- Joined
- Oct 19, 2010
- Messages
- 436
Yesterday was a pretty nice day around here. A little on the cool side and was perfect for getting back out and trying some other methods of making fire. Setting out with the intention's of using only my Izula to come up with a fire, my daughter was quite interested and decided to join me.
This was a perfect opportunity to get her past her fear of sharp knives. So we started off spending some time talking about the proper ways to hold and use the knife, not just in the house but for outdoor / camp applications as well.
So here is the tool of the day. My first ESEE, this thing has been tested, reviewed, stripped, patina'd, polished, re-painted, fitted with custom scales, scales broke off, stripped again and fitted with stock scales and a new sheath. This is my favorite blade, and holding up nicely.
After discussing safe knife handling skills, I began to explain to my daughter the difference between, tinder, kindling and fuel for a fire. I showed her where to find some of the best stuff. Then we made some tinder Bamboo shavings. This dead / dry piece of bamboo produced some great tinder. Well enough that I thought of putting a small piece in my backpack, as it could provide good tinder for several fires.
The next phase of this project was to make a bamboo Fire Saw. Starting with a piece of Bamboo split in half long ways. This was another great time for my daughter to learn something new.
She really got a kick out of this and was gaining confidence quickly.
I then cut a thin notch in the back of one piece of bamboo.
and two thin shoots to help hold my tinder in place...
Place some tinder material inside the bamboo, over the notch and hold in place with the two thin shoots...
[
Pushing the other half of the bamboo in the ground on and angle as seen below with the open side facing up so that the notch will ride on one of the cut side of the bamboo.
Working the bamboo back and forth, and back forth, back and forth... notice my jacket is gone. This is a lot of work.
The smoke you see in this picture is about as close as I got to fire by way of Bamboo fire saw. Maybe I missed something in my research, or I wimped out to soon (4 pieces of bamboo and an hour and a half later)
Well my daughter was quite intrigued by the whole process, but it was cooling off and we really wanted to get a fire going. So I demonstrated to her how to use the ESEE fire kit. Just as fast as I could grab the camera and snap a pic she had a fire going. Man was she proud of that.
She and I both had fun and learned some things. Best of all we had a great afternoon together. These are skills that no one taught me when I was her age and it is great to know how much of a head start she has.
As for the Bamboo Fire Saw, I am open to any suggestions. What did I miss? I just couldn't seem to get an ember going, and if I did I think it might have fell out the bottom.
This was a perfect opportunity to get her past her fear of sharp knives. So we started off spending some time talking about the proper ways to hold and use the knife, not just in the house but for outdoor / camp applications as well.
So here is the tool of the day. My first ESEE, this thing has been tested, reviewed, stripped, patina'd, polished, re-painted, fitted with custom scales, scales broke off, stripped again and fitted with stock scales and a new sheath. This is my favorite blade, and holding up nicely.
After discussing safe knife handling skills, I began to explain to my daughter the difference between, tinder, kindling and fuel for a fire. I showed her where to find some of the best stuff. Then we made some tinder Bamboo shavings. This dead / dry piece of bamboo produced some great tinder. Well enough that I thought of putting a small piece in my backpack, as it could provide good tinder for several fires.
The next phase of this project was to make a bamboo Fire Saw. Starting with a piece of Bamboo split in half long ways. This was another great time for my daughter to learn something new.
She really got a kick out of this and was gaining confidence quickly.
I then cut a thin notch in the back of one piece of bamboo.
and two thin shoots to help hold my tinder in place...
Place some tinder material inside the bamboo, over the notch and hold in place with the two thin shoots...
[
Pushing the other half of the bamboo in the ground on and angle as seen below with the open side facing up so that the notch will ride on one of the cut side of the bamboo.
Working the bamboo back and forth, and back forth, back and forth... notice my jacket is gone. This is a lot of work.
The smoke you see in this picture is about as close as I got to fire by way of Bamboo fire saw. Maybe I missed something in my research, or I wimped out to soon (4 pieces of bamboo and an hour and a half later)
Well my daughter was quite intrigued by the whole process, but it was cooling off and we really wanted to get a fire going. So I demonstrated to her how to use the ESEE fire kit. Just as fast as I could grab the camera and snap a pic she had a fire going. Man was she proud of that.
She and I both had fun and learned some things. Best of all we had a great afternoon together. These are skills that no one taught me when I was her age and it is great to know how much of a head start she has.
As for the Bamboo Fire Saw, I am open to any suggestions. What did I miss? I just couldn't seem to get an ember going, and if I did I think it might have fell out the bottom.
