How to Light a Fire in the Wilderness

TINDER: Pieces of easily ignited bark or wood shaving.

KINDLING: Larger than tinder but still reletively easy to ignite, such a leaves, larger pieces of bark and twigs.

FUEL: Large twigs, sticks and logs that can be ignited with kindling.

Flint and steal method

FLINT: A piece of flint rock or a perposely made flint stick.

STEAL: A carbon steel knife or a perposely made carbon steal stick.

First collect some TINDER, KINDLING and FUEL. Place the tinder on a leaf and strike the steel against the flint until the spark catches the tinder. Blow on the tinder until red hot and place inside the kindling, blow on the tinder and kindling untill it ignites. Place the fuel  onto the kindling and theres your fire.

This method is easy to master and is good for beginners.

Plow method

SHAFT: The shaft should be a hardwood stick with a blunt end about 2cm wide. 

BASE: The base should be a piece of softwood about 45cm long, 10cm wide and 2-3cm deep with a groove cut lengthways down the middle.

Prepare a SHAFT and a BASE. Plow the shaft down the base untill there is a small amount of wood fibers at the bottom. Apply more pressure on each plow untill the wood fibers ignite, then follow as above with the kindling and fuel.

This method is difficult and tiring and should not be used as a primary fire starter untill mastered.

Bow and Drill method

SOCKET: The socket is a rock thats easy to hold with a slight dip in one side.

DRILL: The drill is a hardwood stick about 25cm long and 2cm wide.

BOW: The bow is a piece of  green stick with a piece of string/cordage tied to both ends like a bow and arrow.

FIRE BOARD: The fire board is a piece of  hardwood about 10cm wide and 2.5cm deep with a deppresion 2cm from the side and a v-shaped cut from the edge to the depression.

Collect a SOCKET, DRILL, BOW and FIRE BOARD. Put some tinder under the v-shaped cut. Place the drill into the the depression, wrap the bow string rount it once and hold it in place with the socket. Pull the bow back and forth untill the friction from the stick spinning ignites the tinder, then follow as above with the kindling and fuel.

This method is difficult, tiring and takes a lot of practise and again should not be used as a primary fire starter untill mastered.

Making fires can be dangerous in any case so when making a fire make sure it is on bare earth or rocks. Also make sure you have permission from the land owners before you start making fires.

Guide: Machete: A Basic Guide

Flint and Steel