Teaching my son Alex to make honest fire.

[TommyGun8142]

Great fire

[Briankozmo]

Awesome video. What would you do to make that bow if you had nothing whatsoever in the woods?

[sk8zero123]

@Briankozmo shoe lace and a peice of wood

[jeffbengtson]

@Briankozmo if you've lost your shoes you can make cordage from bark or other natural materials, it's pretty involved though, google "making cordage"

[gaiagale]

Brilliant ...simple clear demonstration I'm curious to what kind of wood is used for the bottom indented piece

thanks for sharing ...that is indeed an honest fire

[jessesefcik]

that is very hard people its no as easy as it looks

[Immotalitis]

@sparkiify123 Yeah, i ignite my good ol' pipe several times a day with this method.

Lighters is for pussies!

[RonRay]

What species of wood are you using for the spindle and hearth?

[mymessagetomark]

If you take into account the time spent to earn the money to buy a lighter its faster.

[mymessagetomark]

Soft woods work best because harder woods are more dense and conduct heat away faster requiring more effort.

[rrnsss]

Very nice video. Thanks for posting. Enjoyed it. I will need to try that some time. Is there any special wood that needs to be selected for the drill and the block ?

[firebyehand]

what materails are you useing is it cat tail with something?

[mymessagetomark]

just cattail seed wrapped with dry grass.

[TheJosiah12345]

@sparkiify123 I know right? Just goes to show how easy people have it now and how hard it was when people had no heaters in the primitive times

[TheJosiah12345]

Its very nice teaching your son how to make a fire instead of playing games nice video!

[WebDragonAZ]

Awesome looking out for the next generation

[blackleaf12]

nice job



[gnamp]

I've seen fire and I've seen rain

[mitchmitch555]

You can almost always find some sort of shoelace type substitute in nature.

[seededsoul]

that's a fancy setup you got there...you some sort of caveman techie?

[PapaDeGrassi]

good job dad! you just tought your son and my self how to make fire. this knowledge now , because of you, will be past on from generation to generation in my family. i am showing my two sons as soon as the weather lets up. i have a feeling that everybody needs to learn this the way the world is going these days. thank you very much.

[MajesticChicken]

I'm always surprised at how fast that works. Very cool, just a piece of twine in your pocket and you can gather all you need to make a fire in minutes in the bush.

[SongSubscribers]

Cat tail?

[mymessagetomark]

cattail plants .Alternatives are thistle down or milkweed down.

[joohop]

gr8 vid m8 :)

[MisterNiceGuy001]

if im ever caught stranded in the wild i have the gift of flame thanks to you good sir... now then, if only you have a few tricks on how to train monkeys to follow your every command, ill be ready to leave my tax-paying 20th century life-style for a wild fiasco in the wilderness!!

[ArtisanTony]

Nice!

[nugsalad]

Wow I favorited this, you are the man.

[killerzwad80]

you can turn it off now haha

[cacocherub]

lol

[aquint93]

thats so sick!

[a1rsoftp0wn3r]

wow that was really fast what wood did u use

[Ghostkamo]

@a1rsoftp0wn3r Did he ever answer this question?

[definca]

Cool vid. Nicely done fire start to flame. I like the idea of the shell and cat tail if available. Not sure bout why needs to be a green stick. can be dry one also?

Best way to impart knowledge is to use the "show me" principle. After Dad does it, YOU take the camera away and say "show me now". Works like a charm.

[bulgariaisnomberone]

That with the shell was cool. Nice skills.

[lozairakija]

thats really cool me and my friends are going to go far in the woods and do a survival kinda camping Ive done this before but never got fire it got really hot tho but still no fire

[heatherrose2006]

Good job Dad. = )

[samson98]

Very nicely done! Thank you for sharing,

[l0nerex]

Ubutu Mawengwe

[mymessagetomark]

What does that mean?

