If a tourist finds himself alone in the forest, he has 5 ways to light a fire without matches or a lighter. Any traveler should know how to make fire using available means. This is especially true for those who come to the countryside to grill kebabs. At the most inopportune moment, matches can become damp and the lighter may fail. In this case, you should not despair, because there are several ways to solve the problem.

Friction effect

We are talking about the most ancient method that was used by our distant ancestors. Many centuries ago, people made fire using dry wood. Today it’s quite easy to repeat this experience: you need to dig a small hole into which air can freely penetrate.

Then you will need:

  1. Dried flat piece of wood. A recess should be made in it with a stone with a sharp edge.
  2. A long thin stick that will act as a drill. To do this, you need to sharpen one of its ends.
  3. A small amount of small twigs, chips, pieces of bark, bird fluff. It is advisable that these materials are not wet.

The bark, fluff and branches must be placed in the hole, pressed with the sharpened end of the stick and rotated vigorously. After the smoldering begins, you should blow on the coals, and when the fire flares up, add pre-prepared firewood.

Flint, lenses and batteries

Modern flint consists of several components: flint, iron and tinder. The principle of its operation is based on the effect achieved from the impact of a flint on a chair. The resulting thin shavings are heated and then begin to ignite. Over time, the dry tinder should ignite.

Many people remember from childhood that an ordinary magnifying glass can cause a fire in an object.

In our case, it is necessary to light brushwood to start a fire in the forest. This process will be facilitated by sunny weather, but If the sky is covered with clouds, you won't be able to make fire.

In this case, a battery with a power of approximately 9 W and a small amount of natural wool or cotton wool will help. Previously the stretched material should be rubbed vigorously with the head of the battery.

During friction, the material heats up and gradually begins to ignite.

Chemical reagents

Not everyone goes on a hike with a set of chemical substances. However, if they are still available, they may well come to the aid of the traveler. There are compounds that can ignite when mixed.

In practice the following may be useful:

Let's say you went outdoors or on a hike and are completely sure that you are equipped with everything you need. Unfortunately, you discover that you forgot your matches! Learning how to make fire using friction can save your life in an extreme survival situation.

This article gives detailed description one of the most interesting and complex methods of making fire using a bow spindle (“Indian fiddle”).

Preparation

  1. Find tinder. As a rule, these are dry, fibrous materials that are flammable from a spark (lint from clothing, bird plumage, thin wood shavings, dry moss, crushed fibers of dry plants, the inner layer of cedar, birch bark, spruce cones, pine needles, tinder fungi, burnt cotton and linen, wax paper, dust produced by wood-boring insects)
  2. Kindling and fuel.
    • Gather a few handfuls of kindling. Long, dry rods about the thickness of a toothpick are best. Gradually increase the rods to pencil thickness.
    • Use wood as fuel. They burn well, give a lot of heat and smolder for a long time. Soft conifers burn quickly and produce a lot of sparks.
    • Try to avoid wood lying on the ground (it will most likely be damp or damp). Instead, collect firewood and kindling from dead wood. Look for dead branches that are tangled in bushes or the understory of trees. It should be noted that mixed dry and wet wood burns for a long time, and the smoke released from the wet wood will drive away insects.
  3. Do "nest" for coal. Wrap the tinder bundle in a denser material such as dry grass or leaves. Make sure you leave a recess for the charcoal and small gaps for ventilation.
  4. From flexible elastic wood (hazel, bamboo) make onion.
  5. Wooden board. For making boards, those that do not contain juice are best suited. Choose a light, dry tree and shape it according to the following dimensions: thickness - 2-3 cm, width - 5-8 cm, length - at least 30 centimeters.
  6. Spindle (drill) It is recommended to make it from hard wood that does not contain resins or other juices. However, you can use the same wood as for the board. The main thing is that the wood is dry and light.
  7. Find or make a top support for the spindle.
  8. may be made of wood, bone or stone. Prepare. To insulate from the cold ground and move the coals into a pre-prepared nest with tinder, you can use a dry leaf, a wood chip, bark, a piece of paper, etc.

Making fire

Voila! Now you can warm up and relax near the long-awaited fire...

Possible problems and their solutions

  • Practice. Workout at home in free time to develop experience and habit.
  • If you get a good hot coal, the tinder will literally burst into flames in your hands, so always prepare kindling and wood for the fire in advance.
  • The shape of the chimney is important, but not essential, provided it is slightly wider at the bottom than at the top. It is recommended to use a narrow chimney with a cutting angle of about 60 degrees (1/6 of the pie) and U shape, but V-necks work too. The chimney is where hot wood powder is collected and mixed with air, allowing it to turn into coals. A wider chimney usually means you'll have to create more tinder (hot wood powder), but it will also allow for more air flow.
  • Maintain the position of the bow relative to the middle of the spindle. If the string moves closer to one end of the drill, a torque imbalance will occur and the drill will likely pop out of the socket (support block) or hole in the board. To return the string to its original place, change the angle of the bow as you move back and forth. The string should always be parallel to the ground and perpendicular to the drill. Never point the tip of the bow at the ground or sky. Learn to control the bow in a horizontal plane.
  • The hole in the board and the tip of the spindle that fits there should be rough, not shiny and smooth. Roughness increases friction. If they become smooth, then pour some sand into the hole. This is an old Indian trick that many settlers lost sight of.
  • If you're tired, don't be afraid to take short breaks. The process of making fire using the bow spindle method takes a lot of energy, unless you are one of those people for whom this activity is natural and everyday. If so, then you're in luck. For the rest of us, rest breaks can mean the difference between a warm, cozy night in the friendly surroundings of the forest and a cold, dark night in inhospitable wild environment. Try to almost completely fill the chimney cutout with dark wood dust, and then take a break or pass the baton to your partner while the sawdust is still wet.
  • If you have two people, you can act in tandem. The first person remains in charge (or leading) and sets the pace of work, while the second person adds effort to each movement. Such cooperation greatly facilitates the extraction of smoldering embers, especially in the first couples.
  • It has been found that it is easier to work if your hands are a little sticky (like resin).
  • Place the tinder nest under the chimney opening and you won't have to risk moving the coals. This technique will significantly reduce your effort.
  • If you know you'll have to make a fire this way and don't have a flashlight, make sure you allow plenty of time for this procedure before nightfall. Experienced campers have been doing this for years and still have difficulty working in the dark. Even if you have a flashlight, do this during daylight hours. You'll be glad you did.
  • Do not allow the board to wobble while drilling.

