I'm from Southeast Asia. There's a logic to the use of fire piston here. One, geologically flint stones are scarce here and two, high humidity often make rubbing sticks together to start fire extremely difficult if not impossible. I know, I tried while at the orchard in humid jungle. Made the wood bit black and smoke a little but did not hold ember. I attempted it with the wood attached to an electric drill. How humid it could get? Once I was going on a trip to a remote waterfall. Hung my towel to dry. It went from damp to nearly wet. Several days of using wet towel is not an experience I'd like to repeat.
Southeast Asia is the home of friction fire! apparently many people don't know how to distinguish between firelighting techniques based on their origin, which includes the given geographical area plus clima plus fauna. There's a place and time for every method.
But where did the ore come from to make a metallic fire piston for a fire not yet started ? Are the ores for metals more common in South-East Asia than flint?
Townsends really helps me understand how people would live back in the day without going through it. Makes me thankful for the comfort and convenience of modern day technology, and for this channel for making our history live!
Exactly! These days, you just have to throw in a wood wool firefighter and some kindling to start virtually any fire in less than a minute. I can't imagine how hard it was to do it using these traditional methods.
You should really try some of these techniques for yourself! I used to do Historical Reenactment for the same era that Townsends talks about. It’s not nearly as difficult as it seems. It’s quite useful. And it builds self confidence. You might save someone else’s life with the knowledge!
@dr.froghopper6711 Yeah, I'm thinking there's a happy median between how they lived back then, where everything you needed, you had to get, secure, and repair yourself, and how we live now where everything we need is at the tip of our fingers. Maybe it's living day-to-day like they did, but using modern science to dictate what at do, and modern medicine to keep us alive.
ABSOLUTELY, agree. Arguably, one of the biggest understated, progressive moves we have made…starting fire…. …from an OLD war veteran, retired in the US.
@@Afrologist I made the first improvement of the bow drill in perhaps 10,000 years. I kept smacking myself in the head with it, so I made a frame. My middle school students would go nuts on it burning smoking hole after smoking hole through cedar without ever getting a usable ember.
One of the greatest things lacking from our modern lives, is the deepest sense of gratitude that we could possibly muster. Our ancestors died for lack of the things that we ignore or simply throw away.
This. So much this. It doesn't even dawn on people how incredibly fortunate we are to be able do things like readily access a wide variety of safe foods, turn on the tap and instantly have clean water to drink and bathe in, have a washing machine to save us from the backbreaking tedium of handwashing clothes, and every other modern convenience. Many people sit around and complain about how horrible society is whilst simultaneously living a better life than 99% of humans that ever existed.
A ferro rod (ferocerium) is basically a modern flint and steel. It's a metal alloy that will shed intensely hot sparks when rubbed by something hard (usually the spine of a bush knife). These sparks are hot enough to start tinder alight directly, without needing char cloth or other intermediate spark catching materials. A ferro rod and a bush knife and some very basic outdoor skills in finding tinder are all you need to start a fire. Better yet, carry a lighter, as they use a tiny ferro rod to light the butane and produce an actual flame. I'd personally carry both, as you need a knife anyway, and a ferro rod isn't a burden to carry. And a lighter? Just stick on in your pocket, they weigh very little, and usually work the first time. The ferro rod/knife combo is just a backup.
Yes there are much more modern methods of making fire. This is a living history channel though the point isn't what's easy the point is what people used to do.
@@kylegonewild No kidding. I was just adding to the conversation. By pointing out that the more modern versions are just better versions of the old stuff. They work the same way! Thus connecting the modern to the old. Why do you hate knowledge?!?
@@jeromethiel4323 Hate knowledge? Just misread the intention jeez what a reach. I didn't make any personally disparaging remarks about you or your character. Why immediately jump to that with me? The video suggests trying these out (safely) and on passing glance the "no need for char cloth" felt like it defeated the point of the video which was showing off and recommending trying the old way to do it. That's all.
@@kylegonewild There are many of us who totally see your viewpoint. I was a Rev. war reenactor for many years and we tried to do as much as was reasonable the old way. Of course, we all went to events in our cars but the idea was to educate the public ( while we enjoyed ourselves, like by drinking canned beer !!! )
@@kylegonewild Well, i made that comment about hating knowledge based on YOUR post denigrating my post. Why did YOU jump that way with ME? Sucks when the shoe is on the other foot doesn't it? I don't impute any ill intent on your behalf. Did you read my other posts about how char cloth is actually made? I think we both got carried away. No harm done, and i bear no ill will towards you. We're all here to be entertained and educated, and i was just trying to add to that in some small way.
The bark from birch trees is also fantastic as kindling, because it contains oils that make it highly flammable. Also widely and readily available, at least in European forests
That's true! It can be used as both makeshift tinder and kindling. And birch is also very aesthetically pleasing. We have a family-run wood fuel business and a lot of people just buy it as decoration (the kiln-dried variety, which is safe to store indoors, not the seasoned variety).
True : three years ago I was in the woods in winter and found a dead birch fallen down. I had a lighter with me : though the trunk of the tree had been covered with snow for three weeks, even a bit wet, the bark still ignited after a few seconds on the flame. Birch bark is a fantastic lighter. Very common here (France)
One of the best fire starters I have discovered is the thin liner in dry gourds. The gourd itself will help keep strong winds away from your work. Give it a try. Thanks for all you do sir.
Another method was to carry hot embers from previous fire in a fireproof container, usually filled with a layer of ash to keep the heat better. Container could be made of cow's or ram's horn or clay etc.
Oooh I heard about that, I think from a survival tv show I saw a while back. Hah, I didn't expect the method to be so useful that I'd expect to ever see it mentioned in the comments , what a coincidence 😁
Reminds me of Tommy Lee Jones' dream at the end of No Country For Old Men, "He had his blanket wrapped around him and his head down and when he rode past I seen he was carryin' fire in a horn the way people used to do and I could see the horn from the light inside of it. 'Bout the color of the moon."
Also the so-called "cigar" bundle (aka fire bundle). Tightly bound sticks or something like that that had just enough air around them to allow them to smoulder but not catch flame. Could last for hours.
Making fire is a difficult task with the old methods even under ideal conditions. I remember reading/hearing about europeans during the medieval period and after, carrying said hot embers in special containers like you said rather than relly on making new fire everyday. It makes sense when you think about it.
Daniel Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe. Jonathan Swift wrote Gulliver's Travels and A Modest Proposal. It's easy to get them confused, they both lived same time frame, late 17th and early 18th century.
You have one of the most atmospheric channels out there. The camera work is outstanding and the shot with the rifle (no pun intended) alone is a thing of beauty
I come from north Florida and my father had a saying, "Borrowing money is as easy as picking up fat lighter knots. Paying it back is as easy as eating them."
