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Why You Should Hone Your Firecraft

The odds are that most of you are level 1 noobs at firecraft. Have you ever lit your own fire with a lighter or a match? Have you ever lit a fire with a striker? Have you started a fire with a primitive bow drill? You ought to learn how to do one of those skills in order to increase your real world firemaking level.

You question why you should waste your time on such a cave dweller process. Such Stone Age mentalities are best left in the past, you think. You are secure in the present and you believe in the future. While there is truth in what you think, there is also a cold hard truth you neglect: essentially all societies and civilizations collapse. Are you prepared for if and when they do? Will you overcome the frost with the flame?

Putting collapse aside, firecraft is essential to learn when you are a person who spends time in nature. Being confident and competent in your fire making abilities gives you the upper hand when you are in the wild, particularly when it all goes awry. Try this: sit in the woods all night with a fire, then sit in the woods on another night without a fire. I know which of those you will prefer when all is done.

You should learn how to ignite and maintain fires because igniting and maintaining fires is a challenge. Once you do that, then you should get comfortable blazing up wooden materials via traditional methods. You will not always have the luxury of lighters, matches or flammable substances at your disposal. And even if you do they are finite. Learn the ancient ways. Use flint and steel. Use ferrocerium rods. Use magnesium strikers. Use hand drills. Use fire ploughs. Use fire pistons. Use glycerine and potassium permanganate. Use magnification, reflection, and sunlight. Use batteries and steel wool. Use your hate, your anger, your fury!

Okay. Maybe not those last three.

“If the world is cold, make it your business to build fires.” -Horace Traubel

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