Ask any Fireman about fire and he´ll tell you you need the fire tri-angle
He´ll tell you that you need three things, Fuel, Heat, and Oxygen. Though for our purposes there is a fourth missing and that is method. We´ll take a look at what we need, what you can put in your kit and how to use it.
In order to make a fire we need the following: Tinder, This is the smallest and easiest to catch fire, this is where we will be putting our spark into. Tinder should be very thin (like a pencil lead) about the width of your hand. This can be from dead twigs, dried grass, Dryer lint, Cotton wool, etc.
Top to bottom L to R, Toilet roll middle filled with Dryer Lint, Wet fire commercial block for making fire, dried moss, Dryer Lint, Cat Tail/Bullrush, Cotton wool, Steel wool, Light my fire maya dust.
Next we need Kindling, look for dry dead branches about the thickness of your thumb and about the length of your fore arm. Finally we look for Fuel, larger wood about the thickness of your wrist and as long as your arm, it can be split from bigger pieces of wood. All this should be collected so that we don´t have to go searching when we start or the fire won´t catch and continue to burn.
also we have to prepare our fire place, to make sure we don´t cause a bigger fire then we intended!, Especially true in a wooded area. So clear the area of any grass, moss or shrubs, make sure it is not on a Torf area as this can be burning underground! You can also mak a ring of rocks to prevent sparks or such getting out.
Now to the fun part, Method and really there are such a lot. Lets look first at an old method
Here is a modern version of the Flint & steel
This would be carried in a pouch along with some Tinder to get things going. Flint also known as Chert which is a type of quartz .
Flint can be found offten around river beds and straeams beaches or where a variety of stones are
It has a glassy apperance inside and the outside is usually coated in a whitish cortex on the outside
If you break open a piece generally there will be razor sharp edges, which have made it so useful
in the past as a sharp tool or weapon. If Flint is then struck with steel it will produce our spark. In the middle ages natural Tinder was used such as Tree fungus or Open Bulbs from Cattail/Bullrush reeds
Here are some modern versions of Flint and Steel, Top Flint is screwed into a metal container until needed, on the container is a compass (would not trust it to be too accurate) and a metal piece to scrape a spark. Middle is a flint embedden in a block of magnesium, with a knife you can scrape the block to make a small pile of magnesium shavings which you put in the tinder and use the flint to cause a spark. Bottom Flint and steel from the “Friendly Swede” a well known and reputable brand.
This is a one-handed version, you put pressure on the sides and push the flat tip on the right which goes in the handle and causes a spark,
When you get a new flint you will find it has a kind of protective covering which has to be scratched away first before it will make sparks, also note that a piece of glass is used here to make the spark instead of metal, also instead of an expensive knife try an el-cheapo hand file from a DIY store, you don´t have to use all you can break a piece off.
Here are two lens which can be used to make fire, the suns rays are caught and manipulated till the optimal size & strength. You could also use a lens from from a pair of of binoculars or telescope. A watch can be used if convex by adding water till the complete convex shape is filled, the same with bottle bottoms if convex. Glasses are not really a convex lens shape so not really usefull. Even Ice has been used by forming a convex.
Here is something neat I found called a “Sun Case” its about the size of a lighter and folds open in the top a piece of tinder is held (cotton wool) and the device is moved till it catches the suns rays and directed to the tinder.
Survival is not a sport so there is no such thing as cheating, Lighters and Matches should be a part of your gear. Top is a Zippo however when the middle is removed you see it is an Arc or plasma type and at the bottom is a usb socket to charge it. bottom two simple cheap lighters, right is empty but still can be used to make fire, as you see the guard has been removed and carefully the wheel can be turned (without sparking) to shave the flint, the powder is caught in the tinder and when enough is caught you can use the spark from the lighter to ignite the pile, similar to the magnesium block.
As I have said its not cheating and here are several matches, Top is a container to keep matches dry, top right is a container of lifeboat matches wrpped in Duct Tape (always usefull to have some around) Middle left is a sealed pack of matches from a German Army ration pack, right a normal box of matches but try and get a box of Strike anywhere. Bottom is a book of matches from American MREs (supposidly works when damp) and Right matches from British Ration pack, these are all weather but burn quick.
Using a 9v Battery (or several 1.5v taped together) and steel wool you can easily make sparks by stroking it on the “wool” causing a short.
Potassim permanganate has several uses, if spread on snow in sos letters it seaps big into the snow making the letters visible over a long distance. Mixed with water it cna be used to cure fungus problems on your feet or be used to purify water. The tone of colour indicates its strength and use. Research this more to see the differences. And of course you can use it for making fire, it can be mixed either with sugar or with glycerine and produces a chemical reaction. Be aware that in training you should wear gloves (medical) because it will stain your hands !!! Unless you are trying for Hena!
At top is a Tea-Light useful to have in your kit, for light or keep a flame to transfer fire. Next hand file already mentioned, and next a blow pipe open and closed. This is like an antenna and when opened can be used to concentrate a breath in order to “blow” a spark into a flame. Cheap from Amazon.
Here some things to help. Ammunition Left Rifle right Shotgun can be carefully opened and the powder used with tinder. More difficult on their own a pack of flints, they could be inserted in a stick or such and used like a match to produce a spark. Bottom a Tampon can be cut open and used for wounds or for fire or even as primitve filter for water ( insert into bottle of water and wet, it swells and then the water can be filtered out NOTE this is only filtered from dirt it must be further treated to use as drinking water. Above open Tampon is a small pencil sharpener, it can be used with small dry twigs to make shavings for tinder. Finally a bottle of decinfectant, these are mainly flamable so also good to use as a fire starter.
I debated to show this but since you can find it elsewhere on the net I will talk about it (Delcaring though that anyone trying this does so on their own accord, I take no responsibility) First off if you have a cell phone or digital camera you find this kind of battery. It can be used similar to the 9v battery technique shown before, you can use a piece of alluminium foil as well to make the short. If this does not work you can you can puncture the battery with a knife or sharp object. Be aware that this not only ruins your battery but could explode! but at the least we hope it will set on fire, you could put some water on it too. Again a warning the gases released from the battery are toxic—- Ever here about cell phones going on fire when charged over night, this is probably due to a diffect battery and being open to the air causing the gasses to set off.
These are by no means all the methods you can use to make a fire there are still a lot more, you can used the polished base of a drink can, you can make a fire drill, bow drill, fire plough, Fire piston, Anti freeze (contains glycerine) and flower food (the little pouch you get when you buy a bunch of flowers) (this can contain Potassium Permanganate) Pool Chlorine and brake fluid, etc. etc.
As with all skills Research and Practise. I hope this will give you some idea of what to use and what you can carry. Remember as we said in close protection “Two is one and one is none” You should have more then one way of doing thing and what you have in your survival gear.
Enjoy