Warnings

  • The spindle, board and socket become very hot.
  • This method of making fire does not always work and takes a lot of time and effort.
  • If you no longer need a fire, cover the ashes and make sure they do not pose an environmental hazard.
  • Be very careful about what wood/leaves/branches you burn. For example, it is very poisonous, so make sure you do not use it as fuel. Do some research so you know what you can (and can't) burn in advance.

Necessary equipment

  • Knife or sharp stone
  • A board made from soft wood (such as cedar or linden)
  • A spindle (drill) made from the same or softer wood (such as poplar root)
  • Bow made of elastic wood (hazel, ash, acacia (wattle), mulberry (mulberry), maclura or “bow tree” (osage), yew, bamboo)
  • Rawhide or durable
  • A support block (socket) made of something smooth, a piece of hardwood or stone with a recess.

In English terminology the word wattle is the common name for trees and shrubs of the genus Acacia, primarily growing in Australia and South Africa.

Osage or Osage-Orange(inedible American orange) is the tree from which the American Indians made their bows. Counts the best wood for making homemade bows. Its mechanical properties are similar to yew. Other names: Bois d'Arc ( tree of bows), Maclura aurantiaca (orange maclura) or Maclura pomifera(maclura), Bow wood, Horse-apple, Adam's apple, False orange. Maclura fruits are widely used in folk medicine.

The best drill-board combinations:

  • Willow - Linden
  • Willow - Willow
  • Hazel - Linden
  • Willow - Maple

There are many ways to make fire without matches or a lighter. Some of these methods are very labor-intensive and difficult to implement, but there are also those with which starting a fire will be a little more difficult than using the same box of matches.

In particular, in addition to matches, there are other special means For . For example, you can light a fire without matches or a lighter using a flint or a fire piston. However, if you have these means at hand, you cannot talk about an emergency, since starting a fire with them is no more difficult than using matches. Therefore, next we will consider non-standard methods when even these tools were not available.

Starting a fire using a lens is the easiest and fastest alternative to matches and a lighter.

These methods include lighting a fire without matches:

  • Kresal and flint;
  • Empty silicon lighter without gas;
  • Lens;
  • Concave mirror;
  • Friction of wood on wood;
  • By friction of tinder fungus on wood;
  • Friction of wire on wood;
  • Using a nail and hammer;
  • Rolling cotton wool;
  • Electricity;
  • Using chemical reagents;
  • Shot from a gun.

Some of these methods of making fire were used thousands of years ago, when ancient people did not yet have special equipment. Let's look at all these methods of making fire in more detail.

Starting a fire with firewood and flint

In this method, the tinder is ignited by a spark struck by a sharp flint made of high-carbon steel (kresal). So, when a sharp edge of flint or other durable stone collides with a smooth steel surface, small particles are scraped off from the steel and, heated by the impact, ignite in air, forming sparks.

Kresal and flint can be found almost everywhere, even in wildlife.

In the wild, finding flint or other durable stone is usually not a problem. Many people use cutlasses, knives and other steel tools as cutting tools.

This method requires first-class tinder, capable of igniting at the slightest spark. Pharmaceutical cotton wool, paper and many other options suitable for other methods will not work here, because a spark cut from steel is much colder than sparks cut, for example, from modern flints.

I know of five options for preparing first-class tinder suitable for this method:

  1. The first tinder is made from two tinder fungi. The tinder fungus is torn from the birch, the tubular part is cut off, and the “velvet” is left. Chaga (a type of tinder fungus that grows on birch) is found and its brown part is ground into dust. The “velvet” is rubbed with chaga dust - the tinder is ready. Such tinder is quickly prepared, but does not immediately catch a spark.
  2. The second tinder is made from the tinder fungus by boiling it down. To do this, the “velvet” is cut off from the tinder fungus and placed in an ash solution (1 part ash from the fire, 2 parts water). The tinder is boiled in the ash for 2 hours, after which it is removed and beaten with a smooth stick until it becomes a rag. After this, the tinder is thoroughly dried and kneaded. To ignite such tinder, part of it is torn off and a spark is struck on the fibrous surface from the side of the break. This option can be used in cases where it is necessary to save on other means of ignition: having once spent one match on preparing tinder over a fire, you can save a full box in the future.
  3. The third tinder is made from birch. For this purpose, there is a birch tree lying on the ground: it is these trunks that rot faster with the formation of the so-called rotten wood (rotten wood). The rot is removed and, if necessary, dried in the sun. Such rotten wood, although not easy, catches a spark and begins to smolder. The method is convenient because preparing this tinder requires almost no time and effort, as well as preliminary lighting of the fire.
  4. The fourth tinder can be obtained by combustion without oxygen. cotton fabric. This is the so-called zhzhenka. The fabric is rolled up and tucked into, for example, tin can. The jar is closed and placed in the fire. When smoke and flames stop appearing from the cracks of the jar, the jar along with the tinder is removed from the fire and left to cool in the air. The resulting tinder catches a spark very easily, but to prepare it you need a cloth and a fire lit in a different way, as in the case of boiling tinder.
  5. The fifth tinder represents the recently extinguished coals of a fire. Only those that still have a layer of white ash on them are suitable. Having caught a spark, such a coal begins to smolder, a second coal is brought to it and the fire is fanned, from which the kindling is ignited. Such coals easily catch a spark, but require preliminary preparation. However, like the other options, this one is quite suitable for saving other ignition products.

Any of these tinder should be kept away from moisture. It is ideal to place it in an airtight container, such as a plastic vitamin jar or PET bottle with a wide neck for easy removal.

The tinder fungus, or tinder fungus, actually got its name because good tinder has long been made from it.