Whenever someone mentions primitive fire making I'm always reminded of Jeremiah Johnson under an evergreen making a fire only to have a big plop of snow snuffing it out !
Yes! I remember being shown that short film in my American literature class in high school back in the late 1970s. I have never forgotten it….To Make a Fire
I've been fascinated by "primitive" firemaking since the mid 70's, when we went to our first mountain man rendezvous. I traded an ermine skin for a striker and wore my 12 year old self out trying to make it work. Turns out the steel wasn't hardened and would never spark. Since then I've learned firemaking in almost every way. My last challenge is a hand drill...I can get an ember rarely, but I'm not consistent. Always more to learn... Thank you for the video AND for your research. We're all grateful to you.
As much of Canada and the United States was dealing with a polar vortex, this shows how many of us take furnaces and modern heating methods for granted. This was another awesome episode. Cheers!
I got excited when i heard the Aristophanes reference. There are so many striking parallels between the themes in his comedies from 2500 years ago to today's world. There are 11 extant comedies and they are all great.
I have been with Townsend and Son for 12 years or more... I just love all you guys... Jon has such a way to bring history to life... Thank you for the lovely history of fire. Vety interesting. Much love to you guys... Big thanks!
It's interesting to see many of these old methods of fire starting come full circle with bushcrafting and prepping becoming very popular over the past couple of decades, the fire piston, fire lens, and the ferro rod(the modern day flint) being put into many peoples supplies and gear bags for camping or survival needs.
Really enjoyed the video. We are so spoiled today. I learned how to start a fire with flint and steel as well as with a bow drill when I was in Boy Scouts. We used to do some survival training and tried to live off the land. It was a lot of fun but harder than most people think it is. Flint and steel was by far the easiest method and required a lot less energy than using a bow drill. My friends and I actually got very good at both methods. We used to time ourselves and we could usually do a flint and steel fire under 2 minutes and bow drill under 4 minutes.
Thank you for covering the exciting topic of traditional wood fires! Our family-owned company has been creating wood-heating fuels for over a decade, and it's interesting to see how much the seemingly simple fire-starting process has changed over the centuries! These days, you just need to take a wood wool firefighter, add some kindling, and you can light virtually any log. It takes less than a minute. Our ancestors certainly had it a lot harder than we do now.
Getting too old. You brought back some forgotten skills from my youth!!! I used to know the shape and color of a flint rock. Few in our area, but findable in the woods. Thanks a bunch!!!
Even Homer nods …. Defoe wrote great stories but he didn’t write “Gulliver’s Travels”. That was Jonathan Swift as its author. Good podcast anyway! Thanks!
Wow, thank you! I'm well familiar with most of these methods, but I've been looking into touchwood for nordic bronze age reconstruction. This is the first proper explanation I've been able to find online on how to process and use it!
I have one of Townsend's fire starting kits--looking forward to trying it out once the weather gets a little drier. My dad did both fur trader and Civil War re-enactments and he could start a fire with flint and steel extremely quickly.
Thanks for sharing with us Jon, bought a few of those flint and steel kits back in the early to mid 80's .Still have one left in my "POSSIBLE POUCH" . Thanks for sharing this remembrance of the original fire starting kit. Fred and family.
I love how your speech and time frame is always in the 18th century. That's the reason why the videos feel so authentic to me. Keep it up! The reference with the diesel engine was perfect! Very interesting wow!
After years of wanting one. I finally started building a Tinder Box, last year. And even gave one to each of my adult sons, as a Christmas gift. Mostly filled with modern fire starters and tinder. But the skill / art of starting a fire from minimal tools has became obsolete over time. Learning this craft is not only historic, but something primal too. Either for backyard fires, camping or survival I think its a skill worth learning, fun, and worth passing on to the next generation! ♨️🥩🍺
When we were kids we would use a magnifying glass to set dried leaves on fire. Of course we only used 1 leaf at a time and did it on the sidewalk or driveway, but it was kinda fun doing it and sometimes we would race to see who could get their leaf to start burning first.
I'm jelly I wasn't allowed to have one at all 😂 but it's ok, because I understand that having the power of the sun in the palm of ones hand is intimidating to many parents 😂😂😂
Lindybeige made a good point, most people in towns and villages wouldn't need to make fires, as people would almost always have some fire burning somewhere in the village. There would almost almost be some embers in the fireplace, forge, etc, somewhere in town.
This is such a great video. I learned so much... I've made my own hand drill fire (very challenging and got major blisters) through the SW Native methods, and excited to introduce these tools next time I make a fire!
Years ago, while learning all about outdoor survival skills, I tried pretty much every type of primitive fire starting method and I can say that the most effective is the flint and steel, and the "magnifying glass" the least effective, at least during my testing. Also, toleit paper is the best "tinder" vs almost any natural material, unless you count pocket lint ;)
I’ve heard the term flint and steel for most of my life. But, I finally found out that other rocks can be used like chert and quarts. I can find quartz all around where I live. The rock needs to have a sharp edge to strike on and some rocks perform better than others, you just have to try them out and see how they perform.
In roman cities the traditional way to start a fire was to go to some other building that already had a fire going, and roman legions would carry embers in little metal balls full of holes that they would used to start fires at the end of their daily march
@augustsmith9553 I I know. Also, no need to get on a high horse and act as though I think we should be online more or something... obviously we're all fans of the channel. 🤷🏼♂️
Jason : Modern fire pistons are dependent on rubber O rings. These O rings deteriorate or have imperfections that render the piston useless. If you can make an 18th century fire piston you have a new product for sale.
Fantastic video, one thing I'd say is when preparing char cloth or like materials in a tin is that it provides an oxygen free environment. That's why it will only burn to a certain piont. If the hole is big enough to let air in you will only have ash when you open it. I love your channel and it is often my wind down before bed, wonderful information!
My grandson still hasnt used up all the material in hid firestarter kit i got for him (Jas. Townsend's)but weve worn out the flint. Ill have to get more. Practice-Practice-Practice!
Regarding 1:55, there is an alternative to using a convex lens to focus sunlight by refraction to ignite a fire. A parabolic mirror can focus sunlight by reflection to ignite a fire. Greek mathematician Archimedes engineered large concave mirrors to burn Roman ships that were invading Syracuse in 212 BC. A modern flashlight head uses a parabolic mirror to project a beam of light. The same parabolic mirror can also be used to concentrate sunlight to its focal point which can ignite a fire.
the actual name of the process in flint and steel is pyrophoric, it is rapid oxyization in the iron as it hits the air. I've treated punkwood with ash lye and it will take a spark with flint and steel without charring.
It's not the iron that combusts. It is the carbon in the steel. Low carbon steel does not even spark on a grinding wheel. That's an easy test for high carbon steel.
