Sorry about the picture!

[PlayingWithFire]

Oh, what have I done?
Sorry about this huge picture - I was trying to post a new Avatar but didn't expect this!
I will leave it up a while - so people can see a smouldering pile of grass lit by my own hands (rubbing sticks) but it is too "in your face" to remain.

In search of a quiet life.

ps - for anyone who uses kerosine to light fires, bbqs etc - learning to light a fire the old fashioned way really impresses!!!

~M

[Andy Hamilton]

I have seen fires being lit on television with sticks, but have never tried it. Does it take time to learn a specific technique? Does it take ages to do? Can fires be lit in this way in all weathers? Questions, Questions

[PlayingWithFire]

It is really very easy - if, and this is a big if, you have the right materials and the right technique.

It seems I have a tallent for teaching this to people cos I am getting inundated with enquiries (I offer courses 1 hour or full day). I never realised it until recently.

So, if someone provides you with the materials, pre-prepared (it takes time to harvest and treat) and shows you well, you can have fire within five minutes!

It is like that game Othello though, a minute to learn, a lifetime to master.

Once you have made fire yourself, with your own hands, from scratch, you will be changed forever - you will smile and have a confidence that will last ... no matter if you use it again or not ... you know you can!

It really is like magic! Summoning flame, there is nothing quite like it.

Of course, with todays availability of matches, lighters, sparkers and kerosene briquettes, even the basics of fire lighting are being lost ... so there is much fun to be had just making a bonfire with one match (tidying the garden or such like).

Once you start this journey though, the ultimate challenge is lighting a fire under survival conditions, in foul weather, with not even a metal knife - nothing! Not even any string. It gets very interesting ... and is like a spectrum ... getting more difficult and obscure the further you go.

Possible, yes, likely no ... up sh*t creek? Be prepared!

The striking match is less than 200 years old. Crazy to think.