[fxdrdnme]

@mymessagetomark I believe it means Love to Humanity, all people one love. I met a Zulu man who told me this when i was younger.

[michaellane432]

thanks for doing this! i think things like this are very important to learn.

[saumier1]

nice! but I wouldn't wanna be in the bush with your son! lol

[mymessagetomark]

why not? Evidently you dont have a son or you would know how that rubs me.

[saumier1]

your right, sorry about the comment

[bungo0011]

how deep does the hole need to be in the wood

[mymessagetomark]

not very deep. it will continue to erode deeper as you use it.

[thefamilynerd09]

is this a trial and error deal?

[mymessagetomark]

I don't think I understand the question. Obviously it works. You might have to try a few times to get the hang of it but with very little practice you can do this reliably.

[harleypiper]

I do it with my little black and decker cordless drill .just insert the wooden dowel ,tighten and let her rip on to

a small piece of 2 by 4

[mymessagetomark]

Now why didn't I think of that?

[ecco1347]

nice video.

what a nice demonstration

thank you

greets from a little town in germany

[FelchBelcher]

What kind of wood are your spindle and friction block?

[mymessagetomark]

low density woods seem to be best as they are much slower to loose the heat through conduction. in this case I think the spindle was a maple sapling. it was of the very fast growing first or second years growth. The fire board or hearth board was a very well dried segment of a shrub called butterfly bush. All this is from my memory and I didnt make a point to remember. the density of the wood is the critical thing here.

[br4nd0n136]

catlails is agreat idea

does it work good?

[mymessagetomark]

well thats what I'm using here. It has always worked for me. An alternative is the down from milk weed or thistle. the shredded bark of some junipers like the eastern red cedar also works very well

[geeksquad2]

the actors from the last of the mohicans taught me this! they also taught me how to throw a tomahawk and i got to shoot a real colonial time 50 cal rifle. you wouldnt believe how much that rifle cost.

[Safenut]

This is not the easiest thing in the world to do,especially if you don't know exactly how to do it.You made it look pretty easy.Thanks for posting this.

[oscarfish48]

thats great!!!!!!!!

[Coldstream63]

Nice - a great skill to have.

[XArrzx]

hey hey guys there is a way u can make a fire now in under 10 secs , its called a LIGHTER!

[mymessagetomark]

how long does it take you to make the lighter?

[XArrzx]

not long at all

[mymessagetomark]

show us

[geeksquad2]

lol

[RyuRiku]

wow thats cool dude! That was so quick! Do you use a specific kind of wood????

[machineromance]

somehow this is never a big deal when i see it in a video or on film or something. i guess it's because i learned how to do that when i was like 8, rather coincidentally actually. but i always thought everybody knows that, so it's nothing special to me anymore..

[mymessagetomark]

Sorry I failed to entertain you. Maybe you should watch something more interesting to you.

[machineromance]

hey, it wasn't meant personal. and i wasn't referring to Your particular video either. i was just stating that mere fact. i guess it came across the wrong way. sorry.

[stormchaser12345]

Wow nice job man! Im gonna do this when I go camping.

[sxswitch]

thats pretty cool

[gtjohnnycake]

your spindle was green? I thought it had to be dry? cool 5*

[jusanto93]

this is the kind of stuff they teach you in the army , you do not really need the other stick to move the stick that is doing friction to the wood, natives use their hands instead of the stick looking bow to rotate the stcik doing contack with the wood.

Nice vid

[mymessagetomark]

For me the hand drill requires a lot more effort. the bow drill makes it much easier. Try it your self and see the difference. the bow drill is much faster.

[anutarasamyat]

... that's one video I intend to download and practice. Times coming when even matches will be banned no doubt. Thanks for the info and your teaching technique couldn't be sharper or more informative. ta

[slyguytoo]

hwo was the small hole in the wood made to start off

[mymessagetomark]

I used my knife but a stone flake or even an impact mark from a stone will make the small depression needed. Use the spindle and bow to "burn in the start of the hole. After a good depression is burned in cut the notch about 2/3 of the way to the center of the hole with your knife or stone flake. A good shortcut is to tie two sticks together and form embers in the two spaces between them.

