How to Make a Busting Kit- Part Four
A self-reliant flame.
Your Busting Kit is ready, now it is time to learn how to use it! Here are the steps of making a fire with your kit:
1.) Begin by kneeling on one knee (if you are right handed, kneel on your right and if you are left handed, kneel on your left knee.)
2.) Place the fireboard in front of you, and keep the nesting nearby.
3.) Take the spindle and the bow, and loop the spindle around the bow’s cordage once. You want the cordage to show a little resistance; loose cordage will allow the spindle to fall out.
4.) Be cautious to not let the spindle pop out of the bow, and place the pointed end of the spindle into one of the fireboard’s X shaped holes.
5.) With your free hand, take your rock and firmly hold the spindle down. Do not lift up the rock during the process of producing an ember.
6.) Glide your bow back and forth. Count to thirty seconds every time you want to produce an ember. It took me almost a month to make my first ember; busting takes a lot of practice and patience.
7.) One way to know an ember is in your fireboard is when you see smoke. An ember will be the tiny orange dot in the black hole of your fireboard.
8.) When you produce an ember, quickly put down your bow and your rock. Gently pick up the fireboard and drop the ember into the nesting.
9.) Softly blow into the nesting to ignite the ember and cause a flame.
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Megan Murphy suggests that individuals who camp or backpack learn to make and use a Busting Kit.