@ the anciant romans and vikings used case hardened iron for their strikers, wrought iron for the most part, with a little bit of carbon added on the surface so it would spark.
Making char cloth or charcoal, is all about driving off the VOCs (volatile organic compounds) out of the cloth or wood. Those VOCs tend to be flammable, and was called "wood gas" back in the day. What you end up with is basically almost pure carbon. Which is fairly easy to get burning with a spark. If you live out where you can harvest firewood, you can make your own charcoal very easily. There are a lot of videos on youtube of people doing exactly this. I did it as a teenager, just to see if i could. It's not hard, and they used to do this on a massive scale to get the charcoal early blacksmiths needed to work iron and steel.
i am terrible with burning lenses and firesticks. but i got pretty good with flint and steel. i've got many modern firesteels (one on my knife sheath, one in my car, one in my camping bag) and it's always such a laugh seeing city-slickers that have never left to go into nature amazed by watching me light a fire with a knife. being a heavy smoker, i usually have a couple of lighters on me, but it's happened that they crapped out when starting the bbq. i'm always glad to keep the extra ounce for my steel. it's surprisingly handy and once you've got the knack, it's almost as fast as a zippo
I work at a Historic Site in North Carolina and we teach elementary school kids about the flint and steel technique and demonstrate it for them using flint and steel, char cloth, and sometimes tow, but most of the time twine. A lot of them asking about magnifying glasses, so it is good to know that was happening as well
I use my Townsends steel, and driveway chert, to start fires. It’s a neat skill that you’ve made available to us, through your catalog. We also start fires with a lens, but the conditions have to be perfect.
If you happen to make your own black powder, you can make some really nice char cloth for starters. I like to layer a piece of chat cloth that has been dipped into a solution of potassium nitrate with another piece that is coated in a slurry of finished black powder. The nitrate cloth will take a spark from just a momentary touch of either a steel or a lens, greatly amplify it and hold it for a long time. The black powder cloth will turn that into a large flame that burns long enough to get a good fire going in an instant.
Mr. Townsend, thank you for being such a good teacher. Some teachers assume too much. Some students assume too much. ….from an OLD war veteran, retired in the US.
I saw the brass tobacco box. Bought one from your catalog several years ago. It worked many times during my Civil War reenacting days. I no longer reenact, but i still have the tobacco box and many wonderful memories.
Blacksmiths often start the fire in their forge by quickly and repeatedly striking a thin piece of metal such as a nail until it glows red hot from the friction. They put it in a kindling bundle and make the flame.
The fire syringe is really interesting, looks effortless and works in all weather. Had lots of fun with lenses as a kid making motifs on dry leaves, it was like magic when you get the angle
Never thought this channel would explain to me not only how compression ignition works, but also it's age & origin; totally assumed it was a 20th-century invention, but this channel always manages to teach me something new about history.
I have a Pedersoli Flintlock Replica and I've used a magnifying glass to ignite the powder in the pan. From a rested position it can hit stationary targets.
I found, living in the humid southeast US, that char cloth works best when fresh. I had some stored away in an altoids tin and after a few months it became harder to catch a spark using flint and steel. I've also heard the rotten wood called punk wood. I live in the desert in the southwest US now and rotten wood is hard to find. The wood here is very dense and dries out so fast that there's not time for it to rot.😂
In the SW USA, the key is to go to higher elevations on the West side of the elevation. There you'll find natural materials that have been broken down by fungi to form a kind of cellulose foam that makes better fire starting materials.
I’ve found that fine enough fiber can catch a spark even without charring it first! I mostly used oakum picked apart from old Sugar and Cream cotton yarn scraps and had no trouble getting a flame (not just an ember, but an actual flame!) in just one to two strikes.
When showing the old rifle, it sounded like you said "firelock" a couple of times. The correct term is "flintlock" since the hammer holds a small piece of flint. When you placed the cloth & punky wood in your metal container, then onto the hot coals, you were carbonizing those materials. The fire's heat first drives out any moisture in the materials, then the volatile gases in the materials are driven out. These gases can and usually do catch fire as they exit the can, as shown in your video. What you were left with is pure carbon. Many types of organic material can be turned into pure carbon. I used a container like yours, but it was the size of a cookie tin. I would load it up with husks from hickory nuts, pine cones, leaves, pine needles, a few bird feathers, and even bone. Everything came out fully carbonized, ready to use for making a fire. Thicker or lager pieces of bone work well because they aren't as delicate as char cloth. More like a firm charcoal briquette. Good video, thanks.
Here in the desert southwest the best fire starting resource is sotol stalks and agave fibers. Sotol makes a perfect drill from the tip wood and fireboard with the base wood. It's easy enough to break by hand and cut a notch with a fleck of even dull rock. After a minute or so the sotol will make it's own nice little pile of char in the notch that will catch light soon after. And agave fibers are like a solid form of lighter fluid. Strip a dead agave leaf of it's spikes, grab the fibers and each end and just agitate it back and forth, up and down in circles until all that's left is the fine fibers. This will blaze to life easily form the smoldering sotol char. And out here unless they're underwater, all this stuff stays dry even in the wet season. Sotol is a vertical stalk that doesn't collect water, and the tough dried outer skin of an agave leaf keeps the inner fibers dry if they're not in standing water. which they're not because they mostly grow on ridges and slopes. This is how i start fires if i don't have modern means handy, and i teach it to anyone who wants to learn when out hiking, camping and such.
I still have the tinderbox I made in scouts. We spent a weekend with the Seneca Muzzleloaders at their annual Rendezvous in Tiffin, Ohio, living like it was the early 1800's, and that was one of the many cool and interesting things we did that weekend. Everyone dressed up in period correct clothes, except us who were in our scout uniforms, all modern conveniences were forbidden, and we just lived primitively for the weekend. One of the coolest times of my life, honestly. I miss doing stuff like that.
To comment on the flint and steel as a chemist. The iron you shave off is so small that it reacts with the oxygen in the air to form rust. This releases energy as iron oxide (rust) is lower in energy and more stable than elemental iron. The heat generated by these sparks is enough to light timber.
3:57 Rock on Rock actually does work. The Inuit, among many other people groups, made extensive use of this. Indeed, prior to contact with Europeans, flint on marcasite (a specific type of iron pyrite) was the *ONLY* percussion (aka F&S) fire ignition method known to them. Note: The Inuit also used friction (wood on wood) methods.
I have successfully made F&S style fire with pyrites on pyrites, quartzes on pyrites and steels on pyrites. In this context the "quartzes" I've used include various agates, chalcedonies, cherts, dolomites, flints, fossilized corals, granites, jaspers, novaculites, onyxes, pyrites, sandstones and true quartzes. There are no doubt many quartz containing rocks that I have not yet used that would quite likely work as well.
