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Post by Black Hand on Mar 2, 2022 14:55:06 GMT -7
Has anyone run across evidence of friction fire making (bow & drill, hand drill) in the "colonies" 1700-1800's?
This seems to have been revived with the Bushcraft movement of the mid 1900's but friction fires (short of matches and flint & steel, friction by definition) don't appear to be a "thing" in our period(s) of interest.
Still a valuable skill to have, but not PC/HC for our time & place....
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Post by brokennock on Mar 2, 2022 20:23:56 GMT -7
No, not yet. Not that I've read everything possible on the period.
I have to admit, I seriously doubt it was a common practice, even amongst Eastern natives after contact and trade was established. I mean, what a step backwards if one has access to flint and steel. Even natives quickly adopted materials and techniques from whites when they saw an advantage, but,,, the same can not always be said of whites. I'm sure plenty of natives retained friction fire knowledge as a back up,, but how many accounts of white settlers and frontiersman suffering from lack of fire do we read about? I recall accounts of scouts, rangers, and other frontier folks going hungry for fear of discharging a firelock and possibly alerting enemies to their presence/location, but we see no evidence of whites learning to use a bow to take game. Maybe when one already harbors a prejudice that inhibits the likelihood of adopting another culture's method or equipment,,, it gets compounded when that method is a lot more difficult than what one is used to?
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Post by spence on Mar 2, 2022 20:55:29 GMT -7
I haven't found any instances of it being recorded in the colonies. Which means absolutely nothing. I have a couple of references from early 19th century, but in far off places, not this country. Charles Darwin reported friction fires in Tahiti and in the Falkland Islands in his round-the-world trip in the Beagle, 1832-1835. Two different methods, both friction, but rather obviously old and common technology stretching back into the 18th century in those places. I posted about them in another thread some time ago.
Spence
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Post by Black Hand on Mar 3, 2022 5:14:07 GMT -7
Fire-piston, fire thong, fire plow and fire saw are other friction methods used elsewhere on the planet during the time too. They just didn't make it to our part of the world...
As I term it, friction fires were a lost art once flint & steel became available and no one (I know, absolute that can't be proven) knew how to do them in our corner of the world.
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Keith
City-dweller
Bushfire close but safe now. Getting some good rain.
Posts: 990 
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Post by Keith on Mar 3, 2022 19:39:37 GMT -7
Given that colonists had the tinderbox, plus the lock of a flintlock, & spectacles, I don't think they would have bothered to use a fire-bow in the home. I think woodsmen would have knowledge of the fire-bow. Also there was always the option of getting coals from a neighbour's fire to light one's own.
Having said this, I think learning how to make fire with a fire-bow is a useful skills to have, just in case!
Keith.
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Post by lenapej on Mar 12, 2022 13:29:12 GMT -7
Was reading "A Narrative of the Captivity of John M'cullough, ESQ." and found a reference to friction fire, by the Indians though.
It was in the 1750's-60's era, and concerned a Lenape Indian "prophet" or teacher that was trying to get others to practice the old ways, in his instructions from the narrative are as follows:
"To quit the use of fire arms, and to live entirely in the original state that they were in before the white people found out their country, nay, they taught that fire was not pure that was made by steel & flint, but that they should make it by rubbing two sticks together, which I have frequently assisted to do, in the following manner: take a piece of red cedar, have it well seasoned, get a rod of bortree well seasoned, gouge out a small bit with the point of a knife, cut off the cedar about an 1/8 of an inch from the edge, set the end of the bortree in it, having first stuck a knife in the side of the cedar, to keep the dust that will rub out by the friction; then take it between the hands and rub it, pressing hard on the cedar and rubbing as quick as possible; in about half a minute the fire will kindle"
Thought it might be of interest.
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Post by spence on Mar 12, 2022 18:09:16 GMT -7
Thanks, lenapej, a good one for my files. Do you or anyone know what wood he means by bortree? I can't find anything on it. Maybe it's in the Lenape/Delaware language?
Spence
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Post by Black Hand on Mar 13, 2022 4:54:58 GMT -7
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Post by lenapej on Mar 13, 2022 14:49:44 GMT -7
Thanks, lenapej, a good one for my files. Do you or anyone know what wood he means by bortree? I can't find anything on it. Maybe it's in the Lenape/Delaware language? Spence Spence, I do not, and had to wonder myself, but it looks like Blackhand may have the answer. |
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Post by spence on Mar 13, 2022 16:23:43 GMT -7
That may well be right. Thanks BH.
The thought tickles my mind that the reference suggested getting a "rod" of bortree. The smaller branches of the elder are hollow with an easily removed pith. They make great pipe stems, but they wouldn't work as a spindle to make a fire drill. You could of course use a larger piece of elder and make a rod, so maybe my concern is misplaced.
