forged tomahawks at very reasonable prices. I can't say when he will be open for business, because he is waiting for stocks to arrive, but as soon as I know, you will know.
This chap is straight up and up all the way, no dodgy deals and a service you can depend on. So watch this space as they say for more news in the near future. If you have been wanting one of the above items, now is your chance to purchase them locally instead of from overseas and paying extra for freight.