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Thread: Firecraft 101

  1. #1
    Senior Member tjwilhelm's Avatar
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    Default Firecraft 101

    Introduction:

    This effort may not hit its mark; but, the target audience for this thread is Firecraft Newbies. The purpose is to assist those with little fire experience to build their understanding of fire and to grow their firecraft skills.

    As the thread progresses, I hope to add posts (with photos and/or videos) about the basics of: making char cloth; TJ’s PJs; reflective and refractive means to focus solar radiation; beginner’s guide to bow drill fire making; etc. My hope is that experienced forum members will add to this effort to help our newer, less experienced members develop this skill so important to the idea of “wilderness survival.”

    Part One, Basic Concepts:

    When most people think of FIRE they think of words like “burning” or “combustion,” and clearly they visualize FLAMES as a major attribute of the fire. Within this frame of reference – burning with a visible flame -- WOOD DOES NOT BURN.

    Try this: light a wooden match and hold it up in front of your face. You will see that the wood is not “flaming.” Rather, the flame is above the wooden match, not on it. If you watch for a while, you will see the gradually wood turning black, while the fire’s flame is dancing in the air well above the wood.

    A few key definitions

    Burning (or combustion): This is a self-perpetuating reaction between oxygen and other gasses or vapors that will rapidly react with the oxygen, giving off heat and light as a result.

    Ignition: The process of starting the combustion reaction.

    Ignition Temperature: The minimum temperature a fuel (such as wood) must reach before ignition is achieved and the exothermic, oxidation reaction begins.

    Here’s how the ignition process works

    We’ve all heard of the “fire triangle:” Fuel (wood), Heat (ignition source), and Air (oxygen).

    As heat is applied to the wood, the temperature of the wood rises.

    As the temperature of the wood rises, volatile oils and tars that are trapped in the cells of the wood begin to evaporate and rise above the wood, mixing with the air.

    When the temperature of the wood and the escaping gasses reach the ignition temperature, the gasses suddenly begin reacting with the oxygen in the air, giving rise to a visible flame (above the wood), giving off heat and light.

    As the volatiles leave the wood, pure carbon is left behind. Thus the wood turns black.
    Wood, minus all of its oils and tars, equals charcoal -- carbon!

    Important, related concepts

    Convection: Convection is a heat-driven movement of fluids. In a fire, the heated gasses become less dense than the surrounding air. Gravity pulls dense fresh air down into the base of the fire, pushing the less dense gasses upward. As more burning gasses are pushed up, additional dense, fresh air is pulled into the fire to replace it. This is what makes the fire a self perpetuating process. IF PROPERLY BUILT, the fire will continually supply itself with fresh oxygen. Construct you fire lay to enhance the natural convection process!

    Latent Heat of Vaporization: We’ve all boiled water. It’s a simple process; but, there is something about it that many people are not aware of – the latent heat phenomenon. Start with one pound of water at 60 degrees F (about one pint). Add 10 BTUs of heat and the temperature will go up to 70 degrees. Add another 30 BTUs of heat and the temperature will go up to 100 degrees. Add another 50 BTUs of heat and the temperature will go up to 150 degrees. Add another 62 BTUs of heat and the temperature will go up to 212 degrees. NOW, add another 100 BTUs, and NOW the temperature stays at 212 degrees. Add 300 more BTUS…the temperature is STILL 212 degrees. Add 500 more BTUs and the temperature still stays at 212 degrees! WHY? Because the added heat is absorbed by the process of turning liquid water into steam. WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT TO FIRE MAKING? Because you will NOT have fire until the wood reaches its ignition temperature, near in excess of 550 degrees F. It’s critical to use dry wood! Otherwise, the heat you are adding to achieve ignition will be wasted on evaporating the water inside the wet wood.


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    Nicely done thread TJ.

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    Senior Member natertot's Avatar
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    Good stuff! I've put a bit of that to use enhancing my fire skills recently. I like the short and simple layout of your post.
    ”There's nothing glorious in dying. Anyone can do it.” ~Johnny Rotten

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    Senior Member tjwilhelm's Avatar
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    Arrow Firecraft 101, Tinder Concepts

    Part Two -- A Few More Basic Concepts

    The idea of "tinder" is to start fire making by first igniting a very easily ignited material that will contribute more total heat to the fire making process than the original ignition source can give, by itself.

