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Fire-by-Friction with Damp Materials |
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Written by Dick Baugh
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It is a dark and stormy afternoon. The rain is starting to soak through
your tattered poncho. The insignificant little streams that you have to
cross are now waist high. Yesterday they were little trickles. You
finally get to a cave above Wildcat Creek. It is dry inside and even
better, there is dry firewood. You reach into your pack for your trusty
hand-drill and hearthboard, eagerly anticipating the fire you're going
to twirl up. Disaster! They are both damp. What do you do now?
I've been a part of that scenario in the past but didn't have the
experience or confidence to propose a solution. I saw three
professional outdoor survival instructors fail to ignite a
fire-by-friction when forced to use damp materials. I've spent a lot of
time thinking about this problem and I think I have a solution.
The First Experiment
I started with a bow drill set with an incense cedar (Calocedrus
decurrens) hearthboard and coyote bush (Baccharus pilularis) spindle
about 5 inches (12 cm) long by .5 inches (1.2 cm) diameter. This set
was quite reliable at creating a glowing ember with moderate effort. I
tossed both spindle and hearthboard in a bucket of water for
approximately 30 minutes. Next, I removed them from the water, towel
dried them and waited another 30 minutes before carving a starting hole
and notch in the hearthboard. The wood looked and felt wet. When I
applied my usual bow-drill effort it took a little longer than usual
before the wood dust started to smoke. I then gave it maximum effort.
Plenty of smoke and black char, but no glowing ember. I repeated that
sequence (moderate effort from the beginning) several times without any
success at creating a glowing ember. What was happening?
The following description is about a bow drill fire, but the principles
are the same for all fire-by-friction methods. I hypothesize that after
the spindle starts twirling the following sequence of events occurs:
1. Moisture is driven from the wood. Even "dry" wood contains
approximately 10 % by weight of water. Very little wood is worn away.
Temperature is probably less than 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. The wood starts to decompose and char. Smoke starts coming from the
wood. The wood is being worn away. The temperature is beginning to rise
from 400 to 700 degrees.
3. The temperature of the fine wood particles being abraded off the
junction between spindle and hearthboard rises to above 700 degrees.
Ignition takes place if the particles are fine enough.
Ignition will not happen until the temperature gets up to a critical
level and the critical level depends on the fineness of the wood
particles. In "The Miracle of Fire by Friction" (Bulletin of Primitive
Technology, No. 5, Spring, 1993), I stated that very fine charred wood
particles would start to glow if they were heated up to 700 degrees,
whereas coarser particles have to be heated to 800 degrees. You have to
get a charcoal briquette's temperature up to about 1100 degrees before
it starts to burn.
When full power is applied to a damp spindle and hearthboard then the
material is worn away before its temperature is high enough to cause
ignition. Evaporation of moisture in the wood is a major source of
cooling. In order to get ignition you must get rid of the moisture
before trying to create an ember. Fortunately one can heat the wood
without wearing it away appreciably by applying a very light effort.
This is a universal phenomenon which is critical for success with damp
materials. The pressure has to be above a certain threshold before the
material is abraded away. Therefore you should be able to drive the
moisture away by twirling the spindle gently for a few minutes.
The Second Experiment
Next, I tried to put this theory into practice. I applied very light
effort with the bow-drill to the damp spindle and hearthboard until a
very tiny wisp of smoke started to appear and then I stopped for a few
seconds before resuming the operation. I did this for a couple of
minutes: light effort until a little smoke was created, stop a few
seconds before continuing with the light effort. After several minutes
of very light effort I then applied the moderate effort that I normally
use.
Success! The glowing ember told me that I had successfully dried out the wood sufficiently to generate a glowing ember.
Prior to doing this bow-drill experiment I saw a similar thing happen
at the 1998 Rabbitstick Rendezvous. One of the young men from Arizona
left his sotol hearthboard and seep willow hand drill outside in a rain
storm. By applying lots of effort he could get plenty of smoke but no
glowing ember. I suggested that he take it easy for a few minutes to
dry the materials before working hard. It worked.
Now that you have a glowing ember what do you do with your damp tinder?
There is no sun out to dry it. You need some source of heat to dry your
tinder. If you are alive you have something at 98.6 degrees. Use it.
Wrap your tinder bundle very loosely in a bandanna and put it next to
your stomach and then be patient. It may take over three hours to dry.
Avoid exerting yourself to the point where you perspire.
The preceding suggestions are neither foolproof or unique. Another
method is to construct your spindle and hearthboard from wood taken
from the center of a large log.
That is not always possible. I would greatly appreciate hearing from
anyone else who has ideas on starting friction fires with damp wood.
"After starting a fire without matches with my father"
by Beth Baugh (December 1, 1991)
Today these modern hands remembered the old ways.
Soft and pale, unhardened by sun or experience, not callused by trees
and rocks, they held again the shapes of the earth and rejoiced.
They stung with the pain for forgetting, yet now they have given life to one of the four elements.
Taken back to childhood, and beyond, to the time of dreams, where hands were skilled, strong and wise.
Where mouths blew breath on those embers sparking life into flames which burned for generations.
The smoke we held in our raised hands carried a prayer to the Great Spirit.
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