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"I have only one burning desire... let me stand next to your fire!"
~ Jimi Hendrix in Fire
Introduction:
We are all familiar with starting a fire with matches or lighters, but often it is useful to start a fire in a less-common way. I'm not suggesting that every fire ought to be started without matches or a lighter - we usually have access to these tools so we should use them. But knowing a few alternate ways of starting a fire can be essential in survival situations where we may not have access to matches or lighters.
All of these methods involve finding some natural tinder to use as a spark catch. It is easiest to have a ball of your dried material directly under your spark source. Once a spark is in your tinder you should hold it near your mouth and LIGHTLY deliver oxygen to your spark. Some smoke should start to form and the spark should grow. Finally your tinder will burst into flames. Be ready to supply more tinder and some kindling to your young flame.
Please note that all videos of demonstrations are not hosted on my site. As such, I can't control their language or content, or of the comments following videos. If you are offended by something stated on one of the pages you should contact the administrator for that site, not mine. If I witness anything inappropriate then I choose another video.
As always, you shouldn't be experimenting with fire without an adult around.
Flint and Steel:
This method is a favorite of many mountainmen, as they need only carry a small rock of flint and they can easily use their hatchet or knife to create fire. The method works by slicing glowing hot shards of steel (or any other variant of iron) from the edge of your steel object by brushing it against the ultra-hard flint. Note that this WILL dull (and, if used many times, damage) the edge of your knife blade so don't use your best pocketknife for demonstrations of this technique. Note that many metal objects can be used for this method (hatchets, axes, metal tent stakes, rocks with metal deposits). A variation of this involves you experimenting by smashing different varieties of rocks together until you find some that give sparks. In most areas of the country it shouldn't be too hard to find some spark-givers. The "Hot Spark" kits available in many stores are an example of this variant of fire starting.
Click HERE to see a video of someone starting a fire with flint and steel.
Friction Fires:
Often done with a bow or hand drill, pressure fires are the classic "rub two sticks together" fire. As any 11 year old knows who has attempted to actually start a fire by rubbing two sticks together, it's not so easy to actually do it.
The first step is in finding a level piece of wood or a board to work from. If you can't find a clean break, an axe can be used to split a log into a piece not wider than a few inches. A notch is cut in the side of the wood and then the notch is rounded out in a circular fashion. The drill is spun in the notch, slowly at first, so that a small pile of dust starts to build in the notch. Once some heat is established we can increase our drill speed until we have some smoke coming from our pile of tiny embers. The notched board is carefully removed so as not to upset the pile of dust and it is carefully transferred to your tinder. Lightly blow into the smokey area of your tinder until it bursts into flame.
For a video of fire by friction with a bow drill, click HERE.
For a video of fire by friction using a hand drill, click HERE.
Beam-Focused Fire:
When making any beam-focused fire, you should wear a pair of sunglasses or do your best to not view the bright beam directly or for extended periods of time. The brightness of the beam could burn your retinas given long-term exposure, and will surely make you see "circles" in your vision after only short-term exposure.
Most young boys that I know have, at one point in time or another, attempted to start a fire using a magnifying glass. This method requires sunlight so that you can focus the beams to a single pinpoint. By focusing this pinpoint onto tinder (paper works just fine). I have gotten a flame in under 10 seconds on a sunny day using this method, so it's quicker and a lot less work than any other method I know of. Heck, it's almost as easy as matches and a lighter if it's not cloudy.
If you don't have access to a magnifying glass, you may well have access to a pair of binoculars. This involves taking one of the lenses out of your binoculars, so it may not be a possibility with some types of lenses. If binoculars aren't available you may have access to someone's glasses - if you experiment a little you'll find that many thicker-lens glasses will focus nicely. A square of plastic wrap filled with water and held in a sphere can also be used to create a fire. Translucent balloons filled with water work similarly - in fact, any curved piece of glass could possibly create a lens with some water in it.
An odder version of this fire involves the under-side of an aluminum pop can. Notice that the bottom side is parabolic in nature. If you were paying attention in algebra than you might recall that parabolas takes parallel beams of light (such as sunlight) and focus them to one focus point (above the can). For this to work you need to polish the can using something with a fine grain (such as toothpaste, comet, or chocolate) and polish the surface of the can to a shine. Once shiny, avoid touching the aluminum (and don't even think about eating the rest of that chocolate bar) as both can have harmful effects. Hold the can toward the sunlight and place your tinder bundle above the can. Focus the beam just like with a magnifying glass.
For a video of starting a fire with a magnifying glass, click HERE.
For a video of starting a fire with a pair of binoculars, click HERE.
For a site explaining the "fire by aluminum can and chocolate bar" technique, click HERE.
Battery-Based Fires:
There are many battery-based fires. The most common approach uses a nine volt battery and steel wool. You stretch out the steel wool so that the battery is discharging its energy to a small number of steel fibers and rub the two terminals across the surface of the steel wool. Soon enough you will have a spark and can feed oxygen to that spark inside of your tinder. A second fire-starting method I found interesting involved a AA battery (common in small flashlights and cameras), a knife, and a staple. We cut away some of the plastic around the bottom of the battery and lightly pry apart the bottom of the battery without fully removing it. The staple is inserted between the battery and its end, and the other side of the staple creates sparks as it rubs against the negative terminal. Use caution with this technique as the insides of batteries have caustic acids that can burn your skin and eyes. Many other methods of battery fires involve car batteries. I don't demonstrate these methods to kids - car batteries pack too much of a punch for kids (or inexperienced parents) to be fooling with.
For a video of a fire started with a nine volt and steel wool click HERE.
For a video of a fire started with a AA battery and a staple click HERE.
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