@4:20 - It's funny how much knowledge we take for granted today. I remember learning the hardness scale in middle school. It would seem intuitive with the understanding that some materials are harder than others that the sparks are from the softer material. But of course the hardness scale(s) also came out of the enlightenment and development of science.
My colleaque is a fairly good blacksmith, I asked him to make a striking iron for me. I use it to light our fireplace, just because it is so satisfying. In my opinion it is surprisingly easy, if you have proper materials. Most of the time I use charcloth to catch the spark. I have tried several times to make tinder from horse hoof fungus, but so far I haven't succeeded.
In Appalachia, I found dried Chicken of the Woods will carry a great ember for a very long time, if the smell doesn't get to you. Haha. I love this channel.
I think the steel and flint method creates a tiny piece of steel that instantly oxidises in the air, which results in heat, via an exothermic reaction. This is the spark. In any event, I learnt a lot from your video, myself. Thanks so much 👍
Only works with high carbon steel which is why it doesn't go back very far. I believe it is the carbon in the steel that is sparking. Wrought iron doesn't spark even on a grinding wheel.
I got the flint and steel kit from Townsend's for my birthday a couple years ago. Let's just say I enjoy starting a fire that way. I'm at the point I need to order more flint lol.
That is a FANTASTIC still shot for your thumbnail! If you're planning on doing any printing, be it book, pamphlet or otherwise THAT SHOT has to be included! Wonderful work by your videographer and editor it really catches your character as well! 🙂👌
After Iearning about lenses at school I practised my newly acquired skill and used a magnifying glass to burn a decorative pattern of circles, serpents and dots in the lawn in front of the house. My father wasn't amused 😁
A large enough magnifying lens will set a piece of wood on fire almost immediately, with flame. A Fresnel lens sheet, often available for cheap at dollar stores, works very well too. There are many videos on YT of people starting fires with Fresnel lens sheets. Some people even melt rocks and metal with them.
I'm an experimental archaeologist who specializes in pre-civil war military archeology in the United states. And I absolutely love your channel! When I see a new video drop it's like Christmas morning!!!
3:42 1) Iron alone will not work as a striker. However iron + carbon (aka steel) can, though not all steels will. Further, a couple of pyrites (raw natural rocks), titanium (certain alloys at certain hardnesses) and at least two species of bamboo will work as the striker. 2) For the striker there is a specific range of hardness that works. Most carbon (not stainless) steels from 57-63 HRC will work, with 59-61 HRC being the sweet spot. Steels that I have used successfully as the striker for F&S include: 1055-1095, 5160, A2, L6, O1, O2, SK4, SK5, W1 and W2. Tool steels tend to be the best. It should be noted that it is not necessary to have a specially, or should I say specifically, made striker. Improvised strikers such as axes, chisels, screwdrivers, files, fish hooks, garden hoes, golf clubs, hammers, knives, machetes, mattocks, Olfa blades, rasps, rakes, razor (utility) knives, saw blades, shovels, pick axes, pitchforks, putty knives, etc have worked for me. Most files, saw blades and shovels are excellent improvised strikers. (Saw blades such as hand saw, bow saw, hacksaw, etc. Note: very few SawzAll blades have worked for me.) Of course some objects will work better than others, even the same type but made by a different manufacturer or made decades earlier, etc. Experiment and see what works for you. A further note on the "Steel" component is that, contrary to popular wisdom, the key is not the carbon. Indeed some stainless steels have as much or more carbon than some "high carbon" steels. Rather it is the hardness that is key. Most stainless steels are too hard to work as the "Steel" with F&S. The sparks stainless steels produce are too few and too weak to be considered reliable for starting fires.
I'm from Southeast Asia. There's a logic to the use of fire piston here. One, geologically flint stones are scarce here and two, high humidity often make rubbing sticks together to start fire extremely difficult if not impossible.
I know, I tried while at the orchard in humid jungle. Made the wood bit black and smoke a little but did not hold ember. I attempted it with the wood attached to an electric drill.
How humid it could get? Once I was going on a trip to a remote waterfall. Hung my towel to dry. It went from damp to nearly wet. Several days of using wet towel is not an experience I'd like to repeat.
You are welcome to that kind of humidity !!!
Southeast Asia is the home of friction fire! apparently many people don't know how to distinguish between firelighting techniques based on their origin, which includes the given geographical area plus clima plus fauna. There's a place and time for every method.
i hope yall stay dry. hate being wet
@@bogtrottername7001 Sounds a lot like Tennessee in August haha
But where did the ore come from to make a metallic fire piston for a fire not yet started ? Are the ores for metals more common in South-East Asia than flint?
Townsends really helps me understand how people would live back in the day without going through it. Makes me thankful for the comfort and convenience of modern day technology, and for this channel for making our history live!
Exactly! These days, you just have to throw in a wood wool firefighter and some kindling to start virtually any fire in less than a minute. I can't imagine how hard it was to do it using these traditional methods.
Go through what?
You should really try some of these techniques for yourself! I used to do Historical Reenactment for the same era that Townsends talks about. It’s not nearly as difficult as it seems. It’s quite useful. And it builds self confidence. You might save someone else’s life with the knowledge!
@dr.froghopper6711 Yeah, I'm thinking there's a happy median between how they lived back then, where everything you needed, you had to get, secure, and repair yourself, and how we live now where everything we need is at the tip of our fingers. Maybe it's living day-to-day like they did, but using modern science to dictate what at do, and modern medicine to keep us alive.
@dr.froghopper6711 I agree
The first time you make a successful friction fire using natural materials is the moment you realised why we invented every other method! :D
Bowdrills will make you buff
ABSOLUTELY, agree. Arguably, one of the biggest understated, progressive moves we have made…starting fire…. …from an OLD war veteran, retired in the US.
I’ve only ever tried, unsuccessful every time. I don’t have the stamina or the patience 😂
Pump drill for the win! Haha
@@Afrologist I made the first improvement of the bow drill in perhaps 10,000 years. I kept smacking myself in the head with it, so I made a frame. My middle school students would go nuts on it burning smoking hole after smoking hole through cedar without ever getting a usable ember.
One of the greatest things lacking from our modern lives, is the deepest sense of gratitude that we could possibly muster. Our ancestors died for lack of the things that we ignore or simply throw away.
This. So much this.
It doesn't even dawn on people how incredibly fortunate we are to be able do things like readily access a wide variety of safe foods, turn on the tap and instantly have clean water to drink and bathe in, have a washing machine to save us from the backbreaking tedium of handwashing clothes, and every other modern convenience.
Many people sit around and complain about how horrible society is whilst simultaneously living a better life than 99% of humans that ever existed.
