Making Fire - Acquired Skill

Experience is the best teacher. Generally speaking this is true, especially if we talk about survival. That is why we are always advised to practice with our gears. Go into the woods and do some dirt time. And do it as often as you can.

Some of the stuff I know about survival like making fire for one, I learned out of necessity. As far as I can remember in 1957 there was no electricity in my hometown San Jose. There were no television sets then and the sole entertainment of people at night is going to a movie theater powered by an electric generator. Not everybody have transistor radio that run on batteries, in fact you would be considered rich if you have one.

Electric stoves are non existent too. There are some people who own kerosene stove but most cook their food using firewood. There was no garbage collection system in place either so people burn their garbage instead especially the leaves raked from the backyard. In the morning and at dusk you would see in the neighborhood heaps of leaves smoking under the fruit trees so it would blossom and bear fruit.


(Photo courtesy of Low-Tech Magazine)
I learned how to make fire at an early age by just watching people do so at first and then doing it by myself later. I learned how to stack the firewood the right way so it would easily catch fire using a match and only a piece of paper as tinder. I also learned how to blow or use ihip to make the fire bloom and how to arrange 3 stone cooking fire. I became adept at these skills by repetition since it is a part of my daily chore. Only around the 60's that the town was energized.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.