Hello, I’m ROBwithaB
and this is 101 Ways to Make Fire.
Last time
we spoke about the properties of wood, the physical properties that make it suitable
for making friction fires.
I also showed you
my hand crank drill
and indulged in some gratuitous sexual innuendo with my lady friend Roberta.
(Roberta) Ooooh…
(Roberta) That’s a big one!
Today we’re going to find out which woods to use.
In south Africa there are more than a thousand species of indigenous trees.
About four hundred
just in the area where I live
and that's excluding exotic trees,
garden shrubs,
all of that.
Statistically you’re probably from a completely different part of the world.
So instead of just
recommending a whole list of species that are going to work,
which you’re probably not going to be able to find in your neck of the woods
I'm going to talk about the general properties that you looking for
in a timber,
which will make it suitable for lighting a friction fire.
This...
is a piece of Pinus Patula.
Yes, I said Pinus. That’s Latin for pine.
Specifically, Mexican Weeping Pine,
which is commonly planted commercially here in south Africa.
This is an example of something that is NOT going to work. It is a resinous timber;
the resin acts as a lubricant,
and instead of forming an ember the wood gets polished,
and buffed up and
it just doesn't work.
It also has an obvious grain which I hope you can see there.
Generally,
that's not what you want.
You’re looking for wood with a consistent texture.
For the same reason you want to avoid knots in your wood.
Uhhh... this pine is very knotty
It is a knotty knotty wood.
What you are looking for is wood that is light,
strong and fibrous.
This usually comes from a fast growing plant,
often something growing in disturbed areas
with a high water table.
Many of these will be primary or secondary vegetation,
often called weeds.
Okay!!!
Let’s go find some wood!
Wrong way, it’s that way...
(“Charge of the light Brigade” type music) 0:02:35.150,0:02:39.849 Okay... behind me is an old gravel pit where they took out fill material to build the road.
That was probably forty years ago - before my time
and we've been
trying to rehabilitate it in the meantime
but it's still very much disturbed,
with a lot of alien invasive vegetation,
which is a bad thing,
but today
it makes my job much easier
because that right there... is what I'm looking for:
something called bug weed,
or colloquially, Wild Tobacco.
I’m going to head down into the donga over here and try to find some dead wood.
These things often get killed by passing veld fires.
Oooh! Slippery!
Ouch...Ooh...Ouch!
Okay...this is a bad idea!
All in the name of science.
Balancing...But I’m about to fall off.
Ooh...
Slippery, when wet!
Remind me whose stupid idea this was.
Aaarghh!
Bloody hell!
Eat your heart out, Bear Grylls.
(Bird in the background) Purple Crested Loerie
and while I’m here I want to show you something else:
bracket fungus
otherwise known as tinder fungus.
Maybe not THE tinder fungus,
but this is probably going to work instead of char cloth,
so we’re taking that with us.
Home sweet home!
CHEERS!
It was a good day’s hunting,
To the victor the spoils!
