Building Fire in a Survival Situation
In a survival situation, fire is NEVER guaranteed. When it is raining and the wind is blowing, fire can be extremely difficult to make. Under the correct conditions friction fires can be made quite easily. Ferrocerium and or magnesium rods make things easier. A lighter or matches makes it easier still. You can also make fire by crossing the terminals on your car battery, and using the resulting sparks to ignite tinder. If you wear glasses, you can focus the sun's rays onto your tinder bundle, and get fire. The ways for you to achieve fire are limited only by your imagination, and perhaps physics.
The concept of fire is simple because it follows the laws of physics. There is something called the triangle of fire. The sides of said triangle are Fuel, Heat, and Oxygen. Each side of the triangle in necessary to have fire. A fire is extinguished by removing one or more of the sdes of the triangle from the equation. We now understand a fire cannot exist without all sides of the tringle. We can now extrapolate from that knowledge that in order to build a fire we must supply each of the sides of the triangle.
Fuel
Simply put, fuel is any material that will readily burn. In the forest this is typically dried grass, leaves, bark, and wood.
Oxygen
comes from the air around us. When nursing an ember or tiny flame to life, it is important to gently blow on it to supply additional oxygen to give the fire strength. The ambient air is typically 18% oxygen. When we exhale, our breath is approximately 16% oxygen. This is sufficient for us to breathe again; it is also sufficient for a fire to breathe.
Heat
While each side of the triangle is equally important, heat is the trickiest of all. Heat is easier to remove when extinguishing a fire than it is to create when building a fire. Any bar or restaurant you might happen into will have a ready supply of matches. Any market, convenience store, grocery store, gas tation, etc., contains disposable lighters of every ilk. I am a non smoker, but I always have a lighter on hand. While making a fire by rubbing two sticks together may make for wonderful television, the resulting fire is no more warm, or quick to boil water, or cook food, than one started using a simple lighter. Now with that being said, what does one do when the matches are wet, or the little bic stops flicking? With a little knowledge, and some planning, you can provide the requisite heat in any number of unconventional methods.
Next to the fire traingle, preparation is the next more important step in obtaining fire. I have watched countless people smile in triumph as their tiny spark slowly turns into a small flame only to lose that triumph as they watch their tiny flame die from lack of fuel or oxygen. With proper preparation this heartbreak can be eliminated. The importance of having everything you need to build a fire, readily at hand, cannot be overstated. Before attempting to start a fire using the methods described below, the survivalist must first make certain preparations.
An important thing to remember is that when you feel you have enough tinder, kindling, and firewood, tripple that amount.
There are 3 types of fuel necessary to start and maintain a fire.
Tinder: is any dry, light, airy, combustible material that will readily accept and hold a spark. Examples of tinder include, but are not limited to, dry grass, Spanish moss, the fluff from cattail milkweed or bull rush, and birch bark, etc. This material should be fluffed between the hands and gathered into a dished circle resembling a birds nest. As a matter of fact, this tinder bundle is often referred to as a birds nest. While tinder births the flame, wood is the life's blood of fire. A good rule of thumb is to gather 5 times the amount of wood you think you will need.
Kindling: should be very small twigs. When I say small twigs, I mean the diameter of a pencil or thinner. These will be used during the initial stages of building your fire. A good source of dried twigs, even during or shortly after rain, is the dead lower branches of evergreen trees. These branches are always dry, and they contain a resin which allows them to easily catch fire.
Maintenance fuel: To maintain the fire you need to gather sticks and branches ranging in size from the thickness of your thumb, to the thickness of your leg. Your wood should be cut or broken into useable lengths up to 2 ft long. You may not be equipped to break down larger logs, but can still make use of them. Once you have an established fire, one with a good bed of coals, you can place these larger logs over the fire, and actually burn them in half. You can then continue to feed the burned ends into the fire.
Let us now take a look at some of my favorite methods of starting a fire.
Mechanical
A mechanical method is nothing more than using a man made device to aid in obtaining fire. This can be something as mundane as matches or a lighter, or it can mean a ferrocerium rod, magnesium stick, or a fire piston. These will all serve you well. I always carry a ferrocerium rod and striker, as this setup will allow me to reliably make fire in a few minutes. If I had a can of accelerant, you can bet your last dollar I would not hesitate to use it. When faced with a survival situation, getting things done in the easiest manner is paramount to ensuring survival.