[LordFitzy]

i saw the same thing on survivor man

[Scooterboy552]

what type of wood did u use?

[wafmanx]

what material did you use to make the bow. -Vermont

[mymessagetomark]

the bow is the least critical of all the components. any springy branch will work.

[ninjaman117]

that fire is definitely honest

[123godthatsme]

Clean and nice video...

I want to learn your trick. What kind of wood is to be prefered?

Thanx from Norway

[mymessagetomark]

I'm not sure of the varieties of wood in norway. avoid high density woods as they conduct heat through the wood too quickly.

[johnyLaba]

how about pine- and firwood?

[mymessagetomark]

well I'd just give it a try. I think it would work as both woods aren't very dense so your heat loss through conduction wouldn't be very much.

[mammanr1]

e du norsk !?!?!??!?!?!? kult !!!!

[123godthatsme]

:D Enda en norsk en som vil lag flamme me pinna :D hahaha

jepp.. E en norsk gul Trønder :)

[mammanr1]

sjetnemarka ?

[stevevox1]

nice one mate

[righteousrat]

This is the method taught in boy scouts, isn't it? I've been wanting to learn how to do this, but the instructions I find are hard to follow. It's really something you need to just be shown and this video was great for that. Thanks for it.

[matrixismyname]

Make more movies like this sir, this are the basics we need not that crappie how to make sex movies that are on this site.

Make movies with more methods if you know.

[ne0huang]

thanks! ive been looking for a good video on how to make a fire using friction! thank you very much sir

[johnbleeker]

Nice video, thanks for sharing. How many parents are there who teach there kids good basics what they can use the rest of there lives. Not only how to make an honest fire, but also how to make and keep yourself healthy, how to create peace and happiness. Only than you can experience real wealth, It starts from the inside out.

John Bleeker Canada

[mymessagetomark]

Well thank you very much. I think we should share the things taught to us and respect and reward our teachers as best we can. I want to keep old knowledge alive by teaching it to others who can teach what we have learned ourselves after we have left this world.That is the only imortality we can truly have in this life.

[Shadeslayer1112]

Lmao I love the title, it made me laugh.

[mymessagetomark]

Thank you everyone for your praise. I posted this video in hopes of teaching other people what I think is a necessary basic skill that shouldn't be lost.

[Darkarch87]

Awesome... survival is somthing everyone should learn. Glad your teaching your son!

[WorldStove]

what a great dad you are! 5/5 for both you and your kid.

[cdltpx]

Excellent example of a key survival skill that could have saved many well-educated persons lives if they only knew how to make fire. I have never done this make a friction fire I have always used dryer lint with a coffee filter dipped in wax. You take the little wax cocoon break it open to expose the lint strike a flint spark and near instantly you have a fire that will set big pieces of wood on fire. It is great to know how to do this pure friction method.

[cdenver]

Well done!

5 STARS *****

Im only after watching some video on indians (not native americans), using this stupid looking device to make fire and it took them about 6-7 mins LOL!

This is the best way to make honest fire, also the quickest way to make honest fire. Your dad knows his stuff...I'm sure you all want him at your side if your stuck out in the middle of nowhere ;-)

[snocamo154]

Two important words about tinder: dry and fluffy.

[pugswithguns1]

easier using magnesium a flint

[mymessagetomark]

The point was to use improvised, found material.

[captaineothan]

I have tried doing this for about the past 2 hours, and the best I get is a bunch of smoke. I'm using ponderosa pine board for the pressure board (lubricated with oil) an old hickory drumstick, and I believe cedar for the fireboard. I notched the wood until it got to the burnt part, but when I start reciprocating, the black dust piles on top and not in the notch. why can't I get the coals to burn???

