Great demonstration of this technique. My experience has been that "Any" dry viable punk wood will do for this method. Seems it doesn't matter what kind of tree either. And, once it's burning it won't go out until all of it has been consumed, unless you smother it or something. For example; I used pecan almost punk (kinda really soft and white but not too spongy)(hint), this past 4th of July. I carved it into thumb thick 8 inch long "punks" for the larger fireworks . Once it's charred on the end it also will take a spark from flint and steel real nice too. No need for char if using ferro rod or mag glass as you know already. Cool stuff.
Nice one. I managed to ignite some hardwood punk wood with my flint & steel kit to combust in a tinder bundle of dried leaves & dead grasses. It wasn't easy, but it got did. I was just experimenting. I'm in firecraft heaven right now surrounded by pines & birches and even aspens up at my place in the Catskill Mountains with 6,000 acres to play in, but my mind is off firecraft right now. I'm in the "Hunter's Rut". All I can see/hear/smell/taste/touch is hunting (bowhunting actually). Still, when I'm done, I have a ton of projects in cue. I'm just making mental notes for now and stowing them away. I'll have to add this one to the list. 😃
Welcome back Dave. It may seem old hat to you, yet we enjoy watching you create fire from nothing. We enjoy learning the small things that you know and do as second nature. Personally, I enjoyed the Yurt series, the cooking with fire irons and the base camp with the tentsmiths tent and other camp furniture. Deer season is coming up and another lesson on "smoothing it" at deer camp would be cool, appreciated and enjoyed. All my best, Cast Iron Kid.
great video Dave. love it when you get into the specifics of different fibers and materials whether it be food or wood I think that's where your videos really shine
Nice video man. Aspens grow everywhere in this country. Lots of them in the west have carvings from historic times. Pretty cool. Found dendroglyphs from Basque herders. -Krik
NICE ! was gonna send this recommendation on inner bark of aspen kuzz I use for fire wood . blocked up or damaged & wet , peels nicely off tree and inner peels well off bark and I dry out . can dry bark first as well , but either way , I lite woodstove with it easily . not as well as your tulip poplar , but work so well , my bride often starts fires on cool days with it . thanx , and keep on burnin' !!
Hi David, I found my way over from One Foot in the Wild, love you channel! I'm hoping to find some great ways to start a fire in more challenging ways :) Have a wonderful Christmas & New Year and I look forward to watching many of your videos & learning new things!
Thank You again Dave for a another informative video. I attempted this technique today with a piece of partially punky cottonwood (small portions were soft and compressible but most of it was still firm). It didn't ember big enough to do any good, but I likely had the wrong piece of punkwood. ??? In your experience, are we better off with highly compressible wood over "thumbnail compressible" wood? Please don't get me wrong; there's a reason I ask this: This summer I found some immature but dormant/dead/FIRM cattail heads, they worked great with the magnifying glass and a grass birds nest.......BUT, The same heads from the same pond that were bigger, mature and soft, didn't perform well in an "ember fire" situation. ......they burst info catail fluff the moment they were squeezed. LOL, that's all fine and dandy when a person is expecting a flash fire with a ferro rod, but another situation entirely if we're expecting to squeeze and blow a birds nest into flame 3 inches from our eye balls. :) All joking aside, I am probably asking a stupid question to you experienced bushcraft folks, but It's still pretty new to me. Another thanks for the great videos to learn from.
Dave, Does the wood need to be bone dry? I noticed you took the punk wood from an elevated spot and not off the ground. Lotsa punk wood down here in Mississippi, but most of it is moist.
Thanks for the video Dave>.I actually created a acount just so i could like your videos, so i could suport your chanel, least I could do with all the work and effort you put into educating us.I'd also like to add what really sold me on you and your vids is how you end all your vids thanking us, that could easily come off as "chessey" but i'd like you to know you really do come across as thankfull and humble. Sorry for any misspelling, i dont spell very well, keeps me from comenting on vids but i really wanted to say thank you for all the trouble and effort you go threw to share your knowlage with us.
