Firecrafter Minuteman Challenge - 4 Ways (Almost 5)

Описание: Among Firecrafters there’s a fun competition known as the Minuteman Challenge. The goal is to make flame with a friction fire ember in under a minute. You may begin with a proven, burned-in and notched kit. This video shows my best efforts using a variety of fire-by-friction methods. I found the stated ember/flame times by examining raw footage frame-by-frame on my computer. The clock starts on the first frame when my hands begin to move. It stops on the frame when my hands stop moving (ember formed) or on the first frame when I see flame. The raw video was shot on my iPhone 8 at 30 fps.

This challenge is not easy! Often I would form an ember in just a few seconds, only to struggle with taking the tinder to flame. Low humidity helps, as does a gentle breeze and access to a variety of fire making materials. Many material combinations are reliable for fire by friction. Only a few are good for fast ember formation.

My tinder bundles were made from untreated, fuzzed-up jute twine. To this I added some crumpled cottonwood inner bark or some red cedar shavings. On top of that I placed dry cottonwood down. When hot enough to ignite this collection burns fast! As you will see, my back yard gets a lot of direct afternoon sun. A result was that the tinder bundles would on occasion become fully engulfed and burn me before I actually saw the flames. Ouch!

1) Full Size Bow Drill Kit: This was a very difficult challenge with a full size bow drill kit. It took me dozens of attempts over a period of about 3 weeks to succeed. I can reliably make flame in about 90 seconds, and a few times I made flame in 65-70 seconds. Only once, though, did I break the 60 second barrier! I found that only if I was able to make a suitable ember in ~20 seconds or less would I have time to take my tinder to flame in under a minute. I can ignite small embers quickly. Making large (~peanut sized), well coalesced embers rapidly with a full size bow drill kit is not yet something I can do reliably, or on demand.

I also learned that it is possible to “overdrive” a bow drill set. To create embers as quickly as possible I started with thin spindles, leaned as hard as I could and bowed as fast as I was able. I found that I could create so much heat that I would burn through the char dust instead of forming an ember. When I drive my bow drill kits with full gusto I often find piles of crumbly burned out cinders where black talcum-like dust should have been. I tried numerous spindle/fireboard combinations, yet found it difficult to force myself to back off on pressure and bow speed. I began inching toward success only when I started using my hardest elm fireboard and a fairly thick elm spindle (which reduces heat density at the spindle/divot interface). Beyond that, it was just patience, practice and perseverance that eventually paid off. I don’t have much advice to offer beyond that.

2) Mini Bow Drill Kit: I was successful on the first try with my mini bow drill set. You must use gentle pressure when using skinny wildflower stalks as spindles. Yet, big, coalesced embers come quickly and easily. Mini bow drill kits are compact, light, easy to make and use, reliable, and highly efficient. What more can you ask for?

3) Hand Drill with Thumb Sling Thunderhead: With an ironweed spindle on a white pine fireboard I’ve made flame in under a minute on several occasions by this method. Just like with the mini bow drill, big, coalesced embers come quickly and easily. See my many other videos on the Thumb Sling Thunderhead.

4) Pump Drill: I was also successful on my first try with my mid-sized pump drill. In fact, with it I produced my fastest ember-to-flame speed to date (39.5 s). As shown in one of my other videos, my daughter, Maria, and I also made embers on our respective first tries. It is a joy to work with and is spectacularly easy to use.

5) Bare Handed Hand Drill: I didn’t break the 60 second barrier of the Minuteman Challenge, but I got close. I may also have set a record. I’ve only seen one faster bare handed hand drill ember, but the firemaker wasn’t able to get his tinder bundle to flame. See    • World's Fastest Hand Drill Ember  

Unfortunately, my bare handed results are not yet repeatable for me. To allow time to get my tinder to flame, I realized that I would have to make an ember in no more than two passes down the spindle. Only this one time did I get an ember on a single pass. On a very few occasions I was able to make an ember on 2-3 passes down the spindle, but getting the tinder to flame came too slowly.

You might also notice that my spindle was extra-long for my bare handed attempts. Usually I like spindles between 22”-24” long. This one was over 30” and was chosen to allow more time per pass down the spindle without having to reposition my hands. Eventually this spindle wore down and I didn’t have another comparably long, straight ironweed stalk to work with. I will try again after my annual wildflower harvest later this summer.