How Long Does it Take to Master the Art of Making a Fire?

A Second Question from Vicki Smith, Cumbria, UK…

The art of creating a tipi fire that can be started with a single match, every time without fail, can be mastered in 30 minutes to an hour, that how long it seems to take my students…

It’s not always easy to find the perfect materials to do this, but 30 min to and hour and you’ll know exactly what you want to accomplish your aim…

The one match fire is basically a pile of sticks of very defines diameter, stacked in a very precise way, a way that allows the flame of the match to climb up through ever increasing levels of flamable material, the flame starts small so you give it small stuff that will heat and burst into flames very easily…

As the flame strength builds the material can be larger, it will need more flame to get it alight but the flame is stronger so it can easily do it…

When you build a fire right you can have a raging fire in less than a minute…

I think your question could have been about making a fire with primitive methods like a bow drill so I will answer that question too…

But let me share a story with you about making a fire right…

I was helping out a fellow instructor once at a class he was running, the class was sat listening, it was getting dark and I know the class would enjoy a fire when the lecture was over, so they could sit and talk and just chill out…

So I built a fire in the very specific way I teach my students, I got it to be about 3 feet high with small logs the diameter of my leg on the outside, just as the lecture was ending, I lit the tine tinder bundle at the centre and the fire instantly began to roar, it took about a minute for that fire to get to such an intensity that the students had to sit away from it untill it died down…

Most assumed I had rekindled some embers or used a blow torch or something, because the heat got so intense so quickly…

The key is to give your flame the right fuel it needs to grow, and the sevceret is the tinder, get that right and the rest is easy…

Now onto the bow drill, a primitive fire making technique…

I run workshops where I get about half of my students getting a coal and then a flame from a bow drill set in about 4 hours. I’ve perfected a new teaching technique that should shorten that time a little more…

But really the main thing is technique, once you have the right technique it’s easy to keep inspired with it as you can always see how close you got to getting a coal even if it dies as they often do, the first few time…

Once you have a bow drill set that works well, you can have a coal within a minute of starting…

The thing that takes the longest time to prepare is the tinder bundle, because you need a new one every time, and it is so key to get it just right, it needs to be very dry and very fine materials…

As far as mastery of fire in concerned, there are many elements to get right…

There is first mastery of carving a set that can be worked easily, then there is mastery of the technique. Then mastery of making cordage from natural materials, then mastery of using less perfect woods if your choice is not avalible, then there is making your set with a stone blade, then getting it right in the wet…

There are levels of mastery as with many many things, but 4 hours will have your technique near perfect, and from then it is a mater of playing with less perfect resources…

Hope this helps…