Brother Dave. New viewer here. First of all thank u for sharing your knowledge n skills with us....we are grateful. > My question is ......magnifying glass....how important is the magnification? can a broken pair of glasses do the trick? Any advise will be humbly welcome.
Great video Dave. It looks like the Aspen punk wood created an ember fairly well. I would like to know if you could use another combustion source, other than the magnifying glass (ie flint and steel) to achieve the same result much like you would with a tinder fungus? Or if anything utilize the Punk wood to prolong your ember?
I've done it with flint & steel, charred cloth and punk wood. It takes a while and requires intense blowing (probably longer than necessary in my case since I used punk wood that was facing up and exposures to moisture), so if you try it, use a good amount of material. I used about a cup's worth or the size of a baseball.
Hey Dave, something that has come up when I talk to my wife about your 10 Cs. She's said "I've heard you talk about this guy make all of these 10 Cs on the fly, except the Container" and I was thinking about it and I don't think I've seen you or anyone else talk about what to do if you have to improvise a container with natural materials?
Unless you have Bamboo in the area a quick container would be finding trash, most other methods require fire for sealing a bark container, Firing a Clay container, or burning out a container, I actually have videos on all of these methods in my various playlists as well as Gourd containers
throw a roll of heavy duty aluminum foil in your ruck it wont burn on coals and it can be shaped anyway you need it also good for food prep and 100s of other things i keep that a straw and a piece of card board in my pack when camping they take up almost no space all help with make fire and eating/drinking a metal straw is best
you can boil water in a plastic water bottle so i assume you could do it in any thicker plastic bag or container but you'd have to really careful not to just melt it
Magnification is not the crucial factor, it's the diameter of the lens that you want as big as you can get it. Magnification means distance between the lens and the focal point, roughly speaking. Size of the lens affects total sunlight captured into the focal point.
I thought I put out the ember and left for a couple of minutes, then my neighbours started yelling and I noticed a big cloud of smoke. It took five buckets of water to put it out.
Magnification is not the crucial factor, it's the diameter of the lens that you want as big as you can get it. Magnification means distance between the lens and the focal point, roughly speaking. Size of the lens affects total sunlight captured into the focal point.
Rick Breister, Dave has mentioned before that he purchased an old pair of binoculars at a garage/flee market and use the lens. Get idea for re-purposing items.
I have a question about fat wood Do hemlock trees contain fatwood i have looked all over the place online and no where gives me a definite yes I have cut several trees live dead and took the root ball from both and I am finding what looks and smells like fatwood but doesn't light vary well
Living in Texas, I'm a big fan of solar starting a fire. Its a nice, easy, and quiet way to get a fire started that just requires a little patience.
I keep punkwood in my tenderbox, it's pretty cool stuff. It's readily available and doesn't require processing like charcloth does.
Great demonstration of this technique. My experience has been that "Any" dry viable punk wood will do for this method. Seems it doesn't matter what kind of tree either. And, once it's burning it won't go out until all of it has been consumed, unless you smother it or something. For example; I used pecan almost punk (kinda really soft and white but not too spongy)(hint), this past 4th of July. I carved it into thumb thick 8 inch long "punks" for the larger fireworks . Once it's charred on the end it also will take a spark from flint and steel real nice too. No need for char if using ferro rod or mag glass as you know already. Cool stuff.
Quality instruction and solid advice. Thank you for that!
Nice one.
I managed to ignite some hardwood punk wood with my flint & steel kit to combust in a tinder bundle of dried leaves & dead grasses. It wasn't easy, but it got did. I was just experimenting. I'm in firecraft heaven right now surrounded by pines & birches and even aspens up at my place in the Catskill Mountains with 6,000 acres to play in, but my mind is off firecraft right now.
I'm in the "Hunter's Rut". All I can see/hear/smell/taste/touch is hunting (bowhunting actually).
