Flint & Steel Fire Making - Part 2 TINDER & Kindling:

WARNING: 'PRIMITIVE' Fire Making  seems to be a bit addictive for survivalists - preppers - hunters & campers / trampers outdoorsy types one'n'all ..

If you struggle to get a fire started using "flint & steel" - the issue will likely be your TINDER .. (NOT THE BLOODY DATING WEBSITE):

I need to be clear about tinder and kindling - as they are different - or they need to be very different stuff. - Tinder such as dry char-cloth, punk-wood or ARMADOU fungus - ground-up or processed into a sort of cloth is the stuff you need to get it going (Otzi The Iceman had it in his pockets when found) - perhaps the easiest stuff for you to get is cotton wool balls from the chemist or dollar-shop - and you can make things work even better by smearing your balls with a little  Vaseline  ... as fuel.

tinder needs to have fine small particles with large surface areas ('light & fluffy' does it ..) that will catch a spark and then react to heat by starting to burn or at least GLOW or smoulder and smoke .. It mostly is natural materials like fine plant fibres or dried fungus.

Kindling (NOT THE BLOODY WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS FROM DRUGS & ALCOHOL !) is fine dry grassy-feathery wood shavings then small twigs or sliced dry wood 'splinters' that will next readily take fire from the tinder .. then you can gently add progressively larger stuff as the fire gets going ..

There truly does seem to be almost a non-theist (or atheist?) religion around fire-making .. with multiple gods to be worshipped and loyally presented with burnt offerings flaring in the night-time wilderness .. It's great eh.

I can almost get where religion comes from ..

Wikipedia says:   Archaeology

Evidence for fire making dates to at least the Middle Palaeolithic, with dozens of Neanderthal hand axes from France exhibiting use-wear traces suggesting these tools were struck with the mineral pyrite to produce sparks around 50,000 years ago. At the Neolithic (that's 12,000 years ago) site of La Draga, researchers have found that fungi was used as tinder. - Hearths are one of the most common features found at archaeological sites.

.. Those old Cavemen and cavewomen must have been expert at the knowledge & skills needed to survive and thrive eh .. they didn't have any social support services.

- This next video is not very well recorded - BUT it's expert fire-making fact content is great;

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPBPgDspPPE

It's all a load of fun eh - but in this hi-tech 21st Century a Bic lighter works fairly well for pagans ..

Have fun - Be Happy - and stay safe

Neolithic Fungi for readers: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5918798/

Marty K.

Flint & Steel Ignition? - I Never Really 'Got It':

Well I confuse easily .. it's the Irish in me 😃.

How do you confuse an Irishman? .. Show him two shovels and tell him to take his pick

Whenever I saw something written about flint fire-making I'd pay attention but I wasn't getting anywhere but was confused. - But NOW I know why ..

Making fire from rocks can work in both directions .. depending on the rocks or minerals: BINGO!

There's THREE separate & different methods ..
If one of your rocks is the grey marcasite form of "fools gold" iron pyrite - it has sulfer (sulphur) in it. - FeS is an iron sulfide.

A/- "Two Stones Method". If you strike your lump of marcasite/iron pyrite with a different HARD sharp edged rock or a piece of steel it will give weakish sparks that last a little because of the sulfur content of the pyrite .. It works.

B/-  But the later more modern system from the Romans times - was from the other direction - where the hard sharp 'flint' or chert stone was used to scrape or knock sparks of molten metal from hard high-carbon steel .. It works.

You Can Strike The Steel With The Flint OR Strike The Flint With The Steel ..

You might Use Other Hard Material Than Flint - Such As Diamond, Quartz ..

C/-  'Ferro-Rods' are something else again .. much more modern & scientific .. 'Ferrocerium'  is a synthetic  pyrophoric alloy invented in 1903 .. made from iron and a rare earth element cerium  .. don't worry about it - but when you use a hardened steel striker on a ferro-rod (or even a sharp flint works on ferro) - it throws really hot strong iron sparks .. It works.

- This ferrocerium is the same 1903 stuff that sparks the gas in your Bic or Zippo lighters - so a ferro-rod isn't really primitive fire lighting eh .. but it will do - and does do the job, even when wet.

Note: that black surface on a ferro-rod is a protective coating that you need to first SCRAPE OFF.

I can learn something new every day ..

Worth watching:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZsS343rkWk

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6diTROxK7I

Wow .. now that's cleared-up - I feel much better.

