Ancient Fire Making Courses: How to make fire by friction, flint and steel

Learn to make fire for survival, study bushcraft, enjoy learning an ancient craft, and understand the past. Five Senses fire making courses will teach you:

Why learn how to make fire?
Imagine life without fire: no metal, no light after sunset, only raw food, and lots of cold!

Today, fire is as easy as lighting a match, and so we easily forget its importance. But for thousands of years, fire was revered and a critical part of both legend and everyday life.

Learn to create fire from materials around you and be confident in your ability to do so in any situation.

Continue the traditions of many years as you unlock the secret of fire.

Malcolm's outdoor survival skills are applied to making fire, gathering tinders and natural cordage, learning about the hand drill, fire plough and making fire kits. Tough in a land cleared of trees!

What does the course cover?
Book the full day course and you'll learn to:

• make your own complete fire kit
• learn tinders and wood selection
• create cordage from natural fibres
• make an ember and turn tinder into fire

Plants and rope making
Rope from nettles -- if you're lucky, you'll strip some nettles and make your own rope. You'll be amazed how tough (and sting-free!) nettle rope can be.

Tinder and kindling

Possibly the most important part of the course and often overlooked. We will look at many types and sources of tinder, its seasonality, preparation and value. Then we will make a tinder nest and prepare the kindling and fuel.

Spiritual roots

We'll also consider the significance and spirituality of fire and the status of fire lighters in early society. This is our best opportunity to get inside the heads of people before modern inventions.

To understand bushcraft, we study primitive fire-lighting, ancient Greek mythology like Prometheus, ancient fire making, sacred fire and gain an insight into the spirituality of fire.

Creating your fire

Malcolm will carry out a full demonstration of lighting fire by bow drilling, and explain the importance of technique and using all your senses.

Then it is your turn! But knowing how to start a fire isn't enough. We look at controlling heat and flame, how to make fire starters, how to build a campfire, campfire cooking, the outdoor fireplace, moving camp with tinder fungus, outdoor summer camps, and how to put fire out - crucial to wilderness survival.

What you get

Sign up for the full day course, and you'll get all the necessary raw materials and be taught how to make your own kit -- and have plenty of time to practice and make fire yourself. The fire kit is your pride and joy, to keep.

If you book the two hour course, you'll get the basics, including a demonstration and expert tuition from Malcolm. We'll jump straight in with ready made equipment.

Prices
Full day: £70

2 hours - making fire: £18

For an unusual gift, you can take home additional fire kits and show friends and family how to make fire. Order a custom-made fire kit and we'll ship it to you.

Full fire kit (bow drill, fire kit, tinder, full instructions): £25
Fire kit (hearth, spindle): £15
Tinder (natural, prepared): £10

We can come to any location and courses are available any time of day, with evenings being particularly popular.

What are you waiting for?