    Key aspects of a good tinder include:

    • High amount of surface area, with great surface exposure to air (oxygen). Materials made from fine fibers, that can be well fluffed, typically make good tinders -- cattail fluff, cotton balls, shredded cedar bark, etc.
    • Tinder must be DRY! Don't waste valuable heat evaporating moisture!
    • The higher the volatile content of the tinder, the longer it will burn and the more heat it will contribute to the ignition of the finished fire.


    A popular, packed tinder is cotton balls infused with petroleum jelly. These are often kept in empty prescription bottles, 35mm film canisters, or zip lock bags. About three or four years ago, I did an experiment to maximize the amount of petroleum jelly in a cotton ball. It was quite successful, and was later dubbed by a friend as "TJ's PJs."

    I started by putting a glob of vaseline into a custard dish and heating it in the microwave oven to melt it:

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    OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA by tjwilhelm148149, on Flickr

    When the vaseline was fully liquified, I dipped cotton balls into it. They quickly slurped up the liquified vaseline. I set the soaked cotton balls on wax paper to cool and stiffen:

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    OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA by tjwilhelm148149, on Flickr

    To use TJ's PJs, it's important and necessary to fully fluff the top of the soaked cotton ball. Otherwise, it's difficult to ignite it:

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    OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA by tjwilhelm148149, on Flickr

    Once well fluffed, the soaked cotton ball can be ignited with a spark from a ferrocerium rod (firesteel):

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    04light_it by tjwilhelm148149, on Flickr

    With such a high vaseline content, TJ's PJs can burn as long as 15 minutes! Here's a photo of one after it had been burning for 11 full minutes:

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    05windy_11_min by tjwilhelm148149, on Flickr

    As an interesting spin on vaseline-infused cotton balls, try this: replace the vaseline with Triple Antibiotic OINTMENT. The ointment is mostly vaseline! By using the Triple, the Triple-infused cotton ball becomes useful for first aid as well as fire making!

    I learned this trick from new forum member, celticwarrior! These are affectionately known as CW's triple-balls!
    Last edited by tjwilhelm; 11-07-2012 at 11:56 AM.

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    Senior Member tjwilhelm's Avatar
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    Arrow Firecraft 101 -- Carbon, Charcoal, and Char Cloth

    In the same way that wood itself does not burn per se, carbon also does not burn, directly.

    Here's what happens when heat is applied to carbon/charcoal/char cloth:

    When heat is applied to carbon, and the temperature is raised high enough (the ignition temperature), at the hot spot on the surface of the carbon, the carbon reacts with the oxygen in the air. This is a bit slower reaction than that seen in the the flame of a wood fire, because it happens at the solid surface of the carbon. The reaction manifests as a red glow, and creates carbon monoxide (CO) as a byproduct. If you feed more oxygen to the glowing surface, it will react faster and glow brighter. Those who have sent sparks into a piece of char cloth from a flint-and-steel set have seen this occur.

    If enough heat is generated, and enough oxygen is available, a second reaction takes place above the surface of the carbon. This is where the carbon monoxide (a gas/vapor rising above the solid carbon) reacts with more oxygen, even faster than the previous reaction. This reaction manifests as an ethereal blue flame, and creates carbon dioxide (CO2) as a byproduct.

    As charcoal reacts with the oxygen in the air, it reduces in size and turns a light gray color. This is all that's left from the charcoal reactions -- a light gray mineral ash.

    Char cloth (mostly carbon, and a form of charcoal) is a popular tinder for use with flint-and-steel sets. For those who have never done it, it's pretty easy to make.

    Take a tin that can be sealed shut with a lid and drill a small hole in it:

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    02Hole by tjwilhelm148149, on Flickr

    Cut up some patches of pure cotton fabric and loosely pack them into the tin:

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    04Patches by tjwilhelm148149, on Flickr

    Close the lid snuggly and apply heat. The volatiles in the cotton will escape out the small hole you drilled. You can ignite this vapor jet, as seen here:

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    05Pyrolysis by tjwilhelm148149, on Flickr

    When the volatiles stop emitting from the hole (no more flame and no more smoke), immdeiately remove the tine from the heat source and quickly plug the hole so as to block the entry of any oxygen:

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    06Plug by tjwilhelm148149, on Flickr

    When the tin is cooled, open the lid and you'll have char cloth:

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    07Char_Cloth by tjwilhelm148149, on Flickr

    Put the char cloth into a tinder nest (this one is jute fibers), and hit it with a spark from a flint and steel set:

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    08Flint_Steel by tjwilhelm148149, on Flickr

    Where the spark lands, the char cloth (carbon) will get hot enough to start the first carbon-oxygen reaction, resulting in the typical red glow:

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    09Single_Spark by tjwilhelm148149, on Flickr

    If you blow more oxygen into the char cloth, it -- in turn -- will make the tinder nest hot enough to ignite:

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    10Fire by tjwilhelm148149, on Flickr
    Last edited by tjwilhelm; 05-25-2012 at 03:20 AM.

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    Senior Member tjwilhelm's Avatar
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    Default Firecraft 101 -- Seeing wood volatiles being vaporized

    In this short video, you can see the flame jets created by the volatiles being driven out of the wood chips in the stove. The pitch, tars, ad oils first evaporate from the wood and then they burn:


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    Senior Member tjwilhelm's Avatar
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    Default Firecraft 101 -- Another technique for making char cloth

    Here's another way to make char cloth:


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    Good stuff, TJ. There are probably an infinite number of ways to make charcloth but one way I like, because almost everyone has the components at home, is to fill a soup can with cotton cloth and invert it into a veggie can. Tap a small hole in the bottom of the soup can as you did the Altoids tin and sit the the veggie can on the fire. Same principle just common components for most. More and more of the danged veggie cans are being coated with a plastic liner and you don't want to use them of course. Look for a veggie can that does not contain tomatoes. Since they are acidic they almost always have a plastic lining in the can.

    A#1 Post. Had to give you some rep.
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    Excellent thread with pics TJ and I like Rick's method also. Thanks for sharing!

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    Senior Member tjwilhelm's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rick View Post
    ...There are probably an infinite number of ways to make charcloth but one way I like, because almost everyone has the components at home, is to fill a soup can with cotton cloth and invert it into a veggie can. Tap a small hole in the bottom of the soup can as you did the Altoids tin and sit the the veggie can on the fire. Same principle just common components for most. More and more of the danged veggie cans are being coated with a plastic liner and you don't want to use them of course. Look for a veggie can that does not contain tomatoes. Since they are acidic they almost always have a plastic lining in the can...
    Great idea, Rick! Thanks!

    Here's a technique I learned from a guy named "Mac:" When Mac is BBQing, he wraps cotton swatches in a piece of aluminum foil, tearing off a small corner of the foil package to form the vent. Then, he tosses it on the BBQ with his brats and burgers. When the cotton has finished out-gassing, he pulls the foil pack off the grill and folds over the torn-corner vent to seal out the oxygen. I tried it. It also works well.

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    Not to steal your thunder on this but here's some info I posted on the types of basic fire building. I don't want to get out of sequence on you so if you had some other ideas you wanted to delve off into before this then say so and I'll delete it until you're ready.

    http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...=vertical+fire
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    Super Moderator crashdive123's Avatar
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    Since we're talking char cloth and TJ all at once....

    Can't Means Won't

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    Dang it! I looked for that and couldn't find it. That is a nice vid. Didn't you do one with aluminimumuminiuum ....tin foil?
    Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.

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    Just a note.....suggestion, if y'all don't mind......

    I have made char cloth is a lot of ways, and seen a lot of different cans and tins used.....But it should be noted that Altoids type cans or other can once a hole is punched in it....., Is not water proof.

    I like using a shoe polish, or a tin that seals up, can the tin .117 pellets come in, or old electirical tape, but a can that seals.

    Then punch your nail hole....but carry a candle end (left over) in your can fire kit........After completing your batch of char cloth, and have a fire, use that wax from that candle, to seal up the hole till next time.

    Now your fire kit is water proof, can still be used to carry all your fixin'..... and by put back in the fire, which melts the wax....it's a char cloth maker again.

    Carry on good stuff.
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    Senior Member tjwilhelm's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rick View Post
    Not to steal your thunder on this but here's some info I posted on the types of basic fire building. I don't want to get out of sequence on you so if you had some other ideas you wanted to delve off into before this then say so and I'll delete it until you're ready.

    http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...=vertical+fire
    No worry, Rick! I don't have any thunder to steal. My purpose in starting the thread was for anyone with good info to contribute to the knowledge of fire newbies...THANKS!