@@13donstalos About 8% of all humans to ever exist are alive today, due to population growth.
Speak for yourselves, not everyone lives in luxury.
A ferro rod (ferocerium) is basically a modern flint and steel. It's a metal alloy that will shed intensely hot sparks when rubbed by something hard (usually the spine of a bush knife). These sparks are hot enough to start tinder alight directly, without needing char cloth or other intermediate spark catching materials.
A ferro rod and a bush knife and some very basic outdoor skills in finding tinder are all you need to start a fire. Better yet, carry a lighter, as they use a tiny ferro rod to light the butane and produce an actual flame. I'd personally carry both, as you need a knife anyway, and a ferro rod isn't a burden to carry. And a lighter? Just stick on in your pocket, they weigh very little, and usually work the first time. The ferro rod/knife combo is just a backup.
Yes there are much more modern methods of making fire. This is a living history channel though the point isn't what's easy the point is what people used to do.
@@kylegonewild No kidding. I was just adding to the conversation. By pointing out that the more modern versions are just better versions of the old stuff. They work the same way!
Thus connecting the modern to the old. Why do you hate knowledge?!?
@@jeromethiel4323 Hate knowledge? Just misread the intention jeez what a reach. I didn't make any personally disparaging remarks about you or your character. Why immediately jump to that with me? The video suggests trying these out (safely) and on passing glance the "no need for char cloth" felt like it defeated the point of the video which was showing off and recommending trying the old way to do it. That's all.
@@kylegonewild There are many of us who totally see your viewpoint.
I was a Rev. war reenactor for many years and we tried to do as much as was reasonable the old way.
Of course, we all went to events in our cars but the idea was to educate the public ( while we enjoyed ourselves, like by drinking canned beer !!! )
@@kylegonewild Well, i made that comment about hating knowledge based on YOUR post denigrating my post. Why did YOU jump that way with ME? Sucks when the shoe is on the other foot doesn't it?
I don't impute any ill intent on your behalf. Did you read my other posts about how char cloth is actually made? I think we both got carried away.
No harm done, and i bear no ill will towards you. We're all here to be entertained and educated, and i was just trying to add to that in some small way.
The bark from birch trees is also fantastic as kindling, because it contains oils that make it highly flammable. Also widely and readily available, at least in European forests
That's true! It can be used as both makeshift tinder and kindling. And birch is also very aesthetically pleasing. We have a family-run wood fuel business and a lot of people just buy it as decoration (the kiln-dried variety, which is safe to store indoors, not the seasoned variety).
It contains so much oils that is prevents the firewood from drying. It will rot instead of dry if you don´t split it first.
Also in North Eastern America, also can chew the pulp as it tastes like rootbeer
@@GreasiestGuido It's also good for helping wounds heal and reducing fever.
True : three years ago I was in the woods in winter and found a dead birch fallen down. I had a lighter with me : though the trunk of the tree had been covered with snow for three weeks, even a bit wet, the bark still ignited after a few seconds on the flame.
Birch bark is a fantastic lighter. Very common here (France)
One of the best fire starters I have discovered is the thin liner in dry gourds. The gourd itself will help keep strong winds away from your work. Give it a try. Thanks for all you do sir.
Another method was to carry hot embers from previous fire in a fireproof container, usually filled with a layer of ash to keep the heat better. Container could be made of cow's or ram's horn or clay etc.
Oooh I heard about that, I think from a survival tv show I saw a while back. Hah, I didn't expect the method to be so useful that I'd expect to ever see it mentioned in the comments , what a coincidence 😁
Reminds me of Tommy Lee Jones' dream at the end of No Country For Old Men, "He had his blanket wrapped around him and his head down and when he rode past I seen he was carryin' fire in a horn the way people used to do and I could see the horn from the light inside of it. 'Bout the color of the moon."
Yeah that was common, but it also isn't really 'starting' a fire from scratch, it's just taking a piece of a fire you already made some other way
Also the so-called "cigar" bundle (aka fire bundle). Tightly bound sticks or something like that that had just enough air around them to allow them to smoulder but not catch flame. Could last for hours.
Making fire is a difficult task with the old methods even under ideal conditions. I remember reading/hearing about europeans during the medieval period and after, carrying said hot embers in special containers like you said rather than relly on making new fire everyday. It makes sense when you think about it.
As a child, my glasses had prisms in them, and I could use them as a fire starting glass. It made recess exciting.
Like in the movie, "Lord of the Flies".
@klawockkidd3426 I never saw that movie, but I do remember hearing about that
SCIENCE! 😂😂😂
@@klawockkidd3426 You mean the book that the movie was based on.
@@internetcatfish I think they're talking about the movie. That's fine.
Daniel Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe. Jonathan Swift wrote Gulliver's Travels and A Modest Proposal. It's easy to get them confused, they both lived same time frame, late 17th and early 18th century.
You have one of the most atmospheric channels out there. The camera work is outstanding and the shot with the rifle (no pun intended) alone is a thing of beauty
Cedar tree and pine tree knots is what we used.
Goes up like gasoline.
The knots are found in rotting tree logs.
those are resin rich varieties, so yep, good choice. also leyland cypress.
I come from north Florida and my father had a saying, "Borrowing money is as easy as picking up fat lighter knots. Paying it back is as easy as eating them."
Whenever someone mentions primitive fire making I'm always reminded of Jeremiah Johnson under an evergreen making a fire only to have a big plop of snow snuffing it out !
Great, great fim.
Loved that movie but the snow putting out the fire comes from Jack London's "To Make a Fire"
Yes! I remember being shown that short film in my American literature class in high school back in the late 1970s. I have never forgotten it….To Make a Fire
I've been fascinated by "primitive" firemaking since the mid 70's, when we went to our first mountain man rendezvous. I traded an ermine skin for a striker and wore my 12 year old self out trying to make it work. Turns out the steel wasn't hardened and would never spark. Since then I've learned firemaking in almost every way. My last challenge is a hand drill...I can get an ember rarely, but I'm not consistent. Always more to learn...
Thank you for the video AND for your research. We're all grateful to you.
"Match" also refers to a slow burning coil of rope used to fire guns. Both cannons and muskets.
As much of Canada and the United States was dealing with a polar vortex, this shows how many of us take furnaces and modern heating methods for granted. This was another awesome episode. Cheers!
I got excited when i heard the Aristophanes reference. There are so many striking parallels between the themes in his comedies from 2500 years ago to today's world. There are 11 extant comedies and they are all great.
I have been with Townsend and Son for 12 years or more... I just love all you guys... Jon has such a way to bring history to life... Thank you for the lovely history of fire. Vety interesting. Much love to you guys... Big thanks!