Still, when I'm done, I have a ton of projects in cue. I'm just making mental notes for now and stowing them away. I'll have to add this one to the list. 😃
Welcome back Dave. It may seem old hat to you, yet we enjoy watching you create fire from nothing. We enjoy learning the small things that you know and do as second nature. Personally, I enjoyed the Yurt series, the cooking with fire irons and the base camp with the tentsmiths tent and other camp furniture. Deer season is coming up and another lesson on "smoothing it" at deer camp would be cool, appreciated and enjoyed. All my best, Cast Iron Kid.
I've used tulip popular trees to do the same thing, and pine/hemlock trees! the tar/pitch works great also! 😉
We have a lot of Aspen in the Rockies. But mainly what we have is conifer trees. Ill have to give this a try with the aspen around.
Enjoy your videos, Dave. Keep up the good work.
Thanx Dave! Another tool in the tool kit!!!!!
So THAT'S what he meant by "Apsen Glow".
Another cool video.
And the glasses give a sort of "The Lone Gunmen" appeal.
You da man, Dave.
I'm pretty sure dave does these videos to keep his skill sharp :)
great video Dave. love it when you get into the specifics of different fibers and materials whether it be food or wood I think that's where your videos really shine
Nice video man. Aspens grow everywhere in this country. Lots of them in the west have carvings from historic times. Pretty cool. Found dendroglyphs from Basque herders. -Krik
Seems like you've chilled out quite a bit since Dual Survival. Keep up the great work, Dave! Love the videos and the info!
Great information. Good to know. Thank you very much Dave.
Great demonstration Dave
NICE ! was gonna send this recommendation on inner bark of aspen kuzz I use for fire wood . blocked up or damaged & wet , peels nicely off tree and inner peels well off bark and I dry out . can dry bark first as well , but either way , I lite woodstove with it easily . not as well as your tulip poplar , but work so well , my bride often starts fires on cool days with it . thanx , and keep on burnin' !!
Another great video Dave thanks
You think you'll ever do a Fire Roll video? We know you carry ashes and cotton... many other flavors to choose from too.
Another awesome video !
Good job DAVE. Liked the video.
Good job, great video as usual! God bless you and your family! Keep em coming sir
Great video Dave! Big fan.
Dave you the man bro! Been watching you for 8 years now, including my old account. Would love to meet you, much love from New Oreans
Great video! I've been wondering about this and will go try likewise.
Hi David, I found my way over from One Foot in the Wild, love you channel! I'm hoping to find some great ways to start a fire in more challenging ways :) Have a wonderful Christmas & New Year and I look forward to watching many of your videos & learning new things!
Thank You again Dave for a another informative video.
I attempted this technique today with a piece of partially punky cottonwood (small portions were soft and compressible but most of it was still firm). It didn't ember big enough to do any good, but I likely had the wrong piece of punkwood. ???
In your experience, are we better off with highly compressible wood over "thumbnail compressible" wood?
Please don't get me wrong; there's a reason I ask this: This summer I found some immature but dormant/dead/FIRM cattail heads, they worked great with the magnifying glass and a grass birds nest.......BUT, The same heads from the same pond that were bigger, mature and soft, didn't perform well in an "ember fire" situation. ......they burst info catail fluff the moment they were squeezed.
LOL, that's all fine and dandy when a person is expecting a flash fire with a ferro rod, but another situation entirely if we're expecting to squeeze and blow a birds nest into flame 3 inches from our eye balls. :)
All joking aside, I am probably asking a stupid question to you experienced bushcraft folks, but It's still pretty new to me.
Another thanks for the great videos to learn from.
Awesome. Thank you.
cottonwood good does work the same.
Good basic fire video, good job !!!
great video! love the quality! keep up the grat work i have never actually seen any thing like this!
Glad I found your channel!!
Dave, Does the wood need to be bone dry? I noticed you took the punk wood from an elevated spot and not off the ground. Lotsa punk wood down here in Mississippi, but most of it is moist.
hey dave can you make some more Pocket hunter/archery vids thanks
That was cool I will have to get me one of them lens for my kit
good video,great Teacher!
