A New Friend Learns About Old Fire Making Method

   It was the regular Saturday morning meet-up and my friend Sticker and I waited the usual thirty odd minutes for any other members to show up. But to no avail, no one else did. We decided to head down to the river and we were already thinking about the next Bushclass lesson that he was going to work on. That was the "Student Practice for Making a Pot Hook" lesson. This was going to be fun.
   The weather was nearly perfect and we were both joking about how, as we walked thru the woods, we were looking for resources. Soon he had a good piece of birch bark from an old dead fall, which in the end we never did use. He told me how it is with him now, when he comes out of the woods, his pockets are full of natural tinders and things to try for fire starting. I could not help but smile. I do the same thing.
   Today, his partner in life, member "Callmekris",  had decided to sleep in or at least to take it easy and get some more rest after working a late shift and I could not help but start to wonder how we could now make her jealous of our trip and leave her wishing she had come along. Sticker said she likes "playing with fire" and that was the perfect queue for me to suggest that he get the fire going with my flint and steel and some of the charred cloth from our last adventure. I also mentioned that I would get it on video, so he could show her later. I think we had hatched the perfect plan. Smiles all around.
   So here is the the video of our latest adventure and it covers our fire prep, his flint and steel work and the pot hook lesson. I also tried an experiment with charring some natural tinder. You can see how that turned out. I hope you enjoy watching.

   We definitely had a great time and in the end, Sticker had a good piece of video to submit for his lesson and we were able to make Callmekris quite jealous. He told me later that she said she was "definitely going to go next time" I guess that means mission accomplished.
   I am hoping to that given enough time, even more members will begin to wish that they too had joined in on the adventure. There really is so much to do and so many things to learn together, no matter what the situation is like. The BushclassUSA lessons make it easy to share the experience.
   I am hoping one day to have a video of several members all working on various lessons and skills, to essentially showcase what we are accomplishing here in Minnesota and that the members here are getting out and doing it. Until next time, Happy Exploring. 
  

Fun With The Summer Sun

   I always enjoy playing with different methods of starting fire and today I decided to experiment a little with the magnifying glass I have in my kit.
   First I found a piece of "false tinder fungus" or "horse's hoof fungus". Ideally it should be as dry as possible. I have found and used some in the past that was too moist and it would take a spark, but would not grow a coal. But today what I found was good and dry.
   Next I created a coal with a focused beam of sunlight with the magnifying glass. Next, after the coal had grown, I used some eastern red cedar bark as tinder and used it by pressing it gently against the growing coal. With a little coaxing from short breaths, it eventually caught a flame. Success! and a lot of fun.
   So here is the video of the process and I hope you enjoy it.

   A good reason for playing with false tinder fungus is to learn just how it will react and what are the ideal conditions for using it and for transporting a coal. It was not necessary to cut out the coal to put it in the tinder. This kept the fungus intact and this would allow easy transport and use later if needed.
   Be sure to give it a try. Until next time, Happy Exploring.
  

Just Your Basic Twig Bundle Fire

   One of the most used skills in bushcraft is the subset of skills called firecraft. Learning how to "build" a fire, to ignite it in a thousand different ways and to fuel it and to keep it going under all conditions takes hours of practice. The importance of fire is without question and the ability to build one in a hurry can be the difference between life and death.
   Back in 1975, famous grandmaster of bushcraft, Mors Kochanski, did a demonstration and video (read "movie film") of the "Twig Bundle Fire". He showed the advantage of putting together all the twigs and sticks and pieces of wood in the right order and tying them all together so that it was fully transportable, could be ignited at anytime and could be handled in such a way as to get it burning faster, granting the woodsman a great deal of control.
   Flash forward to 2012, and BushclassUSA has made the twig bundle fire part of the skill set being taught through the online course. The lesson, in case you want to look it up, is "Student Practice for the Twig Bundle Fire".
   So this last weekend, I completed this elective and here is the video I submitted for the lesson. I hope you enjoy it.

   As always, I enjoy practicing firecraft and having this twig bundle fire idea in my firecraft tool kit is a great skill to have. It is a great thing to put together and have on hand, especially under conditions that may turn hypothermic. Please consider learning this technique as well and adding it to your firecraft kit and please check out the great lessons at BushclassUSA, found at the BushcraftUSA.com forum site. Until next time, Happy Exploring.

Using Natural Tinders

   This last Sunday, I worked on completing my first lesson for the BushclassUSA Intermediate Certification. It was entitled, "Student Practice for Five Natural Tinders" and it involved finding five natural tinders and then lighting them with a firesteel. I went out on a beautiful spring day and collected all of my tinders and then some. I wanted to experiment with a few others as well as those needed for the lesson, so it was a great adventure gathering all the possibles. I did actually explore a couple of different areas and gathered a good amount of material to play with.
   So here is my video submission for BushclassUSA Student Practice for Five Natural Tinders. It shows the process of gathering and then lighting five natural tinders. The five primary tinders are birch bark, eastern red cedar bark, cottonwood bark (inner layer), cattail seed head and thistle down. I also tried a paper wasp nest (failed to light), golden rod pith (failed to maintain a ember), a bird nest (great success), milkweed seed silk (success) and the pith of the mullen stalk (success). If you want to skip ahead to where the lighting of the tinders is started, that begins at the 6:35 point on the timeline. This was a great lesson and it is always good to become familiar with natural tinders in the area you spend your bushcraft time. I hope you enjoy the video. It is a bit lengthy, but I wanted to share the whole process for those who have no idea where some of these tinders come from.

  
   There are of course many more natural tinders out there and I will continue to share with you some of my discoveries as I come upon them. So you might consider this part I of a multi-part series. Consider searching out natural tinders in your area and do some experimenting. It's fun and is very much a part of your primary skill set when it comes to bushcraft. Learning to make fire should be at the top of your list. Happy Exploring.

 

On Completing My BushclassUSA Outing #4

   This last Sunday I had a chance to get out and complete my Outing #4 for BushclassUSA. It was a great outing and I got a lot accomplished. It started around 11am and the temperature was about perfect for a day in February, about 23 degrees F. I gathered some materials for making natural chard tinder, collected some birch bark, setup my tarp shelter using a braided ridge line and a few basic knots. Then I improvised a pot hanger, heated some water for cocoa, made some bread on a stick, cooked some chicken on the Canteenshop Grill Top Stove and finally chard some punky paper birch wood and some mullen leaves. For fire starting I used an improvised steel and flint and chard cloth which I got an ember started in and then transfered the chard cloth to some dry cedar bark that was made into a tinder "nest". All in all a chance to practice a lot of skills and to enjoy the weather and the peace and the quiet. So without further ado, here is the video. I hope you enjoy the adventure.

   Thanks for watching and I really want to encourage you to checkout the BushclassUSA online course found at BushcraftUSA.com. It is really family friendly and will give you hours of enjoyment, getting out into the wilderness. Next up for me is to complete my Outing #5 and finally graduate the Basic Bush Class Certification. It will be an over-night outing, in the state of Minnesota, in February. It will be fun. Until then, Happy Exploring...

More On The Subject of Firecraft

   Recently I needed to complete another lesson for BushclassUSA on the BushcraftUSA forum website. This particular lesson involved the gathering and lighting five man-made tinders. Part of the lesson was to have fun, I decided to approach the process as if the tinders had to be found in the wild, even though they are really "man-made". So here is the resultant video I made and I hope you enjoy it.

More after the jump...