I try to make fire without matches - Day six

back to day five

On Thursday at lunch I bought a redwood stake to use as my new baseboard. It was a half-inch thick, so I would have a better shot at making a fire before grinding all the way though.

I carefully made a deep pit to start the bowing and got my bottlecap fingers positioned carefully.

I got lots of smoke on the first try.  I was really feeling in control.
I stopped bowing when I had thick curls of smoke.  I had learned to let the ember sit by itself for awhile, waving my hand at it instead of blowing. 

I let it sit, I waved at it & I piled tinder on top (to warm it up), being careful not to smother it.
Finally, about 2 minutes after I had stopped bowing, the tinder caught fire!

Success!
Here is another photo of my little fire!
I did it! Hoorah! Firemaster! 

Bring on the desert islands!

 

No, that sweat on my forehead is not from the heat of the fire.
My neighbor was walking by at right this moment & took this photo. The flame went out & the hot ember dropped into the palm of my hand. Ow. I just KNEW there was going to be an injury with this project.
Here is a photo of my hand with the first spindle. It ended up being too thin and crooked. See how you could roll a small pea under it? That means that it is too crooked and will wobble too much when you spin it.
The top stick of redwood is the one I succeeded with, the two cedar shingles were too thin and I ended up drilling through them just as the heat was building.
This photo shows my successful fire-pit on the right, and a ready-to-spindle pit on the left.


The secret of making fire with a spindle and baseboard is to grind out a small pile of extremely hot powdery sawdust, which will foster an ember. The pile of hot sawdust needs to be about the size of the pink eraser on the back of a pencil. Making this little smoldering pile requires the whole violent heat-generation process to be stationary enough to allow a small pile to collect. This is where slow, careful engineering comes in. Also, the graceful touch that comes with practice allows it to happen gently.

Photo comparison of top stick (failure),
and bottom stick (successful).
In retrospect, the trouble and anguish that Tom Hanks went through on his island was actually pretty mild.

My last bit of advice to potential fire makers is that the careful construction of your sticks is very important. If one is too flexible or thick or crumbly, go out and find another one. They won't just save you sweat, they are really the only way to be successful. Good luck!

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Contact Rob May 15th, 2002.  

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