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Seven Ways To Light a Fire Without a Match
Seven Ways To Light a Fire Without a Match
A dried grass and cottonwood bark tinder bundle like the one above will turn your hard-earned coal into flame
Spark-Based Fire Making
Human beings have been starting fires from sparks since the days of the cave dwellers of the Paleo-lithic era. It is still a vital survival skill for modern hunters and fishermen to learn. If conditions are wet or windy and matches are extremely difficult to light, a glowing spark in tinder uses wind to its advantage to burst into flame.
How To Make Char Cloth
The only naturally -occurring material that readily glows from a spark is tinder -fungus, a corky brown deposit found under scars on birch trees. Don't stake your life on finding any in a survival situation, though. Carrying char cloth in an emergency kit is a safer bet. To make it, cut strips from any 100 percent pure cotton material and set them on fire. After the strips have blackened but not yet turned to ash, stuff them into a lidded jar to smother the fire. Test your new char cloth by striking sparks onto it. A spot on the cloth should -begin to glow, the glow holding and slowly spreading. If it doesn't do this, make another batch.
Tinder Bundle
Fire making does not end with the birth of a red-hot coal, nor does a glowing char cloth ensure that you're going to get a flame. The coal or char cloth must be transferred to a bundle of fine tinder before being blown into flame. Good sources include dried grasses, lichens (including old man's beard), shavings from the inner bark of aspen, poplar, and cottonwood trees (which burn even when wet), and windblown seed or fluff. The tinder bundle should be roughly the size of a softball and loosely formed to allow air circulation.
Spark-Based Fire Making
Human beings have been starting fires from sparks since the days of the cave dwellers of the Paleo-lithic era. It is still a vital survival skill for modern hunters and fishermen to learn. If conditions are wet or windy and matches are extremely difficult to light, a glowing spark in tinder uses wind to its advantage to burst into flame.
How To Make Char Cloth
The only naturally -occurring material that readily glows from a spark is tinder -fungus, a corky brown deposit found under scars on birch trees. Don't stake your life on finding any in a survival situation, though. Carrying char cloth in an emergency kit is a safer bet. To make it, cut strips from any 100 percent pure cotton material and set them on fire. After the strips have blackened but not yet turned to ash, stuff them into a lidded jar to smother the fire. Test your new char cloth by striking sparks onto it. A spot on the cloth should -begin to glow, the glow holding and slowly spreading. If it doesn't do this, make another batch.
To blow the bundle into flame, make a small pocket in the center. Tuck the glowing coal or char cloth into the pocket, then loosely fold the edges around it. Next, pick up the bundle and gently blow on it. Once it has burst into flame, place it under a tepee formation of small twigs and add larger pieces until a strong fire has been established.
Tinder Bundle
Fire making does not end with the birth of a red-hot coal, nor does a glowing char cloth ensure that you're going to get a flame. The coal or char cloth must be transferred to a bundle of fine tinder before being blown into flame. Good sources include dried grasses, lichens (including old man's beard), shavings from the inner bark of aspen, poplar, and cottonwood trees (which burn even when wet), and windblown seed or fluff. The tinder bundle should be roughly the size of a softball and loosely formed to allow air circulation.
Photo by Cliff Gardiner & John Keller
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Photo Gallery Comments (17)
I carry a small jar of Vaseline® Petroleum Jelly which is a mixture of mineral oils, paraffin and microcrystalline waxes. As some of you know Vaseline® has more uses that WD40. After cleaning the wound, use a small amount to coat the wound then cover the area. This keeps out and lets out the bad stuff also to keep the wound moist.
Vaseline® and magnesium stick is my primary fire starter rather than water proof matches. A 2x2 cotton patch saturated will burn 6 to 10 minutes.
Some of the info here is fantastic but the Fire plow is not a realistic method for us in North America. It is extremely difficult and more suited for tropical climates. The hand drill and bow drill are my favorite two and you can use a variety of materials whether you line back East, in the Southwest or in the great Northwest like I do.
im still dont know if i could start a fire with out mathces iv tryed a few times and have never been able to succeed
Thanks, The Pump Drill works great! It took me like half an hour to make from scrap materials!
Looking for something that really works and works even after being wet for a long long time! Well by’golly get’ya a small jar of good old fashion Vaseline from and a magnesium fire starter stick from your local Wal-Mart. Take a 2x2 inch piece of cloth and saturate it with Vaseline and scrape a little magnesium on it and hit it with the flint side and now you have instant fire 6 to 10 minutes of flame, now compare that with any other lighter and remember you haven’t really used your fire starting resources at all.
Wow I watch a lot of survival shows and read quite a bit but have never heard of this vaseline trick. I will certainly test it out first thing in the morning. Sounds reasonable. Thanks for the tip.
The Vaseline trick sounds pretty reasonable...the biggest problem with the magnesium fire starters is that the magnesium flakes scatter and blow away very easily. The Vaseline will hold them to the cloth and make it heavy enough that it probably won't blow away. I'll have to try it in the back yard tomorrow (when my wife is at work and won't see her idiot husband trying to light the yard on fire).
I guess if you didn't have a magnesium fire starter, these would be excellant ways to start a fire. They all seem time consuming though and it seems you would have to start the process well before dark if you were going to be in the woods over night.
I read of a scoutmaster who had hollowed out a small section of his highly decorated walking stick and secreted away a 9 volt battery with wires hidden all the way down to the ground end where used a crutch rubber on the end. He would hide a small amount of steel wool in the tinder at the bottom of his teepee fire setup,pull off the crutch rubber, insert the walking stick, mumble some "magic indian words" and....just amaze the living sh*t out of his scouts.
