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BVABC / BRISTOL VA BUSH CRAFTING© Releases their newest survival video. "Making primitive fire with the Yakk" Description: Learn the proper steps in creating primitive survival fire using a fire bow.
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BVABC / BRISTOL VA BUSH CRAFTING© Releases their newest survival video. "Making primitive fire with the Yakk" Description: Learn the proper steps in creating primitive survival fire using a fire bow.
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Tending a fire can take a lot of work. You need sleep! This is one way you can build a fire that will last all night so you can get some good shuteye without adding new wood every hour. There are several different ways to do this, but the key is to using round logs and not split wood.
1-You need to start by lining up logs side by side across the bottom of your fire pit or wherever you are building your fire. Start with 5 medium logs across the bottom. Then, place another 5 medium logs in perpendicular across the top. On top of that layer, layer another 3 to 4 logs lengthwise. You are basically creating a fire pyramid. Add dirt in between the space between logs
2-On top of the top layer, add some smaller branches. These can go both ways to form a bit of a weave-like construction.
3-Build a tinder bundle on top of your small branches. 
4-Make a fire teepee over your tinder bundle.
5-Light your tinder on fire and feed it as necessary until the first layer of smaller branches is burning. The next layer of logs will slowly start to smolder and burn. 
You won't get massive flames, but you will get a long lasting, hot fire. Depending on the height of your fire pyramid and the size of the logs, your fire can burn up to 40plus hours.
Below you’ll see a full video from one of my personal favorite survival trainers Robert Allen. By Dennis Diaz Would you go camping, when you know there’s a blizzard or storm coming? Have you ever waited for a rainy or windy day to go out into the woods and test your skills? One thing I learned from a friend of mine, who’s a former Navy SEAL, is that to train your body and mind for a survival situation, you have to employ something he calls “emergency conditioning”. When it comes to a survival situation, emergency conditioning, consists simply of training your mind and your body, and develop skills in a way, to make it as close to a real life survival scenario as possible. One of the skills that at the top of your toolbox during a survival situation, is starting and building fires. Fire is a lifesaver in every sense of the word. It provides you heat, provides what you need to make your water safe to drink, can give you comfort and ward off animals that may stalk you in the wild.  Chances are you are currently able to choose when you go out and practice your skills, and many will pick days with better weather. Most people don't go camping hoping it will rain or even snow. I think that’s a mistake and you may want to practice your survival skills, including fire making, when the weather is bad. I covered this topic briefly in a previous article "How to Start a Fire in Harsh Weather" but I wanted to go a little more in depth in this article. Fire Starting Methods Starting with the basics, there are several different items you can pack in your bug out bag, purse, glove compartment of your car or even your desk drawer that will ensure you can start a fire in an emergency even if the weather is bad. These items are inexpensive and truly invaluable. Look into getting at least one, but preferably, have at least two methods of starting a fire on hand at all times.
The magnesium stick and flint rod do require some practice to figure out how to get the spark needed to start your fire. Don't leave your tools sitting in the packages. Take them out and get familiar with holding the gear and actually using it. Creating a Tinder Bundle Your next hurdle to creating a fire is constructing a tinder bundle. At home, you would probably use newspaper to get your fire started. When you are out in the middle of nowhere and you don't have newspaper, you need to put together some dry, easily flammable material that will serve as the base of your fire. This can be a real challenge if its raining or snowing Where you are will determine what kind of material you can find. The following list are some things that make for a great tinder bundle to ensure you get a roaring fire.
