Tinder
Category:
Xiii Camp Fun And Frolics
All is now ready for creating a spark, but that spark cannot live alone,
it must have something it can ignite before there will be a flame. What
is wanted is tinder, and tinder can be made of various materials, all of
which must be _absolutely dry_. Here is one receipt for making tinder
given by Daniel C. Beard: "The tinder is composed of baked and blackened
cotton and linen rags. The best way to prepare these rags is to bake
them until they are dry as dust, then place them on the hearth and touch
a match to them. As soon as they burst into flame, smother the flame
with a folded newspaper, then carefully put your punk (baked and charred
rags) into a tin tobacco box or some other receptacle where it will keep
dry and be ready for use."
This can be prepared at home. In the woods gather some of the dry inner
bark of the cedar, the fine, stringy edges of white or yellow birch, and
dry grasses, and dry them thoroughly at the camp-fire.
Mr. Beard also says: "You can prepare tinder from dry, inflammable woods
or barks by grinding or pounding them between two flat stones. If you
grind up some charcoal (taken from your camp-fire) very fine to mix with
it, this will make it all the more inflammable. A good, safe method to
get a flame from your fine tinder is to wrap up a small amount of it in
the shredded bark of birch or cedar, so that you may hold it in your
hand until it ignites from the embers produced by the saw."
With all your material at hand for starting a fire, make one turn around
the spindle, with the bow-string, as in Fig. 76. Place the point of the
lower end of the spindle in the small hole or "fire pit" at the inside
end of a notch in the fireboard, fit the socket-block on the top end of
the spindle (Fig. 76), and hold it in place with one hand, as shown in
Fig. 77. Grasp one end of the bow with the other hand and saw it back
and forth. This will whirl the spindle rapidly and cause the friction
which makes the heat that produces the spark. When it begins to smoke,
fan it with your hand and light your tinder from the sparks.
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Bow-and-Drill Method
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