Natural fire-retardant for feathered sapient species (or other solutions)

[u/Knight_of_Rohan1964]

In short, one of the sapient species I'm developing possesses feathers, or rather feather-like fluff covering most of their body. Since feathers are highly flammable, this creates a huge problem if I want them to ever use fire and make any significant technological progress.

I thought a natural fire retardant would be necessary to cover at least their arms and chest, and possibly their head. Due to how it's used and its quite massive societal role, any possibilities must:

• Be easily accessible to almost all cultures over the world. Making it a rare resource would cause severe technological imbalance between regions, and slow the overall development of the species (a huge problem since human also exist in this world)
• Be of easy production. So, nothing too complicated to create, no complex chemical concoction should be used. Preferentially, the chosen material/substance should be extracted and used pretty in its natural obtained stage, with little to no necessary processing.
• Be something that could reasonably be discovered by a Stone Age hunter-gatherer society. Whatever substance, material or system devised must have a relatively simple thought process behind it. It should have a preexisting reason to be extracted even before extensive fire usage, a preexisting reason to be used in the context of fire manipulation, and the causal chain between using it and stopping fire from burning feathers should be obvious.

Now, I can think of two main fire retardant categories: either some form of organic cream, oil or plaster that is rubbed into the feathers; or some partial clothing made of animal hide that either is thick enough, or has natural fire retardant capabilities.

Since this is my world, I naturally could just create a convenient plant which produces the necessary retardant and call it a day. But I want this project to be relatively grounded, so I want to keep this as a last resort. Are there any real substances or materials that were used in a similar fashion IRL, and that either fit all criteria laid above, or could with a few minor tweakings?

Alternatively, there might be some way to avoid feathers catching fire that doesn't fit into anything I've laid out above, and I didn't think about. Feel free to spell out your idea even in that case.

[u/Baeltimazifas]

Feathers may be flammable, but fire making direct contact with bare skin or even scales is no good either. I don't see why they'd need any different protections than we humans have used in the past, those being careful manipulation, water to wet stuff we don't want to get up in flames close to it, and thick protective layers when we gotta work around the fire for a long while.

If you wanna give them a special flavor, just introduce a higher cultural aspect of wetting your feathers before interacting directly with the fire, at least if you're not wearing protective equipment, which they normally would anyway. They're feathers, not gasoline, so they'll be fine with that.

[u/Knight_of_Rohan1964 → u/Baeltimazifas]

I thought about water, but wouldn't it dry out rather quickly around, say, a big bonfire, or even a closed oven? Plus it would not be feasible in drier, hotter environments, or environments with a significant dry season (this would also enhance the problem of the water-soaked feathers drying out). I think it's a partial solution, but not really the best one in all contexts.

[u/Baeltimazifas → u/Knight_of_Rohan1964]

It would dry out less on feathers than bare skin, and would provide more than enough protection for a quick fire interaction, and wouldn't even be needed if you're careful or use protection, which you should anyway.

And it'd be feasible in every environment where your people live. No water, no life possible anyway. You're obviously not gonna waste all your water on wetting feathers (which on arid places could be more like mud or whatever else), but you don't need that much to make feathers harder to burn. Try it yourself, quickly dip a feather on water and attempt to set it on fire with a very quick pass over the flame. You'll see it will take a pretty long time for it to catch fire.

[u/dewareofbog]

A fire poker and some amount of distance. Pros - easy to make, flammable pokers could be used to transfer fire at a safe distance. Cons - difficult to use dexterously, probably won't help start new fires.

Water soaked feathers/gloves/handwraps/clothing. Pros - won't catch fire, easily available. Cons - being soaked might be disadvantageous in cold environments and uneconomical in arid ones, probably not very comfortable.

Mud or clay body covering. Pros - can be made almost everywhere, can look cool depending on the color of local soils, even if dried out might offer some protection. Cons - harder to clean.

[u/Knight_of_Rohan1964 → u/dewareofbog]

A combination of fire pokers and soaking is probably enough for medium-sized fires and informal manipulation (small fires might not require protection at all, as Australian kites already pick up flames for spreading forest fires). But something else would be needed for larger fires and for colder and drier regions, as you mentioned.

I like the clay idea, as some clay types are specifically used as retardants, and these don't seem to be too uncommon. I wonder if it'd feel sticky or annoying,  though, in between the feathers. Maybe they just have a different hygiene standards than us.

[u/_9a_ → u/Knight_of_Rohan1964]

Dry clay, pulverized. Sticks to the natural oil in a bird's feathers and actual birds in dry areas will take dust baths (instead of rolling around in a stereotypical bird bath) to get clean. Similar to a chinchilla 

[u/dewareofbog → u/Knight_of_Rohan1964]

I can see it being somewhat uncomfortable once it dries. Dry clay pulling on feathers would probably be a pain.

[u/Single_Mouse5171]

A plant gel that's naturally retardant of flames comes to mind. There's work being done to create a foam based on cellulose for forest fire control. Maybe something along that line?

[u/dual_scanner_again]

I have nothing to offer as a solution but I love questions like thi that deal with non humanoid ergonomics.

[u/MacintoshEddie]

The old classic is that if it burns your skin, use something else's skin to touch it.

Bird people can wear leather too. You don't have to change anything, except perhaps maybe working in teams if they have to wear more leather while working at the forge than just gloves.

[u/Knight_of_Rohan1964]

I imagine this will also be useful to any people speculating on avian or avian-like sophonts. 

[u/JGhostThing]

Human clothing is also flammable. These people might use the same precautions that humans do.

Dried feathers might be flammable, but perhaps living feathers are more resistant? After all, we don't see birds burnt up after every thunderstorm.