Many thanks Swampfox. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5gxjx_FiC31ks_aitG4Tyg/featured
Keith.
Showing posts with label fire lighting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fire lighting. Show all posts
Wednesday, 5 December 2018
More on Fire Steels.
Many thanks Swampfox. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5gxjx_FiC31ks_aitG4Tyg/featured
Keith.
Wednesday, 13 June 2018
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:
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
Purchase orders to: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/KeithBurgess
Now Also Available From Barnes & Noble:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/primitive-firelighting-keith-h-burgess/1113663647?ean=9781447567622
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/primitive-firelighting-keith-h-burgess/1113663647?ean=9781447567622
Monday, 12 June 2017
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.
Friday, 18 November 2016
Monday, 26 September 2016
Spunks or Matches.
Brimstone or sulfur tipped matches/spunks that I made some years ago.
Spunks or Matches?
As occasionally happens one gets used to using a certain term or word
to describe an object. Then one day your use of that word is put to question,
& you find yourself clawing through the pages of a dictionary trying to
justify your choice of word. Well this recently happened to me in regards to my
use of the term “spunks”, to denote sulphur tipped matches. After my research I
find myself still a little lost. I can not remember when or where I first heard
this term used, but I have used it ever since. Here then below are the results
of my search, & I leave it up to you to decide which term to use. From what
I can see, the term “match” or “spunk” seem to hold equal sway.
Regards, Keith.
Regards, Keith.
Detail of the altarpiece of the Saint Georges church in Haguenau, Bas-Rhin, France.
In this lower image Joseph is holding flint & tinder in his left hand, & is about to strike downward against the flint with the steel held in his right hand. Below you can see an open wooden tinderbox & some spunks/sulphur headed matches/splints/tapers.
A relic of Sir John Franklin's last expedition 1845-1848. Seven brimstone matches found by Lieutenant W.R. Hobson at an abandoned camp site at Cape Felix, King William Island on 25 May 1859. They were collected by the McClintock Search Expedition 1857-1859. Each match is a flat sliver of wood. Traces of sulphur are visible on the ends of three matches.
Match Sellers.
Painting by Pieter Claesz 1636.
This wooden box for 'spunks' or sulphur matches dates from the early 19th century. It was turned out on a lathe at Kirkpatrick-Durham in Kirkcudbrightshire.
The box is in the form of a barrel which unscrews two-thirds of the way up. It has the initials R.I. (for Robert Innes) on the bottom.
Sulphur matches or 'spunks' have a long history, and may have been used by the Romans.
SPUNKS.
1815 “Ye may light a SPUNK o' fire in the red room.”—‘Guy Mannering’
by Sir Walter Scott, xi.
In the morning early, before dawn, the first sounds heard in a small
house were the click, click, click of the kitchen-maid striking flint and steel
over the tinder in the box. When the tinder was ignited, the maid blew upon it
till it glowed sufficiently to enable her to kindle a match made of a bit
of stick dipped in
brimstone [sulphur]. The cover was then returned to the box, and the weight
of the flint and steel pressing it down extinguished the sparks in the carbon.
The operation was not, however, always successful; the tinder or the matches
might be damp, the flint blunt, and the steel worn; or, on a cold, dark
morning, the operator would not infrequently strike her knuckles instead of the
steel; a match, too, might be often long in kindling, and it was not pleasant to
keep blowing into the tinder-box, and on pausing a moment to take breath, to
inhale sulphurous acid gas, and a peculiar odour which the tinder-box always
exhaled.
Sabine Baring-Gould, Strange Survivals, 1892, Devon, England
Sabine Baring-Gould, Strange Survivals, 1892, Devon, England
1843, John Wilson, John Gibson Lockhart, William Maginn, James
Hogg, The Noctes Ambrosianæ of “Blackwood", Volume IV,
page 396,
“Spunks "” spunks "” spunks "” who will buy my
spunks?" "” cried
an errant voice with a beseeching earnestness
Etymology
Funk (“spark, touchwood”) is from Middle English funke, fonke (“spark”), from Old English *funce, *fanca (“spark”), from Proto-Germanic *funkô, *fankô (“spark”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peng-, *(s)pheng- (“to shine”), and is akin to Middle Low German funke, fanke (“spark”), Middle Dutch vonke (“spark”), Old High German funcho, funko (“spark”),German Funke (“spark”).
1530s, "a spark," Scottish, from
Gaelic spong "tinder, pith, sponge," from
Latin spongia
The term "spunk" originated in the early 1600's in the
British Isles meaning "a spark," having been adopted from the
Gaelic spong for "tinder," which in turn comes from the
Latin spongia. The Latin appears to be derived from how closely the
popular kindling touchwood resembles natural sponges.
Spunk: A spark of fire or small portion of ignited matter.
