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How to start a fire - from scratch!
Find yourself a stone, a flint and some dry plant material...
...I'm just kidding, of course!
First, find a stone, yes, but then use that stone to sand down a long branch. Then, after you've sanded down a very long branch until it's nice and smooth, cut it in half, as we only need half of the branch you've spent fifteen minutes sanding down. At this point we'll need to find some milkweed. If you don't have any milkweed around you then you're SOL!
But, if you do, you'll need two milkweed stalks. Combine the two stalks into a single thread. Then get yourself two more milkweed stalks. And combine those into yet another thread. Then braid these two threads together into a rope.
Take that half of a stick you sanded down and use your rope to tie a stone to the end of it to make a simple stone hatchet. Use this hatchet to chop up some branches into kindling (ignoring the twigs you sanded off the long branch when you started this process).
Now find yourself four more milkweed stalks and use them to make two more threads, braiding these threads into yet another rope. Now find another stone and this time we're going to be looking for a curved branch. Once we've found a branch with just the right amount of curvature to it we're going to use our second stone and sand it down. Don't use your stone hatchet - it's already been worn down from the first branch and at this point it's practically useless. Once your curved branch is sufficiently smooth, you're going to want to tie your rope around the ends and make a bow.
If you happen to have half of a branch left from earlier when you made your hatchet, you can use that now and complete your fire bow drill. If not, find another long branch and sand it down and snap it in half all over again.
Now let's find a second (or third) long branch and sand this one down as well. Next, we'll use our fire bow drill on this branch to start an ember. Now, go find some leaves and bring them to your camp. Then use your fire bow drill on your long branch all over again because your ember has cooled off by now. Then use your leaf to catch some of the flame from your ember and put it in your pocket while you gather some tinder.
Put your burning leaf into your tinder and let it smolder for a short while. Now find a third (or fourth) long branch and chop it up into kindling, again ignoring the twigs you've sanded off all previous branches. Place your kindling on your burning tinder and - voila! - you now have a fire!
Now, when cooking food - say, a rabbit or maybe a goose - you're gonna wanna shove that meat right into the flame. Don't hold it over the top or near the flame - medium-rare is for wimps! You're living on the edge! Starting fires from scratch! Only the crispiest ashes of meat are worthy of an evolved homo-sapiens or homo-neanderthalensis such as yourself! And don't try to take bones from your effectively toasted food to make jewelry or something with - those have crumbled to ash as well.
When making popcorn, just toss those kernels right into the flame and wait, enjoying the popping sound of success. Once the fire has died down, you can sift through the ashes and find the edible remains of your triumph over nature. Now if only you had butter and salt...
Last edited by kamikazehighland (2018-03-14 22:13:14)
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It's so simple an intuitive!
You just need 4 branches (2 straight, 1 curved),
6 stalks of milkweed (harvest only if fruiting!),
2 different sharp stones,
1 leaf from a tree (has an expiration date so you can't grab it in advance),
1 handful Juniper tinder (pine needles aren't flammable)
Combine them all in an easy 10 step process whose results you cannot foresee, and then you have fire!
...You did remember to chop the kindling didn't you?
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Uhm, flint and any random stone wouldn't work so well IRL. You'll need something like pyrite (fool's gold). There's a reason hunter gatherers still mostly use bow or hand drill.
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