A fire piston from Malaysia
This is a Malaysia fire piston I purchased from a local indigenous maker in Pahang. Also known as a fire syringe or ‘Api Lantak’ (hitting fire), this piece was made by order as a souvenir. Obviously this piece has been shellacked to make it look nicer but the wood itself is a natural yellowish color. The maker has also ‘creatively’ added a small storage area attached to the cylinder to hold some tinder.
Continue reading Fire Piston Malaysia; An indigenous fire making tool
Inspired by the making fire demonstration by Pak Abu (using the bow drill), I finally found the time to try it out myself. I have been collecting some pieces of wood here and there for this purpose and thought perhaps its time I give it a go.
Seriously, it was NOT easy. I almost gave up a few times. Not only was it very tiring but the frustration of not getting the red amber was killing me. I started using the some pices of wood. After many tries and sweat wasted, I finally found the right type of wood. Its a really light and whitish wood. Its called Mahang Telinga Gajah (Macaranga gigantea) if not mistaken. It was superb.
A sharp knife is important
Continue reading My first attempt at making fire- Bow Drill
I have always been amazed by traditional crafts of the rainforest people. In fact, I am amazed with any traditional crafts, even if they are not from Malaysia. One fine example is the craft of building a traditional canoe. I watched one of Ray Mears Bushcraft episode on making a canoe and I was totally shocked at the skill and knowledge required to make the beautiful canoe. I particularly admired how they built the canoe using natural material without any modern, high tech equipments. Incredible!
I only get to see traditional crafts of the rainforest people when I visit them at their ‘original’ home…the jungle. With many of the Orang Asal (Aborigines) being exposed to the short-cuts of today’s world, many of the crafts have either died of or being ‘cut corners’ with. I have to admit though that I am no expert in traditional crafts. Just that I have great admiration for the intricate work, practical functionality and of course the history value of a particular craft. I often ponder on how they discover a particular design or craft. How did it evolve into what it is today? Who invented it and why? How did the design come about? Where did they get the inspiration? Why this material and not this one. I cannot imagine how many trials and error it took for them to perfect the design and perhaps even how many blood being shed and even life lost along the way. No crash test dummies. In the olden days, people had to learn it the hard way.
Continue reading Traditional crafts of the rainforest people.
The strips of tree bark that I have soaked overnight from the previous day have really soften up. This made work so much easier. This would in turn be the cordage I need for sewing the box together.
Continue reading Completed my Malaysian version of birch bark box; Part 2
I was inspired by the many posts on BCUK on the little boxes / containers made from birch barks so I decided to try to make a Malaysian version of it.
Of course in the Malaysian jungle, its much easier to just get bamboo for this purpose. But I thought the romance involved (the cutting, shaping, sewing etc) is much more enticing. So, this is my first attempt at it.
I live in KL, so the closest material to the birch bark I can find is this material from palm plant planted along the roads. Not sure what it is called but it could from the Royal Palm gang 
I took one home, dried it and cut into pieces.
The material curls up once dried
Continue reading My Malaysian version of birch bark box; Part 1