Sponk: A word used in Edinburgh which denotes a match or anything
dipped in sulphur that takes fire.
Proceeding Of The Old Bailey. London’s central Criminal Court.
a Betty was found lying near the Door, and some Matches and a
Tinder box was found upon the Prisoner;
Williams lent them a Bag and some Matches,
and a Pistol, several Picklock Keys, and some Matches,
found upon him.
Picklock Keys, and a Tobacco Box, with Tinder
and Matches in it, were found in his Pocket.
with a Chissel, a Dark Lanthorn, and a Bundle of Matches.
Candle and Matches,&c. lying on the Ground.
about him, with a Tinder Box, Flint, Steel, Matches, a Gimblet,
Knife and Pick lock key:
America's 19th-century spunk-faker supposedly sold matches
(spunks)
...the infant at its mother's side too often awoke.....The mother was
soon on her feet; the friendly tinder-box was duly sought. Click, click, click;
not a spark tells upon the sullen blackness. More rapidly does the flint ply
the sympathetic steel. The room is bright with the radiant shower. But the
child....shouts till the mother is frantic. At length one lucky spark does its
office - the tinder is alight. Now for the match. It will not burn.....Another
match, and another, and another. They are all damp. The baby is
inexorable; and the misery is only ended when the goodman has gone to the
street door, and after long shivering has obtained a light from the watchman.
Charles Knight, Once Upon a Time, 1854.
Charles Knight, Once Upon a Time, 1854.
The matches were thin splints of soft wood, sharpened at both ends,
and tipped with sulphur. The street-dealers were the chief match-sellers.
Several matches were spread out, fan-like, into bunches; and according as trade
was bad or good, so were we invited to buy three, four, or more bunches for a penny.
Matches and Match-makers, in Chamber's Journal, 1862.
Matches and Match-makers, in Chamber's Journal, 1862.
(1)
Tinder, touchwood, as a means of
raising fire from a spark (Sc. 1721 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) I. Gl.),
also in Eng.; later, a sliver of wood dipped in a preparation of sulphur and
used for the same purpose (Sc. 1782 J. Sinclair Ob. Sc. Dial. 128; s.Sc.
1802 J. Sibbald Chron. Sc. Poetry Gl.). Hist.; in modern usage,
since the mid. 19th-c.: a phosphorous friction match, a lucifer (Per., Fif.,
Lth., Ayr. 1915–26 Wilson; Bwk. 1942 Wettstein; Rxb. 1942 Zai). Gen.Sc.
Also fig.Sc. 1755 S. Johnson Dict.:
Sponk, a word in Edinburgh which denotes a match, or anything dipt in sulphur that takes fire.Abd. 1794 J. Anderson Peat Moss 30:
The natives where such fir abounds are in the practice of splitting it into chips, somewhat thicker and larger than those used in the towns for sponks, and employing these instead of candles for giving light.Sc. 1822 Scott Pirate vii.:
A gathering peat on the kitchen fire, and a spunk beside it.Dmf. 1822 Scots Mag. (Sept.) 308:
When ill Rab Duff and me laid brunstane i' the logie, and were ta'en i' the verra act o' clapping a spunk till't. Ayr. 1830 Galt Lawrie Todd VI. v.: The puff of passion to which he had put the spunk was out.Ags. 1853 W. Blair Aberbrothock 15:
Maister Bell's discoorses are no that ill to mak spunks for bawky pipes.Mry. 1872 W. H. Tester Poems 143:
Has sworn to tax the little lowes That emanate frae spunks.Abd. 1879 G. MacDonald Sir Gibbie xxvii:
The san' paper 'at they hed been lichtin' a thoosan' or twa lucifer spunks upo'.Per. 1881 D. Kippen Crieff 199:
Spunks were narrow pieces of fir roots about six inches long, with brimstone on the points, which ignited at the sparks in the tinder-box.wm.Sc. 1886 Trans. Gael. Soc. Inv. XII. 394:
The making of these matches, or “spunks” as they were called, gave occupation in the long evenings to the male part of the family, who split up fine pieces of fir, and dipped the ends into melted brimstone or sulphur, and thus produced a rude lucifer match.