Now that you have suitable tinder available, you can start starting a fire with flint and wood. For this:

  1. By striking flint against flint, a sharp chip is made on one of the stones. A sharp edge will allow you to create more sparks and increase the chances of quick success.
  2. The chipped flint with tinder is clamped in one hand, the chair is taken in the other. The tinder is placed on top of the chip (this is where sparks will fly) and pressed with your thumb.
  3. By striking the flint with a hammer, sparks are struck, which should ignite the tinder. If a charred log is lit, then the chair rests against it, and sparks are struck by striking the flint from top to bottom.
  4. The tinder that catches the spark is placed in the kindling and fanned until a fire appears.

In the acclaimed 2016 film The Revenant, based on true events, main character, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, puts tinder under the flint instead of using correct option with tinder over flint. In this way, of course, you can try to set fire to the tinder, but why complicate your life, which is already not sugar?

This method is quite whimsical, as it requires specially prepared tinder, which should be protected from moisture. However, if such tinder is still available, then starting a fire using this method will be easy and quick: it is not for nothing that in the old days, when matches and lighters had not yet appeared, it replaced other more complex methods and became the main method for making fire.

Starting a fire with a silicon lighter without gas

This method is similar in principle to the method of starting a fire with a modern flint: a spark ignites the prepared flammable powder, scraped onto tinder from the mischmetal that is part of the lighter. The ignited powder ignites the tinder.

It is clear that this method requires a silicon lighter.

If you have the tinder described in the previous method, or cotton wool (usually found in a tourist first aid kit), or fluff from old cattail growing along freshwater bodies, then a spark from a lighter will be enough to ignite them. But we will consider two options when such flammable tinder is not available.

In the first method, toilet paper will be used as tinder. On hikes, we use it both for its intended purpose and for wiping dishes when it is necessary to save water and there is no suitable grass nearby. It is also good as kindling, especially if you moisten it with oil (even hygienic lipstick can help) or other flammable liquid or wrap a piece of paraffin from a candle in it.

So, to start a fire, the first way is to do the following:

  1. Remove the protective cover from the lighter.
  2. Toilet paper folds several times and tears. All pieces are stacked with the torn part to one side.
  3. The resulting stack is pressed against the lighter in a place where sparks fly out when the wheel rotates. The torn loose parts should be directed towards the sparks.
  4. Rolling the palm of your hand on the wheel of a lighter creates sparks on a stack of toilet paper. The striking of sparks is repeated until the paper begins to smolder.
  5. The paper inflates until a fire appears.

For this method you need good dry toilet paper (preferably soft and loose, not thick like Whatman paper). I can say that not all toilet paper is equally suitable for igniting in this way: paper that has been in a trouser pocket and has become damp does not ignite well.

Even without fuel, a silicon lighter produces enough sparks to ignite dry tinder.

Many people recommend putting kindling in your pocket to dry, but from my own experience I was convinced that paper lying in my pants pocket does not dry out, but gets moistened. This most likely occurs due to sweating and high humidity in the air between the body and clothing.

The second method is less capricious and can ignite not only toilet paper, but also ordinary paper, for example, torn from a notebook. It is more universal: for example, I was able to get the tinder fungus (its tubular part) torn from a tree to start smoldering using this method without any problems. It’s not hard to guess that in the wild, the same birch bark (its upper, thinnest part) can be used instead of paper.

So, to implement the second method, you must follow the following instructions:

  1. The lid is removed from the lighter.
  2. The center of the paper sheet is loosened by rubbing or any other method suitable for these purposes and bent so that a funnel is formed in the center of the sheet. If you don't do this, you can still get a fire, but you will need more powder scraped off the mischmetal of the lighter stem.
  3. The lighter is initially positioned horizontally above the paper so that sparks cannot ignite the paper.
  4. The lighter wheel is slowly turned until the required amount of powder scraped from the lighter rod is collected on the paper. When rotating the wheel, you should try to avoid sparks.
  5. The powder collects in the center of the paper, in the place where it is loosened.
  6. Rotating the wheel produces a spark on the powder from the lighter - the flash ignites the paper.

This method is good if you have an empty lighter. But, as my experience has shown, if the lighter is used until there is no gas left in it, it will be of little use: already at the stage of scraping off mischmetal shavings, the rod can fly out and get lost, depriving a person of the opportunity to complete the job.

On the other hand, although such a lighter allows you to create a fire even without gas, I would still dare to recommend carrying a piezo lighter with you: it is more convenient to use, especially when you have to use it in the cold with frozen hands.

Attention!

In cold weather, many cheap lighters work very poorly due to cooling and a decrease in the gas pressure inside them. Therefore, it is recommended to carry them in your inner pocket and take them out immediately before use. It is also useful to have at least two lighters and a match or flint in case one of them breaks.

If your finances allow you to spend money on something more “powerful,” then it’s better to buy a turbo lighter: it won’t go out in the wind, and it’s easier to light a fire with it, although it also runs out of fuel faster.

Starting a fire with a sun lens

This method is based on the properties of a lens to concentrate all the sun's rays passing through its surface at one point. This is where the temperature will be sufficient to ignite the tinder.

During a hike, the lens can be removed from glasses, a camera, binoculars and other devices that may contain it. Sometimes on a hike they take a small magnifying glass to look at the map. A magnifying glass is available on some tablet compass models.

If ready-made options was not found, the lens can be made from improvised means, for example, carved out of ice, made from bottoms found along the road among other garbage glass bottles(it is not recommended to carry glass containers with you on a hike due to their fragility). A condom or PET bottle filled with water also works well as a lens for starting a fire.

Video: Starting a fire with a condom

These and other methods of starting a fire using the sun were discussed in more detail in a separate article, so now we will focus on an option that can be used in a city or village, namely creating a lens from a light bulb.

To do this, you will need an incandescent lamp, which can be found either at home or in the entrance, or among the garbage.

The larger the lamp, the better. The shape of the lamp should be round.

  1. A hard object breaks the ceramic insulator. It is more convenient to do this with a nail.
  2. The inner part is carefully knocked out through the resulting hole.
  3. All “insides” are removed from the flask.
  4. Pure water is poured into the flask - the lens is ready.

Such a lens, compared to many others made from improvised means, is very effective means for starting a fire.