So your flint-lock firearms used system B/-  a hard sharp flint rock to scrape or rip molten steel sparks from the high-carbon hard steel frizzen onto the gun powder in the pan.

- And that was more or less how guns worked for around 400 years.

Flint & Steel is a technique that uses FRICTION generated heat .. as do Magnesium Fire Starters but with highly flammable magnesium tinder first scraped from a block of that metal. - A fire flame is a mixture of incandescent gases often brightly luminous. The solid or liquid fuel materials do not burn - but have to be first turned to gas vapour by the heat from the sparks and ignited.

Marty K.

First or Third World Nation?

So the long delayed Public Enquiry findings state that New Zealand's Government EARTH QUAKE COMMISSION was poorly prepared to deal with an earthquake .. & many repairs to damaged homes are inadequate - substandard and were underfunded ..

How can A Govt Agency Specifically Set-Up to Deal With A Serious Issue 

- Be Poorly Prepared To Do That?

Some 10,000 stored face masks badly needed to help preserve basic hygiene from viral cross infection have been found stored & unusable due to the degraded and perished elastic headbands ..

Many of our essential HOSPITALS are neglected failing buildings needing urgent upgrading

Front line essential supermarket food staff are reporting that "customers" are abusing them. There are increasing reports of racial abuse, spitting, scratching, - persons throwing baskets at staff and acting in a stressed manner ..

.. While their shop management are claiming government emergency funding but NOT passing it on

A friend once said -

  "EVERY PRACTICAL PROBLEM HAS A PRACTICAL SOLUTION - 

YOUR ONLY REAL PROBLEMS ARE PEOPLE"

While our privileged beneficiary leaders concentrate on their own re-election chances - by being seen to do something - rather than working at the long term essentials - there is little hope of a better sustainable life.

Those abusive sub-human scum are likely from that underclass who normally feed on take-aways & fast food washed down with fizzy canned drink - or beer - not by cooking meals from real food .. could it be that their recreational pills and smokes are also in reduced supply?

Starting right at the top at government level - way too many big salary earners here "pay lip service only" - happily taking the money but not doing the job.

New Zealand IS a beautiful country of the 1st Level but we can do better - much better.

COVID-19 is not the only sickness spoiling our lives ..  try corrupt greed - disinterested apathy - laziness - and neglected, poorly trained low IQ's .. & you then get what we seem to also suffer from - antisocial uncontrolled scum behaving like famished sewer rats.

We need to re-establish decent basic non-p.c standards of behaviour. - It's not just Firearms Law that needs restoring ..

Properly fund our essential Health Services
Increase police numbers
Close the tax loopholes
Confirm The RIGHT to self-defence
Build Prisons to keep the scum off our streets
Re-introduce CAPITAL PUNISHMENT for murderers

.. It will take time to fix it all - but I am volunteering to push the drop button or to throw the high current switch.

Marty K.

Lock-Down Social Distancing Bollocks:

MINISTER NOT EFFECTED BY LOCK-DOWN

David Clark, Minister of Health

 - Enjoys The New Zealand Outdoors Despite COVID-19 Lock-down:

There seems consistently to be a surplus of professional fundamentalist Christians at the upper levels of the New Zealand Administration who believe that their closeness to Jesus enables them to ignore regulations & law in favour of their own beliefs. - Health Minister Clark is also a Presbyterian Minister who studied Christian Theology at two Universities.

This self classified government  IDIOT has been chastised by Prime Minister Jacinda for ignoring emergency pandemic restrictions and is quote "disappointed with myself".

Trouble is .. there are many other idiots in positions of power and trust here in New Zealand. - It's not that Minister Clark did anything so terrible .. It's just that these privileged beneficiaries in Parliament think that they are so special as to be above the law ..

According to Police .. The Director General of Health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield, has issued a Health Notice that provides additional guidance on the rules around the COVID-19 Alert Level 4 to ensure its success and help move the country out of lock-down as soon as possible ..

"We need to be extra vigilant to move out of Alert Level 4 as soon as possible, and Police have all the powers they need to make sure people not following the rules are dealt with,” Dr Bloomfield said."

INDEED SO ..

INDEED AGAIN ..

March 30:

Police have today launched a new online form which the public can use to report COVID-19 Alert Level 4 restriction breaches.The online form can be found at www.105.police.govt.nz - It can be used to report isolation breaches or cases of businesses continuing to operate when they are not part of the essential workforce. Police Commissioner Mike Bush urged people to use the online form instead of calling Police.

