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ROBwithaB uploaded a new video
(1 month ago)
Today, I show you how to make char-cloth (a magic material you will enco...
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Today, I show you how to make char-cloth (a magic material you will encounter often in fire-making videos) and also show a cool way to start a fire at the same time. Devil's Breath is a term sometimes used by firefighteres to refer to the noxious brew of gases cuased by incomplete combustion of organic material. When people die of smoke inhalation it is usually these gases that are to blame. Carbon dioxide will suffocate you mostly by replacing the available oxygen in the air, it isn't really toxic. But these gases can incapacitate you within seconds. Almost everyone knows the acrid smell of charring material and will recoil or retreat instinctively, or react by coughing, sneezing etc. We are designed or adapted to find the smell very unpleasant. THESE GASES ARE POISONOUS. DON"T TRY THIS WITHOUT ADULT SUPERVISION. Most people don't realise that "things" don't actually burn. Flammable substances like grass, wood, rubber etc (even petrol / gasoline) don't combust directly. What happens is that the heating of these materials causes a chemical breakdown that results in the release of flammable gases. This is called pyrolysis. Once the temperature of the gas reaches its ignition temperature, it bursts into flame. It is these burning gases that we recognise as fire. But the process of combustion requires oxygen too. In the absence of oxygen, we get charring. Most of us are familiar with charcoal. The process of making it is very simple and can be observed along many rural roads in the developing world. A stack of wood is set alight, but is covered with a mound of earth. In the absence of air, we get something called incomplete combustion. The wood cannot burn. Instead it chars. Normally, when you burn wood, all the carbohydrates combine with oxygen to form carbon dioxide and water vapour. All that is left is the fine ash resulting from the small amount of minerals in the wood. (This is why ash is such good fertiliser). With charring, the basic cellular structure of the material is retained. First, all the moisture in the material is evaporated off, followed by heavier oils, tars etc. Then the carbohydrates start breaking down into a recipe book of unusual organic compounds like aldehydes and alkanes and so on (okay, organic chemistry wasn't my favourite subject; I wish I'd paid a bit more attention though). Most of these are very volatile, flammable, explosive, whatever you want to call it. Basically, they're floating around, all energised like some Ritalin kid, just looking for oxygen to bond with so that they can release that energy and go back to being something more docile. What you're left with is basically pure carbon. Charcoal. Which will burn very nicely, thank you, but won't really give off any flames because all those flammable gases are already gone. The cool thing is, because there are no gases to blow away, the more air you add, the higher the temperature you can achieve. By adding the limiting ingredient, you speed up the reaction (which is exothermic) and more energy is released. When it comes to starting fires, this property of charred carbon is very useful, because it allows us to take a small spark or ember and grow it until it is giving off enough heat to ignite our tinder bundle.
In today's exercise, we are making charcoal on a much smaller scale than the forest harvesters of Zambia or Zaire. A chunk of charcoal would not work very well as an ember catcher because it is too big. Too much heat would be conducted away through the material and the temperature of the spark would drop to below the ignition point. Also, it is a solid chunk, meaning that not very much oxygen can get to the point of contact. If we char woven organic cloth however, we solve these problems. Whilst your clothes might look reasonably solid, at a microscopic level they are full of holes. The gaps between the woven strands ensure a free flow of air to the point of contact of the spark. And because there is only a thin layer of material, the energy of the spark is all concentrated one a single strand of the material. Even if the spark only lasts for a second, there is enough time for it to transfer its energy to that tiny piece of carbon and get it hot enough to start glowing. So that's why we make char cloth. And in the process, we get a little rocket engine going as well. I really like the sound that the flame makes as it shoots out of the little hole. Sort of a whistling hum. The tin acts as a bit of a soundbox, amplifying the song. A merry little fire song. In the gloaming, in the gloaming, sing and be merry, sing and be merry. The tunes I was whistling during the breaks were Light my Fire by The Doors and Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash.
DISCLAIMER: This video was filmed over the course of 2 days. I changed flint lighters half way through. I had a good dinner, prepared by my "crew", that did not involve grubs or scorpions. And it's been edited. Call it fake if you want to....
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ROBwithaB uploaded a new video
(2 months ago)
Once a year, the quiet village of Waterval Boven in Mpumalanga, South Af...
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Once a year, the quiet village of Waterval Boven in Mpumalanga, South Africa is transformed into a Mecca of Mountainsports. Known as Rock Rally, the event has been an annual fixture on the local climbing calendar since 2003. The competition is spread over two days, with a handicap system to ensure a competitive atmosphere at all grades. Day one requires competitors to climb as many routes as possible, with additional bonus points for red point, flash, etc. Day two is set aside for difficulty, with climbers attempting to lead the most difficult route.
So that's the officical story. But for many people, it's just an excuse to party hard. "What happens in Boven stays in Boven" etc. Clothes are usually shed by around midnight at the after-party once the prize-giving is done. Topless dancing, bump and grind. Of course, it's mostly guys, but as this video shows, there a good number of attractive female climbers too.
Held within walking distance of crags at the Tranquilitas campsite. Easy access to God No Wall, Hallucinogen, Baboon Buttress etc. Lots of fun. No serious injuries this year. A few massive falls, but that's why we have ropes. Nothing fatal. (The word "fatal" is only here for you macabre fckers looking to see blood and gore.)
This year there were overseas climbers from Germany, the United States (America), France and Croatia (I think; if I heard the accent correctly). Plans afoot to get Adam Ondra here for next year's competition, apparently. Also climbers from all over South Africa. Western Cape, Kwazulu-Natal and Gauteng were well represented as usual. Mpu was bloody useless but we'll rectify that next year.