If it has been raining your best bet is to look for dry material under trees. The branches will offer some protection from rain or snow. Material that is exposed to the full sun and is not shaded is your best option. Leaves or grass that are exposed to the wind will also be drier than those that are lying directly on the ground. Use your dried material to create something that resembles a bird nest. You can use a combination of dried materials. Your tinder bundle only needs to be about as big as your hand. Create a small indention in the center of the tinder bundle. This is where your spark is going to land. Collecting Firewood Your next step is to collect enough firewood to keep your fire going for at least 30 minutes. You don't want to get a new fire going and leave it to go find more wood. New fires need lots of monitoring to ensure they do not go out. When collecting firewood, you want to get three different sizes. You need small twigs and branches in the earliest stages, medium branches once the twigs are burning nicely and then finally, a nice log that will slowly burn for several hours. Do not pick up any branches or logs directly off the ground. They will be damp and you will struggle to get the wood to burn. Look for branches on trees that have died. These should be easy to snap off. Trees that have fallen, but got hung up on other trees are another source of dry wood. Branches that have fallen to the ground, but have branches sticking up are okay to use. The wind and sun will have dried the piece that is off the ground. If you do come across some damp wood, collect it and put it close to your fire for later use. The heat of your fire will help dry it out. This can take a day or several days depending on how wet the wood is. Building Your Fire Now that you have everything you need to make a fire, it is time to build a fire teepee out of your twigs. Use six to ten twigs to build a small teepee, leaving an opening on one side. Light your tinder bundle. Gently blow on the tinder to get a nice flame. Carefully put the tinder bundle in the opening of your fire teepee. The flames should catch the twigs on fire. You may need to add bits of dried material to keep the flame burning long enough to catch the twigs on fire. Once the twigs are burning, add a couple small branches. Add more twigs if needed to keep the flames going. Once your medium size branches have caught on, carefully add a larger log or two being careful not to snuff out the flames. Making Fire in the Rain Making a fire in the rain is a little tougher, but it can still be done. The tricky part is to find shelter for your fire, without completely blocking the smoke from escaping. Check out some of the following places you can use to build a fire in the rain.
You also need to protect your fire from ground water. You can do this by putting down a layer of rocks and then building your fire. Choose a place that is not likely to be flooded by running water. Do not place your fire in a depression in the ground that could quickly fill up with water. When You Don't Have a Modern Fire Starting Method If you find yourself without a modern fire starting method, you can still make a fire with items you find in your environment. Primitive fire making is not easy, but it can be done with a little patience and perseverance. Rubbing two sticks together is probably one of the earliest methods and it does work. Use a knife to cut out a small dimple or indent in the wood that will be on the bottom, lying flat on the ground. Cut a small slit or what some people refer to as a pie slice out of the dimpled area so that you can see the ground. Slide some tinder material into the missing pie piece. Place your other stick between your hands with one end in the dimple. Rub your hands back and forth, turning your stick, which is referred to as the spindle. The friction from the rubbing sticks will create a spark. The spark will be caught by your tinder and a flame will ensue. Check out this article for more details Make a Fire By Rubbing Sticks Practice, will always improve your chances of performing in real life situations. By simulating different conditions that may exist you automatically create that possibility in your plan and can start preparing and refining your skills ahead of time instead of having to improvise from scratch. About the Author  Dennis Diaz is the Chief Editor of Survival Ready Blog. He is passionate about learning and teaching survival and preparedness strategies. He is the author of the "The 12 Month Prepper & Survivalist Playbook" & Co-creator of many resources offered at Survival Ready Blog and The Bugout Network.
He doesn't consider himself an expert, but a facilitator and he works hard to provide a platform to those with valuable expertise to share their knowledge with as many people as possible. He enjoys helping others prepare themselves for multiple dangerous scenarios, by coaching them on how develop their own customized survival & preparedness plans and develop their survival skills. He promotes the core concept of making preparedness and survival knowledge part of their daily lives. 
Cast away on a deserted island? Here's a survival technique for making a fire with the most basic of resources. How to make a fire rubbing 2 sticks together! A friction fire made by the "Fire Plow" method is not as easy as it looks. Practicing with the right woods and techniques is invaluable to being prepared for an actual emergency.
Warning: The maker of the video assumes no liability for application of the knowledge or techniques portrayed in this video. Use of this video content is at your own risk.
