Learned somethings again...dang it!

I

Idaho Guy

Joined
May 22, 2011
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Okay so this morning (day off from work) I was taking my dogs on run through the woods when I got to my "camp spot" and got ready to start a practice fire I realized I had lost my glasses! They are only reading glasses so I only need them for up close work.....like fire building!!! I found them on my way back to my Jeep but it got me thinking. What if I was on a camping trip far from home or stores or in a bug out situation? I would be screwed thats what. I think a couple pairs of glasses will be added to my bob also.
I didn't get my fire going either because of really one thing even though it has been raining here everyday for over a week, but i am not blaming it on that. I didn't prepare well enough before I started my fire. I got a fire going alright with a wax and cotton tinder and some birch bark but I didnt gather enough small tinder to really get a sustained flame going and it went out. to be honest I really only gave it about 60% effort. But I actually got what I really was after...knowledge. It might sound silly, but I learn just about as much from a failed fire as I do from a sucessful one.
 
I have been practicing with different forms of tinder (like balls of dryer lint or shaving "slivers" from wooden rulers) and it's really not that easy (for me atleast) to sustain a GOOD fire without having some pre-cut and dried branches close by because my tinder burns too quick.
Starter-log would be cheating
 
If they're prescription glasses, then yeah, you gotta' double up.
But if you just wear reading glasses, I've seen safety glasses with magnification.
I saw them at Wally World for less than $6. Those might work well and serve two functions.
 
HuntBomb said:
Starter-log would be cheating
Click to expand...

Not so much if NEED a fire. I always no such thing as cheating. Well, if you are in a Bushcraft firestarting contest, yeah, you can cheat, but in the real world, there is no such creature. Just need fire/make fire. How doesn't really matter.

One of my favorite things in the world is to teach a bowdrill class. Nothing in this world will prepare you for making a fire than that. Plus, it teaches you the benefits of carrying a LIGHTER!!. I'm pretty proficient at making them, and making them work. I don't always succeed though, I'm about 80/20 for the most part.

Preparation is the key to any fire. The ignition of said fire, is but the beginning, don't focus on how ignite it, focus on how to BUILD it. Yes, build. Fires are not "pile wood on" and light. Especially when wet. Its a slow process of "toothpics, pencils and fingers". That's how I teach folks to size wood. We've all seen toothpicks, pencils and fingers, so make your wood sizes to match, and add them in that order, by the time your finger size wood is burning, you got a sustainable fire, until then, its a risk.

This is my prep for a firesteel fire. The firesteel is the ignition, easy to do with a little practice. Bowdrills, there is much more prep to be had.

100_1582.jpg


Making natural tinder is something I also so, and leave the cottonballs for when things are tough. Any dry wood can be made into a tinder. Any dry wood. You just have to know how to get it into a usable form.

100_1602.jpg


PREPARE 3x more wood than you think will need to get a fire going, and you're close to what you will actually need, as time goes on, and you get better, you get more comfortable, you will know exactly what it takes to get the job done.

I've been in a slump recently when it comes to bowdrills. The last 2 classes I taught, I couldn't get a bundle lit. Almost didn't get it going at the BHG, but when it comes to friction fire, you can't quit. There is no stop and come back, there is no try again later, there is only persistance and success. If you quit, you won't get it. Trust me, I know. I was sweatin' out Jack Daniels, Moonshine, and Yuengling, in near 90 degree temps with a hangover, numb feet, and a crowd of spectators. There was no quit, but there was friction fire. I got it, and the folks watching will attest, it ain't easy, carry a lighter.

Moose
 
These are quite common where I live for sunglasses when people are out fishing on boats or something.
CHUMS-Safety-Glasses-Rope-LSS-_i_LBM14215_01Z.jpg


They normally sell them in just about any wal-mart by the guns and sunglasses, or you could get them online if they're not as popular in non-coastal areas.
 
While store bought glasses holders work well, all you need is a piece of 550 or jute, or............ and tie 2 double overhand slider loops.

DoubleOverhandSlidingLoop-1.jpg


Doc
 
It would be nice to have spares of everything all the time but it never seems to work out that way. At least for me it doesn't. Practice doing without, because sooner or later you will be.
 
if you have a common 'script then those "reading glasses" can you can anywhere are nice.

remember the twilight zone where the guy got his wish to be alone, in the whole world to read his glasses? two minutes into utopia, idiot broke his coke bottle glasses, and well, there he goes ;) [course, they don't mention that he could then spend months or years finding something close, or make them himself at an eye doctor office); but there we go :)

having hot spares for certain some things is useful as all heck.
 
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