Bamboo Friction Fire

[RangerXanatos]

I just came in from outside. Had a semi-good experience. I was practicing on friction fire with nothing but bamboo. I got lots of smoke and an ember. It brun all of my tender ball but it never puffed into a flame. Kinda dissapointed that I never got the flame, but excited I got the ember to burn all of my tender. If I don't try again tonight, I'm going to give it another try tomorrow.

[Rick]

What were you using as tinder? If you had an ember you should have been able to coax it into a flame. I'm crazy bad at making an ember with two sticks but give me an ember and I can have fire in no time.

[RangerXanatos]

Bamboo scrapings. I've been able to get the scrapings to flame up with a firesteel. I assume that perhaps I need more scrapinds and to lay it on thicker.

[Rick]

Why don't you try cotton as a tinder to ensure your ember is viable to start a flame. If you have a good ember then cotton should ignite. If you can get cotton to burn then you can practice with the bamboo. At least that's the approach I'd take.

[RangerXanatos]

I was trying to make it as natural as I could. I might try it again with the shavings again. If it don't work, I'll then try to cotton.

[crashdive123]

I think you have it right - just make a bigger tinder ball with your bamboo shavings.

[Beans]

Why don't you try cotton as a tinder to ensure your ember is viable to start a flame. If you have a good ember then cotton should ignite. If you can get cotton to burn then you can practice with the bamboo. At least that's the approach I'd take.

I was trying to make it as natural as I could. I might try it again with the shavings again. If it don't work, I'll then try to cotton.

Shame on me! I thought Cotton was a natural material in Geogria
Just as I thought Sweet potato pie and pecans was Geogria verison of survival food.





http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/n....jsp?id=h-2087

Cotton

From the late eighteenth to the mid-twentieth century, there was no more important single factor in Georgia's agricultural economy than cotton. In 2007 the state was ranked third in cotton production in the United States (second in amount of cotton planted), with 1.03 million acres of land being used for cotton farming.

[RangerXanatos]

Shame on me! I thought Cotton was a natural material in Geogria






http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/n....jsp?id=h-2087

I was thinking of that as I typed and was hoping no one caught it. Lol. But you get what I mean.

[your_comforting_company]

A good fist sized pile should be enough to get a flame. It takes a good bit of "heart" in your tinderball to get it to go. Not sure how much you used, but more is better.
Fire saw is quite an accomplishment. Congratulations!

[rwc1969]

I'm not going to tell you what you should or shouldn't have done, cuz I don't know, wasn't there. But, I congratulate you on getting the ember. Trial and error is all that's required really.

PS, if you pick cotton from the field it's fair game, otherwise it's just plain cheating. LOL!

[hunter63]

RX, I think you touched on a very important detail (darn those details!).

Getting something to smoke is an accomplishment, no doubt, but the proof of the skill is making the smoking material into fire.

Old boy scout thing was starting a fire with two matches, and for a lot of people that was a real challenge.

The tender bundle, materials, preparation, amount, kindling, dry fuel (enough) and the care of your ember are probability more important them creating your ember, no matter how you do it.

I applaud your efforts in using "found material" no matter where you are, and any thing else is simply carrying "stuff" to make a fire with.

If you have to buy it, make it and carry it, why not just carry a couple of Bic's, Zippo, fire steel, tender balls, fire starters, what ever.

If I'm spending time in the bush, on purpose, then I ready to get on with a warming/cooking/boiling/piece of mind fire, and don't really have time to fool around looking for materials, to do it the hard way.

Do I want to know as many ways to make that fire should I happen to be in a position of "Not on purpose"?...Of course.

Things don't always work out the way you plan, and if you know (and have practiced) using what you have or can find, you might make a big difference in the out come.
Future campfire story or a SAR mission.

(Still think dried rabbit poop shoud catch a spark....Oh well)
Carry one ...Intresting)

[sh4d0wm4573ri7]

Strange that you couldnt coax a flame from an ember with the magic breathe

[RangerXanatos]

Yes, next time I won't try blowing on it but fanning it with some other material. Might be a while. I got some more bamboo/rivercan around the first of the year and it still has green areas.

[Aurelius95]

Yes, next time I won't try blowing on it but fanning it with some other material. Might be a while. I got some more bamboo/rivercan around the first of the year and it still has green areas.

My wife and I had bamboo in our back yard. We donated most of it to the Atlanta Zoo (seems the pandas like the variety that grew in our yard). It was back in less than a year.

[RangerXanatos]

I would love to have it in my yard like that. I have to go to a friend's house, go down about 1.5 miles and find some that needs to be cut or is already cut near a road. I then get the pleasure to carry it all the way back.

[crashdive123]

RX there are hundreds of varieties of bamboo, but basically boil down to two types - clumping and running. Plant a running variety and you will never have a lack of bamboo.

[RangerXanatos]

Yesterday, I started looking at some youtube videos on this method of fire starting. In just about all of them, I could see that it was something else that actually caught fire. The bamboo scrapings would only burn like an ember. Like when touching a battery to steel wool, if you will. Next time I'm going to use some ceder bark to try to catch fire. Just wanted to pass my findings to others.

[your_comforting_company]

If you plant it in your yard, you will NEVER run out again. If you let it get out of control, it WILL take over. I'll try to remember to snap a picture of some houses here, south of town on the way to the dump. two years ago, you couldn't see the front porch on the houses, which were only about 20 yards from the road...

Unless you want a whole lot of it, don't plant it in your yard...