Starting a fire

[Oppies3800]

What is the best way to start a fire?

We are not allowed to use blitz.

Basic challenge is "start a fire with whatever the boesmans would have access to".

Now, being 27 and a stadsjapie, I am no boy scout.

Help please?

[Gualter]

Use a big lighter, newspaper and petrol

You can’t go wrong


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[ThysleRoux]

The Koi did not have access to lighters and matches - so basically you're going to eat raw cold meat, Oppies !!

[Gualter]

That’s why I send my kids to scouts, they use those flint things and grass and they get a fire going



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[Oppies3800]

The Koi did not have access to lighters and matches - so basically you're going to eat raw cold meat, Oppies !!

Nope... Do you think they will notice some blitz and a lighter?

We are going to be 20+ people

[Oppies3800]

That’s why I send my kids to scouts, they use those flint things and grass and they get a fire going



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I don't know if the khoi had flint? Actually, I dont know history

[Apocalypse]

472_4.jpg

now, contrary to popular belief, we don't actually blow things up.

we make things to be blown up and are eager participants.

you need an explosives licence to blow things up legally and I don't have one, which many people consider to be a good thing.

However.

if you want to start a fire you need 3 things.

1. fuel
2. oxygen
3. an ignition source.

now, item 1 is freely available, most things will burn if you try hard enough , but the key thing here is volatility. it's a lot easier to ignite a room full of vaporised LPG than it is to

[Apocalypse]

so. to continue...

472_4.jpg
now, contrary to popular belief, we don't actually blow things up.

we make things to be blown up and are eager participants.

you need an explosives licence to blow things up legally and I don't have one, which many people consider to be a good thing.

However.

if you want to start a fire you need 3 things.

1. fuel
2. oxygen
3. an ignition source.

now, item 1 is freely available, most things will burn if you try hard enough , but the key thing here is volatility. it's a lot easier to ignite a room full of vaporised LPG than it is to ignite a room full of bricks.

I suggest the following.

Set up a coil with a spark plug and associated wiring as any decent 4x4 owner would to generate spark.

Go into a room with 200l of diesel , 6 48kg bottles of LPG and a heap of wood and other lighter flammables such as old clothes and annoying employees.

Place the 200l can in the centre of the room, take the caps off and pack the wood and other flammables around it.

annoying employees that complain should be beaten until they are quiet.

take a pistol and plant a couple of holes about half way up the 200l diesel drum. it won't ignite, it's not the movies.

allow the fuel to run all over the wood and other flammables (annoying employees that are complaining may need to be stapled to the ground at this time)

open 2 of the bottles of LPG and step outside, keeping the door closed.

let the bottles empty

quickly run inside (hold your breath) and open the other 4 and get out, close the door and retreat to a safe distance.

this is fuel.

item 2, Oxygen, is . fortunately, not yet supplied by the government and there should be plenty and for free for the time being.

now, hopefully by this time you've put the spark plug rig in the same room as the other stuff, and put the battery and some very long wires to it at a safe distance , because that's your ignition source. Now, you might think that would be obvious, but I suspect that many Eastern Cape farm workers might not have worked that out, and be standing 100m away up the hill with the spark plug in their hand , and will then spend the next 16 years of their lives explaining how it would work better if you put 2 stroke oil in the diesel.

anyway.

generate a spark while the 4 LPG cylinders are still venting.

the resulting ball of flame should be very satisfying.

wipe the remnants of your eyebrows and hair from your head and face, and head back to the (now) al fresco dining area.

the coals should be ready in about 30 minutes, so pack your rooster with wors and tjoppies!

[Ricof4e]

Do it the same way the Khoi did it:

1) Wood

2) Invariable friction

3) No lube.

[Rabbiddog RIP 7/6/21]

Wood
3 sticks 1 must be flexible, tissue/dry grass etc and some string, one gets a hole and the other a point, flexible one becomes a bow

Point in hole, with string wound around pointy stick and a glove/stick/rock to apply pressure to the pointy stick

Twerl the pointy stick till there is smoke, put the coal on the tissue/dry grass and blow.

[Mad Manny]

Modernise the set up. Get base wood,cut hole in it for spindle,take spindle stick and insert it into drill chuck. Turn drill on high speed,cherry coal sorted in a minute...The modern bushman

What part of "Like a bushman" are you struggling with?

[grips]

My two sons lost a bet against me for starting a fire a few years ago. They were watching some survival program. The guy in the Series started a fire using the Bushmen friction method lightning a fire in a few minutes. I said bullshit it is impossible. They said it was possible. So the bet was on.

First I gave them an hour to start it the friction method. They could not get it going even using a bow and battery drill. They made smoke but no fire

I later said they can try everything except magnifying glasses. They needed to use only wood and stuff found in the veld. In the end they gave up.

Quite hard to do it in the Kalahari with no flint rock around

I have serious doubt about these Survival experts starting their easy looking fires. It might be possible with pre-selected material, wood and sticks but finding the right stuff in nature I doubt.

[Apocalypse]

I had one of those Magnesium blocks with a flint attached to it that you get at outdoor warehouse.

you use a knife to make a heap of Magnesium shavings and then use it to strike the flint and ignite them.

actually worked quite well with some dry grass.

bit of a pain in the bottom though.

[Rabbiddog RIP 7/6/21]

My two sons lost a bet against me for starting a fire a few years ago. They were watching some survival program. The guy in the Series started a fire using the Bushmen friction method lightning a fire in a few minutes. I said bullshit it is impossible. They said it was possible. So the bet was on.

First I gave them an hour to start it the friction method. They could not get it going even using a bow and battery drill. They made smoke but no fire

I later said they can try everything except magnifying glasses. They needed to use only wood and stuff found in the veld. In the end they gave up.

Quite hard to do it in the Kalahari with no flint rock around

I have serious doubt about these Survival experts starting their easy looking fires. It might be possible with pre-selected material, wood and sticks but finding the right stuff in nature I doubt.

I have has to used both methods, it's not easy but they work

[BushWacker]

Get large wads of dry grass
and elephant dung
and, on your friends vehicle ,
pack it tightly between
the exhaust and fuel tank
ex. manifold and block
tyre and fuel tank
and challenge him to
race round the park.
Only approach scene
to collect embers when safe to do so.

....

more seriously ...
I think the bow driven wood ‘drill’
on wooden base block does work
but ...
need select right wood types
for ‘drill’ and base block and ... and ...
must be DRY ...
also need right tinder ...
typically cotton boll type fluff seeds
and grass wisps, moss etc etc etc
and , honestly, dry elephant dung etc
must be DRY ...