Video Description:
Project History & More Info I used dried wild hibiscus wood, which in my experience is the easiest wood to do this with. I've heard that dried sotol wood is also very easy. The Samoans say that any type of wood can be used to make a friction fire, and it's important that both sticks come from the same piece of wood. I've tried many different woods and been successful with amazing amounts of smoke, but thus far haven't had any success in developing a coal. It's probably my technique, which I hope I can master over time, but I've found very little information on the subject, and nobody who's actually done it with wood other than hibiscus or sotol. Knowing how to start a fire in bad weather is a survival skill that you will want to practice. In most survival situations where you need a fire the weather won’t be sunny and warm. It is more likely to be cold, rainy, and windy. Now when it comes to survival I like to keep it practical and be realistic. No point in the overly complex techniques to start a fire, when it comes to it, a fire is a fire no matter how you get it started, I'll discuss more on this below.  Image via yoursociallylc.com #1 Get out of the Wind The first thing you will need to do is to find a sheltered spot for your fire making activities. This can be the lee side of a tree, large rock, bushes or you can use your body to block the wind if it isn’t too strong. You may have to go so far as to build a shelter and work on your fire inside of it. #2 Have Enough Dry Small Stuff and Tinder This is something I have struggled with all my life. I start gathering small materials for the fire and pretty soon I will say to myself, “This is plenty” and will start trying to get a fire going. I am wrong 90% of the time and end up wasting time and matches burning up my small stuff before the rest gets going. I have learned to get at least three times as much small stuff as I think I need and that is minimum, you can always store any extra and keep it dry for the next time. I need to emphasize getting dry materials if possible. It is no fun (or impossible) trying to get damp tinder to take especially when using primitive fire making methods like friction or sparking. In the wet woods you can break off an attached dead stick (sticks on the ground are much wetter) and use you knife to whittle down to dry wood. When you reach dry wood you can hold your knife blade at a right angle to the stick and scrape off very fine material you might be able to use for tinder. #3 Cheat So you are out of the wind you have an enormous pile of small sticks and tinder, how do you go about lighting it? The one word I use is cheat. Many purists will only start a spark or friction fire, but if you are in a survival situation break out the lighter, matches or my favorite road flare. That’s right, a road flare is a great foul weather fire starter and I usually have one around somewhere. Nature doesn’t grade on a curve and in many situations I would rather have a fire than shelter. So practice, and then go out in really bad weather and practice some more. P.S. Having the right tools to start a fire on the go, is critical in a survival situation. This tool will always be ready to start a fire even after being soaked in water  Dennis Diaz is the Chief Editor of Survival Ready. He is an avid survivalist who is passionate bout learning and teaching survival and preparedness skills and strategies. He is the author of the The 12 Month Prepper & Survivalist Playbook. He enjoys helping others prepare themselves for multiple dangerous scenarios, by coaching them on how develop their own customized survival & preparedness plans and develop their survival skills. He teaches his students and readers to make preparedness and survival knowledge part of their daily lives.
