Primitive Fire Making

#ThrowbackThursday
1980 - Ninth Edition: Boy Scout Handbook
pg 114

Matches are OK for starting cooking fires. A campfire deserves better. Add to its romance by lighting it the way Indians and early settlers did it.

Fire By Friction. This was the Indian way of making fire. For this you need a fire-making set made up of spindle, fire-board, hand block, bow, and tinder.
To make fire by friction, put the tinder on the ground, Place the fireboard over the tinder. Kneel on one knee. Place the other foot on the fireboard. Twist bowstring once tightly around the spindle. Hold spindle upright with the hand block. Rest the hand holding the hand block against the knee.
Set the spindle spinning with long strokes of the bow. Increase the pressure. Keep going until heavy smoke rises. Knock the ember formed in the notch in the fireboard into the tinder. Blow it into flame with steady blows.
Fire has been made in 6.4 seconds. What's your aim?
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