Marty K.

Attack Response - Self Defence:

When you are attacked - be it by a virus or by other persons .. you have options on how to respond ..

You might follow police advice for New Zealanders and lie-down or backup until you may be able to run away screaming - provided your attacker hasn't disabled you - or you can resist the attack with every ounce of aggressive resource you have to hand and never give-up.

- If your decision is that you'd rather die than forcefully resist (as has been said to me by several UK folk) that is your choice & you might kit-out your kitchen with pointless blunt knives - short-pronged forks,- soft plastic plates and foods squished into laminated pouches rather than hard cans or glass containers.

However .. the rest of natural life on our beautiful planet reacts to attack by resisting - for example try removing a calf from a Highland Cattle beast.

or maybe from a fellow ape ..

If your mindset is to resist attack - right now you will have a well stocked pantry with plenty of fresh veggies & fruits plus anti-viral foods like garlic, onion, turmeric, fresh ginger, elderberry syrups, vitamin C .. and you will be using it in home prepared meals that will boost your immune system.

If your critical thinking suggests that in stressful events some people become aggressive and predatory .. you might want to consider appropriate options ..

 Always remembering that our local New Zealand Police Management claim that you have no right to firearms ownership nor any right to self-defence and that should you injure your attacker while defending yourself or family YOU will be prosecuted and the Courts will decide if the police charge is correct.

I believe that all animals have the number one prime survival instinct and RIGHT to defend life.

This RIGHT is actually an obligation for all of us - especially POLICE .. but their leadership is choosing to deny this for reasons unknown to we residents .. who pay for their generous salaries and retirement packages.

Kiwis ALL have a RIGHT to SELF DEFENCE and A RIGHT to have any tool for survival that they consider fit for purpose.

Beware changes to law & regulation that may be introduced under the STATE OF EMERGENCY conditions. - watch next for an imposed curfew ..

Marty K.
- When the shops do re-open

                  Please Don't Buy  LEVI'S  Jeans 
.. They Are Sponsoring THE GUN-GRABBERS

The 'New York Reload' .. Paired Pistols:

This phrase from recent times NEW YORK RE-LOAD entails carrying an appropriate SECOND GUN on the person accessible as "back-up" for the Number One Gun should it become unusable or empty before the threat to life is resolved ..

Hollywood liked to show the cowboy gunslinger shooting simultaneously with both paired six-guns blazing - but that is typical cinema bull-dust .. if you want to hit a target .. one gun at a time eh.

NY Police Adopted Revolvers in 1895 

 Fully Transitioning To "Auto-Pistols" 2018:

The story goes that some of New York's Finest chose to carry a second revolver rather than the bulky speed-loaders in belt pouches .. I get that idea as personally I find revolver speed-loaders awkward & fiddly to use and the variety of ways that they work certainly calls for solid PRACTICE to eliminate the push/twist/ or peel FUMBLE.

The revolver's six shot capacity limit strengthens the chances of exhausting them all before termination - did the old timers manage a better hit-rate than the 85% misses that prevails now?

This INEPT Gun Handling Is Thankfully From a Movie Actor ..

The use of multiple guns would go way back further as the earliest firearms were mainly single shot (If you were lucky) so it was the wise man who might mount a further tool somewhere on his unwashed body - A wealthy Captain of Property might have mounted a pair of vest pocket pistols at the fore .. a greatcoat pocket-sized pair on either side and two more matched to fit in his coat-tail pockets.

A FINE Matched Pair Of Miniature Vest Pocket Guns In 24 Gauge

(- You could play Spot the changes with the inlay):

That pair above are (is) a Wealthy Woman's toys - but I'd say most multiples would have more likely been a case of "Bring what you got".

- Among the valid reasons for packing the second gun is that it might be passed to a trusted supporter* - or even for frontier family to reload the emptied guns while maintaining the warfare to the front.
*Under current NZ Police regulation that support to aid a Law enforcement Officer would be totally unlawful - illegal.

Currently Ruger Vaqueros are being sold as matched pairs with consecutive numbers for SASS 'Cowboy Shooting' - lovely guns they are too. - I guess historically you might have bought two guns from a retailer anytime that you had the money and a need .. but they likely may have been sold in individual leather or cloth covers or merely wrapped in plain paper .. "Boxed Pairs" may have started when the fashion for dueling for satisfaction graduated from swordplay to pistol-play ..