Fire is one of the most important components to survival. It provides heat, cooks your food, purifies your water and gives you an overall sense of comfort. Without fire, you would struggle to survive without electricity and the modern conveniences we have become accustomed to. Because fire is so important, it is crucial you have at least 2 ways to start a fire in your bug out bag and emergency survival stash. Fire starting materials are typically very lightweight and small enough to fit in the glovebox of your car, in a pocket of your purse or even in a shaving kit.  Image Via www.recyclescene.com If you like being crafty or don't want to spend the money on fire starters you buy in the stores, here are some ideas for making your own. 1- Cut up strips of old cardboard you probably have lying around. Dip the strips in wax and let them dry. Pop them in a sandwich bag and add them to your emergency gear. The coated cardboard will burn nice and slow. This is ideal when you are trying to get a tinder bundle going and don't want it to burn out in a quick few seconds. 2- If you have a bunch of junk mail, put it through a paper shredder. Place the shredded paper in a bag and toss it in your bug out bag. You can also coat the paper shreds with melted candle wax for added burn time. The next time you burn a candle, save the wax for your DIY fire starting materials. 3- Buy a bag of cotton balls and a jar of petroleum jelly (Vaseline). Use a knife or popsicle stick to spread Vaseline on a cotton ball. Place the gooey cotton balls in a sandwich bag. You can make the cotton balls easier to light by adding a couple drops of Zippo lighter fluid to each cotton ball. The petroleum jelly will add several minutes of burn time to the cotton ball, which gives you enough time to get a tinder bundle burning. 4- Save your egg cartons and shred some more of those old bills and junk mail you don't want. Stuff each slot with shredded paper. You can also use old saw dust. Melt candle wax and pour it over each wad of paper or sawdust in the egg carton. Allow the wax to dry. Cut the carton into individual slots and store in a plastic bag. 5- Save your orange peels the next time you buy oranges. Allow the peels to dry thoroughly. Once completely dry, store in a plastic or paper bag. The natural oils in the skin are excellent for starting a fire. 6- Buy a pack of cotton makeup remover pads. Dip each pad in melted wax and allow to dry. When you need to start a fire, tear the cotton discs in half or enough to expose the cotton fibers and light with a match. The wax coating will slow down the burn and give you plenty of time to get a healthy fire going. 7- Create decorative fire starters out of pine cones. Wrap twine or use candle wick material around the base of the cone. Put the cone in small bowl so that it is standing upright. Melt was in a double broiler and pour the wax into the bowl, covering the bottom portion of the pine cone. Wait about 5 minutes for the wax to harden and then pull the cone out of the bowl. The pine cones will burn nice and slow for several minutes. These are best stored away in your home's emergency supplies. 8- Fill a small jar with rubbing alcohol and drop in used corks. You can often find corks at thrift stores or in bulk at various craft stores. When you are ready to start a fire, put your cork in the tinder bundle and light a match. The alcohol will immediately spark and the cork will burn for a bout a minute. You can remove the corks from the alcohol solution after a few days and store in plastic bags or old medicine containers to keep in your bug out bag. 9- If you happen to have an herb garden, you can transform your fire starter into something pleasant and aromatic. Dry bundles of herbs from your garden. Place a few of the herbs on a piece of newspaper. Roll the newspaper up and around the herbs. Twist the ends to form what resembles a piece of wrapped candy. Put the newspaper bundle in the middle of a pile of twigs and light it. 10- The cedar shavings you can buy at any pet store combined with cupcake liners make quick and easy fire starters. You can pick up a bag of old candles at most thrift stores to waterproof your fire starters. Use a cupcake pan and line each slot with a paper liner. Fill the liners with pine shavings. Melt down the old candles and pour the melted wax into each cupcake liner. Allow the wax to dry and you have quick fire starters for under $10. About the Author  Anthony Urso is a professional firefighter and the author of "Surviving Disaster - A Family's Guide to Emergency Preparedness". Anthony consults in the areas of emergency preparedness, homesteading and promotes self-reliance. He also writes for a number of publications including The American Preppers Network.