The method of starting a fire from a lens and the sun is simple and effective, especially when a ready-made lens is available. I use it myself and recommend it to others as the main method for starting a fire in sunny weather, which saves matches and fuel in lighters.

There is an opinion that this method is good only in the warm season, however, as practice has shown, it can be used to start a fire even in winter time year at sub-zero temperatures, but clear weather. The main thing is that there is sun.

This method has one drawback - it is impossible for them to start a fire in cloudy weather or at night.

Starting a fire with a concave mirror

This method is based on the same principle as the previous one, only in this case the sun’s rays are collected into a beam not by curved glass, but by a concave mirror, and the kindling is located between the mirror and the sun.

On a hike, you can get some semblance of a concave mirror by removing the reflector from a flashlight or car headlight. It's also good to start a fire. gas cylinder, or rather its concave shiny bottom (such cylinders are taken on hikes for cooking on gas and multi-fuel burners).

In urban environments, you can buy a concave mirror in a store that sells all sorts of small things.

For example, for these purposes I used a mirror taken from an old microscope: despite its small size, it did an excellent job of starting a fire from the sun.

Interesting and very an unusual option is to start a fire using a tablespoon. Of course, in order to simplify the task of starting a fire in the future, the scoop of this very spoon must be deformed to the shape of a concave mirror. However, even without deformation, such a spoon on a hot summer day is capable of igniting sensitive tinder, for example, a burner.

I have often come across recommendations for making a concave mirror for these purposes from a beer can. It was suggested to polish the bottom of the jar with a piece of chocolate. After Les Stroud (Canadian host of the Science of Survival television program) demonstrated this method in his video, I decided to try this method. But, as expected, nothing good came of this idea: the bottom of the jar, instead of becoming mirror-like, became matte. Rubbing the bottom of the jar with ashes from the fire and toothpaste also did not add shine. The method actually suitable for polishing turned out to be simple, but tedious: it turned out that the bottom of the jar could be polished with a piece of cloth.

Compared to the method of producing fire with a lens, this method is less convenient, since you have to hold the tinder in a canopy between the sun and the mirror, which is not always convenient. In addition, the tinder itself, in most cases, with its shadow partially obscures the sun's rays hitting the mirror, thereby reducing the effectiveness of the method. In general, this method has the same advantages and disadvantages as the method of making fire using a lens.

Starting a fire by rubbing wood on wood

The principle of starting a fire in this way is based on the fact that when friction occurs, the wood heats up, and the dust formed as a result of friction begins to smolder. This smoldering dust is carried into the kindling, igniting it.

These methods are very difficult to implement and labor-intensive. Without prior training, it will be difficult to light a fire in this way, especially in our latitudes. In addition, the method is sensitive to wood: not every tree heats up well by friction and, if you make a mistake in choosing it, the chances of success are sharply reduced.

However, I personally consider this method to be basic, that is, one that will allow you to light a fire without anything at all, when a person in the wild has no equipment at all, and besides trees there are no more stones or metal in the area. Therefore, it makes sense to spend time and effort on mastering it, especially since fire on a hike or in survival conditions is one of the main things for a comfortable and safe stay in the wild natural environment.

Starting a fire by rubbing tinder fungus on wood

The principle of this method is similar to the previous one, only in this case friction occurs between the wood and the tinder fungus, namely chaga.

For reference: chaga is a type of tinder fungus, also called birch fungus. As the name implies, this mushroom grows on birch trees. Chaga is used not only for starting a fire, but also for making tea, kvass, and also for medicinal purposes.

To start a fire this way, you need to follow these steps:

  1. In the upper part of a dry tree trunk, two sides are cut out longitudinally with an ax, located at right angles to each other. The upper part of the cross section of the trunk resembles a gable hut.
  2. Chaga is cut into two parts.
  3. One part of the chaga is pressed with a cut with both hands to the tip formed by the edges and begins to move. These movements should be reciprocating in nature, directed along the trunk, and performed before the chaga begins to smolder.
  4. The smoldering chaga is transferred to the kindling and fanned until fire appears.

This method is somewhat similar to the fire plow method; it requires considerable effort and time to implement. In addition, this method requires an ax or other tool that allows you to fell and process wood.

The disadvantages of this method also include chaga itself, which does not grow in all regions. In any case, I have never found it in the south of Ukraine, including due to the small number of birches growing in this region.

However, in a birch grove, of all the methods of friction, this is perhaps the most effective, since using birch for the same method of making fire using an “Indian fiddle” is not best idea due to the hardness of birch wood.

Starting a fire by rubbing wire on wood

In this method, the tinder is ignited by a wire heated by friction against wood.

The tourist usually has wire in his repair kit: here it is in case of equipment breakdown, which can be repaired with its help. In addition, wire can be used instead of rope to fasten elements together when building a shelter or raft. You can make traps from wire, in particular snares, and much more.

Some types of traps, such as snares and tops, may be illegal in some areas. Therefore, before catching certain representatives of the fauna, you should always ask what local legislation says about this. So, in one region the use of a particular gear may be permitted, while in another it is prohibited by law. It is clear that in a survival situation no one will pay attention to these things, but for a peaceful tourist who wants to practice survival skills in the wild, they should still be taken into account in order to avoid a fine and damage to nature.

The wire for this method should not be thinner than 2 mm thick, so as not to break prematurely as a result of heating.

When camping, wire is generally very useful - it is used to hang dishes over a fire, various devices are made from it, and it can also be used to start a fire.

To start a fire this way, you must do the following:

  1. Take a piece of wire at least 80 cm long. A smaller piece will be inconvenient to work with.
  2. Two small sticks are screwed to the ends of the wire as handles.
  3. A thin dry log is taken, at one end of which a small area (about 20–30 cm) is cut down on one side.
  4. The log is placed on a dry area and, to prevent rolling from side to side, is fixed in any convenient way.
  5. The wire is passed under the hewn area and the “sawing” process begins. They work in a similar way when sawing wood with a chain saw.
  6. After the wire has rubbed against the wood a little and a small groove has formed, tinder is placed on the hewn area so that it touches the wire tightly. As tinder, you can take an old dry cattail stalk with fluff. If one is not available, another tinder is wound on the stick.
  7. The tinder stick is pressed with the foot against a hewn area on the log.
  8. The handles of the “saw” are crossed once so that the wire forms the number “8” with the top ring torn.
  9. Sawing begins, leading to heating of the wire and igniting the tinder from it. The smoldering tinder is moved into the kindling and inflated until it ignites.