Certainly .. The Ladies Also DUELED For Honour.

Modern high capacity 'autos' with 15 plus capacity can also be rapidly magazine reloaded .. but there might still be a small chance of malfunction tying-up the mechanism or of losing control of that piece that could maybe justify toting a second instrument  .. in a real 'life & death' situation.

Massad Ayoob quote - from a friend when asked why he carries THREE guns -

"Because to carry four would be ostentatious.".. Link to video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUxYXwbP3nI

It seems to me that any "system" that you choose will have both 'pros & cons' that will be personal to you - so think about it properly and PRACTICE.

Marty K.

My Phone & Government Incompetence:

Just for a giggle here's a personal experience ..

I've updated from copper to fibre for my home telecoms. The business that contracts to supply this service - sub-contracts out all the work without getting their hands dirty .. other than from handling the revenues.

When one team with trenching machines lay the cables - a second group then later ran my new cable up the garden, under the house and into my lounge. Then the "principal" sent me a new modem. - well they actually sent THREE new modem/routers consecutively to the wrong address in an other city on the other island despite me having complained several times previously that they seemed incapable of recording my proper address .. "Ah it's our computer - it keeps predictively changing what we type - but don't worry as you're getting your accounts by e-mail".

.. So while I'm waiting-waiting - one of their morons decides that I MUST HAVE ALREADY been sorted by now and disconnected my copper connection at the exchange.  In the ensuing two months without a landline I have repeatedly spoken to very pleasant call-centre staff in Pune India and in The Philippines & in Auckland and unknown-elsewhere .. They couldn't reconnect me via copper - they couldn't transfer my calls to my mobile and they couldn't get my location right until the 4th router. And they couldn't then send a technician to complete the change-over because their sub-contractors were too few and all too busy .. and THEN ... we were all placed on 'Covid-19 LOCK-DOWN' plus a STATE OF EMERGENCY (Martial Law).

- I got yet another call once again postponing my fibre connection for a further 30 days and when I protested with a laugh that my age & heart condition suggested that I might be moving-on before I had a landline again - the nice kiwi girl took emergency action and a contractor/technician tapped on my door only 75 minutes later ..  hopefully FIXED and connected the next day after MORE phone calls and "on-hold" awful recorded music. Phwww.

I LIKE Optical Fibre:

This is a fine example of government Corporatization and Efficiency policy over the previous old-fashioned state service.
You will have experienced a similar government INCOMPETENCE - where your "representatives" ignore the community's basic needs for FOOD SECURITY,  HEALTH services, LAW enforcement, EDUCATION, and SOCIAL SERVICES (like old-age pensions.

 - Did you observe & protest it?
 - Have you noted that Jacinda plans to BORROW some Ten Billion Dollars for COVID-19 ? .. Paying it back sometime .. ?

Many Many New Zealand hospitals are freshly reported by ASMS as rotting piles of failing buildings that need urgent replacement  .. right now when we have an emergency pandemic ..

https://www.asms.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/12671-Hospitals-on-the-Edge-WEB.pdf

"That the negligence has been so bad that an estimated $14 billion ($9.2 billion requiring Crown funding) is needed over the next 10 years to put things right reflects not only poor DHB oversight and accountability but also a poor duty of care and a head-in-the-sand mentality at government level."

- Actually "incompetence" is being kind because "CORRUPTION" better describes the behaviour by those we pay to serve us.

"Small Government" - "Austerity" - "Free Market" - "Trade Enhancement" - "Low Taxation Environment" -"Efficient Competition" - "The Gig Economy" ..  ..

- Call it whatever is fashionable. but the reality is that these leaders have diverted more and more of your earnings away from the proper purposes of national management - into the bank accounts of their wealthy mates. This diversion of your tax stream flows down hidden channels into the hands of the corporations and millionaires who themselves pay less & less tax from their tax havens.

The tens of millions they wasted on our recent NZ GUN 'BUY BACK' of freshly PROHIBITED firearms - seriously wasteful as it is - is small beer in government spending.

Bent - that's Fixed It ..

Just how badly underfunded, under prepared and uncoordinated our NZ government is for this life-or-death battle with a new virus - depends on how much of our tax dollars they have misdirected into overseas tax havens ..

Marty K.

& Please Don't Buy  LEVI'S  Jeans .. They Are Sponsoring THE GUN-GRABBERS