Sponk, a word in Edinburgh which denotes a match, or anything dipt in sulphur that takes fire.Abd. 1794 J. Anderson Peat Moss 30:
The natives where such fir abounds are in the practice of splitting it into chips, somewhat thicker and larger than those used in the towns for sponks, and employing these instead of candles for giving light.Sc. 1822 Scott Pirate vii.:
A gathering peat on the kitchen fire, and a spunk beside it.Dmf. 1822 Scots Mag. (Sept.) 308:
When ill Rab Duff and me laid brunstane i' the logie, and were ta'en i' the verra act o' clapping a spunk till't. Ayr. 1830 Galt Lawrie Todd VI. v.: The puff of passion to which he had put the spunk was out.Ags. 1853 W. Blair Aberbrothock 15:
Maister Bell's discoorses are no that ill to mak spunks for bawky pipes.Mry. 1872 W. H. Tester Poems 143:
Has sworn to tax the little lowes That emanate frae spunks.Abd. 1879 G. MacDonald Sir Gibbie xxvii:
The san' paper 'at they hed been lichtin' a thoosan' or twa lucifer spunks upo'.Per. 1881 D. Kippen Crieff 199:
Spunks were narrow pieces of fir roots about six inches long, with brimstone on the points, which ignited at the sparks in the tinder-box.wm.Sc. 1886 Trans. Gael. Soc. Inv. XII. 394:
The making of these matches, or “spunks” as they were called, gave occupation in the long evenings to the male part of the family, who split up fine pieces of fir, and dipped the ends into melted brimstone or sulphur, and thus produced a rude lucifer match.
(2) A thin slip of wood, a spill used for making spunks as
above; a splinter, smithereen, chip, in gen. (Per. 1915 Wilson L.
Strathearn 268); fig. something of no value. Adj. spunkie, like
a spill.Dmf. 1810 R.
Cromek Remains 148:
The deil sat grim amang the reek, Thrang bundling brunstane matches; Ye'll run me out o' wun spunks.Sc. 1824 Scott Redgauntlet xvii.:
All broken to pieces; fit for nought but to be made spunks of.Fif. c.1850 W. D. Latto Twa Bulls 26:
Wi' that he leaped among the trunks, An' knocked the luckless box to spunks.Abd. 1851 W. Anderson Rhymes 72:
To hear a' his stories they never wad tire, As they sat in a burichie roun' his spunk fire.Mry. 1887 A. G. Wilken Peter Laing 45:
The bull gaed to the han' barrow an' brak it to spunks.
The deil sat grim amang the reek, Thrang bundling brunstane matches; Ye'll run me out o' wun spunks.Sc. 1824 Scott Redgauntlet xvii.:
All broken to pieces; fit for nought but to be made spunks of.Fif. c.1850 W. D. Latto Twa Bulls 26:
Wi' that he leaped among the trunks, An' knocked the luckless box to spunks.Abd. 1851 W. Anderson Rhymes 72:
To hear a' his stories they never wad tire, As they sat in a burichie roun' his spunk fire.Mry. 1887 A. G. Wilken Peter Laing 45:
The bull gaed to the han' barrow an' brak it to spunks.
Saturday, 3 September 2016
Thursday, 1 September 2016
The Joseph Method Of Flint & Steel Fire Lighting By Keith H Burgess
Location of painting showing this flint & steel fire lighting method in the 15th century.
Saint Georges church in Haguenau, Bas-Rhin, France.
Saturday, 27 August 2016
Flint & Steel Fire Lighting Methods.
Flint & Steel Fire Lighting Methods.
Flint & steel & the use of a tinderbox has been
in use since before the middle ages. One common method was to strike sparks
onto tinder in the tinderbox by striking flint against steel. Once the tinder
has caught the spark from the steel & produced an ember, several methods of
making fire can be employed.
1. You can hold kindling material (dry grass or similar) to the
smouldering tinder & blow the kindling into flame.
2. You can use a spunk (sulphur headed match/splint) to make fire by
simply holding the sulphur tip to the smouldering tinder & blow gently.
3. If you are using tow rag as tinder & have charred this material
directly in the fire, then there will be patches of cloth that have not
completely charred. If you blow on the ember on the tow rag, the uncharred
parts can be blown into flame.
4. You can hold a candle close to the smouldering ember & drip wax
onto the tinder. If the tinder is punk wood or tow rag, it can then often be
blown into flame.
The Tinderlighter.
Using a tinderlighter you can employ methods 2 & 3 to
create fire. You can also tip the smouldering tinder into a nest of dry
kindling & blow the kindling into flame. This method works best if you add
additional tinder.
The Flintlock Gun.
Using the pan on the flintlock gun in the same manner as
using a tinderlighter, you can make fire by adding the smouldering tinder to a
kindling nest. This method is improved by adding additional tinder to the
already smouldering tinder in the kindling nest. You can also use a
spunk/sulphur match.
No Tinderbox Methods.
Personally I think carrying a tinderbox is a good idea,
especially for processing tinder charred directly in the fire. Without a
tinderbox you need to find some other method of extinguishing the smouldering
tinder. This can be done by using some type of lidded container, or you can bury
the tinder under dry earth. The earth does make the tinder less effective, so
the method I used was to wrap the smouldering tinder in a piece of leather
before burying. Using a tinderbox is the preferred method.
1. You can place your tinder in a nest of dry kindling & strike
sparks onto the tinder & blow the nest into flame.
