Today I'm going to fulfill a lifelong dream. No, not that one involving Angelina Jolie. The one where I make fire. Wish me luck. See y'all on Monday. Over the past few months I've been watching two shows on a regular basis that have rekindled my interest in survival methods: "Survivorman" and "Man vs. Wild". Both awesome shows.

I was a Boy Scout, but for some reason I never actually started a fire the old-fashioned way---with sticks. I attended several demonstrations at Scout camp, but never actually did it myself. Always wanted to.

I'm going to use the "bow and spindle" method. That is where you fashion a small bow to get the spindle stick moving back and forth sufficiently fast enough that friction with the hardwood base creates an ember. I'll use oak for the base, since we have an oak tree in the back yard, and for the spindle I'll try a branch from one of the larger bushes. Since I want to replicate a survival situation, I'll try my shoelace for the bowstring.

I've wanted to do this for years but for something has always kept me back. I think it was embarassment. It seems like something kids would do, you know? My new goal in life is to do more stuff like this. Have more adventures.

For the three people that are interested in how I do with this, I'll post something on Monday. Tomorrow is the blog sabbath. Remember, "Six days thou shalt blog, but on the seventh, thou shalt rest. For in six days the Lord made the blogosphere, and on the seventh he rested from all his blogging."

Posted by: Rusty at 11:44 AM | Comments (17) | Add Comment
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