I'm sensing a Slo-mo Guys collab in the near future to watch what happens when flint and steel collide at 1 million frames per second.
That would be amazing to see!
Please no slow-mo of this.
Actually the flint shaves a small portion of steel or iron away and the energy created causes it to heat up.
Was their 'Flint And Steel At 5000FPS' video not good enough?
Methinks a million fps may be overkill. 👍😎
I used to be a USAF Survival Instructor and we taught most of these methods/principles that you have mentioned here. Very good sir! Thank-you!
It's interesting to see many of these old methods of fire starting come full circle with bushcrafting and prepping becoming very popular over the past couple of decades, the fire piston, fire lens, and the ferro rod(the modern day flint) being put into many peoples supplies and gear bags for camping or survival needs.
I'm Canadian, I learned several ways to make fire when I was in cub scouts. IIRC the Scoutmaster was arrested for arson.
musta been a great teacher
@@mikeedwards1768 He wasn't messing with the kids, so that was a very good thing.
That made me chuckle
Really enjoyed the video. We are so spoiled today. I learned how to start a fire with flint and steel as well as with a bow drill when I was in Boy Scouts. We used to do some survival training and tried to live off the land. It was a lot of fun but harder than most people think it is. Flint and steel was by far the easiest method and required a lot less energy than using a bow drill. My friends and I actually got very good at both methods. We used to time ourselves and we could usually do a flint and steel fire under 2 minutes and bow drill under 4 minutes.
Thank you for covering the exciting topic of traditional wood fires! Our family-owned company has been creating wood-heating fuels for over a decade, and it's interesting to see how much the seemingly simple fire-starting process has changed over the centuries! These days, you just need to take a wood wool firefighter, add some kindling, and you can light virtually any log. It takes less than a minute. Our ancestors certainly had it a lot harder than we do now.
Getting too old. You brought back some forgotten skills from my youth!!! I used to know the shape and color of a flint rock. Few in our area, but findable in the woods. Thanks a bunch!!!
Even Homer nods ….
Defoe wrote great stories but he didn’t write “Gulliver’s Travels”.
That was Jonathan Swift as its author.
Good podcast anyway! Thanks!
Wow, thank you! I'm well familiar with most of these methods, but I've been looking into touchwood for nordic bronze age reconstruction. This is the first proper explanation I've been able to find online on how to process and use it!
I have one of Townsend's fire starting kits--looking forward to trying it out once the weather gets a little drier. My dad did both fur trader and Civil War re-enactments and he could start a fire with flint and steel extremely quickly.
Don’t dye your hair red
You bring shame to the Irish
I’ve used flint and steel with char cloth to light fires for grilling and it works so well, it’s fun and easy.
Thanks for sharing with us Jon, bought a few of those flint and steel kits back in the early to mid 80's .Still have one left in my "POSSIBLE POUCH" . Thanks for sharing this remembrance of the original fire starting kit. Fred and family.
Casually dropping the info about the diesel engine
Complete sentences
@augustsmith9553 What you talkin bout Willis
I love how your speech and time frame is always in the 18th century. That's the reason why the videos feel so authentic to me. Keep it up! The reference with the diesel engine was perfect! Very interesting wow!
After years of wanting one. I finally started building a Tinder Box, last year. And even gave one to each of my adult sons, as a Christmas gift. Mostly filled with modern fire starters and tinder. But the skill / art of starting a fire from minimal tools has became obsolete over time. Learning this craft is not only historic, but something primal too. Either for backyard fires, camping or survival I think its a skill worth learning, fun, and worth passing on to the next generation! ♨️🥩🍺
When we were kids we would use a magnifying glass to set dried leaves on fire. Of course we only used 1 leaf at a time and did it on the sidewalk or driveway, but it was kinda fun doing it and sometimes we would race to see who could get their leaf to start burning first.
I'm jelly I wasn't allowed to have one at all 😂 but it's ok, because I understand that having the power of the sun in the palm of ones hand is intimidating to many parents 😂😂😂
Nothing like starting Sunday with a new Townsend video. 😊
Man your presentation skills really caught fire
Now this is gonna save a life
Lindybeige made a good point, most people in towns and villages wouldn't need to make fires, as people would almost always have some fire burning somewhere in the village. There would almost almost be some embers in the fireplace, forge, etc, somewhere in town.
This was a wonderful video to watch, Jon. Your enthusiasm is contagious.
So nice to see real history, not corny people who don’t know whether they’re in the 1770’s or 1820’s and get their history from Google!
This is such a great video. I learned so much... I've made my own hand drill fire (very challenging and got major blisters) through the SW Native methods, and excited to introduce these tools next time I make a fire!
Years ago, while learning all about outdoor survival skills, I tried pretty much every type of primitive fire starting method and I can say that the most effective is the flint and steel, and the "magnifying glass" the least effective, at least during my testing. Also, toleit paper is the best "tinder" vs almost any natural material, unless you count pocket lint ;)
I did NOT test a fire piston, but feel like I need to acquire/ build one now ;)
@@mikecollins8241 That was my question. I have never used a fire piston either but want to try one.
Fire pistons work really well
And as people have pointed out, the problem with a fire lens is it works best in the middle of a clear sunny day---just when you need fire the least
I’ve heard the term flint and steel for most of my life. But, I finally found out that other rocks can be used like chert and quarts. I can find quartz all around where I live. The rock needs to have a sharp edge to strike on and some rocks perform better than others, you just have to try them out and see how they perform.
Thanks for keeping us live in perspective by reminding us how far we've come and how much we changed as a society.
In roman cities the traditional way to start a fire was to go to some other building that already had a fire going, and roman legions would carry embers in little metal balls full of holes that they would used to start fires at the end of their daily march
Thanks for the awesome video and for all of the amazing content!!
"After all, why shouldn't I start a fire"
-people in the 18th century
Fire was needed to cook food and keep you warm.
@zyxw2000 You don't get what I'm going on about and that's okay
@zyxw2000 The same's true for The Shire
We don’t all live inside of a meme. Some of us live in the world. There are fewer memes out there.
@augustsmith9553
I I know.
Also, no need to get on a high horse and act as though I think we should be online more or something... obviously we're all fans of the channel. 🤷🏼♂️
Jason : Modern fire pistons are dependent on rubber O rings. These O rings deteriorate or have imperfections that render the piston useless. If you can make an 18th century fire piston you have a new product for sale.
Greased twine?
@@Pygar2 the traditional o-ring. Easy to make and works a treat!
Fantastic video, one thing I'd say is when preparing char cloth or like materials in a tin is that it provides an oxygen free environment. That's why it will only burn to a certain piont. If the hole is big enough to let air in you will only have ash when you open it.
I love your channel and it is often my wind down before bed, wonderful information!
