7 Ways to Start a Fire without a Lighter or Matches

camp fire

Almost all survival situations, especially those that take place over a period of days or even weeks, call for building a fire. Even if a person ends up in an extremely hot environment, like a desert, their chances of survival will be a lot better with an access to flames and fire. It is easy to see why – a fire is a source of warmth, protection, cooking and disinfecting liquids, while it also provides a strong psychological boost. That is the reason why even since the dawn of time, humans have been gathering around fires and these signified their homes, no matter if they were in caves, cottages, or castles. Today, having the ability to build a fire is crucial, but often, a person might find themselves without any matches or lighter. Making a fire with alternative means is harder, but also a skill that has saved countless lives from a certain death. Here is an overview of seven ways to start a fire without a lighter or matches.

 

Using an Aluminum Can

Every regular aluminum created for holding beverages comes with a parabolic mirror. It is located at its bottom and it can be used to start a fire. For that, a person should gently polish the same area or the bottom spherical indentation until it attains a high polish finish. Once it is as reflective as a mirror, it should be placed in the sunlight and its focal point found – the parabolic mirror effect will be strongest about an inch from its deepest point. Here, a small flammable object should be placed, like a piece of dry cloth or some dried grass and it should catch flame. This happens as the aluminum mirror is converging sun’s rays onto one particular spot.

 

Using a Flashlight

For this, you need a bigger flashlight which does not use LED technology. Instead, the flashlight cap should be open and its bulb is taken out. The glass bulb should be gently broken but its filament left in place. Then, the broken bulb should be put back into the flashlight and kindling placed around it. When the lamp is turned on, the filament should start to warm up and hopefully transform the heat into a flame inside of the tinder.

 

Using a 9 volt Battery and Steel Wool

A 9-volt battery packs a lot of energy and it too can be used to create a flame. For this, steel wool is needed that should be rubbed against both contacts of the battery. As this takes place, the current will be created in the thin strains of the steel wool and some of them should start to glow red. At that point, the searing part of the steel wool should be moved to a previously prepared bundle of dry grass or leaves where it can start a fire in only a moment.  Many different types of batteries can also be used in similar ways to start a fire.

 

Using Flint and Steel

Flint and steel are probably one of the oldest means of making a fire and today they are still widely used. Flint is a type of stone that produces sparks when it is firmly rubbed against steel objects. With these two objects, it is enough to just repeatedly grind them together near a prepared kindling bundle and it will catch flame from one of the sparks emitted by the process.

 

Using Friction

Friction makes heat and enough heat can produce a fire. This is why in the wilderness and survival situations, most experts will go for the process of friction to build a fire. For this, a person does not need anything gear-wise. The main idea of several friction approaches is to simply rub a piece of wood against another piece until they produce embers of searing wood particles. These are then transferred to a prepared kindling were it starts a fire.

The main objective is to use some form of friction generation. The simplest is the hand drill where a tip of a strong branch is formed into a point and the same point is placed in a notch inside of a flat piece of wood. There, the prepper should only roll the branch between their palms until small smoking embers appear. Bow Drill works in the same manner but uses a simple bow that is placed around the branch. Then, instead of hands, the bow is used to generate friction. Finally, there is the fire plough technique. With it, the prepper uses a bigger branch that is repeatedly pulled and pushed across a canal that has been created in a bigger branch or a log. The process also creates embers at the end of the canal which can start a fire.

 

Using a Magnifying Lens

During the daylight, using a magnifying lens is the easiest way to start a fire. With it, a prepper only has to find a good angle and focus the sunbeams into a point that will start a fire in a quick manner. The same technique is so effective that even quickly gathered wood without any kindling can be set ablaze. The great thing about a magnifying lens is the fact that it can be used constantly.

 

Using a Water-Filled Clear Plastic Bag

Arguably, the use of a clear plastic bag that is filled with water is probably one of the most demanding ways of starting a fire. The basic idea behind this approach is to emulate a magnifying lens effect using the water and the bag as the improvised lens. For this to work, the bag, as well as the water, need to be very clear and their shape has to be that of a lens. Then, with a lot of patience and careful positioning, the bag can be placed in the sunlight and its rays can be focused into a fire-starting beam. The same beam will be most likely short-lasting so very dry and very fine kindling should be employed from the first moment of using the bag.

 

All of these ways to start a fire without a lighter or matches show that it is more than possible to get a flame going using alternative approaches. Many of these might not be the fastest options for a survival situation, but with patience and steady head, all of them can provide a life-saving fire to those who employ them.

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