Thanks for the video Dave>.I actually created a acount just so i could like your videos, so i could suport your chanel, least I could do with all the work and effort you put into educating us.I'd also like to add what really sold me on you and your vids is how you end all your vids thanking us, that could easily come off as "chessey" but i'd like you to know you really do come across as thankfull and humble. Sorry for any misspelling, i dont spell very well, keeps me from comenting on vids but i really wanted to say thank you for all the trouble and effort you go threw to share your knowlage with us.
something almost mystical about watching you light fires Dave.
Brother Dave. New viewer here.
First of all thank u for sharing your knowledge n skills with us....we are grateful.
> My question is ......magnifying glass....how important is the magnification? can a broken pair of glasses do the trick?
Any advise will be humbly welcome.
Great video Dave. It looks like the Aspen punk wood created an ember fairly well. I would like to know if you could use another combustion source, other than the magnifying glass (ie flint and steel) to achieve the same result much like you would with a tinder fungus? Or if anything utilize the Punk wood to prolong your ember?
I've done it with flint & steel, charred cloth and punk wood.
It takes a while and requires intense blowing (probably longer than necessary in my case since I used punk wood that was facing up and exposures to moisture), so if you try it, use a good amount of material.
I used about a cup's worth or the size of a baseball.
Excellent!
Good video I really like punk wood to start fires
Thanks
Thanks for the vid Dave! Any idea what magnification your glass is?
Just catching this video for the first time- awesome information, as always! Was that poison ivy that you yanked up?!
no aspen in Florida. the punk wood we have is melaleuca.
Hey Dave, something that has come up when I talk to my wife about your 10 Cs. She's said "I've heard you talk about this guy make all of these 10 Cs on the fly, except the Container" and I was thinking about it and I don't think I've seen you or anyone else talk about what to do if you have to improvise a container with natural materials?
Unless you have Bamboo in the area a quick container would be finding trash, most other methods require fire for sealing a bark container, Firing a Clay container, or burning out a container, I actually have videos on all of these methods in my various playlists as well as Gourd containers
thanks Dave!
+DJFelixChester too bad they don't make a flexible container that you can roll up and be able to boil water in
throw a roll of heavy duty aluminum foil in your ruck it wont burn on coals and it can be shaped anyway you need it also good for food prep and 100s of other things i keep that a straw and a piece of card board in my pack when camping they take up almost no space all help with make fire and eating/drinking a metal straw is best
you can boil water in a plastic water bottle so i assume you could do it in any thicker plastic bag or container but you'd have to really careful not to just melt it
you are best of the best !
Thank you very much. I appreciate your videos very much. Which magnification has the lens?
Magnification is not the crucial factor, it's the diameter of the lens that you want as big as you can get it.
Magnification means distance between the lens and the focal point, roughly speaking.
Size of the lens affects total sunlight captured into the focal point.
Daves is a 20x lens from a pair of binoculars. But he says that anything above 5x will work well.
I'm pretty sure that Dave has said before that magnification should be at least 5. If i remember correctly.
I have a lot of cottonwood in my area, it is a species of aspen, does it have the same properties?
Yes any Poplar will work
I tried something similar to this two days ago but I accidentally lit up my whole porch.
I thought I put out the ember and left for a couple of minutes, then my neighbours started yelling and I noticed a big cloud of smoke. It took five buckets of water to put it out.
Great tutorial. Good to know I don't have to find the "magical fungus " to get my ember started. HaHa!
what magnification is your magnifying glass? we're can you get one like yours?
Magnification is not the crucial factor, it's the diameter of the lens that you want as big as you can get it.
Magnification means distance between the lens and the focal point, roughly speaking.
Size of the lens affects total sunlight captured into the focal point.
Daves is a 20x lens from a pair of binoculars. But he says that anything above 5x will work well.
Rick Breister, Dave has mentioned before that he purchased an old pair of binoculars at a garage/flee market and use the lens. Get idea for re-purposing items.
nice
that's eucalyptus? have a nice oil for light fire
I have a question about fat wood
Do hemlock trees contain fatwood i have looked all over the place online and no where gives me a definite yes I have cut several trees live dead and took the root ball from both and I am finding what looks and smells like fatwood but doesn't light vary well