Like other methods of starting a fire by friction, this method is labor-intensive, but with wire and suitable tinder it can be implemented in the shortest possible time and does not depend on the type of wood. And taking into account the fact that many people take wire with them on a hike (and sometimes it can be found among the garbage that comes across along the way), this method can be recommended not only in urban areas, but also in the wild.

Starting a fire with a nail and hammer

This method is based on the ability of the metal to heat up during sudden deformation and, transferring heat to the tinder, setting it on fire.

For this method you will need nails 10 or 20 cm long, a hammer, an anvil and, for example, paper as tinder. Smokers can try to light a cigarette in this way, which can also be used to light kindling.

For obvious reasons, this method is urban: it’s unlikely that anyone would think of putting a hammer and an anvil in their backpack, but in the wild you can also get away with it by finding a replacement for them. For example, instead of a nail, you can take another metal object; instead of a hammer and an anvil, you can take two stones. But in this case, it will be much more difficult to get fire.

So, to light a fire this way, you must follow the following instructions:

  1. The newspaper is rolled up into a tube and pressed down with some object to prevent it from unwinding. To do this, you can put the same anvil on the newspaper or step on the newspaper with your foot.
  2. A nail is placed on the anvil and a series of blows are applied to it with a hammer.
  3. The heated nail is pressed against the newspaper until it begins to smolder.
  4. If smoldering does not begin within a few seconds, the newspaper is removed and a few more blows are applied to the nail. If the newspaper begins to smolder, it is fanned until a fire appears.

As I said earlier, this method is suitable at home. I would not recommend trying your luck in the wild, trying to light a fire in this way, wasting precious energy and time. However, if fire is still vital, and other methods cannot be implemented for some reason, it can also be used. As they say, in the absence of fish...

Starting a fire by rolling cotton wool with or without chalk, ash

In this method, a smoldering ember appears inside a cotton roll, which is vigorously rolled out onto a flat floor with a board. Untreated cotton wool is suitable for this method, which can be extracted, for example, from old mattresses and children's toys. The principle here is that when cotton wool is rolled, its fibers rub against each other as the temperature increases. With due diligence, the cotton wool becomes so hot that it catches fire.

Instead of cotton wool, you can use cattail fluff or fibers taken from the stems of dried nettles.

Making fire occurs according to the following scheme:

  1. A piece of cotton wool is spread out into a rectangular plate and rolled into a tight roll. To obtain a denser roller, at the final stage you can wet your hands with water (or spit) and roll the roller between your palms. Most often, chalk is used to fasten the roller (in the old village house it is applied to the walls, which is why they get dirty if you lean against them) or ash (you can take it from the oven), crushing the cotton wool on both sides with it before rolling it.
  2. Then the roller is turned over and a little more cotton wool is also tightly wound on top of it in the opposite direction. This is necessary so that the inner roller does not unwind when rolling it on the floor with a board. This stage can be skipped if chalk or ash is used.
  3. The roller is placed on a flat floor or board, pressed on top of another board and rolled for even greater density. The denser the roller, the greater the chance of starting a fire.
  4. The roller pressed by the board begins to intensively roll out across the floor in one direction and the other. The pressure on him should not be excessive. As a result of such rolling, the inner layers of cotton wool heat up and begin to smolder.
  5. The smoldering cotton wool is inflated and transferred to the kindling, which ignites as a result of these actions.

This method can only be implemented in conditions settlement or, for example, in a forest house, where you can find even, smooth boards. In addition, this method requires a special tinder from which you can roll the roller.

And yet, despite its shortcomings, this method has a right to exist and can be used in situations where more simple ways will be unavailable. In particular, it can be implemented in an abandoned settlement or in old hut In the woods.

Starting a fire with electric current

Fire using electric current occurs through one of two mechanisms. In one case, due to high resistance, the conductor heats up and ignites the tinder; in the other, a spark when the contacts close ignites the tinder.

For this method you will need a source of electric current. When hiking, the current source is usually a battery taken from a flashlight, or a battery from a cell phone or navigator.

The battery poles are closed with a conductor, for example, foil (you can take it from chocolate - one of the recommended products for hiking in the cold season) or steel wool (it is used to wash pots of soot and food debris), which light up when an electric current passes through them.

Recently, metal dish scourers have been mass-produced and sold, which look like steel wool, but cannot be used to create fire. An experiment I conducted showed that such washcloths not only do not catch fire when in contact with a battery, but also do not produce a spark. In addition, an attempt to close the battery contacts with a thread removed from such a washcloth ended in failure: the battery did not even heat up (heating occurs when short circuit, for example, when shorting a battery with foil), which indicates the possible electrical insulating abilities of the material from which these sponges are made. The subsequent experiment with foil gave a positive result: this indicates that the problem was not in the battery.

We have already talked in detail about ways to start a fire using a battery or accumulator in

There is an opinion that steel wool can be set on fire using a lemon if you stick a series of steel and copper nails into it, connected to each other in a certain sequence with wires. But the sequence of connecting nails inside one lemon, which is suggested in most videos, does not make any sense, since it does not increase either the current or the voltage. And, it seems to me, the current arising from the “fruit battery” (and according to various sources this is 0.2-0.9 V) will not be enough to bring this idea to life, unless there are a dozen or two of these lemons.

On the other hand, this method can still be implemented even in mid-latitude wildlife where lemons do not grow. So, instead of a dozen lemons, you can take almost any fruit or vegetable that is found in our area (for example, wild apples), since they also contain the electrolyte necessary to generate electricity. The only thing left to do is to get copper and zinc elements that will be used as electrodes.

