The Book of Camp-Lore and Woodcraft

; the only fire that these creatures knew was that which struck terror to their hearts when it was vomited forth from volcanic craters, or came crashing amo

eloped a prehistoric Edison among the Neanderthal men, who discovered how to build and control a fire, thus saving

ld have made no progress whatever, for not only the humble kitchen range, but the great factories and power-plants are all depending upon th

erthal men built them, than we are in the roaring furnaces of the steel works, the volca

, on the broad prairie, on the mountainside, or in the dark and

le on pine

ots and sag

oo and sm

agots blaz

le into t

sisting of Fig. 1, a thimble made of a burl, with which to hold Fig. 2, the spindle made of balsam. Fig. 3 is a bow cut from a standing bush; not an elastic bow, such as one uses with which to sh

dead balsam tree which was standing

few yards of our camp. This indeed was a novel experience, for seldom is material so convenient. The fire was built in a few seconds, much to

lized white man can make a fire with rubbing-sticks, as well as the primitive man. But it was an Englishman who popularized thi

an, and a lot of other fabled creatures. Away over East somewhere there was light because the sun was over there, and the humming-bird man among the animal people of our Indians is the one, according

fire making at your camp deserves the

n the oo-noo tree, and to this day, when the Indian wants fire, he goes to the oo-noo (buckeye) tree to get it; that is, provided he has no matches in the pockets of his store clothes

h, one of the author's Scouts of the Sons of Daniel Boone (the scout organization which preceded both the English Boy Scouts and the Boy Scouts of America) who broke the record time in making fire with "rubbing-sticks" by doing it in twenty-nine seconds at the Sportsman'

t is of little practical use outside of the fact that it teaches one to overcome obstacles, to do things

g-stick

ssion then, and is under the impression now, that no one can build a fire in that manner. When we find reference to rubbing-sticks it is probab

im

iece of stone. In the bottom of the thimble there is always a shallow hole or socket; see S on Figs. 1, 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D. The thimble is an invention of

le was drilled into a piece of jade (B), using for the purpose some sand and the drill shown in Fig. 23. There was a piece of steel pipe set into the end of the wooden drill with which to bore a hole into the hard jade. The jade was then inlaid

nnot be held down with the bare hand, consequently the use of the thimble for that purpose is nec

e

d may be natural or may have been made artificially. To the bow is attached a slack thong, or durable string of some kind. The Eskimos, more inventive than

Bow

so if one can secure a strip of buckskin, a buckskin thong about two inches wid

Sp

-quarters of an inch in diameter at the middle; constant use and sharpening will gradually shorten the spindle. When it becomes too short a new one must be made. The end of the spindle should not be

Fire

ot be made of black walnut, oak or chestnut, or any wood which has a gummy or resinous quality. The fire-board should be of dry material which will powder easily. Dr. Hough recommen

he fire-board so as to be wider at the bottom. At the inside end of each notch make an indenture only sufficiently deep to barely h

Fire

pushed out by the twirling spindle (Fig. 4). The use of the fire-pan is also an Eskimos ide

nd

on or linen make excellent tinder, but the best

o Cha

of paper (Fig. 9), a square section of birch bark or another piece of board. This flapped down quickly upon the flames will extinguish them without disturbing the charred portion (Fig. 10). Or wit

g them out, after which they are cut into thin slices, laid on the board and beaten until all the black dust ("snuff") is hammered out of them, when they are in condition to use as punk or tinder (Fig. 11). In olden times there was a mushroom, toadstool or fungus importe

nd

doned humming-birds' nests are too difficult to find, last year's vireos' nests are more easily discovered suspended like cup

hredded up very fine, make good tinder. Whether you use the various forms of rubbing-sticks or the

Fire with a

of the drill in the socket hole of the thimble, the other end in the socket hole on the fire-board, with your left foot holding the fire-board down. Press your left wrist firmly against your left shin. Begin work by drawing

t will continue to bite the wood until the "sawdust" begins to appear. At first it will show a brown color, later it will become black and begin to smoke until the thickening smoke a

e carefully on top of it a bunch of tinder, then blow till it bursts into flame (Fig. 8A). Or fold the tinder

by erecting two posts, one to represent the fire-stick and the other the socket thimble. The spindle runs horizontally between these two posts and the pressure is secured by a thong or co

ithout

fire-board, and another piece for the socket wood and the string from their moccasins for a bow string. They used no bow, however,

i-the F

boo is first split lengthwise and in one piece, a small area of the stringy tissue lining of the tube is splintered and picked until quite loose (Fig. 18). Just over the picked fibres, but on the outside of the bamboo, a narrow groove is cut across it (Fig. 18G). This piece of bamboo is now the stationary lower part or "fire-board" of the machine. One edge of the other half of the original

smoke is plain and before three dozen strokes have been made, smoke may be seen. Usually before a hundred strokes a larger volume of smoke tells us that the

dust is smouldering it may now be gently fanned with the han

ing of th

wheel which I found under the barn. Fig. 23C shows a pottery weight wheel which I found many years ago in a gravel-pit in Mills Creek bottoms at Cincinnati, Ohio. It was brick-red in color and decorated with strange characters. For many, many ye

Stick (Amer

dispensed with and the spindle twirled between the palm of the hands, as formerly practised b

their hands and as pressure was exerted the hands gradually slid down to the thick lower end of the spindle. To again get th

tick (Amer

Mt. McKinley fame made a fire by this last method when his matches were soaked with water. It is, however, more difficult to produce the fire this way than with the thong and bow. It is still

ch crystals held together. But as the sun is not always visible, as lenses are not supposed to grow in the wild woods and were not to be found in the camps and log cabins o

neumatic

invented a fire piston (Fig. 26) with which he ignited punk made of

o hold a bougie, and some fungus. A steel rod is attached to a solid piston, or plunger, not shown in the figure, it being within the tube. This rod has a milled head and there is a small hole

of Us

firm body, either in a perpendicular, horizontal or vertical direction, and force the piston down with as much rapidity as possible. This rapid compression of the air will cause the fungus to take fire. Instantly after the stroke of the piston, unscrew the maga

d has a decided advantage over the fire-cane, where the fung

the piston into air-tight cylinders, and when the piston is quickly withdrawn the cotton is found to be aflame, so it may be that the Colonial gentleman had traveled to the Indies and borrowed his idea from the Burmahs, or th

TNO

d Mississippi Valley, but is the nut buc

rd is now el