A little humiliation is a good thing

D

Dinkum

Joined
Mar 24, 2007
Messages
476
I had an experience over the weekend that left me red faced and pensive.

My girl and I decided to go to her family farm in SE Queensland (Hot, hot hot and humid in summer, though its winter now) When we stay we always cook in the Dutch oven, have a few drinks and generally a fine time.

So, we arrive about 17:50 which is about 5 mins from sundown, with me I had a Tram bolo that I had put a beautiful edge on, a Case canoe and a spark stick. When I arrived there was a bough on the floor blown down from a recent storm, fine and dandy thinks I, this will do me. See, I have often scoffed at aids like PJ cotton balls, a real woodsman doesnt need this weekend warrior stuff. So a choppin I go with the Tram, which handles beautifully, tinder curls are harder due to blade length and the bloody hardness of the wood. Aussie wood is like D2 when its been under the sun for a while. Anyway, long story short. Couldnt get the curls, or at least enough of them to get the kindling going, got bit to ribbons by jurassic mosquitoes, the only straw or grass was heavily mixed in with green stuff and I couldnt seperate in the dark because we had arrived too late, and I ended up red faced with some tissue from the car glove box :o

Lessons learned.

Dont think you know it all :o:o
Use a new tool first to see how to handle it
Arrive with enough time or start to prepare well before you need it. (The next day in the fields I found loads of Thistle pods bursting with dry seeds!)
Be prepared, a smart man takes what makes his life easier, not harder.

Yours, with egg, Dinkum :)
 
I find its even worse when you manage do something like that in front of bunch of Scouts that you're teaching:eek:
 
Unless you were really making an ass out of yourself talking up your skills prior, I don't think you have anything thing to be embarassed about. It happens to everyone from time to time.

My buddy carries a propane torch...the kind you use for soldering pipes...in his truck in case he feels like making a fire. :rolleyes:
 
"Without humility, no one will ever reach his/her full potential!" It's called life. Thanks for sharing a valuable lesson!
 
Yup - last time I went camping - identified the right tree - made a sweet bow drill set - and smoked away with not even CLOSE to a coal.

Wood was WAY to hard... I had used that wood many many times too!

Grabbed a lighter and laughed it off.

TF
 
You call it failure, I call it learning. Good on you for sharing the experience.
 
Nah - you did alright I think, you used what was at hand, in this case tissues, thats what counts, if you had not used the tissues and then given up that would have been sad, but you used your brain and got the fire going so all good as far as i am concerned.
 
Good story and thanks for sharing ;)

I carry a small "fire-bob" and in it I have as many ways, things I can to start fires with, bics and water-proof matches to fist size containers with various tinders, fire-steels, blastmatch, even a pencil sharpener to make shavings from twigs/small sticks.

When I want a fire and depending on how I'm feeling and the weather I usually go from hardest to easier to get my fire, because I get rusty not practicing all the different methods.

I admirer what you did, you tried and it didn't work but you found another way "bam" fire! I think about what if I "need" a fire and will I be able to make one then! thx 4 the reminder buddy :thumbup:
 
I always carry a bunch of redundant ways to start a fire and also tinder and enough fat wood for kindling if I need it. I usually try to start the fire based on what I find. Then again, starting the fire the hard way is done for enjoyment. Sometimes I just want to start a fire. In that case I go to an easier method.
 
Sounded like you got more out of it than if everything went well. You were lucky to have that opportunity. Many of us do everything right and stay in our comfort zone... and get nothing but a false sense of security.

If you aren't failing, you aren't learning.


Cheers
Rick
 
Thanks guys, this has really put things into a new perspective for me. I am usually the sort of person to make things harder than they need to be. If I hadn't been so stubborn we would have had dinner sooner ;) Had I given up I would not have had this mind set change and all these lovely bite marks that the smoke would have prevented! :D

I will be putting a kit together though, thats for sure.
 
Hey, I have red road flares in my truck. Don't think for one minute that I wouldn't pull one in a fit of pique.
 


Been there, done that.

After starting a fire almost daily throughout the snow covered winter season, I ventured out the other evening with just a knife and a ferrocium rod.

My plan was to build a fire and wait for the moon to rise before hiking home in the moon shadows.

Long story kept short: I could not get a fire going before darkness fell, without some good tinder and/or a flashlight I was forced to stumble home in the darkness with my tail between my legs.






Big Mike

"Scaring the Tree Huggers."

Forest & Stream
 
Big Mike said:
Long story kept short: I could not get a fire going before darkness fell, without some good tinder and/or a flashlight I was forced to stumble home in the darkness with my tail between my legs.
Click to expand...

Pictures! We need pictures!!! :D


Doc
 
No big deal, lesson learned.

Funny about the cotton balls. I don't think of them as fire starters. I think of them as emergency fire starters. I would only use them when NEEDED, and have only used them to practice for when they may be needed.

It all worked out, and many others can learn from your post.

Good job.
 
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