2. You can hold a piece of tinder material on top of a piece of flint between
thumb & forefinger & strike the steel downward against the flint. This
will cast sparks upward onto the tinder held on top of the flint. Once the
tinder is smouldering, you can add the tinder to a kindling nest. Again, this
method works best if you add additional tinder to the nest.
Detail of the altarpiece of the Saint Georges church in Haguenau, Bas-Rhin, France.
In this lower image Joseph is holding flint & tinder in his left hand, & is about to strike downward against the flint with the steel held in his right hand. Below you can see an open wooden tinderbox & some spunks/sulphur headed matches/splints/tapers.
13. You can use plant tinders even if they are not charred, by adding “a
very little” pinch of gunpowder to the piece of tinder & striking a
spark onto the gunpowder. Be very careful using this method. Only use very
little gunpowder, & keep your face clear of the area. The powder will
ignite & start the uncharred tinder smouldering.
For further instruction please visit my video channel & check out my fire lighting videos covering all these methods above.
Tuesday, 29 March 2016
My Original 18th Century Fire Steel Update.
Some of you may remember that I acquired an original 18th century
fire steel some time ago. I decided to add it to my equipment replacing the
copy that I had been using. I found however that the original did not spark as
well as the copy, so I re-hardened the steel in the fire. The results were no
better, but I decided to keep it & use it anyway. If that was the way it
was, then that is how I will use it.
I have seen in some videos copies of fire steels that shed an enormous amount of sparks as if they are coated with some radioactive material. There was such a product sold many years ago for coating the steel on a flintlock, but I think it was removed from sale!!!
Keith.
I have seen in some videos copies of fire steels that shed an enormous amount of sparks as if they are coated with some radioactive material. There was such a product sold many years ago for coating the steel on a flintlock, but I think it was removed from sale!!!
Keith.
Saturday, 31 October 2015
Candlewood.
I have recieved enquiries regarding the use of "fat wood" as a tinder in 18th century fire lighting. The original term for this wood from the pine tree was "candlewood", & it can not be used as a tinder for use with flint & steel. It can however be used as kindling.
Another enquirie referred to no documentation found on the use of "candlewood" for fire lighting. Firstly this could be because the wrong name, fat wood, was used in the search, & secondly it seems that candlewood was more popular used as a candle for light rather than using it for kindling in a fire. However, that does not mean that someone did not use candlewood as a kindling in fire lighting in the 18th century. Certainly its use for lighting (candle) was known in the 17th century.
"They are
such candles as the Indians commonly use, having no other, and they are nothing
else but the wood of the pine tree, cloven in two little slices, something
thin, which are so full of the moysture of turpentine and pitch that they burne
as cleere as a torch."
Rev. Mr. Higginson. 1633.
"Out of these Pines is gotten the Candlewood that is
much spoke of, which may serve as a shift among poore folks, but I cannot
commend it for singular good, because it droppeth a pitchy kind of substance
where it stands."
Wood,
_New England's Prospect. 1642.
Tuesday, 20 October 2015
The Polypore Fungus Tinder for Flint & Steel Fire Lighting & Fire Bow.
This is really just an update to previous posts I have made concerning these Bracket Fungus. These first 3 images of Laetiporus Portentosus, also known as White Punk, were taken this past Monday afternoon in the forest in the Armidale/Guyra area of New England NSW. Mostly found on Stringybark trees here, but they will grow on other trees. This one was found within reach of my hand being about 7 feet off the ground.
I have not seen this type of bracket fungus growing in the tropics, but that does not mean that it does not exist there.
Once charred directly in the fire it makes excellent tinder for flint & steel fire lighting, it can also be used in the Fire-Bow process & for carrying fire.
Similar fungus known as Piptoporus & Ryvardenia serve the same purpose & all look very much alike. The image is more important than the name, just remember what it looks like.
I have not seen this type of bracket fungus growing in the tropics, but that does not mean that it does not exist there.
Once charred directly in the fire it makes excellent tinder for flint & steel fire lighting, it can also be used in the Fire-Bow process & for carrying fire.
Similar fungus known as Piptoporus & Ryvardenia serve the same purpose & all look very much alike. The image is more important than the name, just remember what it looks like.
The following images are of this Bracket Fungus that I have found in the past. These fungus very often grow high in trees & to collect them you will need to throw a stick or rock to bring them down, but after rain, this fungus soaks up the water & becomes too heavy to hang on the tree & falls to the ground. Many are found on the ground.
This fungus is eaten by a fungus beetle, & the resulting dust will catch a spark without having to char the fungus in the fire.
A close up of the damage done by the fungus beetle, & a close up of the beetle itself (a lot of fun trying to get a good photo of this tiny beetle !!!)
Laetiporus Portentosus Map.
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