My grandson still hasnt used up all the material in hid firestarter kit i got for him (Jas. Townsend's)but weve worn out the flint. Ill have to get more. Practice-Practice-Practice!
Regarding 1:55, there is an alternative to using a convex lens to focus sunlight by refraction to ignite a fire. A parabolic mirror can focus sunlight by reflection to ignite a fire. Greek mathematician Archimedes engineered large concave mirrors to burn Roman ships that were invading Syracuse in 212 BC. A modern flashlight head uses a parabolic mirror to project a beam of light. The same parabolic mirror can also be used to concentrate sunlight to its focal point which can ignite a fire.
I often use wood shavings as kindling, works really well. Also works as tinder if dry and thin enough.
the actual name of the process in flint and steel is pyrophoric, it is rapid oxyization in the iron as it hits the air.
I've treated punkwood with ash lye and it will take a spark with flint and steel without charring.
It's not the iron that combusts. It is the carbon in the steel. Low carbon steel does not even spark on a grinding wheel. That's an easy test for high carbon steel.
@@dbmail545 you are correct mate
@ the anciant romans and vikings used case hardened iron for their strikers, wrought iron for the most part, with a little bit of carbon added on the surface so it would spark.
Excellent camerawork!
There is a Jack London story "To Start a Fire" that is worth reading.
Always enjoy your videos! Great information, well presented!
Making char cloth or charcoal, is all about driving off the VOCs (volatile organic compounds) out of the cloth or wood. Those VOCs tend to be flammable, and was called "wood gas" back in the day. What you end up with is basically almost pure carbon. Which is fairly easy to get burning with a spark.
If you live out where you can harvest firewood, you can make your own charcoal very easily. There are a lot of videos on youtube of people doing exactly this. I did it as a teenager, just to see if i could. It's not hard, and they used to do this on a massive scale to get the charcoal early blacksmiths needed to work iron and steel.
i am terrible with burning lenses and firesticks. but i got pretty good with flint and steel. i've got many modern firesteels (one on my knife sheath, one in my car, one in my camping bag) and it's always such a laugh seeing city-slickers that have never left to go into nature amazed by watching me light a fire with a knife. being a heavy smoker, i usually have a couple of lighters on me, but it's happened that they crapped out when starting the bbq. i'm always glad to keep the extra ounce for my steel. it's surprisingly handy and once you've got the knack, it's almost as fast as a zippo
I work at a Historic Site in North Carolina and we teach elementary school kids about the flint and steel technique and demonstrate it for them using flint and steel, char cloth, and sometimes tow, but most of the time twine. A lot of them asking about magnifying glasses, so it is good to know that was happening as well
I use my Townsends steel, and driveway chert, to start fires. It’s a neat skill that you’ve made available to us, through your catalog.
We also start fires with a lens, but the conditions have to be perfect.
If you happen to make your own black powder, you can make some really nice char cloth for starters.
I like to layer a piece of chat cloth that has been dipped into a solution of potassium nitrate with another piece that is coated in a slurry of finished black powder.
The nitrate cloth will take a spark from just a momentary touch of either a steel or a lens, greatly amplify it and hold it for a long time. The black powder cloth will turn that into a large flame that burns long enough to get a good fire going in an instant.
Mr. Townsend, thank you for being such a good teacher. Some teachers assume too much. Some students assume too much. ….from an OLD war veteran, retired in the US.
I saw the brass tobacco box. Bought one from your catalog several years ago. It worked many times during my Civil War reenacting days. I no longer reenact, but i still have the tobacco box and many wonderful memories.
Blacksmiths often start the fire in their forge by quickly and repeatedly striking a thin piece of metal such as a nail until it glows red hot from the friction. They put it in a kindling bundle and make the flame.
Great video! I especially loved the camera work and explanations.
The fire syringe is really interesting, looks effortless and works in all weather.
Had lots of fun with lenses as a kid making motifs on dry leaves, it was like magic when you get the angle
Never thought this channel would explain to me not only how compression ignition works, but also it's age & origin; totally assumed it was a 20th-century invention, but this channel always manages to teach me something new about history.
I have a Pedersoli Flintlock Replica and I've used a magnifying glass to ignite the powder in the pan. From a rested position it can hit stationary targets.
I found, living in the humid southeast US, that char cloth works best when fresh. I had some stored away in an altoids tin and after a few months it became harder to catch a spark using flint and steel. I've also heard the rotten wood called punk wood. I live in the desert in the southwest US now and rotten wood is hard to find. The wood here is very dense and dries out so fast that there's not time for it to rot.😂
In the SW USA, the key is to go to higher elevations on the West side of the elevation. There you'll find natural materials that have been broken down by fungi to form a kind of cellulose foam that makes better fire starting materials.
@aaronberg221 Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.
I’ve found that fine enough fiber can catch a spark even without charring it first! I mostly used oakum picked apart from old Sugar and Cream cotton yarn scraps and had no trouble getting a flame (not just an ember, but an actual flame!) in just one to two strikes.
When showing the old rifle, it sounded like you said "firelock" a couple of times. The correct term is "flintlock" since the hammer holds a small piece of flint. When you placed the cloth & punky wood in your metal container, then onto the hot coals, you were carbonizing those materials. The fire's heat first drives out any moisture in the materials, then the volatile gases in the materials are driven out. These gases can and usually do catch fire as they exit the can, as shown in your video. What you were left with is pure carbon. Many types of organic material can be turned into pure carbon. I used a container like yours, but it was the size of a cookie tin. I would load it up with husks from hickory nuts, pine cones, leaves, pine needles, a few bird feathers, and even bone. Everything came out fully carbonized, ready to use for making a fire. Thicker or lager pieces of bone work well because they aren't as delicate as char cloth. More like a firm charcoal briquette. Good video, thanks.
Here in the desert southwest the best fire starting resource is sotol stalks and agave fibers. Sotol makes a perfect drill from the tip wood and fireboard with the base wood. It's easy enough to break by hand and cut a notch with a fleck of even dull rock. After a minute or so the sotol will make it's own nice little pile of char in the notch that will catch light soon after.
And agave fibers are like a solid form of lighter fluid. Strip a dead agave leaf of it's spikes, grab the fibers and each end and just agitate it back and forth, up and down in circles until all that's left is the fine fibers. This will blaze to life easily form the smoldering sotol char.
And out here unless they're underwater, all this stuff stays dry even in the wet season. Sotol is a vertical stalk that doesn't collect water, and the tough dried outer skin of an agave leaf keeps the inner fibers dry if they're not in standing water. which they're not because they mostly grow on ridges and slopes.
This is how i start fires if i don't have modern means handy, and i teach it to anyone who wants to learn when out hiking, camping and such.