While watching Survivorman on TV, I was informed that yer basic corn chip will work to hold a flame for 30-45 seconds. This would be long enough to get the small twigs ignited in wet weather when dry grass is at a premium. I also have a couple of alcohol wipes in my first aid kit that will do the job nicely!
I have made a fire with the bowdrill method, but it takes a whole lot of air (heavy breathing) and sweat to make it happen, and I learned to rub the top of the drill on my forehead or beside my nose to get a slight amount of oil from my skin on it as a lubricant, this really helped, and to keep my head off to the side of the baseboard,so I didn't inadvertently drip sweat on the coal! ;)Whats the use of making mistakes if you don't learn from them, right?
Bottom line is to practice your primitive methods when you are not in an emergency situation.
i have gotten good at the bow drill method over the years and ok at the hand drill. for first timers i would try the bow drill first. read alot of different web sites like, www.wildwoodsurvival.com, then practice, alot. if you live in the southeast like me, try red ceder for drill and fireboard. pump drill is great but hard to make in survival situation.
I love starting primitive fires. Learning to start one teaches you the basics of how to "build" a fire correctly.
fire bilding is definently an art and it would be very smart to learn it. You never know!
yea its a good way to start a fire but you really only need one person if your good enough
I find that the bow drill is the easiest way to start a fire by yourself when relying on friction.
I don't know if anyone has mentioned this other aspect of the Vaseline trick but most river guides up north in Canada/Alaska use cotton balls soaked in the petroleum jelly. They take a spark very quickly and are about the most reliable tinder you can get when it's wet out.
Very helpful, thanks. It seems like these techniques would take time to master though. Its probably best to learn the know how before the need to make a fire arises.
Post a Comment
I carry a small jar of Vaseline® Petroleum Jelly which is a mixture of mineral oils, paraffin and microcrystalline waxes. As some of you know Vaseline® has more uses that WD40. After cleaning the wound, use a small amount to coat the wound then cover the area. This keeps out and lets out the bad stuff also to keep the wound moist.
Vaseline® and magnesium stick is my primary fire starter rather than water proof matches. A 2x2 cotton patch saturated will burn 6 to 10 minutes.
Looking for something that really works and works even after being wet for a long long time! Well by’golly get’ya a small jar of good old fashion Vaseline from and a magnesium fire starter stick from your local Wal-Mart. Take a 2x2 inch piece of cloth and saturate it with Vaseline and scrape a little magnesium on it and hit it with the flint side and now you have instant fire 6 to 10 minutes of flame, now compare that with any other lighter and remember you haven’t really used your fire starting resources at all.
Some of the info here is fantastic but the Fire plow is not a realistic method for us in North America. It is extremely difficult and more suited for tropical climates. The hand drill and bow drill are my favorite two and you can use a variety of materials whether you line back East, in the Southwest or in the great Northwest like I do.
The Vaseline trick sounds pretty reasonable...the biggest problem with the magnesium fire starters is that the magnesium flakes scatter and blow away very easily. The Vaseline will hold them to the cloth and make it heavy enough that it probably won't blow away. I'll have to try it in the back yard tomorrow (when my wife is at work and won't see her idiot husband trying to light the yard on fire).
I read of a scoutmaster who had hollowed out a small section of his highly decorated walking stick and secreted away a 9 volt battery with wires hidden all the way down to the ground end where used a crutch rubber on the end. He would hide a small amount of steel wool in the tinder at the bottom of his teepee fire setup,pull off the crutch rubber, insert the walking stick, mumble some "magic indian words" and....just amaze the living sh*t out of his scouts.
While watching Survivorman on TV, I was informed that yer basic corn chip will work to hold a flame for 30-45 seconds. This would be long enough to get the small twigs ignited in wet weather when dry grass is at a premium. I also have a couple of alcohol wipes in my first aid kit that will do the job nicely!
I have made a fire with the bowdrill method, but it takes a whole lot of air (heavy breathing) and sweat to make it happen, and I learned to rub the top of the drill on my forehead or beside my nose to get a slight amount of oil from my skin on it as a lubricant, this really helped, and to keep my head off to the side of the baseboard,so I didn't inadvertently drip sweat on the coal! ;)Whats the use of making mistakes if you don't learn from them, right?
Bottom line is to practice your primitive methods when you are not in an emergency situation.
I love starting primitive fires. Learning to start one teaches you the basics of how to "build" a fire correctly.
fire bilding is definently an art and it would be very smart to learn it. You never know!
I find that the bow drill is the easiest way to start a fire by yourself when relying on friction.
im still dont know if i could start a fire with out mathces iv tryed a few times and have never been able to succeed
Thanks, The Pump Drill works great! It took me like half an hour to make from scrap materials!
Wow I watch a lot of survival shows and read quite a bit but have never heard of this vaseline trick. I will certainly test it out first thing in the morning. Sounds reasonable. Thanks for the tip.
I guess if you didn't have a magnesium fire starter, these would be excellant ways to start a fire. They all seem time consuming though and it seems you would have to start the process well before dark if you were going to be in the woods over night.
i have gotten good at the bow drill method over the years and ok at the hand drill. for first timers i would try the bow drill first. read alot of different web sites like, www.wildwoodsurvival.com, then practice, alot. if you live in the southeast like me, try red ceder for drill and fireboard. pump drill is great but hard to make in survival situation.
yea its a good way to start a fire but you really only need one person if your good enough
I don't know if anyone has mentioned this other aspect of the Vaseline trick but most river guides up north in Canada/Alaska use cotton balls soaked in the petroleum jelly. They take a spark very quickly and are about the most reliable tinder you can get when it's wet out.
Very helpful, thanks. It seems like these techniques would take time to master though. Its probably best to learn the know how before the need to make a fire arises.
Post a Comment