As a nod to the Canadian Voyageurs and lumberjacks, I have been drinking tea with a couple gently rounded teaspoons of sugar for my "energy drink" while cutting wood.
I recall reading about a "
Encourage one another and build one another up. Pray without ceasing. Test everything. Keep what is good. Avoid all evil. -1 Thess 5:11,17,21,22
As a nod to the Canadian Voyageurs and lumberjacks, I have been drinking tea with a couple gently rounded teaspoons of sugar for my "energy drink" while cutting wood.
I recall reading about a "Rendezvous" in Canada where one of the contests was to build a fire and heat up a "tea billy" of water to boiling. The people running the contest provided the wood, typically an 8" long piece of 1X8 lumber and the contestant had to provide all of his own tools.
The "grey-hairs" had to use a flint-and-steel to start the fire while the tenderfeet were allowed to use one match.
If I recall, the best times were in the four-to-five minute range and the winners used only a razor-sharp hatchet because putting down and picking up tools takes time.
Pro-tip: Split three pieces off to use as pegs driven into the ground to support the billy above the fire.
\I was a Boy Scout in 1959 & entered a flint & steel contest at our camporee. I had been practicing and lit a fire in under six seconds. Legitimate tinder & charred cloth. Got a fire going & with my prepared firewood boiled water in record time. Prepare, prepare, practice and practice some more. No big deal just personal satisfaction.
ReplyDeleteI'm the same age and did that too. But I never got one going that quick. You're really good at it. Now most kids that age don't know how to do it with matches. Really, Hand some kid a box, or pack, of matches and most can't light them.--ken
DeleteWhen I learned flint and steel, i made a tinder bowl, like a bird nest. And would hold it up so the opening was down. Fire burns up, right. And sparks fall down, and burn off eyebrows.... 😑
ReplyDeleteYep, Boy Scouts here too... that was a LONG time ago...
ReplyDeleteAt summer camp demonstrating flint-and-steel, one of the presenters, after many failed attempts, said "Hey, what's that over there?". Being an attentive ADHD Scout meant I looked away from the demo for about 25ms. It was educational: our role models cheat.
ReplyDeleteBow-drill; flint-and-steel; fire piston, lucifers: they all work. All of last winter I heated the outbuilding with wood and tried to use "ecological" fire starting methods for a while; a Big-Ass weed burner is SO much easier.
I confess myself a cheater in regards to fire starting. I began smoking cigarettes at age 18 and quit after 16 years of one pack every two days. A BIC lighter was part of my EDC during those years. NEVER left the house without it.
ReplyDeleteAs a trail life troop leader, it amazes me what these boys don’t know already! I dare not show them what you can do with wd40… but seriously!
ReplyDeleteIn Muskegon
Um, what CAN you do with WD-40? Asking for a friend with a squeaky wheelchair.
DeleteDid she ask you to come in Billy Boy Billy Boy
ReplyDeletedid she ask you to come in darling Billy...
Yes she asked me to come in then she stuck me with a pin
she's a strange one who cannot leave her mother...
I hear unleaded gasoline is a white man's tinder
ReplyDelete