I still have the tinderbox I made in scouts. We spent a weekend with the Seneca Muzzleloaders at their annual Rendezvous in Tiffin, Ohio, living like it was the early 1800's, and that was one of the many cool and interesting things we did that weekend. Everyone dressed up in period correct clothes, except us who were in our scout uniforms, all modern conveniences were forbidden, and we just lived primitively for the weekend. One of the coolest times of my life, honestly. I miss doing stuff like that.
To comment on the flint and steel as a chemist. The iron you shave off is so small that it reacts with the oxygen in the air to form rust. This releases energy as iron oxide (rust) is lower in energy and more stable than elemental iron. The heat generated by these sparks is enough to light timber.
Nope! It is the carbon in the steel that is burning. Low carbon steel and wrought iron do not even spark on a grinding wheel.
I packed the cosmetic cotton pads with flint and steel. Compact, can fluff up and ignite instantly after a single spark.
You put a drop of beeswax from a candle on each of those cotton balls and watch
3:57 Rock on Rock actually does work.
The Inuit, among many other people groups, made extensive use of this. Indeed, prior to contact with Europeans, flint on marcasite (a specific type of iron pyrite) was the *ONLY* percussion (aka F&S) fire ignition method known to them.
Note: The Inuit also used friction (wood on wood) methods.
I have successfully made F&S style fire with pyrites on pyrites, quartzes on pyrites and steels on pyrites.
In this context the "quartzes" I've used include various agates, chalcedonies, cherts, dolomites, flints, fossilized corals, granites,
jaspers, novaculites, onyxes, pyrites, sandstones and true quartzes. There are no doubt many quartz containing rocks that I have not yet used that would quite likely work as well.
If you feel like starting a flint and steel fire, try using dryer lint as a modern day tinder. Works amazing!
@4:20 - It's funny how much knowledge we take for granted today. I remember learning the hardness scale in middle school. It would seem intuitive with the understanding that some materials are harder than others that the sparks are from the softer material. But of course the hardness scale(s) also came out of the enlightenment and development of science.
My colleaque is a fairly good blacksmith, I asked him to make a striking iron for me. I use it to light our fireplace, just because it is so satisfying. In my opinion it is surprisingly easy, if you have proper materials. Most of the time I use charcloth to catch the spark. I have tried several times to make tinder from horse hoof fungus, but so far I haven't succeeded.
Townsends really dropped the hardest thumbnail and thought we wouldn’t notice.
I had a fresnel lens from a 72” TV, I lit my porch on fire playing with it. 😂
Yeah boi! Those things are death rays
In Appalachia, I found dried Chicken of the Woods will carry a great ember for a very long time, if the smell doesn't get to you. Haha. I love this channel.
I think the steel and flint method creates a tiny piece of steel that instantly oxidises in the air, which results in heat, via an exothermic reaction. This is the spark. In any event, I learnt a lot from your video, myself. Thanks so much 👍
Only works with high carbon steel which is why it doesn't go back very far. I believe it is the carbon in the steel that is sparking. Wrought iron doesn't spark even on a grinding wheel.
@dbmail545 yes that's very true. Some very interesting chemistry and friction combined, perhaps. Best wishes 👍
I got the flint and steel kit from Townsend's for my birthday a couple years ago. Let's just say I enjoy starting a fire that way. I'm at the point I need to order more flint lol.
That is a FANTASTIC still shot for your thumbnail!
If you're planning on doing any printing, be it book, pamphlet or otherwise THAT SHOT has to be included! Wonderful work by your videographer and editor it really catches your character as well! 🙂👌
After Iearning about lenses at school I practised my newly acquired skill and used a magnifying glass to burn a decorative pattern of circles, serpents and dots in the lawn in front of the house. My father wasn't amused 😁
I thought of Rudolph Diesel before you ever mentioned him, then to find out he got the idea from the piston fire starter!!!😊
A large enough magnifying lens will set a piece of wood on fire almost immediately, with flame. A Fresnel lens sheet, often available for cheap at dollar stores, works very well too. There are many videos on YT of people starting fires with Fresnel lens sheets. Some people even melt rocks and metal with them.
Great explanation and impeccable visuals! When you think of it: being able to get a fire going was our key to success as a species🔥
Wow! Thank you. One of the best videos. Really, once again, thank you.
I'm an experimental archaeologist who specializes in pre-civil war military archeology in the United states. And I absolutely love your channel! When I see a new video drop it's like Christmas morning!!!
Yes. My weekend enrichment video has arrived!
Letting it stay traditional. Always good to practice non modern ways
Fire strikers go back way further than ancient times, they've found pyrite fire strikers with neanderthal remains from 50,000 years ago.
lol
That’s amazing
Neanderthal LOL
In the UK we have a tinder fungus called King Alfred's Cakes. Brilliant charcoal like fungus, holds the fire well and burns incredibly hot.
I love your content. Jonathan Swift wrote Gulliver's Travels not Daniel Defoe, Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe. Not sure which you meant.
3:42 1) Iron alone will not work as a striker.
However iron + carbon (aka steel) can, though not all steels will. Further, a couple of pyrites (raw natural rocks), titanium (certain alloys at certain hardnesses) and at least two species of bamboo will work as the striker.
2) For the striker there is a specific range of hardness that works.
Most carbon (not stainless) steels from 57-63 HRC will work, with 59-61 HRC being the sweet spot.
Steels that I have used successfully as the striker for F&S include: 1055-1095, 5160, A2, L6, O1, O2, SK4, SK5, W1 and W2. Tool steels tend to be the best.
It should be noted that it is not necessary to have a specially, or should I say specifically, made striker. Improvised strikers such as axes, chisels, screwdrivers, files, fish hooks, garden hoes, golf clubs, hammers, knives, machetes, mattocks, Olfa blades, rasps, rakes, razor (utility) knives, saw blades, shovels, pick axes, pitchforks, putty knives, etc have worked for me. Most files, saw blades and shovels are excellent improvised strikers. (Saw blades such as hand saw, bow saw, hacksaw, etc. Note: very few SawzAll blades have worked for me.) Of course some objects will work better than others, even the same type but made by a different manufacturer or made decades earlier, etc. Experiment and see what works for you.
A further note on the "Steel" component is that, contrary to popular wisdom, the key is not the carbon. Indeed some stainless steels have as much or more carbon than some "high carbon" steels. Rather it is the hardness that is key. Most stainless steels are too hard to work as the "Steel" with F&S. The sparks stainless steels produce are too few and too weak to be considered reliable for starting fires.
In certain areas we friction hand drill .flint steel with char cloth or charcoal.great show thank you it's appreciated 👍
He’s such an unpretentious teacher. As a dad, he has that “dad” quality I continually strive for.
Who else is watching this and waiting out the night in kingdom come deliverance 2?!?