Adventures of an Imperfect Man In Search of a Handmade Life
The shop has been a little slow with outside projects and day work taking over my hours. However, I do get a few things done along the way and some projects are coming to a completion. I have a load of FLINT & STEEL fire kits on the way for late winter purchase and have … Continue reading Fire Kits on the Production Bench
It’s always time to up your fire-building game. Survival Sherpa Todd Walker does just that in this post. Check it out.
by Todd Walker
The human love affair with fire is intimate and ancient. Over the flames we cook, celebrate, spin tales, dream, and muse in the swirls of wood smoke. Fire is life. Its warming glow draws us like moths to a flame.
It’s not a stretch to believe that a Stone Age chemist recognized the idea of using carbon for future fires. Disturbing the leftover carbon ashes from the night fire, she stares at sparkles of light glowing like the pre-dawn stars above. She carefully nurses a baby “star” back to life to warm her hearth and home.
It ain’t rocket surgery. Even cavemen knew the importance of the sixth most abundant element in the universe.
The game of chasing lightning strikes for each fire was no longer required. This unreliable practice was abandoned for twirling sticks together to create enough heat to initiate the…
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I was lucky to learn this method as a young Scout and have stayed proficient over the many years since. To become truly skilled at this, I went through a period of making a coal every day with either this method or by hand drill. I spent a couple days and nights out in the … Continue reading Making a bow-drill fire
Preindustrial Craftsmanship 