There is, however, a fundamental point: if a person in the wild can get apples, and especially lemons, then he has no urgent need for fire. These fruits ripen in the warm season and can serve as food without fire. So the method of making fire with their help should be classified, rather, as hypothetically possible, rather than practically of little use.

You can learn more about the main methods of starting a fire using a battery or accumulator on the website in a separate article. Here we will consider an option implemented in a populated area using a 220 V outlet.

Attention!

Exposure to fire from high voltage current can be life-threatening and may result in electric shock and fire caused by a short circuit.

Let's look at two ways to start a fire using electric current. high voltage.

For the first method:

  1. From any electrical appliance(preferably damaged) the plug with a piece of wire is cut off. You can take a piece of ordinary insulated wire without a plug, but then you will have to make it yourself and using such a wire will not be so convenient.
  2. The wire at the end is divided into two contacts and stripped of insulation. This creates two forks on both sides.
  3. A piece of foil or steel wool is used as tinder. For the same purposes, a piece of paper on which a square is drawn and painted in the center with a simple pencil is suitable: the graphite layer on the paper has electrical conductivity and high resistance, so such paper can be effectively used to start a fire using this method.
  4. The plug is plugged into the socket.
  5. Contact of exposed wires with foil, steel wool or graphite-painted paper causes them to catch fire.

For the second method:

  1. Take a cigarette. Instead of a cigarette, you can make a roll-your-own cigarette: stuff another tinder into a small piece of toilet paper.
  2. As in the previous method, a plug is made with exposed wires.
  3. The edge of the cigarette is slightly moistened with saliva.
  4. The plug is plugged into the socket.
  5. Touching the exposed wires to the wet part of the cigarette causes a spark, which, due to the puff from the cigarette (as when lighting a cigarette), helps the tinder ignite.
  6. The smoldering tinder is transferred to the kindling and fanned until a flame appears.

Based on the principle implemented in the second method, as a child I managed to light a fire from a dynamo (“dynamos,” by the way, are used by many on bicycles, including on bicycle trips).

It all happened by accident and became the reason for the subsequent replacement of the oilcloth covering kitchen table, which I successfully burned through. To do this, I poured a small pile of magnesium shavings obtained by processing the magnesium plate with a file. He brought the wires coming from the dynamo to it. As the dynamo rotated, the wires, due to shaking, either came into contact with the magnesium or were disconnected from it, as a result of which small green sparks appeared, which actually attracted my attention. As a result of these actions, at some point the magnesium flared up and burned through the oilcloth.

After this incident there were carried out retesting method, but on a non-combustible foundation. In all experiments, sooner or later the magnesium caught fire.

Magnesium gives a dazzling flash at the moment of tanning. That is why its mixture is used to produce magnesium flash bombs, used to blind the enemy.

For many who use a modern flint to start a fire, a magnesium block in a backpack pocket is a common thing. It is from this that shavings are scraped onto the tinder, which is ignited by a spark struck by a flint. Magnesium can also be extracted from the remains of an aircraft (here it is used due to its lightness), for example, after an emergency or military action, if there is still something left from the aircraft. Magnesium alloys containing more than 90% magnesium are used to make vehicle bodies, binoculars and much more. At all the main problem is not where to find it, but how to distinguish it from other metals.

Summarizing the methods of producing fire using electric current, I can say that they are very easy to use, although they do not always guarantee success. Some of them can be implemented in the wild with a battery or accumulator, while others require more civilized conditions.

In survival conditions, you always need to decide what is more important - fire or a charged battery.

Methods where it is necessary to use high voltage current should be resorted to only as a last resort for the reasons stated earlier.

In general, these methods can be recommended when there are no matches left, the sun is hidden by clouds or is below the horizon, and other methods are too complex to implement. Nevertheless, you always need to look and evaluate the situation: sometimes getting fire is not as important as staying in touch, for example, with a rescue group, because often to get fire using this method and work mobile phone The same batteries are used, the charge of which, as is known, is not unlimited. Being left in the wild without a navigator or phone can sometimes be more dangerous than without fire.

Starting a fire using chemicals

Some chemical reactions proceed violently, releasing enough heat to ignite the mixture. This method is based on this principle.

Two methods are most applicable in hiking conditions - rubbing potassium permanganate with sugar (or without it) between two wooden surfaces and wetting potassium permanganate with anhydrous glycerin, which can be found in the first aid kit. In urban conditions, to create a fire, you can also use cotton wool soaked in alcohol, which must be placed on potassium permanganate moistened with concentrated sulfuric acid.

These and other chemical methods of producing fire without matches were discussed in detail in, so I will not repeat myself here, but will only draw a conclusion on them.

This method is simple and allows you to quickly start fire, but its big disadvantage is the high cost and rarity of some of the reagents involved in the reaction. Potassium permanganate, for example, is generally included in the list of precursors, and getting it today is not an easy task. In view of this, this method is rational only when there is a critical need for fire and the availability of appropriate reagents in humans.

Starting a fire with a gun shot

In this method, the tinder is ignited by the gunpowder in the cartridge, which ignites when the weapon is fired.

Attention!

This method is very unsafe, so it should be used only in extreme cases.

As you know, almost every modern hunter has a gun, at least in our country, so this method is primarily for those who like to shoot in the wild, as well as for the military who have the appropriate weapons at their disposal.

In order to ignite a fire with a shot from a gun, you should adhere to the following instructions:

  1. There is a small depression in the dry soil, although you can dig it yourself.
  2. A piece of dry cotton fabric is cut.
  3. Spacers, wads and all the shot are removed from the hunting cartridge. If the cartridge is live, the bullet is removed from it.
  4. Half of the gunpowder in the cartridge is poured out: firstly, there will be plenty of remaining gunpowder in the cartridge (excess gunpowder can even cause harm), and secondly, the poured gunpowder can be useful for starting a fire in the future.
  5. A piece of fabric is cut off and inserted into the cartridge on top of the gunpowder so that fragments of this fabric do not extend beyond the cartridge body.
  6. The cartridge is inserted into the weapon.
  7. A shot is fired into the previously found depression in the ground - the fabric flying out of the trunk lights up.

Due to the high cost of cartridges, this method is advisable only when other simple methods of starting a fire are not available, but it is still necessary to organize a fire. For many tourists and city residents, it has no practical meaning due to the lack of weapons.

