Different Techniques to Build a Fire
You can start a fire with batteries, magnifying glasses, natural materials like flint rock, sticks, and chemicals. Of course, the simplest way to start a fire is with tools like matches or a lighter. But there are other techniques too. Check them out here:
1. Fire piston
A fire piston consists of two parts. The first part is a cylinder with a hole in the center and the second part is the piston.
You need to put a piece of char cloth or other flammable material onto the piston’s end to use the fire piston. Insert the piston to be seated into the cylinder and then firmly grasp it with one hand and press the piston by striking with your hand.
Once finished, delicately separate the piston, and your char cloth should now be a bunch of small coal. Carefully transport that coal using a knife or a stick onto your pile of tinder. Loosely grip your tinder bundle and blow on it until it creates a fire.
2. Battery and Steel Wool
You can start a fire very fast by using a battery and steel wool. The most successful approach requires using a 9V battery. A 9V battery works easiest because the negative and positive ends are on one side.
To get a fire started with steel wool and a battery, all you need to do is touch the steel wool ends. It will instantly give off bright sparks. Once the steel wool kindles, you can immediately transfer it to your tinder bundle and blow on it to sustain the fire.
3. Magnifying Glass
You can start a fire with a magnifying glass, eyeglasses, or anything through which the sun’s rays can pass. Focusing a beam of sunlight through a magnifying glass and pointing it on a flammable material like paper or char cloth can start a fire. The sun’s rays must be directed through the magnifying glass lens until a small dot is evident on the object you want to burn.
Once you see the dot, try to hold the lens steady for ten to twenty seconds until the object begins to burn. Once achieved, transfer your ember to a tinder bundle and blow on it until you’ve got flame.
4. Rock
When it comes to making fire with rocks, the harder the rock, the greater the sparks. On the Mohs hardness scale, flint rock is seven, but so are chert, jasper, and quartz. Flint rock is generally thought of as rock when it comes to making fire, but you can also start a fire with other rocks.
You can get sparks from any rocks that share the same characteristics. If the rock has a smooth, shiny surface, sharp edges, and sides, there is a high possibility you will be able to produce sparks with the rock.
There are two ways you can use to start a fire with rocks. The first way works best if you use iron pyrite or marcasite stones together, or one of these stones with flint, quartz, jasper, or chert. By thumping any of these two stones together and using a highly flammable tinder like tinder fungus or char cloth, you will be able to start a fire.
The other technique commonly used to start a fire with stones is to have a fire striker. The fire striker can be a knife or a carbon steel striker. Carbon steel strikers come in various forms, but the most popular form is c-shaped and allows you to grasp it in such a way that makes the steel more comfortable to manage and helps guard your knuckles against being cut on the sharp edges of the rock.
To create a spark with a fire striker and a rock, you need to hit the striker against an edge of flint rock until sparks are produced. Putting a char cloth piece on the edge of the rock you are striking is an easy way to catch a spark and quickly fire.
5. Lighters
Lighters are considered primary firestarters because of the ease with which you can create a flame. By depressing a button or rolling your thumb over the spark wheel, you can create a flame in seconds that can be added to the tinder to help you start a roaring fire.
Lighters are the easiest to use when starting a fire, but they are difficult to operate when it’s cold, and they can easily break down, leaving you with no easy way to start a fire.
6. Matches
Matches, like lighters, are also considered to be primary fire starters. But not all matches are created equal. Paperboard matchbooks like those you get at restaurants are the least desirable. These matches are flimsy, unreliable, and extinguish quickly in wet weather. Wooden stick matches are better because they will burn longer and are made with more durable material.
You can use regular wooden stick matches which require you to strike it against a specific material or strike against any rough surface.
If you’re out there in the wild, the aforementioned fire building techniques will definitely come in handy. Make sure to remember them in the time of need.
