5 Weird Ways to Start a Fire
If you’re ever forced into the wilderness following a disaster, you’d better know how to start a fire. Food, water and shelter are your top priorities, but survival fire-starting for warmth and cooking is right up there in importance.
Now, the easiest way to get a fire going, assuming you have the tinder you need to keep it burning, is a lighter.
Cavemen – not to mention cavewomen – would have killed for the ease of being able to flick their Bic. Matches are a close second, trailing lighters only because sometimes they become too damp to work.
But if you have neither, or if you’re the type of person who doesn’t like to do things the easy way, there are some other options that are more creative and might even be fun. Here are five of them:
Aluminum Can & Chocolate Bar. Rub a candy bar on the bottom of an aluminum can until the can bottom shines like a mirror. With direct sunlight on the can bottom, it will heat up to the point where it can ignite your kindling when held against it.
Sandwich Bag & Water. Crush a piece of dry tree bark into a powder. Place the powder onto a solid piece of bark. Pour water into a sandwich bag until it’s half-full. Tilt the sealed baggie to the side and then twist it at the top, making it into a liquid sphere. Use the baggie as a magnifying glass over the powder until the sun’s rays make it start smoldering, then press the powder onto your kindling.
Vaseline & Cotton Ball. Pull a cotton ball apart – but not completely apart – and rub Vaseline or petroleum jelly all over the cotton. Roll the cotton back into a ball. Use a magnifying glass or reading glasses and the sun’s rays to heat the cotton ball, which will hold a flame well once ignited.
Gum Wrapper & Battery. While you’re chewing a stick of gum, cut the foil it was wrapped in into a bowtie or hourglass shape. With two fingers of one hand, hold the two ends of the foil against the ends of a small battery. The foil will ignite and you can quickly light your tinder.
Dead Lighter & Paper. Maybe you were planning to use a lighter to start a fire, but it died on you. Not to worry. Remove the lighter’s safety lock and slowly roll the lighter over paper, back and forth. As the steel wheel grinds down on the flint rod, flint shavings will be created. Form those shavings into a small pile and then flick your dead lighter repeatedly over the pile until it ignites.
Cotton facial cleaning pads are my go to , will ignite with just a spark, no Vaseline or jelly needed.
I’m a retired survival instructor from the USAF. 1 & 2 doesn’t work. Magnifying works but not glasses. Cotton balls with or without petroleum jelly works very well. Same idea but easier to pack is a candle and those gimmick bday candles that don’t blow out are great. The gum wrapper if it is aluminum and a very powerful battery will work. They sell a margnesium bar with a flint attach to it. Using a knife to make filings then the flint to ignite it burns very hot and starts a fire in the coldest and wet environment. The road flare is cheating but correct. In a true emergency, cold wet wood, drain some gas or oil from your car and pour over wood ignite flare and step back. Oil also makes a great signal fire.
How to start a fire 101: first, realize that you may need to start a fire during an emergency situation. So what should you do? Carry a lighter in your pocket at all times. They come in various sizes and types. Some are butane, others have a liquid fuel to ignite, others still are old fashioned and are water proof matches.
The bottom line is this; realize that you may need to start a fire to cook or stay warm or signal for help, so have something that you feel comfortable with and keep it close at hand.
Next, understand and realize that you may need an alternative way to start a fire. This is where rubbing two sticks together, laundry lint, using a magnifying glass (be it a pair of glasses, plastic bag half filed with water, or a water bottle filled with water or even the reflective bottom of a soda can.) You can use a striker that creates sparks, flint from a used Bic lighter, or running metal against an old file. As long as you know and you have practiced how to start a fire in an alternative way you will be all right.
It is up to you to learn what works for you. You must have confidence in that you can start a fire in case of an emergency in any situation.
i’ve found that the absolute, #1 best way to start a fire in any weather … in any survival situation is with a road flare. They light in a downpour, are waterproof, and have a built-in striker that is covered by a plastic cap until needed. They burn hotter than heck f0r 10 – 15 minutes! Carry one or two!!!
Don’t forget to practice a few alternate methods of fire starting at home or someplace you can do so safely, before you get out in the woods or face an emergency. A little practice before hand could save your life.
Another thing to consider is keeping a little dry tinder in your bug out bag, day pack, car, etc. While you can use damp wood once you have a fire started, dry tinder is a must to get the fire started. Something as simple as a cheap roll of toilet tissue in a ziplock bag could make a big difference in an emergence.
A little steel wool sparked off from your car battery is another way of getting a fire started.
Good point, Vincent. Practice makes perfect.
Most of us have a clothes dryer. When you take the dry stuff out and clean the filter, save the dryer fluff.
I soak a small balsa stick in alcohol and cut a paper towel or toilet paper cone to length and stuff it with those two items. Also, when I
walk my Lab, I pick up dead tree twigs and break them to length, put them in a sandwich bag and
stuff the bag in with the fluff. Dip a pack of matches in candle wax, keep a smooth flat rock.
Tin foil makes a good reflector also. Semper Fi!
A metal plate or barrier around the fire will direct the heating one direction toward the shelter.
I have used the cotton balls and vasqline. Works great. A magnifying glass of any kind or size is like gold. Another way is to take cardboard egg crates, put hair, fuzz, or dryer lint in each cup. Next, pour a small amount of wax over that. When dry, pull cups apart. Great firestarters. Pine needles work wonderfully. Sometimes you need a hand fan or bellows to help. Instead, try a blowtube. I use one all the time and it works great.
Looking to find out if there is a supply of gluten free foods available to the public in this or other 25 year foods.n This is all my wife can eat without having issues.
Good stuff! Being a Woodsman, I’ve built lots of fires, even with a minimal of igniting materials… While some of these I’ve tried, there are some I’ve barely heard of, or even not heard of, that I’m sure will work… Thanks, I’m excited to try em out…
need to keep this knowledge available…