Lots of participation by the schools. Good to see. All in preparation for a gold medal by South Africa at the Olympics?
Yeah!
Blah blah blah. Enough video description. Most of you should be able to find this anyway.
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ROBwithaB uploaded a new video
(2 months ago)
How to make fire without matches or lighter. The old fashioned way. The...
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How to make fire without matches or lighter. The old fashioned way. The rock is quartz (very common in association with granite, which is what the bare "koppies" or hillocks around here are made of; good for climbing too) which is hard and crystalline. Difficult to find flint around here, but occasionally one can find obsidian (basically volcanic glass) which will also work.
The plan was to shoot this video around sundown, to get an impressive shower of sparks showing up against a dark background. Unfortunately it also meant I couldn't see very well what I was doing. A fair amount of footage was edited out of this. When I practiced this BEFORE turning on the camera, I managed to get a viable spark after two strikes. HONEST. There is a bizarre parallel universe that opens up once we turn on the camera. The file (actually a wood rasp) was out to get me. I should have used a bigger rock.
This video is part of a series of 101 videos, showing different ways to make fire. It started out as a challenge to myself, to understand the physics and chemistry associated with combustion. Enormous resources go into firefighting and firefighters put their lives on the line every day to save lives and property from destructive fire. Obviously it is easier and cheaper to prevent fire in the first place. Hopefully I can teach people how easy it is for fires to start as a result of ignorance or negligence. Many of these techniques are very old and it is just a question of re-learning ancient skills. There is something very primal and satisfying about being able to start a fire the way our forefathers did. People nowadays seldom even think about fire, without realising that many of the things we take for granted every day have come about as a result of the understanding and control of combustion. An obvious example is the internal combustion engine. Electricity, too, is taken for granted, without necessarily associating it with the thermal power stations which generate the bullk of electricity worldwide. Another aspect of this project is the pursuit of sustainable energy. Lighting fire is all about concentrating energy, and doing it as efficiently as possible. By understanding how to do this, I will hopefully give myself and others maybe - a better insight into the various sources of energy that are available. You will probably have seen some of these before. I'm not pretending to have invented fire. The coke can thing has definitely been done before. I think I first heard about it after an episode of Mythbusters brought it to popular attention. I have still to see a decent video of it, though. It is actually surprisingly easy to ignite something using the parabolic surface on the underside of a soft-drink can. The trick is to get the surface as reflective as possible. Reminds me of that quote which is usually ascribed to Abraham Lincoln: If I had ten hours to chop down a tree, I would spend nine of them sharpening my ace. With primitive fire skills, it is usually more important and difficult to master the skills of sustaining and transferring an ember and nurturing it to form a fire, than it is to get an ember in the first place. So I will cover some of that as well whilst adhering to the discipline of showing one new way per video to actually ignite the fire. Some of the things I will use to start fires are: air, water, rock, the infamous coca-cola can, ice, condoms, a garbage can, pots, light fittings, stationery, a few different things you can find in your first-aid cabinet, toiletries, a torch, string, a cellphone, a typewriter, light bulb, various bits and pieces of your car or truck, cutlery, crockery, batteries, fuses, steel wool and a whole lot more. Quite a few of them I have succeeded in using, some of the videos might be made live and might fail. Most of these techniques require some practice. The idea behind all of this is not to suggest that all of these would be suitable for a survival situation although I have certainly used some of them in extreme outdoor situations. The truth is that one is always going to go for the easiest solutions when your life is at risk. The simplest solution may not be pure primitive skills. In real life, one often has access to a vehicle or downed aircraft in a survival situation. The world being what it is today, there is often man-made material to be found, even in the wilderness. Garbage can be very useful sometimes.
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ROBwithaB uploaded a new video
(3 months ago)
Congratulations on the 5000 subscribers, Pete.
Missed the deadline for th...
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Congratulations on the 5000 subscribers, Pete.
Missed the deadline for the collab, but.....
Here's my burping and farting video. Sorry, it's a bit late. Only three months, or something like that. I have to work on getting my editing up to speed.
Thought I'd post this one here as a little congratulatory piss-up. You DID say there was free beer involved.
Looking forward to the 10,000 party. Your shout.
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ROBwithaB uploaded a new video
(3 months ago)
Video response to:
"Gimme your SEXY LOOK", a silly tag game st...
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Video response to:
"Gimme your SEXY LOOK", a silly tag game started by some South African weirdo who likes to burn things in his spare time. Lots of people have since joined in. Feel free to participate. Doesn''t have to be serious. Post a video response to the other video and tag some people. Apparently I look like Magnum PI here, aka Tom Selleck. You probably don't know who that is if you're under thirty. The difference is, he had a Ferrari to go with it, which probably helped. Maybe I should have shaved first. Maybe I should have cut my hair. Maybe, well....
Not aimed at anyone in particular. Blah blah. There are a couple of cuties who were tagged and decided to play along.
Okay. Enough of that. Truth is, this was a scene I cut out of a video I was making about drinking beer. So the "Sexy Look" was in fact aimed at a can of Windhoek Lager. But it looked so creepy that I decided to post it. Which led me to the idea of making a tag game out of it so that everybody else could feel similarly stupid.
Isn't YouTube wonderful? Voluntary Public Humiliation.
And we keep coming back for more....
Didn't even have to get naked for this. Cause I just OOZE that raw musty sexuality. Sure, my clothes smell, but some girls like that, apparently. In Borneo. That's what I heard.
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MAKE FIRE.
=]
Have a great day :)