Survival Tips - Starting a Fire

A very essential part of any survival kit is some method of starting a fire. Having a fire can literally mean life-or-death in some circumstances, most notably in the winter or far north.

Light and heat are probably the most useful aspects of fire but it can be used for protection from animal invaders ranging in size from bears to mosquitoes. Fire and it's side-kick, smoke, are also useful for cooking and preserving foodandtanning hides, for hardening stakes and spears, for firingpottery, for blacksmithing and cauterizing wounds, not to mention the obvious Bar-B- Que!

So we have decided fire is good now we need to know how to make it.

I really doubt that there are any readers out there that don't know how to strike a match and light some tinder for a fire. Also I don't believe there is anybody older than 2 that can't start a fire with a flick of their Bic.

All you need is tinder to get the initial flame going, then kindling which is small, easy to ignite material like twigs and small branches, then your larger stuff like big branches, cordwood and logs.

Did you notice the one thing that is most important that I didn't explain? Okay, so I didn't mention the possibility of a pop quiz, tough it out! Well, you got it right anyway, tinder. What is tinder? Why is tinder so important?

Tinder is the primary fuel source for your fire to get started with. Unless you have a cup of "Boy Scout Water" (gasoline) or a highway flare you need something that will take a spark and with a little work produce a flame big enough to get the kindling going.

Ideally, you never let your original fire go out, thus saving the need for another match which may be a non-renewable resource depending on your circumstances. Likewise, your lighter will eventually run out of fluid/gas.

If you need to get a fire going with just one match or one flick of your Bic you need to have an unquestionably dependable tinder. Our Bic-less ancestors used the fluff from milk weeds and dandelions for that first flame. Also mouse nests, and rat nests, birds' nests, the fluff from cattails (reeds) and anything else that would catch their initial spark and with a little blowing erupt into flame.

I, personally, make my own tinder to get a fire going quickly with minimal amount of work. Some folks swear by vaseline soaked cottonballs, others like candle wax. Most old-timers would use a little black powder from their powder flask My tinder is 100% guaranteed to start with one match even if it's wet(the tinder, not the match).

I mix pine pitch and paraffin in a container over a fire, melting it together into a liquid. This liquid I pour over pine or cedar shavings and let cool. A piece of this material, cooled, an inch square, will burn for 15 minutes or so. It is very easy to light, the wax does that, and stays lit because of the pitch.

You can get fancy and put the shavings in an egg carton, making a dozen nice, molded hemispheres of fire starter. Gunpowder can be added to the liquid as can be match heads, sulphur, or other combustible material. As long as they are not contained they will not explode and certainly make the fire more colorful if nothing else.

So now you have tinder, how do you light it? I've listed some of the more common methods of starting a fire in survival-type circumstances (without paper, matches, torch or flame-thrower) below;

• Flint-and-steel is a method of creating a spark that will ignite a piece of tinder when placed right and blown on. Pretty basic and pretty easy, strike the flint with the steel and you get a shower of sparks.
• The magnesium striker is an improvement on this method by shaving a small amount of the magnesium into your tinder then sparking it. The magnesium flashes very hotly for a split second and ignites the tinder. This works even if the tinder is not completely dry so is a very good addition to any survival kit.
• Highway safety flares are another good way to start a fire with wet tinder. It's just like striking a match and once the flare is burning, and it burns very hot and bright, you can place it in a pile of wet kindling and have an instant fire. Just be careful to not look directly into the flare's flame as you can be blinded, at least temporarily by the brightness.
• A magnifying glass will create an intense hot spot in tinder and ignite it if you have patience and strong sunlight.
• The spark from a chainsaw's spark plug is hot enough to ignite dry tinder, likewise an automobile's spark plug.
• Rubbing two sticks together, although it is a universally accepted method, does not work unless you have the patience of a saint and the arm muscles of Mr. Universe. It might take you literally hours to start a fire with this method and should be attempted only if nothing else is available.
• A similar method using friction to start a fire is with a fire drill. Here a stick is placed perpendicularly in a small trough of wood with tinder. The stick is spun back and forth between your palms drill-wise into the wooden trough. Eventually friction will produce a hot enough spot to ignite the tinder. Believe me, you don't want to have to do this more than once or at least until your blisters heal.
• An alternate upgraded fire-drill process is with a bow instead of your palms twirling the stick-drill in the tinder. Merely wrap the line of an improvised bow once around your drill and holding the drill down with a notched piece of wood or stone, saw the bow back and forth. This spins the stick-drill rapidly in your tinder-filled trough and will result in a fire much quicker than by hand. You can improvise a bow by tying the ends of a green, flexible stick together with your shoelace. This works! I've used it in an emergency situation and had a fire going in less than 10 minutes. No blisters, no wasted energy!

Primitive fire-starting may sometime be the difference between a warm mealand none for the survivor after a disaster or in an emergency situation of any kind. It might mean sleeping in relative warmth and security versus a miserable, cold and maybe wet bed. A fire could mean safe drinking water, sterilized surgical instruments, or just light to read by. No matter how you look at it, a method of starting a fire is an absolute mustfor your survival kit.