Conjuring Fire with the Elder Wand (No, I'm not looking for the Magical Britain Auror Forum)

A lot of reenactment level work is about learning appropriate historical crafts and skills. This board is for all general skills that don't have their own forum.

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SierraStrider
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Conjuring Fire with the Elder Wand (No, I'm not looking for the Magical Britain Auror Forum)

Post by SierraStrider »

One of the most useful firebuilding tools in my modern camping kit is a mouth bellows—a small, telescoping metal tube I can use to blow a lot of oxygen very accurately into a fire without getting my face too close. I wondered, several times, whether there’s a historical equivalent of this device.

As DarnokTheMage could tell you, “eld” is a Germanic word for fire, and it is this etymology from whence elderwood probably draws its name, owing to the ease with which it can be crafted into a tube and, consequently, its usefulness in building fires.

After learning this use I kept an eye out, and eventually learned that a friend had some elder trees growing on their property.

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They very kindly let me harvest some canes, and I was immediately struck by their unusual straightness and the softness of their…heartwood? It’s basically just punk or pith, but the bark or sapwood or phloem (or whatever you’d call the surrounding mantle) is considerably stronger than the spongy center.

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Like the branches of many trees, these wands have “joints” where smaller twigs diverge from the main stalk. I was a bit surprised to find that the hard mantle did not grow inward to obstruct the central channel at these points—not entirely, at least. While the joints are harder to bore out than the spans between them, the pith is just a bit tougher and getting through it is by no means impossible.

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I’m not sure how one would hollow out a long piece of elder without modern tools; a very thin, very stiff metal rod did the trick for me, but that might be an unusual thing to have historically. In any case, a few minutes’ work left me with a fantastic hollow tube of surpassing straightness. Interestingly, the soft pith seems to maintain a similar diameter throughout the length of the wand, so as the outside of the cane tapers the wall thickness reduces while the internal diameter remains the same. A thicker piece would therefore make a more robust tool.

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Care will obviously have to be taken with this tool. It is not as fragile as I would've expected, but nor is it immensely sturdy. Also, it's a very dry, porous wood that I hope to use in conjunction with fire repeatedly...that warrants caution. All that being said, I expect to get a fair bit of use out of it, and it was easy enough to make that even if I crush or burn it it won't be to dear a loss.

I’d love to try making a whistle out of this stuff, but A) cutting the fipple and B) getting it to play anything close to a real octave scale seems like it would take a LOT of knowledge and skill.

Looking around, it appears sumac has similar properties that make it suitable for hollowing out.
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Re: Conjuring Fire with the Elder Wand (No, I'm not looking for the Magical Britain Auror Forum)

Post by Udwin »

That looks like a handy bit of work! I know the usefulness of a pocket bellows...speaking of flute materials I carry a hollow goose wingbone in my beltpouch for help in fire conjuring. Doesn't keep me nearly as far from the coals as your elder tube but still gets the job done!

(And may I say that your grass looks like it would be simply luxurious to walk in. Being stuck in the city I don't have many opportunities for barefoot walking, so I'm quite jealous.)
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Re: Conjuring Fire with the Elder Wand (No, I'm not looking for the Magical Britain Auror Forum)

Post by Cimrandir »

How interesting! I had never thought to use such a device before. In the Boy Scouts we always used a rolled up paper plate hah. Looks like I need to keep an eye out for elderwood or a nice bone!
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Re: Conjuring Fire with the Elder Wand (No, I'm not looking for the Magical Britain Auror Forum)

Post by Iodo »

I thought a pocket bellows would be handy and nearly bought one of those telescopic ones that look like a radio antenna, then I decided not to spend money on something I could make so I settled for three pieces of 4'' long stainless pipe turned on a lathe to fit into one another, I never thought to research if it was a historical thing and could be made in a more authentic manner - nice work SierraStrider :P
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