[mymessagetomark]

sounds like the notch might need to go a little deeper into the burnt hole. A wedge or pie shaped notch about a third into the hearth board should work out.You want to go fast enough to get a lot of smoke. The char dust will be barely hot enough to form an ember but you probably won't be able to see any glow from it till you gently fan or blow it.

[mymessagetomark]

Also hickory is a very dense wood and it conducts heat away from the friction surfaces pretty quick . you might try a less dense (lighter) wood.

[sk8terrboy113]

Wow thanks for the info i will try it thanks :)

[eicyak]

Good video, thanks for posting!

[slayerkid0196]

saweeet

[hareihs]

And by the way , " Wo Ho !" XD

[hareihs]

Texas ?

[mymessagetomark]

East Tennessee

[Qlaws612]

which part? I live in Oak Ridge

[mymessagetomark]

jefferson and hamblen county.

[mymessagetomark]

I live with my wife Sandy ,our teenagers ,a two year old boy,a dog ,ten cats, a heard of deer, a flock of wild turkeys and who knows what other critters on a 125 acre estate at the confluence of the Nolichucky and French broad rivers near White Pine Tennessee.

[Mikeanaiter]

whast all that black stuff?

[mymessagetomark]

black stuff is charcoal dust

[Mikeanaiter]

but...you dont really find that kinda stuff in the wild. that doesnt seem to honest to me.

[300retards]

A knife... should have..

Sticks and shoelaces

Ok what? Some dead leaves or grass? Some bark? Dead tree limbs,,,

[mymessagetomark]

if you want to be completely on the fly you can use a stone flake for the knife.

[mymessagetomark]

Except for the cordage it was all found in the wild near my home.You could substitute a strip of cloth ,a shoelace, a bit of rawhide, twisted or braided grass or what ever for the cordage. I have used strips of green mamosa bark for cordage. It can be striped from a limb or sapling with just a knife or stone flake.

[orangejump11]

u can fidn the rope on your shoes u can make a hole in the wood witha random rock, all the rest u can find, tell me wut u cant find in the wild

[mymessagetomark]

I can find all this in the fields at my home.

[timjyjy]

nice.

[sepelester]

Is your fire more honest than mine?

[mymessagetomark]

What I am eluding to is this fire is made from my own efforts with tools made by my hands. matches and lighters or other manufactured methods are not "honest" fire.

[superiorsantateresa]

Thanks! ***** :P

[pntballer310]

proper well done mate

[seanmft]

really nice video, looks like you've done this a few times.

[dexcargo]

Now would you care to teach your son how to use a lighter?

[mymessagetomark]

he doesn't need one

[dexcargo]

I was only kidding sir.

[trex250]

I am not a member either. Thanks for the great video and it is harder then it looks.

[trex250]

I don´t think they would allow this to light up your cigar in the country club?

[mymessagetomark]

Guess thats not a problem for me, I'm not a member

[jakerwilloryanm]

1:59 looks like hes gonna kisss it

[haltzy]

hey can you really do it that fast?

dose the string matter?

and is the inside of a cat tail good tinder?

is that what you used for tinder?

and how do you build it up?

[mymessagetomark]

yes you can learn to do this much faster.

[arpoints]

does the string have to be really tight

[mymessagetomark]

tight enough to grip the spindle with enough tractive force to spin it

[chifetards]

nice vid guys

[arpoints]

need help cant make spindle spin

[mymessagetomark]

bowstring might not be tight enough or spindle might not be large enough.

[arpoints]

i tried to do this in my back yard . it didnt work. how long does the bow have to be and can it be a green fresh young one or does it need to be hard

[arpoints]

can i use something other than wood?

[mymessagetomark]

I can't understand why you would want to use anything else. The point is to use all natural material.