As you can see, the number of ways to produce fire is quite large and you can always choose the one that turns out to be optimal in a given situation. The main popularity, according to my observations, has been gained by methods of making fire using a battery with foil, a fire bow, a sun lens, as well as potassium permanganate with glycerin.

However, ideally you need to know and be able to apply everything possible ways for starting a fire, because making fire in an emergency survival situation is one of the primary tasks. Another thing is that it is not always possible to practice in all known methods, since some methods require a lot of money (for example, the method with a gun), others are difficult to access (for example, the fire bamboo method, although if you really want, you can get a bamboo trunk even in the area where it does not grow, for example, by purchasing it over the Internet), and still others are simply dangerous to life (for example, some methods of making fire with electricity).

In addition, in conditions of survival you always need to be able to correctly prioritize. For example, if the weather is not too cold, instead of starting a fire, it is more useful to build a shelter from the rain or just a comfortable place to sleep, which will require less effort and time, but will allow you to get a good night's sleep without having to get up and add wood to the fire. If you are 100-150 km from a populated area or the nearest road and you have a navigator or phone with a charged battery, it is wiser not to stop for the night at all, and especially not to waste battery power on starting a fire. You can sleep during the day, warming up in the sun, and the rest of the time you can confidently go out to civilization using the navigator. Finally, the effort required to start a fire by friction can be greater than the energy value of the food cooked over the fire. In this case, it may be advisable to eat the prey raw.

And modern people do not always have time to practice these skills, because besides them there are others, for example, constructing a temporary shelter, orienteering, overcoming various terrain under different weather conditions, and much, much more that may be needed not only in survival conditions, but also for an ordinary hike of the first category of difficulty.

That is why here I have selected the methods that I recommend mastering first. These include:

  1. Receiving fire from sunlight and lenses, namely options with a ready-made lens, a condom and a water bottle. These methods are easy to learn and can be used in clear weather as an alternative to matches. Personally, I almost always start a fire using this method.
  2. Chemical method, namely lighting a fire with potassium permanganate. This method is simple but expensive. However, in the absence of standard means of ignition in inclement weather, it can help a person save time and effort in getting a fire, for example, using the friction method.
  3. Getting fire by friction, namely with the help of a fire bow (aka Indian fiddle). This method is the most “severe”, but allows a person to make fire in nature from available materials. You can also try to master a fire plow so as not to be dependent on the reliability of the bow string rotating the wooden drill.

These are the basic methods for starting a fire that you need to master first. Other options can be explored later if desired, time is available and the possibility of their implementation is possible.

Interesting video: Starting a fire by rolling cotton wool

In field conditions, there is no way without fire: it will warm you up, feed you and give you something hot to drink, dry your shoes and clothes, and help you send a distress signal. And for this you need to know how to light a fire , so that it burns as long as possible and gives maximum heat.

Making fire using traditional methods

The main sources of fire were and remain matches and a lighter. Matches are included in any survival kit. The following types are distinguished:

  1. Resistant against wind and moisture (hunting).
  2. Having a long piece of wood.
  3. Non-grit options that generate fire from friction against any surface: stone, wall. They can be recognized by the double coloring of their heads.

To matches didn't let us down right moment, you need to do some simple recommendations:

  • Proper storage: in airtight containers. To avoid ignition, avoid their friction and strumming.
  • For economical use the match is split in half and a fire is made by pressing the sulfur head to the ignition surface.
  • A damp match can be dried by rubbing it over dry, clean hair.
  • A candle will help you light a fire and save matches.
  • It's always safer to have a spare box of matches.
  • Ordinary matches must be additionally processed, otherwise there is no point in taking them with you on a hike.

Lighters, in turn, can be:

  • alcohol;
  • gasoline;
  • gas.

You can take any of them, but, most importantly, they are not cheap. With the latter, building a fire will be delayed, and “you won’t be able to cook porridge.” A couple of flints in reserve would also be useful. They are suitable for making a “fire pencil”, which produces a spark from friction against any hard surface.

Procedure for making a fire

  1. Prepare tinder or any flammable material:
  • reeds, especially their tops;
  • dry grass;
  • paper;
  • textile;
  • cotton wool;
  • small birch bark;
  • crushed tinder fungi;
  • needles;
  • fir cones.
  1. Collect brushwood and prepare firewood.

The first option ignites easier and faster, but does not burn for long. The main fuel is firewood. First, dry and thin ones are used, and then you can add raw ones, the heat will evaporate the excess water, and the fire will not go out.

  1. Prepare a place for the fire.

It is necessary to avoid options near dry trees, tents, and sleeping bags. The selected area with a diameter of 1-1.5 m is cleared, you can dig a small hole to make a fire. If the ground is wet or covered with snow, make a raised platform from fresh branches, earth or stones.

  1. Build the “frame” of the structure.

Whatever type of fire a person chooses, several rules should be followed:

  • leave fire access to oxygen;
  • use as dry materials as possible;
  • Use brushwood to light firewood.
  1. Get fire and start a fire.

The spark hits the tinder, then small brushwood ignites and, as it burns, it ignites thicker branches and firewood. If necessary, a low flame should be maintained by slowly fanning.

How to start a fire with a lens?

The sun is a limitless source of energy. In cloudless weather, you can start a fire even with a small piece of glass. The main thing is to concentrate the sun's ray at one point. Placed in focus, tinder in the form of a paper napkin or a nest of dry grass will give a flame that only needs to be developed.

Also suitable: mirror, bottom of an aluminum can, glasses, piece pure ice. The lens can be made from a plastic bag or condom filled with water, which refracts light. All you have to do is use your hands to shape the container with water into the desired shape so that the sun’s ray can focus on one point.

You can also start a fire using a piece of ice. The main thing is to use the warmth of your hands to give it the shape of a biconvex lens. A tin can works on the same principle. Only it does not refract the sun's ray, but reflects it. Before use, the bottom of the jar can be sanded, but it is important not to overdo it so as not to damage the outer shell.

How to light a fire using friction?

