Pros and cons of primitive (pre-matches) firemaking as a hobby*
*NOT AN ARSONIST I FUCKING SWEAR I always feel like I have to include that.
Pros:
Opens you up to a wide variety of new knowlage! Including:
Local flora and trees overall and the ways they burn/best ways to clear if needed/scent (I can usually tell you what is burning like hardwood vs softwood, oak and pine have very distinctive smoke scents, as do paper, paper pulp, green woods, etc) as well as where they are likely to grow and how to identify them.
Fire safety, conservation, and local ordinances on fires.
Survival and first aid skills, including the very important and wide variety of ways to treat burns.
Did I mention PHYSICS?! Sure a basic overview of physics is all you need, but learning more can be incredibly helpful in building an efficient fire.
OH MAN AND CHEMISTRY! Knowing what compounds occur in what trees (and occasionally during what season) can help out as well!
Geology too! That’s mostly for flint and steel type firemaking, but knowing what rocks are safe to build a fire up against or put in a fire is very important. I mean, if you like exploding rocks, be my guest, but wear eye protection please.\
History and even a bit of anthropology! It IS primitive
Party tricks! Wow your friends, family, classmates and colleagues by starting a fire using a rock, some metal and a grass bundle!
Reasonably cautious bravery! You get used to sticking your hands practically INTO in a fire and picking stuff up to move it. Then again, that might just be my weirdass.... Also counts as a party trick!
AND SO MUCH MORE!
Cons:
*Sneezes a puff charcoal powder and ash*
Smoke is smoke. It gets in your eyes and in your lungs. Let’s hope you don’t accidently burn anything that coincidentally smells like some recreational substances before a class or important meeting....
No joke, even if you aren’t blowing the fire and getting close to do so (and thus leading to the interesting sneezes), your snot is going to be grey or black for a few days after a fire. This is just a general thing with fires if you’re semi-close to them. Because again, smoke.
If you’re in a warm or hot climate, the hobby can be dangerous (don’t do this in wildfire regions. Pick another hobby. Knitting is actually quite nice!) or just downright hot. Expect to sweat. A LOT.
Yeah your clothes are gonna smell like smoke. Washing helps, but sometimes it just soaks in if you’re burning or working with something that produces an oily or greasy sort of smoke.
You learn a lot of different when you start looking into primitive tech and firemaking. It’s interesting from a variety of fields! If you’re interested, feel free to PM me!
Talk fire to me! :D