"As a firefighter, I see every day how an emergency can affect a family. I strive on helping people with their emergency and survival plans while continuing the course on my own preparedness journey." You can follow Anthony on his blog HomesteadandPrepper.com By Survival Ready Blog Contributor There’s no doubt about it, you need fire to survive. It’s our most important resource we have as humans, we use it for protection, warmth, food and more. It truly is any survivalists number one tool. Whether need fire for a survival situation, or you’re just trying to get a campfire going, here are a few ways that will make your fire starting job easier.  Image via www.survivalcampingstore.com 1. The Lens Method : If you were one of those weird kids who burned ants with a magnifying glass as a kid then you’re already and unknowing expert at this. All you have to do is find a lens, ideally you or one of your camping/survival companions wears bifocals. Gather some tinder, such as dry leaves and dead grass Focus the sun light on your tinder, once you get a small flame going start feeding more tinder into it until you have a large enough base to get a larger fire going. Voila, you have no started a fire using only the sun, a lens and some dead nature!  Image via www.modernsurvivalblog.com 2. Friction: This is probably my least favorite way to start a fire, because it is the most frustrating, but it’s a lot less frustrating than being stranded, alone and cold, with no fire to warm you up, cook your food, or boil your water. The best friction based way to start a fire, in my experience, is with your hands, a stick, and a fire board. You can make a bow, but realistically it is pretty hard to put a decent bow together, and your time may have been better spent using the hand method. What you’re going to want to do is build a small nest of tinder using dry leaves, dead grass, etc. Then you’re going to cut a little diet out of a dry piece of tree bark. Place a stick in the notch and surround the stick with tinder and start spinning your stick. The friction should start a bit of your tinder on fire, once you’ve got that going blow into your tinder, or better yet if you have a helping hand you can have them gently blow on the tinder and feed more tinder into the nest. Not the easiest way in the world, but it will get the job done if you’re determined.  Image via www.rebuildingcivilization.com 3. Flint! God’s gift to survivalist : Okay, okay, you can say this one is cheating because it requires flint, but honestly there is no reason to not to have some sort of fire starting tool. Sure, lighters can get wet and they can run out of fluid and not work so that’s not very reliable.  Image by www.maximumsurvival.net P.S. - There’s also the everstryke permanent match you can get at http://www.theeverstryke.com which is a waterproof, crushproof, wind proof, pretty much everything proof match that they give away for free. It’s nice to keep one of these on your keychain, just in case. But good ole fashion flint and steel combine with a nice little nest of tinder and you’ve got yourself a fire while the other guy is still trying to spin his stick or focus sunlight with his lens. You can pick up flint and steel from Amazon or just about any outdoor store of even the sporting department at your local department store. Actually, even if your free everstryke runs out of fluid you can still use the flint to create a spark to light up your tinder just as easily as you would a regular flint and steel. Whether you go with that or ole fashion flint and steel, you’ll be prepared to start a fire when ever you may need one. Survival Ready Blog Team There are countless different hazards and challenges we can run across whenever we are in a survival situation, but you can break down the necessities of life and survival in the wilderness into a few critical elements. In this post we lay out what your top priorities should be in a survival situation. We organized them by threat level, basically what can kill you first and worked our way down. Shelter Protect yourself from danger, weather and temperature. Keep body core temperature. Hypothermia and heat stroke can kill you within minutes  Whether you’re in the woods or in the desert, you need protection from the elements and security from danger. A well constructed shelter can provide protection and security. It will protect you from the elements and the havoc they can wreak on one’s body. A shelter will also provide a place for you to sleep as restfully as possible, given your situation. A shelter can be a portable tent you have with you, or it can be as simple as using a plastic tarp to help you set up a lean-to. When you find a likely area, you will need to scout out the immediate vicinity. See our section on shelter building Critical elements/gear in cold temperatures Thermal Blankets Fire Critical elements/gear in hot temperatures Shade - cover, tarp etc Hydration. Which brings us to our next subject Water After keeping you body temperature, keeping yourself hydrated is your next priority. Dehydration can kill you in a matter of a coupe of days.  