5 tricks to start a fire

A thin strip of light weight foil about 6 inches long crimped in the center then place the loose ends on the terminals of a AA battery or larger. The foil will ignite at the fold in the center.

I want to “like” Jerry’s post. A mini bic lighter is part of my EDC. And I don’t smoke. Sure does start some interesting conversations when I offer a light to friends who smoke, but don’t have a light!

I have several hand made fire pistons. My favorite is the one I designed to work with a modified, but fully functional black–powder rifle ball–starter. Chat cloth is also the best material for creating and holding an ember when using the diesel method.

I make chat cloth in large quantity using a Christmas cookie tin. I cut big circles of flannel our other 100% cotton cloth, till I fill it. Press the lid on. Is not airtight and gas will escape, but no air can get in to support combustion. Put it in the fireplace, woodsstove, or on the “barby”.

Be aware even chat cloth is tough to use if the weather is damp. And then when you have an ember you still have to convert that to a flame!!!

When we would stay in the mountains as kids. We would get all our wood for burning there at the site so that way everyone had to help. Then we would find a really rich pine tree, and harvest the resin and if you look a lot of the limbs have knots with the resin in them. These items are like using gasoline to start a fire, then pine cones and needles. Very easy to light and once to pine is burining your harder woods do great. We would also use rocks to make a type of blast furnace, which ever way the wind was blowing we would make the smaller inlet port where the wind would blow through it and it was better than laying down and blowing it yourself and catching your hair on fire.

My preferred “no matches” method is a flint and steel.Also,when I am out with my smokepole,I can use the gun lock to start a bit of char cloth.For those of you that don’t carry a flintlock rifle and a possibles bag,a very handy item that takes up virtually no space is a credit card-size plastic fresnel lens,which can be purchased at many book and bible stores.It is as thin as a piece of paper,flexible,and therefore unbreakable.Try it-you’ll like it. Another method that I learned from my Malasian grandfather is largely unknown in the Western world uses a bamboo stalk of 2-3″ in diameter.Split it lengthwise.In one piece,on the outer side,cut a notch that goes thru to the inside of the stalk half.What you then have is something resembling a round-bottomed boat with a hole in it.Next,you secure the other piece by stepping on it with your foot with one edge up.Place the piece with the hole crosswise to the piece being held by your foot,with the edge transsecting the hole in the free piece.You then commence with a rapid back-and-forth motion.soon,burning bamboo dust will begin to fill the hole in the free piece.You then tip the coal into your tinder,and you have a fire.

Something I always keep with me is a 1-2 1 inch sections of a fire steel rod I picked up at a gun and knife show that I sawed done. One is on my key chain and the other woven into my para cord with an inch and a half to 2 inch hacksaw blade. In a Altoids tin, the tin has a few holes for the cut coat hanger to use as a stove. In the tin I keep a few tiny plastic vials with a few chosen items to aid in fire making. one has shredded magnesium, another contains small section of char cloth and the last two contains potassium permanganate and glycerin (each are safe when separated but produce fire after a minute or so when a few drops of glycerin are dropped on to the PP.
additionally, I keep a small file that I rubbed Berts Bees wax lip balm rubbed and impregnated into a cotton ball. Although it does light pretty good with the wax protecting the cotton if in a damp/wet environment, its great to pull out and rub on your lips if out hunting and chapping of the lips starts. Rub a little of that on your lips and your good to go. I dont know the number of chap sticks and the like that have melted and leaked in my glove box on hot day…
Getting back to the firesteel and hack saw, it is packed to ignite the magnesium I shaved off an old bar I picked up at Bass Pro or to ignite the char cloth.

Everyone talks about using dryer lint and bringing some along is always fin, but if in the field, dont forget to reach into the deepest depths of you pants and jacket pockets for little lint stuck in the bottom corner.

I have tried the fire drill, used the bow drill with some success gave on ever trying to get enough heat off a fire saw. Ill only pick that back up if actually stuck on an island and no other means. Quite frankly, I should be ok since I leaving flying to birds.
Well thats all I have to contribute at this time. Feel free to comment or ask any questions.

I keep a bag full of pine pitch and a cig lighter in my pack, very helpful way to get your fire going. If that doesn’t work you probably have bigger problems.

EVEN a dead Bic Lighter will produce the capacity to start a fire.. It is similar to scraping the soft magnesium off of a firestarter,, Rotate the Thumb-wheel slowly, do not create spark, this small amount of flint filings WILL ignite most dry material, if they are collected with care and ignited by sparking the lighter on them.. A lighter with a useable flint is not garbage.. A ziplock with ‘dryer lint’ does not take up critical space in a ‘go-bag’.. But, please check to make sure the lint collected will ignite, YES there is a difference in dryer lint, the best is from Jeans and cotton clothing.. some call me Nuts,, I like to consider myself as thinking outside the box.. We do not FULLY realize the things we all take for granted each and every day.. spend a few hours in your house with the Main Breaker off,, a few hours with your gas turned off, with your water turned off.. I have, just to see what could be possible with my own supplies.. REMEMBER to relight any pilot lights and reset anything affected by your self induced outages.. It is a good drill to run your family thru if there were any TEMPORARY public shut down of your gas, electric, and water supplies.. RUN DRILLS, Talk about the “what-ifs” if this or that happened.. IF and WHEN something does go down, You and Yours will know what to do “when the lights go out”.. Thanks for reading, and everyones input,, and God Bless those who prepare..