Spence
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Post by brokennock on Mar 13, 2022 16:31:22 GMT -7
That may well be right. Thanks BH. The thought tickles my mind that the reference suggested getting a "rod" of bortree. The smaller branches of the elder are hollow with an easily removed pith. They make great pipe stems, but they wouldn't work as a spindle to make a fire drill. You could of course use a larger piece of elder and make a rod, so maybe my concern is misplaced. Spence I've seen pretty thick pieces of wood used as spindles for friction fire. Also, if using the hand drill method as described in this example, a thicker piece smoothed down and shaped would make sense, and make using elder more workable. |
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Post by Black Hand on Mar 14, 2022 4:43:01 GMT -7
That may well be right. Thanks BH. The thought tickles my mind that the reference suggested getting a "rod" of bortree. The smaller branches of the elder are hollow with an easily removed pith. They make great pipe stems, but they wouldn't work as a spindle to make a fire drill. You could of course use a larger piece of elder and make a rod, so maybe my concern is misplaced. Spence Spence, The pith could be a place where a coal will form when used as a spindle. I recall seeing/reading something like this years ago but don't recall the species used. General info: primitiveways.com/Fire%20Making%20Materials.html |
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Post by Sicilianhunter on Mar 15, 2022 5:46:43 GMT -7
No, not yet. Not that I've read everything possible on the period. I have to admit, I seriously doubt it was a common practice, even amongst Eastern natives after contact and trade was established. I mean, what a step backwards if one has access to flint and steel. Even natives quickly adopted materials and techniques from whites when they saw an advantage, but,,, the same can not always be said of whites. I'm sure plenty of natives retained friction fire knowledge as a back up,, but how many accounts of white settlers and frontiersman suffering from lack of fire do we read about? I recall accounts of scouts, rangers, and other frontier folks going hungry for fear of discharging a firelock and possibly alerting enemies to their presence/location, but we see no evidence of whites learning to use a bow to take game. Maybe when one already harbors a prejudice that inhibits the likelihood of adopting another culture's method or equipment,,, it gets compounded when that method is a lot more difficult than what one is used to? Nock, You make a good point about the absurdity of Anglos not using bows for hunting, however, I'm not so sure it was a cultural thing. Wrongfully, we act as if NAs invented archery but its clear that archery was perfected in Europe and Asia thousands of years before and was over shadowed with the advent of gunpowder. Benjamin Franklin offered up the idea of arming the Continental army with long bows due to the compatible effective combat range and higher rate of fire to that of a musket. I'm not sure why we don't know more about bows in the hands of settlers or the use of friction fire methods, all I can offer is that what we do know was written by those who were literate, who may have been few and also lacked the exposure to every nuance of the frontier lifestyle as well as the fact that we read documents that have survived of course, which means we know nothing of any information that didn't stand up to the test of time. Obviously, a poor frontier family who may have fell on hard times due to a multitude of reasons may need to scratch out a living off the landscape if they couldn't afford lead, powder, flints, etc... With all of the other tales of survival, I find it hard to believe some of the same people would just up and quit their own survival because they didn't have a few crutches when they could've adapted. I could be totally wrong... |
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Post by Black Hand on Mar 15, 2022 6:26:50 GMT -7
No, not yet. Not that I've read everything possible on the period. I have to admit, I seriously doubt it was a common practice, even amongst Eastern natives after contact and trade was established. I mean, what a step backwards if one has access to flint and steel. Even natives quickly adopted materials and techniques from whites when they saw an advantage, but,,, the same can not always be said of whites. I'm sure plenty of natives retained friction fire knowledge as a back up,, but how many accounts of white settlers and frontiersman suffering from lack of fire do we read about? I recall accounts of scouts, rangers, and other frontier folks going hungry for fear of discharging a firelock and possibly alerting enemies to their presence/location, but we see no evidence of whites learning to use a bow to take game. Maybe when one already harbors a prejudice that inhibits the likelihood of adopting another culture's method or equipment,,, it gets compounded when that method is a lot more difficult than what one is used to? Nock, You make a good point about the absurdity of Anglos not using bows for hunting, however, I'm not so sure it was a cultural thing. Wrongfully, we act as if NAs invented archery but its clear that archery was perfected in Europe and Asia thousands of years before and was over shadowed with the advent of gunpowder. Benjamin Franklin offered up the idea of arming the Continental army with long bows due to the compatible effective combat range and higher rate of fire to that of a musket. I'm not sure why we don't know more about bows in the hands of settlers or the use of friction fire methods, all I can offer is that what we do know was written by those who were literate, who may have been few and also lacked the exposure to every nuance of the frontier lifestyle as well as the fact that we read documents that have survived of course, which means we know nothing of any information that didn't stand up to the test of time. Obviously, a poor frontier family who may have fell on hard times due to a multitude of reasons may need to scratch out a living off the landscape if they couldn't afford lead, powder, flints, etc... With all of the other tales of survival, I find it hard to believe some of the same people would just up and quit their own survival because they didn't have a few crutches when they could've adapted. I could be totally wrong... When examined in retrospect with a modern mindset and the full availability of information, much becomes possible. However, they lived in a time without universal access to information. Archery was an "ancient" art that was supplanted by the firearm - this would be the equivalent of saying that if the power went off, everyone should just go back to torches, tallow candles and rush-lights. Yes, it is possible, yet rather unlikely for a vast majority of the modern population. They just wouldn't know how.... Another parallel situation - in some parts of the world, people still use flint & steel to light fires. In most of the civilized world, this is an utterly foreign concept today. Some people couldn't light a fire with a road flare and 5 gallons of gas, much less flint & steel. |
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Post by Black Hand on Mar 15, 2022 15:02:27 GMT -7
Arguably archery takes far more practice, the range is limited and making a proper bow and arrows is not easy...
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