David_JAFO
09-09-2015, 02:12 PM
hello,
I posted a link over on BCUSA using this method of fire lighting skills. I was chatting to my Filipino neighbour yesterday about the possibility of importing a hand made fire piston from the Philippines or Papua New Guinea, as they say it's sometimes called a fire syringe or a slam rod fire starter. We were talking about indigenous ways of lighting a fire. My neighbour reminded me that they also use more modern methods in rural areas or Regions of the Philippines, among these was mentioned the Permanent Match, which could be found in most households next to the cooking area. I had one of these years ago from Survival Aids UK Ltd when they *were Survival Aids Penrith UK. Anyway.. I was giving a demo of the uses I was taught in the use of a fire bow drill & a fire plough method of friction fire using the same tools. I produced the Bamboo fire saw I made during the summer months. I procured a length of Bamboo from a local DIY store to create a fire saw. My neighbour instructed me in a method using the bamboo as a strike-a-light fire starter. This is a percussion method for starting a fire, similar to using flint & steel. A bamboo with a hard "skin" is struck along the shaft with a piece of flint & char cloth to create sparks. The char cloth tinder is held together with the flint or also mentioned a piece of broken porcelain *old cup or plate shard used as a striker, so the sparks light the tinder. This method was used long ago in the Philippines. So.. I'm quite pleased with myself that I've received a refresher & a reminder of the many uses of bamboo in fire lighting techniques & can light a fire using the length of bamboo I have other than a fire saw, with shards of flint & char cloth.
Regards
David
*edited. I found a 2nd resource for this type of bamboo strike a light fire starter, outdoor bamboo wind chimes & I noticed that my bamboo steamer is made out of a very similar bamboo as the strike-a-light. BTW my neighbour used both the sharp edge & blunt rounded edge of the shard of flint both do work to create a spark, blunt edge is preferred I'm told, sharp was used to scrape along the bamboo to create tinder.
I posted a link over on BCUSA using this method of fire lighting skills. I was chatting to my Filipino neighbour yesterday about the possibility of importing a hand made fire piston from the Philippines or Papua New Guinea, as they say it's sometimes called a fire syringe or a slam rod fire starter. We were talking about indigenous ways of lighting a fire. My neighbour reminded me that they also use more modern methods in rural areas or Regions of the Philippines, among these was mentioned the Permanent Match, which could be found in most households next to the cooking area. I had one of these years ago from Survival Aids UK Ltd when they *were Survival Aids Penrith UK. Anyway.. I was giving a demo of the uses I was taught in the use of a fire bow drill & a fire plough method of friction fire using the same tools. I produced the Bamboo fire saw I made during the summer months. I procured a length of Bamboo from a local DIY store to create a fire saw. My neighbour instructed me in a method using the bamboo as a strike-a-light fire starter. This is a percussion method for starting a fire, similar to using flint & steel. A bamboo with a hard "skin" is struck along the shaft with a piece of flint & char cloth to create sparks. The char cloth tinder is held together with the flint or also mentioned a piece of broken porcelain *old cup or plate shard used as a striker, so the sparks light the tinder. This method was used long ago in the Philippines. So.. I'm quite pleased with myself that I've received a refresher & a reminder of the many uses of bamboo in fire lighting techniques & can light a fire using the length of bamboo I have other than a fire saw, with shards of flint & char cloth.
Regards
David
*edited. I found a 2nd resource for this type of bamboo strike a light fire starter, outdoor bamboo wind chimes & I noticed that my bamboo steamer is made out of a very similar bamboo as the strike-a-light. BTW my neighbour used both the sharp edge & blunt rounded edge of the shard of flint both do work to create a spark, blunt edge is preferred I'm told, sharp was used to scrape along the bamboo to create tinder.