File:The American boys' handybook of camp-lore and woodcraft (1920) (14596167268).jpg

Identifier: americanboyshand00bear (find matches)
Title: The American boys' handybook of camp-lore and woodcraft
Year: 1920 (1920s)
Authors: Beard, Daniel Carter, 1850-1941
Subjects: Camping Camping -- Equipment and supplies
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. B. Lippincott
Contributing Library: New York Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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ancestors up to thethne of the Ci\il War, and it is the sort of a hammer used bythe Confederates as late as the battle of Fort Donaldson. Inthe olden times some people had flint lock pistols withoutbarrels, which were used only to ignite punk for the purpose offire-building. But when one starts a fire by means of ffintand steel ones hands must act the part of the hammer, theback of ones knife may be the steel, then a piece of flintor a gritty rock and a piece of punk will produce thespark necessary to generate the flames. In the good old pioneer days, when we all wore buckskinclothes and did not bother about the price of wool, when wewore coonskin caps and cared httle for the price of felt hats,everybody, from JMiles Standish and George Washington toAbraham Lincoln, used fl-int and steel. Fig. 27 shows tendifferent forms of steel used by our grandsires andgranddames. Flint in its natural condition may be found in many states,but, as a rule, any stone which was used by the Indians for
Text Appearing After Image:
FIRE MAKING BY PERCUSSION t7 arrowheads will answer as a substitute for flint,* that is,any gritty or glassy stone, like quartz, agate, jasper or ironpyrites. Soft stones, limestones, slate or soapstones are notgood for this purpose. The Steel Most of the old steels were so made that one might graspthem while tlirusting ones fingers through the inside of theoval steel, Fig. 28 (left handed). Some of the Scoutmastersof the Boy Scouts of iVmerica make their own steels of brokenpieces of flat ten-cent files, but this is unnecessary becauseever^^ outdoor man, and woman, too, is supposed to carry agood sized jack-loiife and the back of the blade of the jack-knife, or the back of the blade of ones hunting knife is goodenough steel for anyone who has acquired the art of usingit as a steel. But if you must have steels manufactured at the machineshop or make them yourself, let them be an inch wide, aquarter of an inch thick, and long enough to form an ellipselike one of those sho-^Ti in Fig. 2

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