Frank,

The #1 thing about starting a fire for heat or cooking is to;
Start small (TINY TWIGS) like dead pine branches.
Have the next four or five sizes of sticks ready to go.
Dont smother the fire, each time you add to it let it det hot (little smoke)

John

I keep a plastic bag filled with drier lint and a magnesium type striker in my survival gear I don’t worry about wet kindling in case of rain.

Frank Bates, I love you! Thank you for ALL the e-mails that make this old girl feel much better! Keep up the good work! I especially like the battery/steel wool! I always have steel wool in my gear! Bless you Frank!

Batteries and steel wool is a great one! Makes sense. The others I have already stored in mind , in event of emergency. Thanks! PK

various types of tree limbs are very difficult to start a fire using bow drill method-spent one entire day trying-wasn’t successful

Put your kids into Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts and read their study material with them. If you don’t already know how to start a fire, by now and you are reading this… you’re not living on the edge, you are, in fact, taking up to much space and need to withdraw from the gene pool.

The most important part of starting a fire is to have the tinder and wood available and within reach. Once you have the fire started it is too late to go looking for wood unless you want to start all over again.
I had a group of Cub Scouts and their fathers out on a field trip one weekedn, part of the exercise was for them to start a fire. I was amazed that the boys were better fire starters than most of the fathers. I was blown away when I saw one father trying to light a piece of 2×4 with a wooden stick match. The match stick is the size it is for a reason. The strike anywhere head will only create enough heat to start the match stick on fire it will not light a 2×4. Pick your tinder carefully the smaller and dryer the better, just like anything in life you have to start small and build up.

partial to flint and steel and for accelerant i like pitch from coniferous trees, birch bark and cheesies work really well too

It is not hard to start a file with cerium “fire steel” rods. I find that dryer lint or cotton balls make excellent spark targets, and usually get flame in one or two strikes. I use one of those magnesium sticks, but instead of scraping the magnesium, I use lint; it works better. Also, a few drops of alcohol, camp fuel, or other flammable liquid are pretty good at turning spark into flame.

I have tried to use an empty Bic lighter as a source of spark, and never was able to ignite lint. But those fire steel rods, with a piece of hacksaw blade work great.

When I was about 12, I learned to make file with a fire drill. I cheated: I used my dad’s drill press.

The real problem is the “naked into the wilderness scenario”. For that, I probably has to be the bow and drill method, with totally scavenged materials. Not so easy! In a total collapse situation, rare earth metals like cerium will probably not be available.

Next on the agenda: experiment with a diesel fire starter, the piston method. That could be fashioned with primitive technology, but probably not while you are on the move pursued by gubbermint agents. Anybody out there have experience with fire pistons?

Thanks for the tips. It might be good to maintain materials for all of these methods.

Along with your flint and steel you need to make and keep char cloth. The way I make char is, 1. Take Tim snips and cut the top and bottom off a soda pop can. Cut the can down the side and flatten out the can. Fold it in half, the painted side out. Take a few small 1- 1 1/2″ awards of cotton… Perhaps from a used up T-shirt. Place the squares between the folded can. Set the can on a fire source on medium low heat. Check the cloth occasionally. When it turns black you have char. I use an old Altoids tin to keep my char and store it with my fire starting kit.

Another must have is a magnesium fire starting stock. It has a spark striker on one side. Just use a pocket knife to scrape off a one inch circle of magnesium. Place the pile on a dry leaf, in some dryer lint, in an old bird nest…anything that will catch easily. Hold the stick, striker side up and use your pocket knife to scrape down, directing the Sparks onto the pile of magnesium. Be careful. When it lights it will burn, white hot. You can also use the striker to put a spark on your char.

One other note, keep a multi-blade pocket knife and always use the same blade to shave the magnesium and to use the striker. It does tend to wear out a blade over time.

Clothes dryer lint is an excellent fire starter. I clean the dryer vent in the door and put the lint in a empty medicine bottle. Lightweight for bug-out bag.

Water # 1, Fire #2 Having the knowhow of the 5 different fire starters is most important information. Learn them by “Doing”, and once you do, then go out and by 10′s yes, even hundreds of propane lighters ! Cheapies. Throw them in your Bug-out or Scram- bag. Their not that large or heavy, and you never know how long you will live like this. Being ready like a “boy scout” will never do you wrong. After that, “Defense” ! Having a 9mm or a .45 acp is real good, but think, how many rounds can I carry of those ? Think .22 pistol and even a brake-down 10/22 or a remington AR-7. Tactical .22 rifle which will fit real good in a back-pac. Think again of how many rounds you can carry of that compared to heavier handgun ammo….and cheap! At Wal-Mart, a brick of 550 round’s for less than $20.00. ” Red Dawn “…..Bring it !!!

My son and I started to build a survival kit couple years ago. One of the things that we added to it was a Flint and steel – matches… Great one!

Car Road Flares work too. I always line my sleeping bags and towels with newspaper to keep things dry and to have dry paper to start the fire.