Timestamp: 30th of Fall, 516 AV
OOC: Continued from Firecraft I
"Two other methods? You mean besides magic? I know Reimancy can generate fire. I don't have the ability, but someday I will." Nya said, inadvertently revealing she knew a magical discipline. The Gods had gifted her with air reimancy though, for she was first and foremost Zulrav's child. She figured as she got better fire and water and earth would come later. Wind she knew and loved.
Randal crooked an eyebrow at her and smiled. "Indeed. There are a great many ways to create fire. I'm just going to show you the two practical ones besides using your flint and steel. You won't always have those tools. But by teaching you these two techniques you will have the ability to create fire anywhere so long as you can come up with the right tools." Randal said, glancing over the sorted piles of driftwood and pulling out some select pieces.
Nya watched him carefully. She had no idea how to create fire if it wasn't with flint and steel or power. But she trusted the man and knew that he knew a great deal of skills.
"First and foremost. Find dry wood. I'm going to teach you how to create a Fire-Plow." Randal indicated, showing her the size and shape of wood she'd need. "You can create fire with friction. That's heat. Blowing gently on it will give it air to breath.. and eventually it will spark. Friction is how the fire gets ignited. You basically rub a hardwood shaft against a softwood base. I talked about it briefly before but I haven't actually taught you the differences between hard and soft wood, so lets go over it quickly." Nya wanted to yawn.
Wood types? Seriously? The Kelvic didn't want to learn botany, but Randal loved throwing in random science into his teachings. She could definitely see one of his lessons about ready to crash her upside the head.
He continued, his voice excited, as if he loved what he was about to share with her. "Labeling wood as either a hardwood or softwood is a lot more complicated than its physical hardness. What it really consists of is the woods actual physical structure and the type of tree it comes from. It's really dumbing it down to think of hardwoods as being hard and durable compared to soft and workable softwoods. That is, however, the 'more than likely' scenario. However, there are exceptions in every general rule. For example, Yew is a softwood, but its wood is considered harder than most. And Balsa trees, a hardwood, has wood so soft you can dent its structure with your fingernail just giving the lightest pressure to its surface." Randal said, chuckling at Nya's bored expression. He'd grab her attention sooner or later. He just had to be patient.
"Okay so Hardwood comes from flowering trees such as oak, maple, or walnut. Softwood comes from everygreen trees, usually conifers, like pine or spruce. We have a lot of hardwoods here in Syka. Its sought after and rare in the world. Most of the softwood we get comes in the form of bamboo. The denser a wood is, the harder, stronger, and more durable it is. Most hardwoods have a higher density than most softwoods, though like I said its not always the case." He added, hoping she was following the lesson.
Nya nodded. She understood. "So back in Syliras there was mostly softwoods. Big hardwoods like the tropical trees we have here just didn't exist." Randal nodded as she proved she did indeed understand.
"The fire-plow is easy to make." Randal pulled out two pieces of wood, one a long flat base, and one a sturdy stick. He then took a small hatchet to the base to nibble out a groove in its otherwise smooth plane. "To create a fire-plow, you need two pieces of wood... a long 'base' stye softwood that you cut a straight groove in the base of. Use a knife or hatchet and plow the blunt tip of the hardwood shaft up and down the groove once its cut. You rub a hardwood shaft against a softer wood base in a rapid repeating method. The plowing action of the shaft pushes out small particles of wood fibers that look like hair or shavings. Then, as you apply more pressure on each stroke, the friction ignites the wood particles and you get your spark." He said, demonstrating then handing both pieces to her.
Nya turned them over in her hands then laid out the plank of softwood. She took the hardwood stick in her hand and began stroking it hard into the grove. She thought it reminded her of when she'd seen women grinding corn into flour. The kelvic kept up her stroking until the wood started giving off sparks.
Nya laughed. "Do you just aim it at a pile of tinder until the tinder lights and go from there? Like build the fire like normal?" Randal nodded, grinning, and gestured that she could stop plowing and set the two pieces of wood aside.
"Okay, what's the other way?" She asked, curious, because she saw he had other things gathered at their fire building site as well.