[arpoints]

can u use a hair band

[arpoints]

they say it usually takes up to 40 minutes until the whole process is done

[mymessagetomark]

What? 40 minutes, no way. I just showed you in just a touch over 2 minutes. I was going slow to teach my son. aminute to a minute in a half is plenty.

[arpoints]

wow im impressed you should make a video on how to make a bow drill

[mymessagetomark]

I might just do that. But this is really simple to do. After you learn it, it is embarrasingly easy.

[arpoints]

can you tell me how to make the bow connect with the spindle so the spindle will spin

[mymessagetomark]

watch how I wrap the bowstring around the spindle in the video

[arpoints]

is it the same video

[arpoints]

its confusing i cant understand it can u help me

[mymessagetomark]

yes watch this video and u will see me wrap the bowstring around the spindle

[mrhaydon]

ok what wood is best for doing this, i wanna be able to do this but i haven't a clue what a certain type of tree looks like haha, give me the names of the best trees and i'll google them

[mymessagetomark]

look at other comments to see the answear to the question.I've answeared this many times already.

[mysteriousanalfish69]

How should the spindle be prepared? Does it need to have a point or should it be flat?

I tried it a few times and the wood just got hot and smoothed itself so it seemed to lose friction.

Thanks!

[mymessagetomark]

Rounded but blunt and put pressure on it to increase friction.

[mysteriousanalfish69]

Wow cool!

I've been trying, but I guess I just don't have the touch

[BKMS21]

i tried this a couple of times, and it didnt work.... what type of wood should i use fro the base floor board? could i use birch, or sedar?

[mymessagetomark]

seems like soft woods are less dense and the heat doesn't dissipate away as badly.

[mymessagetomark]

ember is made up of chardust eroded from both the spindle and hearth board.

[Declan1205]

What type of wood are u using, the one on the floor, the one you're steping on? And the STick that spin is an ordinanry stick right?

[mymessagetomark]

hearth board was a split piece of butterfly bush.spindle was silver maple I think.Oak, ashe or hickory makes a great hearth.

[mymessagetomark]

Remember though dense woods last longer but soft woods ignite easier.

[mpress123456789]

veyy nice

[jorandr]

Hey man ,

very nice

i tried it a couple of times with my brother and it worked also :O

[annndreeww]

excellent vid man. that was very quick, good job! ive seen les stroud cry about it taking him hours! although thats probably tv shenanigans;)

[mymessagetomark]

Thanks for the compliment. I can do this faster. If you watch closely you can see It took me 3 times to get smoke from the base board and spindle because it kept skiping and trying to jump out of the hole.Once you find the smoothest part of the spindle to run the cord on it speeds things up a lot.

[ivanmontelongo]

How do you get that whole like in the edge on the bottom board?!?!

[mymessagetomark]

I use the bow and spindle to friction burn it in , then I notch it with a knife or even a stone flake.

[Lordizzy123456]

AWESOME!!!!!! worked like a charm =)

[harry1995]

cool

[dukcaboose]

i think its ok to blow it harder...since its not in flames yet...

[mymessagetomark]

try it and post. If you know a faster way I'd love to learn it.

[dukcaboose]

well, im learning to do this too....i only tried it once, but all i did was get the wood in smoke, then the tinder went out..

[mymessagetomark]

Just my opinion but when I was learning this I think I was too impatient and rushed the ember. I think if you blow too much or too hard it takes too much heat away from the ember. You will see me faning the ember at first so It doesnt cool. Remember the fuel of a fire must vaporize to burn. you need enough heat to vaporize (smoke) the fuel. If you watch this video u will notice the smoke volume increase a lot just before it burst into flame. Its the smoke (vaporized fuel)that is burning.

[johnbleeker]

"the fuel of a fire must vaporize to burn".

That was the best comment about making fire what I heard in a long time.

You are giving out secret knowledge

[fsxfanatic]

Great Video! But when i put the "shoelace" around the spindle, the shoelace just slips around teh spindle. What am i doing wrong???