A Few Simple, Easy Ways To Start A Fire
Being able to start a fire without the use of matches is an important skill for anyone to have.
When the time comes that you actually need to have a fire and you don’t have a lighter or matches handy – firemaking is a skill that can make the difference between someone living and someone dying.
Whenever possible, I try to ensure that the someone living is me and the someone dying is not me. Possibly you. I’m not sure.
Friction Based Fire Making
Friction based fire making is probably the most difficult of all the non-match based methods, and is best when practiced regularly by someone who is in reasonably good shape.
While there are more than a few different techniques you can use to make a fire with friction, the most important aspect of the activity is the type of wood you have available for use for the fire board and spindle.
What’s a spindle? Well, the spindle is the stick you’ll use to spin in order to create the friction between it and the fireboard. If you create enough heat-producing friction between the spindle and the fireboard, you can create an ember that can be used to create a fire.
If you’re going to practice, keep in mind that cottonwood, juniper, aspen, willow, cedar, cypress, and walnut make the best fire board and spindle sets.
Before you can use wood to start a friction based fire, the wood must be bone dry. If the wood isn’t dry, you’ll have to dry it out first.
The Hand Drill Method
The hand drill method of starting a fire is the hardest and most difficult method of starting a fire.
- First step – build a tinder nest. Your tinder nest will be used to create the flame you get from the spark you’re hopefully about to create. You can make a tinder nest out of anything that will catch fire easily, like dry grass, leaves, or bark.
- Second step – cut a v-shaped notch into your fire board and make a small depression adjacent to it.
- Third step – place a flat piece of bark underneath the notch. This piece of bark will be used to catch the ember that will hopefully be produced from the friction between the spindle and fireboard.
- Fourth step – place the spindle into the depression on your fire board. Your spindle should be about 2 feet long for this to work properly. Maintain pressure on the board and start rolling the spindle between your hands, running them quickly down the spindle. Keep doing this until an ember is formed on the fireboard.
- Fifth step – once you see a glowing ember, tap the fire board to drop your ember onto the piece of bark below it. Carefully transfer the bark to your nest of tinder and gently blow on the tinder nest in order to start your flame.
While the hand drill method is reliable, it is also tiring and should only be used as a last resort.
The Bow Drill Method
Setup For Making Fire With Bow Drill
This method does, however, require you to gather a few extra items to make it work. In addition to the spindle and fireboard you needed from the previous method, you’ll also need to procure a socket and a bow.
A socket is anything that you can use to put pressure on the other end of the spindle as you are spinning it with the bow. This item can be a flat concave stone or another piece of wood, or a cloth-wrapped piece of metal. If you’re going to use another piece of wood, try to find a harder piece than what you’re using for the spindle. Wood that is inundated with sap or oil is good because it creates a lubricant between the spindle and the socket.
The bow you craft should be about as long as your arm. Look for a flexible but strong piece of wood that has a slight curve to it. The actual string of the bow can be just about anything. I’ve seen bowstrings made from a shoelace, a piece of rope, or a strip of rawhide. You’re going to be putting a good amount of stress on this bowstring, so find something with a little durability to it. Once you tie your bowstring to the ends of your bow, you’re good to go.
Prepare the fireboard by cutting a v-shaped notch on one side and by then creating a depression right next to it in the fireboard. Put your tinder nest underneath the notch you create.
String up the spindle by catching the spindle in a loop of the bow string, then place one end of the spindle on the notch on the fireboard and apply pressure on the other end of the spindle with your socket.
Using your bow, start sawing back and forth. You’ve basically created a rudimentary mechanical drill. The spindle should be rotating quickly and it shouldn’t be long until you create an ember.
Once you have an ember, drop it into the tinder nest and blow on it gently to start the fire.
