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.
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