Day 3: Creating A Hand Drill Fire
Be Kind Always.
Be Kind Always.
Hand drill: Why is the hand drill the primary fire source for indigenous people the world over? simply put, with skills it's the easiest one to make. Now I realize that with skills part is really important. Having said this, let's think this one the way all the way through. If you are a nomadic tribesmen running across the plains of Africa do you want to take the time to make rope, find a perfectly shaped bow, carve a spindle and hearth board? Or do you want to break off a straight stick and drill it into a hearth board and make fire to cook tonight? Before the comment section blows up, I know I'm simplifying this in a way that is unrealistic with regard to your ability to make fire with this tool. However I also know from experience that it is easier while walking or hunting and Gathering to find two sticks of the appropriate build, and bust a coal by rubbing them together for fire. So consider this an advanced skill for when you don't have the equipment needed that can substantially broaden your ability to survive thrive wander hunt gather and just be in the backcountry without support. Add the hand drill to your skill set bring a Bic but practice this as much as possible, because every tool fails and not every situation gives you the ability to have tools to begin with. people live daily with this being their only means of Fire production. if it is good enough for them make it a tool that is good enough for you as well.
Step By Step Hand Drill Fire Instruction Card…
Hand Drill Fire Creation Instruction Video…
DAY 2: FIRE SCIENCE LAws…
Always Learn.
Fire science: Fire science, why does it even matter? Have you ever watched a Boy Scout trying to light a green tree on fire with a lighter? After a few minutes they have a black stick, a halfway full Bic lighter and no fire. I have, why doesn't it work? Well, the answer is fire science.
So let's talk a little bit about it.
What is fire? Fire is a combination of three things: Heat, oxygen and fuel. We call this the fire triangle. Kick any one leg out of the fire triangle and you do not have fire. Let's break it down a little bit more so that we can understand the nature of what we are actually seeing. Heat shouldn't be a complicated thing for people to understand. Rub your hands together really fast and you will feel Heat. The spark in your lighter is heat. When that spark is thrown into the air, it causes a chemical reaction between butane (fuel) and the oxygen in the air (O2) which gives us fire. If you have ever looked at a fire while it is burning you notice that the flame is about a quarter of an inch above the wood. What is happening here? Well the wood is being heated up by infrared radiation from the flame which is causing it to give off gas which is mixing with oxygen in the air and creating fire.
Okay okay so why does this matter? Well it matters because the main reason your fire doesn't work is because you have water inside of your fuel that is making it cold and taking out that heat part of the equation. Or you smother by leaving it on the ground which is removing the oxygen part of the equation. Or you finally got fire and decided it would be a good idea to put a stick on top of it and remove the oxygen from the fire thus killing your fire. When you understand how important oxygen is to the fire triangle you start to grasp the concept of needing a little bit of space between the bottom stick and the top stick so that the gasses leaving the bottom stick can mix with the oxygen in the air, to start a fire and heat up the top stick without you putting your fire out. In the future when you can't get your fire started, think through it logically. pick it up off the ground with a little Log Cabin. Surround the fire with gray dead standing finely processed wood that isn’t wet, then when you finally get a flame don't go and throw a stick on top of it suffocating it of oxygen.
Day 1: Understanding Survival PRIORITIES
Stay Humble.
Survival priorities: What exactly does this mean? Well, let me start out by introducing myself. You can call me Skip, as I won’t give my name publicly as I try to stay of grid. I am a survivalist. A real one. I get a ton of questions on what I should do if this or that happens from people that know me, few of which know my location as I move my footprint often. You see, everyone likes to play the what if game, “what if,” my plane goes down…”what if,” I forget my lighter, “what if,” I find myself naked stranded in Antarctica with nothing? Well there is a simple solution to all these questions and it is called the idea of survival priorities.
So let's talk about survival priorities. What is my primary priority? well don't die. Okay that is all well and good but how do I not die? The thing is the answer is simple, it depends. But that's not a good answer. That's not an answer you can use to apply anything of value in any of thosesituations at least not without the rule of threes.
So what is the rule of threes? The rule of Three’s is a guideline, not necessarily an actual rulethat helps you to think your way through a survival situation. It's a little bit of scientifically backed data that helps you to prioritize and figure out what really is going to kill you first and then youcan take steps to stop it. In my line of work being military and law enforcement for the past 20 years I have a Tyler's version of the rule of threes. It goes something like this.
We know that the average gunfight lasts about 3 seconds so you have about 3 seconds in an austere environment without security. Security can be a lot of things from a firearm to a blunt tool to a knife to a location in front of a law enforcement facility to an exit path maybe even aparachute. Whatever your security plan is just have one and remember, like they say stay strapped or get clapped.
The next rule is 3 minutes without air. this one confuses many people and it confused me aswell at one time. This is more of a preparation reminder rule. If you are in a float plane and your plane goes down you have about 3 minutes before you die from suffocation this means anypreps that you should have are of no value to you if they are in the fuselage while your plane isgoing down the drink. You have to have whatever you need on your person, and in your pockets. That lighter you want, that knife you need, that emergency rescue Beacon it all needsto be in your pocket or on your person.
The next rule is 3 hours without shelter in inclement weather. What does this mean? First off it means that you need to wear appropriate clothing for your environment. If you can't sit comfortably by a fire at 2:00 in the morning without dying from exposure with the clothes you have on your back, then you didn't bring enough clothes. Shelter starts with what you're wearing then goes to sleeping bags, bivy shelters and tents. Finally it hits the traditional idea of shelters being windbreaks from rocks and logs that you turn into a shelter.
The next rule of Threes is 3 days without water. Now this one I need to remind you again is just a guideline not an exact rule. you might last 4 hours in the Mojave Desert without water, you might last 4 days in the jungle without water. All this rule is designed to do is to remind you thatwater is more important than food.
The next rule is 3 weeks without food. An interesting study in Canada showed that you can go 40 days without food as long as you have vitamins and water and only about 20 days if you have roughly 500 calories per day without permanent long-term side effects. What this tells us is that it might be better to go without food and eat all of what you have when you have it than it is to nibble all the time and never go into ketosis. You can live a long time off the fat you have on you right now, so your takeaway should be that food is not the most important item, it might be the third or fourth most important item so if you're hungry work on fire water and shelter before you eat. When you eat it’s ok to binge a bit and don’t feel the need to spread it out over time. Lastly 3 months without companionship. even if you have everything you need you're eventually going to go a little bit crazy without your friends. so remember the purpose behind all of this stuff is to get yourself found then like my friend Justin always says, go home and eat tacos.