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Dr. Bill Schindler's Eat Like a Human

It’s not about WHAT we eat, but HOW we eat it.

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Making fire in Episode 4

Firemaking

The spark that started it all

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You are here: Home / Classes / Primitive Tech Classes / Firemaking
How to Start Fire Wired
by Bill
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About Bill

Dr. Bill Schindler is a food archaeologist, primitive technologist and chef. He travels the world with his family documenting traditional food ways and works to draw inspiration from the deep archaeological record, rich and diverse ethnographic record and modern culinary world to create food solutions that are relevant, meaningful and accessible in our modern lives. He shares all these stories in his book, Eat Like a Human, and puts the recipes into practice at his family’s Modern Stone Age Kitchen in Chestertown, Maryland.

Learn the basics of making fire using a variety of primitive technologies including hand drill, bow drill, marcasite and flint, and the fire plow.  

Students will leave this course with a clear understanding of the principles behind how all of these technologies work and with enough information to continue to practice on their own to master the techniques.  Once the basics of these techniques are mastered then they can be applied to a variety of environments with different materials.

Some interpretations suggest that our ancestors began to control fire as early as 2 million years ago! The ability to control and start fires at will completely transformed our ancestors’ relationship with the world.  Fire provided safety; it is thought that the control of fire allowed our ancestors to come down from the trees and sleep on the ground, safely, for the first time.  They could process their food through cooking to make it safe to eat, change its organoleptic qualities and increase its nutrient density.  Fire provided warmth and light.  Once fire technology was mastered our ancestors could travel into places they never could before and work long into the night.

Students in fire building courses will:

  1. Start at the very beginning by learning the basics of how fire works and the principles behind primitive fire technologies.  
  2. Then, students will learn the properties of different materials used in the creation of fire using primitive means.  
  3. Students will then make fire themselves using a variety of primitive technologies and
  4. Learn how to practice the skills on their own in order to master the techniques.
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I have been making fire since I was a kid and also had the chance to do it on TV. Take a look!

How to Start Fire Wired

Basic Instincts | WIRED | How to Start a Fire in the Wilderness

The Great Human Race | National Geographic | Sparking a Fire

The Great Human Race | National Geographic | A Scare in the Night

Wanna learn how to make fire from a guy who literally did it to survive around the world? I know you do so fill out the class request form!

Complete our Class Request Form
Category: Primitive Tech Classes
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