Even ancient people noticed that hard surfaces heat up when rubbed. Many homemade and industrial devices for making fire are built on this principle. One of them - flint. In its modern version, it is a rod made of an alloy of iron, silicon and some metals. Flint is not afraid of moisture and wind. It is durable, unpretentious, does not require refueling or maintenance, and does not break. The resulting sparks have a temperature of 3000 °C.

The disadvantage of flint is that it is useless in the absence of dry tinder, which is difficult to achieve in certain weather conditions (rain, snow). Flint can be manual or semi-automatic. Working with the latter variety frees up one hand. Those who want to start a fire using flint should know that:

  1. Alloy steel produces sparks better.
  2. You should not use the blade of your knife instead of a knife. The latter will either become dull or burnt out, and you also cannot do without a reliable knife on a hike.
  3. If you don’t have a chair, you can use the part of the hacksaw or knife closest to the handle.

You can light a fire using bow drill. To do this you will need a flat piece of wood as a base. You need to make a groove in it where the rod will be inserted. A drainage channel is drawn from the groove for the outflow of friction products and coals. A dry and strong branch no more than 1 cm thick is suitable for the rod. A bow is made from another branch up to 1 m long and 2 cm in diameter, tied with a bowstring from a shoe lace or a strip of cut belt. The rod is used to twist the bowstring. They insert it into the groove and begin to move the bow so that the rod rotates slowly at first, then faster and faster. This creates friction between the base and the rod. This does not injure your hands. At the required pace of movement, smoke appears, and then powder Brown or coals. Placed in tinder, they will allow you to make fire without matches.

You can light a fire without a bow, but then you will have to rotate the rod together.

For the next method you will need ordinary wire with a diameter of 2 mm. The handles will be 2 sticks attached to its edges. They wrap a log with wire and try to saw off a piece of it. Once the tinder has caught fire, you can start a fire.

The simplicity of the method does not guarantee instant success. There is a dependence on the weather, tinder, and type of wood. In the summer, this technique will definitely work.

Starting a fire using the methods described above may not work the first time. Repeated training will be required to develop the appropriate skills.

Chemical fire making

You can light a fire using the thermal effect of chemical reactions in which the reactants are:

  • Potassium permanganate and sugar (9:1).
  • Bertholet salt and sugar (3:1);
  • Potassium permanganate and glycerin (1-2 drops). When smoke appears, an additional drop of glycerin is applied, causing the mixture to spontaneously ignite.
  • Potassium permanganate and antifreeze. 1 tsp is poured onto the paper. permanganate, add 2-3 drops of antifreeze and, tightly folding the paper, place it on the ground, covering it with tinder. Starting a fire occurs through a slow oxidation reaction accompanied by the release of heat. A large number of antifreeze will slow down the chemical reaction. Loosely folded paper will also reduce the temperature inside it.

Some people consider the chemical method of producing fire strange, but in real conditions it works and helps someone.

In an extreme situation, the key to survival and the basis of minimal comfort is not only food and food, but also fire. Fire is warmth, protection from insects, snakes and animals, the ability to cook food, dry clothes, melt snow to get water, and also feel at least a little more comfortable and relaxed psychologically, which is very important in survival conditions. But what to do if matches and lighters are not on the list of necessary things that you happen to have with you in an extreme situation? We will tell you how to make fire without matches in this article.

1. Friction based

The bow and wood hammer is probably the simplest of the friction-based methods, but it also requires a lot of components. As a rule of thumb, it takes a little longer and requires a little practice to get the fire going, creating friction between the hammer and the bow strings, which are important part both for the bow of the hammer and for the hand bow.

2. Manual friction

This method has a little more self made, but this is an effective way to make fire if you don't have ropes or other similar materials with you. Here you will need a wooden stick, preferably with a pointed end, and a weak wooden base for its friction. If you have enough energy to finish the job, you will be able to warm your sore hands with the fire you have produced.

3. Friction of wooden sticks

The most energetic and intense way to make a fire is to arm yourself with several wooden sticks, one of which should have a diameter of 5 cm and the other 1.5 cm. There should be a crack in the large stick, against which you rub the end of another stick. This is another great way to make fire with limited resources and tools.

4. Flint and steel

In this method you need to take flint and steel with you. Find a wooden base for them and prepare brushwood. Then put it on the ground, take the flint in one hand and the steel in the other and light the fire as if you were lighting a match on a box.

5. Bottle of water

To start a fire, hold a water bottle up to the sun and place a piece of paper underneath it. The water bottle should be full and the paper should preferably be black for quick ignition. The principle is simple - water acts as a lens.

6. Balloons and condoms

This method is similar to using a water bottle, this method will help start a fire if the balloon or condom is clear to hold it and create a formative and focusing lens. It will take a little longer to start a fire using this method as the material used is more fragile. You can't let the fire start to flare up and the balloon or condom burst and extinguish it.

7. Fire from ice

Take ice, cut a transparent and small sphere out of it, place it on a tree so that the sun's rays pass through it completely. The fire will burn right before your eyes. It is effective and effective method, which accurately answers the question: how to make fire without matches and without much difficulty.

8. Bottom of a metal can

Using the bottom of a Pepsi can you can create a focusing mirror effect. The catch is that you need a polishing agent to create a shiny mirror to focus the light. For this purpose, you can take a chocolate wrapper or silver-coated candy. This is another way to know it and use it in an emergency.

9. Batteries and steel

By using a battery and steel, you can create a really hot surface and start a fire very easily. Put the battery in a piece of wool and bring it to the steel, so you can easily get fire, but you should prepare in advance to get it.

10. Lemon

New and interesting way to create a power and voltage source. Take a lemon and parallel to each other, insert 5 screws and 5 nails into it, tie them together with metal wire, and from the outer ones, run two contacts to the brushwood.

Conclusion.

With this information in mind, you will have a practical understanding of how to make fire without matches. Warmth, the ability to heat water and cook food are now literally at your fingertips. We encourage you to practice these techniques to develop your skills and test your knowledge. Practice will improve your chances of success when you need to put them to work and help reduce stress in emergency situations. Be careful when attempting to use these methods, and follow fire safety guidelines.

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