Went to visit the Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences today. Interesting museum, one that I've visited quite often. There was an interesting temporary exposition on primitive tools and some DIY areas. Some of 'em "learned" how to make flint tools ("learned" between brackets because that isn't a skill you acquire in a 5 minute course). Others learned how to throw spears effectively, how to make leather flexible,... Most of 'em were somewhat aimed at children, but I thought they were most interesting.
The one I found most informative, was how to make fire with basic tools such as a rounded piece of flint, a piece of marcasite or pyrite and some fungus.
It really works like a charm, too. Definitely something I'll be trying in m backyard one of these days.
Basically, you crumble pieces of the fungus/spunk into a somewhat brownish and powder-like substance. Hold the piece of marcasite next to it, and strike it with the flint. The motion you do with the flint is somewhat in between knocking on the marcasite and stroking the sides of it, you get a hold of it rather quickly. The fungus catches a spark rather easily and with a few slight blows, the glowing spreads. If you have enough of the glowing fungus, just scoop it up, put it in a bowl of tinder such as dry grass, blow and it catches fire like a charm.
It really was a fire I was able to make in less than 2 minutes.
I loved to learn about these old methods, didn't know about the fungus as tinder either... Probably nothing new for many among you guys, but I thought I'd share it anyway.
I looked at youtube and found a vid that pretty much demonstrates what I'm talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxNwNpXYFig
It takes quite some strikes for his tinder to catch a spark, but his marcasite doesn't seem to be generating a lot of sparks altogether. He also holds his stones rather high, we were tought to keep the marcasite on the ground next to the fungus. Less distance to travel for the spark, hence less time for it to cool and disappear.
Found a scientific article on the process too. For those interested, you can always mail me for the pdf. I was able to download it for free using my university's account.
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1003802432463?LI=true
