Re: Now, matchless fires?
Jack Weinmann (aa855@CLEVELAND.FREENET.EDU)
Tue, 8 Aug 1995 01:26:59 -0400
Reply to message from ANDREASEN_R@DD.PALMER.EDU of Sun, 06 Aug
Rick,
There's always the magnifying glass trick, but there is a book that has a
fascinating method that I will someday try to duplicate.
The book is:
BUSHCRAFT
A SERIOUS GUIDE TO SURVIVAL AND CAMPING
By Richard Graves
Published by: Warner Books
P.O. Box 690
New York, NY 10019
Mine is the 1978 printing
Suggested Price (inside cover) $4.95
ISBN Number: 0-446-32747-6
There is a note inside that says you can get any Warner bood title in
print. Simply send title and retail price, plus 50 cents per order and 50
cents per copy to cover mailing and handling costs. NY and CA residents
add applicable sales tax. Send it to the address above.
OR - look in your local camping stores - that's where I found mine!
On page 175 of this very interesting book, it describes a method called
"FIRE BY AIR COMPRESSION" - It explains that in parts of Southeast Asia
native people make fire using these piston-like devices that create heat by
compressing air. It gives line drawings of the device (which liik good
enough to try to duplicate the device).
It gives the rough dimensions of the cylinder, piston and recess in the
piston which holds the tinder.
The book gives other methods such as:
Striking fire from iron pyrites or quartz
How to strike fire from flint and steel onto tinder
How to make a "slow match" - which is a cord made of certain bark that
smoulder for a long time
Friction drills - bows for friction fire making (but it also describes how
to make the bottom wood properly so that the tinder is
easier to utilize once you get it started.
I highly recommend that you try to find this book (your local library might
be able to get it) and see what you think about it. I really like it!
If you, or anyone out there, should happen to try the compression method
PLEASE let me know how it works for you, as this one has fascinated me for
some time now, but I never seem to remember to make it and try it!
YIS,
Jack W. Weinmann aa855@cleveland.freenet.edu
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City | 