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    One step at a time intothenew's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by hunter63 View Post
    Just a note.....suggestion, if y'all don't mind......

    I have made char cloth is a lot of ways, and seen a lot of different cans and tins used.....But it should be noted that Altoids type cans or other can once a hole is punched in it....., Is not water proof.

    I like using a shoe polish, or a tin that seals up, can the tin .117 pellets come in, or old electirical tape, but a can that seals.

    Then punch your nail hole............

    If you drill a small well placed hole in the lid/can overlap, take it apart and deburr delicately, you can use it for both functions. Align the holes for degas, and install the lid at 180 degrees for sealing. Vaseline around the seal for insurance.
    "They call us civilized because we are easy to sneak up on."- Lone Waite

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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    Good point, thanks, that's the the right kind of thinking............
    Geezer Squad....Charter Member #1
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    First 50 years...worried about the small stuff...second 50 years....Not so much
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    Senior Member tjwilhelm's Avatar
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    Default Firecraft 101 -- Solar Radiation, Point-Focus Refractors and Reflectors

    Again, some of this is surely to be elementary for most forum members. The focus of the thread is to help fire newbies build there firecraft skills.

    Most folks, even as kids, have used "magnifying glasses" (convex lenses) to start fires:

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    convex01 by tjwilhelm148149, on Flickr

    Fewer folks have used Fresnel lenses -- the flat, plastic lenses made by concentric grooves molded into a flat, plastic plate. These come in a wide variety of sizes, from small credit-card size lenese, up to large 3-foot x 4-foot lenses capable of melting a penny in 3 seconds!

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    fresnel01 by tjwilhelm148149, on Flickr

    Fewer still is the number of folks who have used parabolic reflectors to create a point-focus of solar radiation for fire-starting. This technique may be the one that is the most easy to find and adapt in a survival-type situation. Automobile headlamp reflectors...projector bulb reflectors...and flashlight/lantern bulb reflectors are all examples of parabolic, point-focus reflectors. In this pic, the one on the left was removed from an old, broken overhead projector...the one on the right was removed from an old flashlight:

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    parabola01 by tjwilhelm148149, on Flickr

    When using a lens, you have two things to be concerned with: keeping the axis of the lens pointing directly at the sun, and keeping the lens at the correct distance from the tinder/fuel.

    When using a parabolic reflector, you have only ONE thing to be concerned with, keeping the axis of the parabola aimed directly at the sun. The tinder/fuel is automatically at the focal point when inserted into the reflector. I like to use char cloth as my reflector-ignited tinder. The flat-black color makes it more absorbant of the focused radiation. In this pic, you can see a reflection of the charred paperboard glowing red, after being ignited by the focused sunlight:

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    parabola02 by tjwilhelm148149, on Flickr

    Even the old flashlight reflector, with the rougher and worn reflective surface works well. You can see the red glow on the edge of the char cloth:

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    parabola03 by tjwilhelm148149, on Flickr

    CAUTION: Once ignited, the char cloth can be HOT all the way through. Rather than pulling it out with your fingers, it's probably safest to poke it out with a stick:

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    parabola04 by tjwilhelm148149, on Flickr
    Last edited by tjwilhelm; 11-07-2012 at 12:02 PM.

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    Senior Member tjwilhelm's Avatar
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    Default Firecraft 101 -- Bow Drill for Beginners, Part A

    Yes, I know! And, I absolutely agree! Bow drill fire skills MUST include the ability to harvest materials in the wild, and form a useful kit, even if you need to use twisted tree rootlets for your bow string, and use a sharp rock to form your hearth board and spindle!

    That said, these videos are specifically aimed at bow drill newbies. The thinking in these videos is this: if the process can be made as easy and simple as possible, under the best possible conditions, the newbie will have bow drill success. Once success is achieved, these is a type of "body memory" that kicks in, making it easier to do the next time, and making it easier to do with field-harvested materials.

    WARNING: These are a repeat for the "refugees" from the "other" site.

    There may be WAY too much discussion and detail here for some folks...apologies. I was just trying to be thorough...

    Last edited by tjwilhelm; 05-26-2012 at 06:28 PM.

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    Senior Member tjwilhelm's Avatar
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    Default Firecraft 101 -- Bow Drill for Beginners, Part B


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