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Imagine yourself stranded in an abandoned city, following the end of the world as we know it.
Your only lighter is empty and you have no other fire-starting tools as the sun sets and the air gets cold. What do you do?
Simple. You slowly grind your lighter against a smooth patch of concrete until you accumulate a pile of dust from the flint stick in the lighter.
Then you combine that with some tinder, use the lighter to throw a spark at it, and it should easily catch fire.
7 Different Ways to Start a Fire
1. Ferro Rod
A ferro rod is a magnesium rod that creates sparks when struck with steel. The ferro rod comes with a steel camping knife or steel scraper to strike the magnesium and produce sparks.
These sparks are incredibly hot and can light a pile of tinder. When using a ferro rod, break the tinder into finer pieces to aerate it and increase the chance of ignition.
2. Lens and Sun
You can use a lens to concentrate sunlight, creating an incredibly focused beam of heart and light. You can use this concentrated light beam to ignite tinder and start your campfire.
This method works best with dark-colored materials, such as a charcoal cloth that absorbs the light’s energy better than lighter-colored materials. Whatever lens concentrates light will work.
A magnifying glass is the most iconic example of this. By orienting the magnifying glass, you can focus the sun’s energy on a singular point.
You can also use a water-filled, clear plastic bag or water bottle as lenses. The obvious disadvantage of this method is that it will not work in low-light conditions, such as during a sunset or a cloudy day.
3. Fire Piston
A fire piston compresses air inside a tube to create heat and ignite tinder. Place a piece of tinder, such as fine cotton, charcoal cloth, or an alcohol pad, inside the tip of the fire piston.
Place the fire piston inside the included piston shell and smack it down, ignoring the tinder. You can then pull out the piston and push it into a tinder bundle to ignite it, just like you would with a cigarette lighter.
Fire pistons work in all weather conditions and will never run out of fuel like matches or a lighter.
4. Reflective Surface and Sun
Using a reflective surface in a semi-sphere is another way to harness the power of the sun to start your fire. Consider objects such as a flashlight reflector or the smooth surface of a soda can.
Both of these surfaces capture the sun’s power and reflect back into a single point that is hot enough to start a fire, similar to the lens method.
This method works better with darker shade tinder that absorbs light and heat, similar to how black asphalt gets hotter than light concrete on a hot day. This method also won’t work in low-light conditions, as the light isn’t intense enough to ignite the tinder.
5. Battery and Steel Wool
Any battery, such as a car battery, a phone battery, or a standard-sized 9-volt battery, is excellent for igniting steel wool.
Using steel wool to bridge the positive and negative electrodes will cause it to ignite and burn extremely hot.
You can then place the steel wool inside a tinder bundle to ignite it and start your fire. Using steel wool and any charged phone or flashlight to create fire is a very resourceful method.
6. Fire Drill
A fire drill is a fantastic way to turn rotational energy into heat through friction. Knowing how to make a fire drill is a valuable skill in case you need to use it as a last resort.
This method can be very labor-intensive and hit-or-miss until you master the technique. A drill and a drill platform make up a fire drill. When you rate the drill, friction You rotate the drill to generate friction against the drill platform.
Once the friction from the drill creates enough heat, the base will begin to smoke and eventually burn to create embers.
You can then dump these embers into a tinder bundle and blow on them to ignite the tinder and start your campfire. It may take multiple attempts to create an ember that can light your tinder.
7. Fire Drill and Bow
One improvement to make to the fire drill technique is to use a bow to rotate the drill. Instead of spinning a stick between your hands, you can use a bow to move back and forth.
The bow wraps a piece of paracord, vine, or tough dry grass around the fire drill as cordage. When you work the bow up and down, the fire drill spins very fast and creates lots of heat from friction.
Using a bow is much quicker and more efficient than rotating a fire drill between your hands.
Wrap-Up
Knowing how to start a fire isn’t always a sure path to one. Lighting a fire is difficult when everything around you seems to be wet and damp.
Use these techniques when you don’t have access to a lighter or waterproof match. You can compensate for unpacked or lost supplies by being resourceful and versatile.