Fire Lighting Videos.

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. 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHEOMSZJETfj3GnoyONuvCQ?view_as=public

Identifying Touchwood/Punk Wood.

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:

Videos on Identifying Punk Wood Tinder.

More on Punk Wood.

I am getting a lot of requests of late to explain in detail what punk wood is and what it looks like and feels like.
Punk Wood from all species of trees should work fine as a tinder once charred. Punk Wood is usually of a whitish colouring but it can also be other colours. Punk Wood in trees is Dry Rot and is caused by Serpula lacrymans, which is a wood-destroying fungus. Punk Wood that is completely formed, is light in weight, soft to the touch, and spongy. That is it can be squeezed a little between your fingers.

My wife found this large piece of Punk Wood in the base of a fallen willow tree.

You can spot the white Punk Wood from a distance, this Punk Wood is in the base of a Mountain Gum.

Here is a closer look at the Mountain Gum Punk Wood.

At the back of this tinderbox you can see charred Bracket Fungus. At the front is charred pieces of Punk Wood.

This shows the other side of some Punk Wood pieces that are not charred all over. You only need to char one side in the fire, then smother it in your tinderbox.

 

Forest Walk. My Latest Video.

Forest Walk is the result of my searching for a large red dinner plate sized fungus that one of my sons found whilst bushwalking in our forest. I never did find it, but decided to use the footage that I had anyway. This is an example of paying attention to your surroundings, & noting anything that may be of use to you now or later on.



MANNA GUM/RIBBON GUM.



One of the manna gum trees, Eucalyptus viminalis, is listed by Fujita as being pollinated by the grey-headed flying fox. The manna gum tree is also a honey tree. Bees as well as bats seek out the sweet nectar of the tree's flowers.


The manna gum tree is so named because a sweet red gum oozes from the leaves and damaged bark. The gum was eaten in early times by aboriginal Australians. It is still collected and savoured by human beings.


Manna gum medicine: Manna gum has a mild laxative effect. Oil from the leaves fights influenza viruses. Aching limbs can be relieved by a soak in a decoction of manna gum leafy twigs.


Other uses: E. viminalis is a source of a multi-use essential oil. The sweet leaf and bark manna is incorporated into adhesives and the bark is a source of tannin.


http://www.batplants.co.uk/manna%20gum.htm

Foraging. BIG Punkwood.

This is the largest single piece of punkwood I have found so far, would have to last me for a year at least if I were using it. The rule is a meter long, and the piece of punkwood is about 725 cm long.