A fire by friction is the old "rubbing two sticks together". While this is the oldest method of fire making, I can attest that it is by no means the easiest. It is frustrating to the novice, and humbling to even the most adept.
There are myriad methods to obtain a friction fire. On this page we will limit those to the hand drill, and the bow drill.
The hand drill method consists of a long spindle and a hearth board. The hearth board is typically a branch or section of a log that has been cut to form a thin slab. Into this slab one must cut a shallow hole near the edge of the board. A notch is then cut from that hole to the edge of the board. The spindle is a long slender shaft that fits into the partial hole cut in the hearth board. The user places the spindle into the hole in the hearth, and places the spindle between the palms of his or her hands. Witht he hands at the top of the spindle, the user places downward pressure with his or her shoulders, and quickly rubs their palms back and forth across one another causing the spindle to rotate quickly. The user continues this process until their hands near the bottom of the spindle, whereby they quickly reposition their hands, one at a time, back near the top, and repeat the rotation. Once you notice small wisps of smoke, keep up your speed and pressure until you can see a steady stream of smoke, and a slight bit of glow in your dust. This means it has turned to an ember. At this point carefully stop, and slowly wave your hand back and forth to increase airflow over the ember. Once the ember is strong, you can transfer it to your tinder bundle, and increase oxygen flow by gently blowing on the bundle. After the tinder bundle flames up, transfer it to your prepared kindling. and slowly being that to life.
Sounds easy, right? It can be. I have used a spindle and hearth to make a fire in as little as 2 - 3 minutes, and I have worked on it for hours without success. Your ultimate success will depend upon the humidity in the air; the moisture content of, and type of, materials you chose for your spindle and hearth. Always look for softer woods when choosing materials for your fire set. As hardwood spindle is spun into hardwood hearth, both pieces will simply burnish one another, and no dust will accumulate. Also make sure to stay away from evergreens as thier wood typically contain high amounts of pitch and sap. My favorite hand spindle material is the dried second year flower stem of Verbascum thapsus, mullein. My favorite woods for hearth boards are members of the genera Salix and Populus, willow and poplar.
A variation of the handdrill and hearth method is the bowdrill and hearth method. A handdrill can really mess up your hands. I have received some very bad blisters attempting this method. To remedy this, the spindle can be rotated using the bowdrill method. The bow drill method consists of a similar spindle and hearth, but also adds a handblock or handrock and a bow. Due to the additional forces generated during the bow drill method of firemaking, a slightly thicker and shorter spindle is needed. To make the bow a piece of rope or other cordage is tied to bent stick about 2-2.5 feet long. The cordage is not pulled tight, but rather left just loose enough that a loop can be formed to snugly fit around the shaft of the spindle. One end of the spindle is placed into the hole in the hearth, and the other into the handblock. I recommend holding the bow in your dominant hand and the handblock, or brearing block as it is sometimes called, is held ion the other. You begin by applying pressure to the handblock, while you SLOWLY move the bowdrill back and forth in a saw like motion. It is important to begin slowly as this allows you to become familiar wth the mechanics, and it slowly builds up a littl bit of heat. As you feel more comfortable, increase the speed of your rotation. This will begin to cause the spindle to break down slightly and produce dust.
This method does not always work as it should. It takes quite a bit of practice; apply too much pressure on the handblock, and you can break the shaft, too little pressure and you do not get enough friction to cause dust and heat. You should also plan on breaking the bow string a number of times as well. Once you get the hang of it, fire by friction is a reliable, albeit frustrating and humbling, method of attaining fire.
Reactive
A reactive fire is one built by harnessing a chemical or physical response of chemicals or materials not typically associated with fire.
One type of reactive fire can be made crossing the poles of the battery with wire or steel wool to create a spark which is then used to ignite a tinder bundle. I especially like steel wool because it actually burns a little. This makes it easy to transfer to the tinder bundle. Depending upon the gauge, using wire can be a bit more hit and miss. The gauge must be small enough to heat up, but not so thin that it melts.
Another reactive fire can be started using the chemical reaction of two agents. My favorites are potassium permanganate and glycerin. Both are readily available, and very stable when kept separate. However, mix them, wait a few seconds and the resulting reaction creates an intense hot fire.
This is a quick overview of the fire making process. The most important thing I can tell you is to get out and practice. Doing so while you are not in urgent need of fire to live, will make it easier if you ever need fire to survive. Fire making is an important part of my Wilderness Skills classes.