HOW TO BUILD A FIRE BY FRICTION

The following instructions are the results of a lot of experimenting and the
the results are what works best for me. It is intended as a guideline and can
be altered to the individual.

Quarter a stick of red elm about 8 - 10 in. in diameter and about 12 inches
long. Pick out the best quarter and split off one side one inch thick.Split
a piece next to the heart one inch thick. Lay this aside for use as the
spindle.

From the same piece split a piece about 3/4 inches thick for the fireboard
and lay this aside with the piece for the spindle. The hand piece can be
fashioned out of a scrape piece or can be made out of a small limb about
2 inches in dia. and 5 inches long. Split piece in half and carve a shallow
hole in the flat side of one half. Lay this aside.

The bow should be a sapling about 30 inches long. It will work best if it
has a slight curve. I like to cut one end where there is a fork and this
makes a good place to tie the cord. Use sash cord or small nylon rope.

Now go back to the spindle,with a sharpe hand axe;shave to corners down to
turn the four sided piece into an eight sided piece.Leave the edges sharpe
so it will bite into the rope. Then sharpen both ends.

The fireboard should have a flat surface so it doesn't rock when you place it
on the ground. Take your hand axe and true it up. Next start 3 shallow holes
3/4 of an inch from the edge. The sharpe corner of the hand axe or a sheath
knife works good for this.

Now is the time to burn the holes deeper in your fireboard and your hand
piece. Place the spindle in the bow so the cording loops around the spindle
put one pointed end in the hand piece and the other end into the hole on the
fireboard. Now stroke the bow back and forth slowly until a smooth bearing is
burned in the hand piece. Burn all three holes in the fireboard a little
deeper.From this point onward use the same end in the fireboard and the hand
hold. Mark the ends so you know which end is which. One final step and you
are ready to try for a spark. With a hand saw or bow saw cut a narrow "V"
notch in the fireboard so the point of the "V" is at the centre of the hole
in the fireboard. Then with a knife shave the rough edges out of the notch
and the bottom of the fireboard.

Now you are ready to try for a spark. Place a chip or piece of bark under the
fireboard so the dust out of the hole will fall on it. If you want to build a
fire then have your tinder ready, place some lubrication in the hole of the
hand piece. A piece of soap or grass will do.
Assemble the set with the ends of the spindle in the respective holes.Place
your left foot on the fireboard(If you are right handed),kneel down on the
other knee. Place the other end of the spindle in the hole over the chip.
Stroke the bow slowly at first until you get the rhythm. As smoke starts to
appear, increase increase downward pressure on the hand piece and stroke the
bow faster.Only experience and practice will tell you when you have a spark.
If after you take the spindle out of the fireboard, smoke still appears, you
have a spark.

DON'T HURRY

Very carefully take the handle of your knife and peck the board. The spark
should fall out. If the spark seems to hang, pick it out with the tip of your
knife. Don't pick up the fireboard to do this. Pick up the chip with the
spark on it and lay it in your tinder.
An old birds nest is very good for this, squeeze the tinder against the spark
and blow gently. Hold the tinder with your fingertips and blow gently through
it. As the tinder starts to glow,blow harder. If you have done everything
right it should burst into flames.

If you can't get the set to work then try resharpening the spindle.Don't cut
the notches to large. It shouldn't go past the centre of the hole in the
fireboard. A hole in the fireboard is good for two sparks. Experiment with
the set,if the charred dust keeps falling away then lay a chunk of wood
against the notch. Try different types of wood combinations(hard wood
spindles and softwood fireboards)

REMEMBER
In closing I would like to stress that the fact that a fire by friction set
is not hard to build. In teaching the boy if you can relieve this mental
block,he has half the battle won.

GOOD LUCK!



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