Making fire
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Many different techniques for making fire exist. Smoldering plants and trees, or any source of hot coals from natural fires is the oldest way to make a fire. Other ancient techniques involve a fire drill or fire stick that is rotated or rubbed on a base. For thousands of years humans would strike a stone containing iron to produce sparks and then tinder was used to make a fire from the sparks. A flint alone doesn't produce incandescent sparks; it is the flint's ability to violently release small particles of iron, exposing them to oxygen that actually starts the burning. These methods are known since the Paleolithic ages, and still commonly in use with certain 'primitive' tribes but difficult to use in a damp atmosphere. (The control of fire by early humans is said to date back to either Homo erectus or very early Homo sapiens, that is, hundreds of thousands of years ago, based on archaeological evidence of hearths. [1])
The oldest way to make fire would have been to carry a burning coal around from a natural fire, and to keep it smoldering in dry plant material (e.g. sage, tobacco) that can hold a burning coal for long periods of time. Dry tinder can be added to the coal, and then blown on to form flames. The problem with this method is that the coal can burn out, and the coal needs new plant material over long periods of time to keep smoldering. It may have been difficult to travel long distances in wet conditions with a burning coal wrapped in such plant materials. Many natives in North America still use certain smoldering plants to keep a fire alive for days. Birch bark, tobacco, sage, and other plants smolder very well and provide both smoke for insect repelling, and hot coals for fire making.
Firecraft refers to the skills required to create, control and use fire. In its most commonly used sense, it refers to the making of fire using primitive methods, often in a survival situation. The term has come into popular use as a component of Bushcraft.
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[edit] Natural occurrence
Fire occurs naturally as a result of volcanic activity and lightning strikes, and many animals are aware of fire and adapt their behavior accordingly. Plants, too, have adapted to the natural occurrence of fire. Thus humans would have known about fire, and later its beneficial uses, long before the ability to make fire on demand were developed. In addition, the first and easiest way to make a fire would have been to use the hot ashes or burning wood from a forest or grass fire, and then to keep the fire or coals going for as long as possible by adding more wood and plant materials many times each day. Natural sources of animal fats and petrochemicals that burn could have been used to keep and maintain fires that started naturally.
Various plants have seeds that germinate only after fire when the ground has been cleared of competing plants, a behavior called serotiny.
Eucalyptus trees contain flammable oils which make fires more intense.
[edit] Friction
An ancient method of making fire on demand consists of rubbing a hard wooden stick (for example some poplar) sharpened to a point, sometimes using a fire bow, on a hollowed piece of soft wood (for example fig wood). The heat produced is used to ignite tinder, such as charred cloth, dry plant material, or wood.
The hand drill grinding against the soft wooden base causes black dust to form near the hole of the soft wood, and that becomes a red hot coal. Tinder is added, and by blowing on the coal and tinder, a flame is produced. It can take a great degree of effort and experience to discover a successful combination of materials.
The bow drill uses the same principle but the spindle is driven by a bow, which allows longer strokes. With a good drill, fire can be rapidly created even in wet conditions.
[edit] Percussion
To produce sparks, one strikes a hard stone, for example flint or quartz, on another containing iron such as pyrite or marcasite. Sparks with this method must be immediately in contact with tinder, or with black charcoal cloth or steel wool that will smolder from the spark. The material used to hold the spark is held above the flint or quartz, tight against the stone. The striker is then brought against the stone in a quick, straight downward motion. The stone pulls steel flakes off the striker, which become hot, molten sparks.
[edit] Sunlight
One of the easiest methods of creating fire is to use a lens or condensing reflector (such as a torch/flashlight reflector) to focus the energy from the sun onto tinder. It is most effective on dark coloured tinder which absorbs heat and light energy better (light coloured tinder reflects heat and light energy).
[edit] Modern methods
[edit] Matches
The invention of matches dates from the nineteenth century.
[edit] Lighters
Cigarette lighters combine ferrocerium with fuel, and can produce adjustable flames. They are also generally very simple to light.
[edit] Electric
This is done using an object with a high electric resistance on tinder. A current is run through the object until it is red hot, much like the burners on an electric stove, and it is then brought into contact with the wood, lighting it. Also, a low electric current, such as a battery, coming in contact with a thin wire mesh (such as steel wool) will produce heat along the lines of charcloth which will also ignite with the proper tinder.
[edit] Solar
This uses a concave mirror to focus the Sun's rays on some tinder. Alternately, a magnifying glass can focus the Sun's rays to ignite tinder.
[edit] Spark
A gas flame may be ignited by a spark, typically generated by piezoelectricity.
[edit] Compression
An unusual method of making fire is by using a device called a fire piston. Commonly constructed from wood, horn and plastic, it is composed of a hollow tube with one sealed end and a piston which fits snugly within the tube. At the end of the piston is a depression where tinder is held during compression as well as a gasket which is located just a few millimeters away from the end. The tinder is inserted into the depression, and the piston is quickly pushed into the tube. This compresses the air, raising the temperature in the tube, similarly to the way a diesel engine fires, to the point where the tinder ignites and forms an ember. Tinder can come from a variety of sources such as "Tinder Fungus" and char-cloth.
This was observed in the jungle by Laurens van der Post.
[edit] Chemical
There are thousands of combinations of chemicals which will ignite when mixed together (some explosively). Probably the best-known for survival situations is potassium permanganate and glycerine or sugar. Chemical methods are likely to produce poisonous or toxic waste which should be contained until safe disposal is possible.
[edit] Sustaining fire
Once the tinder is lit, it must be transferred to a larger tinder, such as a bundle of dried grass and then blown gently until a flame is created. Then it is necessary to put this lit bundle on the ground and then twigs or other small tinder be placed above it, then small branches and large twigs and so on until logs can be sustained in the fire. Most fires that fail are due to trying to shortstep the process of stepping up the size of the fire; one can't light a log with a match.
It is important to increase the size of the wood slowly, as a small flame cannot heat a large mass enough to cause it to emit combustible gases. In addition, it is important to ensure a proper airflow to bring enough oxygen to the process without displacing the flame from the gases or cooling the fuel too much.
Once a fire is well underway, it is then possible to add fuels with more water or sap content as the heat may be enough to boil off the water. In wet weather, dry fuel can also be obtained by splitting dried out logs. Although the outside might be wet, the freshly split inner surfaces should be dry.