In ordinary conditions, we need two to three liters of water per day. If challenged, we can actually survive without water for about three days. Conserving your water doesn't just mean that you need to be careful how much you are drinking; it also means watching how much you need to physically exert yourself. The less you move about, the less water you will need. In very hot climates, it won’t take much to over exert yourself: do that and you run the risk of dehydration. See our section on water sourcing Once you find water, you will need to make sure it is drinkable. There could be unseen pollutants or pathogens, so you do need to be careful. Even if it’s from a mountain stream, there are usually bacteria or other microorganisms present in any natural water supply; filtering the water through charcoal will remove any dirt or debris, but you need to make sure you kill those microscopic pests by boiling any water you intend on drinking. Fire Uses: Heat, water purification & cooking Next to water, or perhaps equal to in importance, finding the way to make a fire is at the top of your survival “to do” list. You need a fire to help you boil water to make it safe to drink; to cook any food, especially any wild fish, animals or eggs you manage to snare; to help you stay warm, especially when the temperature drops at night; to keep dangerous animals away; to provide you with a sense of security and last but not least, to visibly signal any possible search and rescue teams as to your location.  The best and easiest way to ensure you can build a fire is to make sure you packed some matches, or better yet, a lighter, in a waterproof container. If you didn't, don’t panic; they may not be as quick or easy, but there are other ways to light a fire. Building a fire is a gradual process that you cannot skip steps on. If you don’t have enough of a flame or ember base before you add the larger pieces of wood, the only thing you will succeed in doing is killing your fire before it even gets started. Make sure that you have enough wood stockpiled each day so you can keep your fire going all night long, and keep checking the fire to make sure it does not go out on you: you worked too hard to start it to begin with! Check out our post 101 Ways to Start a Fire Food Once your water sources have been secure its time to work on finding food.  Food is an important need, but not your most pressing matter in the event of a disaster. You can actually survive for several weeks without it. Long before you are in danger of dying from starvation, you will start noticing these symptoms, so you will still have time to find food: · Weakness · Irritability and low morale · Confusion, disorientation and poor judgment · Weakened immune system · Inability or difficulty in maintaining normal body temperature As long as you know where to look, and what to look for, it’s fairly easy to find food no matter where you are. If you make sure you have a basic knowledge of hunting, fishing and trapping animals, you should do fine. Check out our section food procurement here You should also know what plants (lichens or fungi) you can and cannot eat. A good basic edibility test before you try to eat something that may be unfamiliar, is to make a minor fingernail scratch on your skin and then rub the plant over that area. Once you've ascertained what you can eat, do your best to eat as balanced a diet as possible, especially if you are going to need to survive for a long period of time. Communication If you establish continuous shelter, water, fire and food sources, you should technically be able to survive for a while, but getting rescued can greatly improve your chances of survival,  If you are stranded in a backcountry setting and you need to be rescued, effective communication can be one of your most important resources. Know the distress and rescue communications conventions, and plan quickly to communicate your distress signal so that you can attract the attention you need before it’s too late. Common useful communication equipment includes: Ham Radio Whistle Signalling mirrors Flashlights See the following post 10 tips for getting rescued, Signaling and Communication in the wilderness In a survival situation it may be very necessary to operate below the radar, and keep a very low profile to avoid detection. If your communication efforts are focused on communicating with team or family members you may want to choose a communication system that is silent or at least stealthy. Communications can be as sophisticated as a radio systems, or something as simple as a flashlight or signaling mirrors. There has to be a level of coordination and communication setup before and disaster or survival situation arises, this is something you want learn before you need to actually use it. We understand you may have some questions. If we were to cover anything and everything about survival it would take several hundred pages. However you can join our mailing list to receive the top notch information about survival and preparedness. To join our mailing list click here, we will also send you our “Battle Proven Bugout Bag Report” for free.  By Survival Ready Blog Team  Fire is one of the most useful resources in existence. It provides heat, allows for cooking and water purification. A regular fire will emit smoke, light and for the most part it will reveal your location from several miles away. There are many reasons you may want to keep your location concealed. Whether you are behind enemy lines, trying to evade danger or remain undetected you may see the benefits of making a stealth fire. Well, what if I told you that you could make a fire that only you could see? Any passers-by will be totally oblivious to the presence of you and your fire. This special type of fire will allow you to stay warm or cook food without giving away your presence. Above ground smokeless fire Making a stealth (smokeless) fire In this video I show a technique to creating and maintaining a smokeless stealth fire. Below ground stealth fire If you want to get into stealth camping, build a fire during gale force winds, or just want to lay low then the 'Dakota Fire Hole' is just what you need. Dakota Fire Pit  Dakota Fire Pit How To Videos Below |
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