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- Jun 3, 2010
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Posted this in another forum but given that a knife was used with chaga fungus to start a fire chain in field use maybe it would be of interest here.
I did a camping trip without matches, lighters or firesteel to practice skills. That outing is posed here:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...with-no-packed-water-food-matches-or-lighters
In that video I igniting chaga with a spark from the spine of my carbon steel knife using quartz then charring cedar bark for the next fire. However the process wasn't flawless as shown in that video or trip report. The tail end was in real time but there were some difficulties within the process. Sometimes marginal firecraft doesn't go easy like we all see on TV or Youtube. It always looks so easy till it's not. Or that has been my experience.
The purpose of a fire chain IMHO is to use a fire started by marginal means be it bow drill, hand drill, empty Bic, flint and steel with uncharred materials, limited number of matches, magnifying/fresnel lens etc etc to char organic materials to increase the chances of starting the next fire. Charred materials like certain barks, cattail fluff, cotton cloth and punk wood easily takes a spark forming a coal. That coal can then be blown into flames within a tinder bundle. A tin helps and for me increases the charring options but isn't totally needed. It goes without saying packing 3 ways to start a fire with tinder is better but if for some reason a person is using marginal means to start a fire charring materials for the next fire sure isn't a bad idea. I have been running a firechain started last winter. Here is a video of the genesis of that long chain. Most of my flint and steel fires over the last year have their roots here. With each outing I scrounge more natural materials to char, keeping the chain going. If I ever run out of charred materials or mess up the charring process therefore failing to start a fire the chain will die.
[video=youtube;20n8sMhB8fw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20n8sMhB8fw[/video]
But for the posted trip the firestarting method consisted of only chaga, a knife and empty tin. The rest would be gathered during the outing.
The quartz to strike the spine of my knife was found and broken earlier that day.
All of the tinder and materials for charring also found along the way.
There was a long stubborn attempt to get the large chunk of chage to catch a spark. Darn stuff is firegrade and took a spark early on but that ember died within a micro second. Next I made some chaga dust which easily took a spark. I charred gathered cedar bark to increase my chances for the next day's fire aka fire chain.
No more smoke or flames therefore pulled it off the coals.
With charred cedar bark getting another coal the next day was a snap. Some charred materials are too delicate for placement on top of a rock with steel striking it. Instead I have the rock strike the steel tossing the sparks into the pile of charred materials. Granted the spark in many cases must travel farther but given the nature of some materials I don't see any other way.
My newer improved field enhanced firekit the next day.
Here is an HD video of the firechain process used during the outing. It is long, reflecting either the need for more practice on my part with chaga firestarting, the nature of the beast or maybe a combo of the two. I was in a constant fight to keep the leaves away from the fire ring with millions falling and blowing about.
[video=youtube;eoUGjHHSnQg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoUGjHHSnQg[/video]
Thanks for watching.
I did a camping trip without matches, lighters or firesteel to practice skills. That outing is posed here:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...with-no-packed-water-food-matches-or-lighters
In that video I igniting chaga with a spark from the spine of my carbon steel knife using quartz then charring cedar bark for the next fire. However the process wasn't flawless as shown in that video or trip report. The tail end was in real time but there were some difficulties within the process. Sometimes marginal firecraft doesn't go easy like we all see on TV or Youtube. It always looks so easy till it's not. Or that has been my experience.
The purpose of a fire chain IMHO is to use a fire started by marginal means be it bow drill, hand drill, empty Bic, flint and steel with uncharred materials, limited number of matches, magnifying/fresnel lens etc etc to char organic materials to increase the chances of starting the next fire. Charred materials like certain barks, cattail fluff, cotton cloth and punk wood easily takes a spark forming a coal. That coal can then be blown into flames within a tinder bundle. A tin helps and for me increases the charring options but isn't totally needed. It goes without saying packing 3 ways to start a fire with tinder is better but if for some reason a person is using marginal means to start a fire charring materials for the next fire sure isn't a bad idea. I have been running a firechain started last winter. Here is a video of the genesis of that long chain. Most of my flint and steel fires over the last year have their roots here. With each outing I scrounge more natural materials to char, keeping the chain going. If I ever run out of charred materials or mess up the charring process therefore failing to start a fire the chain will die.
[video=youtube;20n8sMhB8fw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20n8sMhB8fw[/video]
But for the posted trip the firestarting method consisted of only chaga, a knife and empty tin. The rest would be gathered during the outing.
The quartz to strike the spine of my knife was found and broken earlier that day.
All of the tinder and materials for charring also found along the way.
There was a long stubborn attempt to get the large chunk of chage to catch a spark. Darn stuff is firegrade and took a spark early on but that ember died within a micro second. Next I made some chaga dust which easily took a spark. I charred gathered cedar bark to increase my chances for the next day's fire aka fire chain.
No more smoke or flames therefore pulled it off the coals.
With charred cedar bark getting another coal the next day was a snap. Some charred materials are too delicate for placement on top of a rock with steel striking it. Instead I have the rock strike the steel tossing the sparks into the pile of charred materials. Granted the spark in many cases must travel farther but given the nature of some materials I don't see any other way.
My newer improved field enhanced firekit the next day.
Here is an HD video of the firechain process used during the outing. It is long, reflecting either the need for more practice on my part with chaga firestarting, the nature of the beast or maybe a combo of the two. I was in a constant fight to keep the leaves away from the fire ring with millions falling and blowing about.
[video=youtube;eoUGjHHSnQg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoUGjHHSnQg[/video]
Thanks for watching.