It Only Takes A Spark
OSC (Outdoor Skills Certified) is one of the many activities that campers can add to their daily schedule. In OSC, boys learn outdoor skills and tips for surviving in the woods, as well as basic camp craft that they can use on overnights and trips. The activity location is in a beautiful clearing in the woods below the lower dam, right next to a peaceful creek. Boys can work on skills essential for any outdoorsman, including fire building, making rope from natural fibers, reading maps and navigating with a map and compass, identifying harmful or helpful plants, building outdoor shelters, and more. Clint and Carson are two of our counselors who lead OSC, and they are always looking for ways to improve their survival skills and campcraft knowledge.
On Monday, they were able to learn from a legend, gaining primitive fire building knowledge to pass onto campers throughout the summer. David Mashburn was introduced to Falling Creek through Steve Longenecker, one of our long-time outdoor educators. David has an illustrious history as an Army Ranger, one of the original NC Outward Bound instructors, and the former owner of the first outdoor equipment store in this area, “Mountaineering South” (now “Black Dome” in Asheville). David also worked with the US Forest Service for years as a wilderness firefighter, and ran “The Sliding Rock Recreation Area” during the summer. He knows a thing or two about surviving and thriving in the outdoors.
David got his start at Ullswater Outdoor School in Great Britain in his 20s - It was one of 6 Outward Bound schools in the UK. He worked at the Colorado Outward Bound school and was one of the initial instructors at the North Carolina Outward Bound school. Years later, he met Steve Longenecker at Camp Sequoyah. David said that working there was, “one of the better things that happened to me. Sequoyah was a traditional woodcraft camp, in the purest sense of the word.” He taught 7-9 year olds outdoor skills, and showed them that they have what it takes, no matter their age. “All of them learned how to get a fire going, how to make a shelter, and how to cook in a number 10 can,” David said, “They can do it.”
The clinic David led on Monday focused on fire building, and he demonstrated several fire starting tools and techniques that we can share in OSC. First, we learned about primitive tinder materials. David explained how to char, but not entirely burn, cotton fibers into “charcloth” as an essential piece of any tinderbox. This is used in traditional flint and steel fire making since the charred fibers are easier to catch a spark, and burn at a lower temperature than un-charred cotton or wood. David explained how to grow that spark into an ember that can then be transferred to a tinder bundle and blown into flame.
To create the initial ember, David handed us pocket sized magnifying glasses, and explained the first kind of firestarting method: solar ignited fire. This method concentrates solar energy, creating heat starting a fire. “This is the first thing campers need to learn how to do,” David said.
But what about on a cloudy day? David showed us the next kind of fire starting method: Flint and steel. He showed how to strike into a tin of charred punk wood, which is similar to the charcloth. Punk wood is soft, rotten, wood, which is then burned down to charcoal to assist with starting a fire. The sparks quickly catch on the charred wood, which can be blown on and fed tinder until the ember grows into a flame.
Next, David showed us a ferro rod with a striker, similar to the flint and steel method. This is different becasue the material of the ferro rod is Ferrocerium, typically a combination of 70 percent cerium and 30 percent iron. It gives off sparks when struck with a blade, like the flint and steel method.
Finally, we moved on to the bow drill method, which creates a friction ignited fire. This is the most challenging method in my opinion, but can be very useful in a pinch if you don’t have the other tools. Clint and Carson practiced using a bow, a wooden spindle, and a piece of wood as a fireboard to ignite a spark using only friction. In all methods, the it was very important to gather tinder material before creating the spark, so that you had twigs and things to burn once the ember actually caught.
After going through all these methods, I asked which essentials David always packs in his fire starting kit - “A Bic lighter,” he said instantly. I laughed because I was expecting a more primitive answer since the whole clinic had been about alternative fire starting methods, but David is a firm believer that you shouldn’t work harder than you have to. That being said, he explained the importance of knowing several ways to start a fire, since you never know what you’ll need to be prepared for.
Besides a lighter, David said he is always prepared with at least some flint and steel, a wad of cedar for starter material, and a tin of charred punk wood. He says the first thing he would always teach his campers is how to sharpen a knife, since it’s a very versatile tool in fire building and many other outdoor needs. We’re lucky that David spent his time sharing his wisdom with us on Monday, and are looking forward to practicing each of these techniques with campers, both at OSC and on trips!
