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School of Wilderness
Survival and Ancient Skill
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February 2008 Entry on this page Entry #1 February 2008 The Mini Tinder Bundle by Tim MacWelch Copyright © 2008 as Earth
Connection Handout Series 2 I know this is kind of random, but I was thinking fondly of some old friends the other day. I remembered a very fun little contest we used to have. It was the "Mini Tinder Bundle Contest". You probably have already gotten an idea of how it works. Who can produce a flame with the most tiny tinder bundle possible?? We all got quite good at working small bundles of premium tinder. It was typical to see one little spurt of flame that lasted about 3 seconds from a cotton ball sized tinder bundle. What's the point of playing such a game?? Well, foremost is the practice of frugality. There are usually many fires contained in the wood of the average fire kit. But there are only so many fires in a bag full of tinder. We always had plenty of fire kits laying around, but we made so many fires that we were always running out of tinder. That's how the contest was born. We made lots of coals, and couldn't bear to just crush them out or let them starve. So we always made a little flame somehow, before letting the coal go out. Call it an offering to the Creator if you need to qualify it. We rarely spoke of such lofty things. It just never seemed right to try too hard to explain the Chain of Fire Command. Which is, if you were wondering,
See, it's just too complicated to really explain well, and frequently it's quite a personal matter how we feel about all this stuff. It just didn't seem right to make coals and let them die. So that's why we made the Mini Tinder Bundles. Mostly out of some kind of respect for the fire and them that gave it to us. Regardless... try this trick just for practice, make a cotton ball sized bundle of really fluffy stuff. See if you can get it to make a tiny flame. Then make the bundles smaller, and smaller, and smaller. See how small you can go and still get a flame. This is a resource saving technique for use when there is no emergency. Just starting a little fire for no special reason. If you really are in trouble, use an armload full of tinder. Make sure your bundle of fire has no chance of going out before the sticks light. And let us know how you do! "Do you feel lucky? Well, do ya?" Tim
Entry #2 February 2008 The Arctic Mouth Drill by Tim MacWelch Copyright © 2008 as Earth
Connection Handout Series 2 The Arctic Mouth Drill technique and accompanying fire kit are remarkable adaptations in extreme cold weather Friction Fire Making. They are also testaments to the creativity, toughness and artistry of our northernmost brothers and sisters. The Arctic fire kits in the Smithsonian Institute collection range from raw and elegantly simple utilitarian fire kits - to beautiful and yet functional pieces of art. These kits were often made from a very limited supply of materials, like bone, leather and driftwood. Sometimes that driftwood was even Oak! A brutal wood for drills and boards! Some would say an impossible wood for friction fire. The kit in the drawing above was collected in the 1800's near the Anderson River in British Columbia by C.P. Gaudet, then added to the Smithsonian collection in Washington DC. The kit was later examined, drawn, described and possibly tested by Walter Hough. Mr. Hough then wrote a document called "Fire-Making Apparatus In The U.S. National Museum" which was published in a Smithsonian internal document in 1888. This rare document yielded jewels of information like the sketch and description of this kit. The Mouth Drill is different from other fire making methods in the way that the drill is held in place, and the way that downward pressure is applied. A wood block, a stone or a bone is held in the fire maker's mouth, clamped between their teeth. The fire maker bends over - or lies down on their belly - holding their mouth piece in their mouth, which holds the drill in place on the board. Then a bow or just a plain piece of string wrapped around the drill is used to spin the drill back and forth. This generates the same result as other fire kits - heat, dust, and for the lucky, FIRE. But this is a very unique way to use these seemingly familiar components. In the drawing above by Walter Hough, the curved piece resembling a boat is the mouth piece, which was held between the teeth and provided a socket to receive the top of the drill. The actual receptacle in the mouth piece is a square piece of black stone with a hole in it. This is carved and imbedded into the wooden mouth piece, which is thought to resemble walrus tusks when held in the fire maker's mouth. The stone insert is smooth and eliminates friction at the top of the drill. The bow is the leg bone of a deer, with a leather string. A typical trick of the northern fire makers is to wrap the string around the drill several times for more traction on the drill, and the loose string of this kit seems to support this tradition. This double or triple wrapped string is a great technique for anyone to use if they have chronic trouble with their string slipping on the drill. The fire board shows the very ancient style of a notch-less fireboard. Holes are drilled next to each other - and slightly overlapping - so that the dust pours into the opening next to the hole that is being drilled. This keeps the coal on top of the board, which is very practical when doing this on snow or more likely on furs. This notch-less technique is not as efficient as a dust collecting notch cut into the side of the board, like the majority of known fire kits, but the notch-less style certainly suits the environment. It may also keep the wood warmer around the site of drilling, which would help to reach the ignition temperature of the dust, while working in the very cold air. The three most significant things about this kit give us techniques that can help any prospective fire maker in their personal "Quest For Fire". Try a solid stone handhold piece, or a wooden piece with a stone insert to eliminate counterproductive friction at the top of your bow drill (or mouth drill) kit. Try wrapping the string around your drill twice or even three times instead of the typical "once around the drill". Try the overlapping holes on top of the fire board, instead of a notch carved in the side. You'll probably find that a notch in the side of your kit makes a coal faster, and more consistently than overlapping holes. However, it's a nice option to learn this style in case you don't have a knife or stone to carve the notch someday. Try it all out! Please let us know how you do. Emails are welcome at the address below. Thanks for reading, Tim
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Copyright © 2007 Earth Connection School of Wilderness
Survival and Ancient Skills
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Earth
Connection 
This
article is being written during an unusual cold snap here in Virginia.
It's 17 degrees F right now. I know you folks way up north would laugh at
that temperature and think that is a mild spring day, but it's pretty cold for
this area. The article was developing in my head days ago when things were
warmer, more like 40 or 50 degrees F, but it seems very fitting to work on this
today. I'd also like to dedicate this article to a very nice young man who
has a great interest in friction fire making, Dirk - this article is for you
buddy! Hope you like it!