Fire Making Tip From the Garden

Every year around this time, I begin clearing the old and dying plants out of the garden to make way for new ones. The following is a little bush craft tip that some of you may find interesting.

Fire starting is one of the most essential elements for survival, and having good tinder is essential to making a good fire. My wife plants giant sunflowers in our garden most every year. These flowers grow upwards of nine feet tall, and branch out to create dozens of small sunflowers, at least in one particular variety. I try to allow these plants to die out as completely as I can so the bees, and birds can harvest as much nutrition from them as possible. This leaves dried out woody stalks with long, thick stems. When the stalks and stems turn brown, or even a bit before, I cut the stems off, and save the stalks to dry. When dry, I split them open to find a white spongy pith. This is quite easy to remove and looks a bit like long cigarette filters. I make sure they are completely dry, then I store them in a waterproof container to use as tinder. Once lit, it produces a slow burning coal that is actually hard to extinguish. It burns slow and so efficiently, that nothing but a whisp of black ash is left over.

I highly recommend this material to add to any good fire starting kit. I am always in search of materials to carry as tinder in the woods, and this is one of the better ones I have encountered. Happy trails, John.

Improvised Fire Starting

First, we all know fire is dangerous so use caution when trying any of these techniques.

I already knew this one, a magnifying glass. This works by concentrating the sun's energy. Adjusting the magnifying glass at such an angle, you will see a small circle of sun light the smaller you make this circle of sun light the more intense it will become. Place your tinder bundle under this spot and it will begin to smoke and with some luck it will catch fire. I tried some of these methods and some I haven‘t tried. The following techniques are based on the same principal as the magnifying glass. Condom filled with water for your lens. An aluminum soda can and chocolate bar. Basically polish the bottom of the can to a mirror finish by using chocolate or tooth paste...I'm working on this one.

This one I created back 80's and it works really well. Using an empty lighter striker and a Q-tip, fluff up the cotton on the Q-tip. Using the striker from the empty lighter and light the Q-tip; an easy one. You also can use sock lint. Another one with a empty lighter striker that does work is here.

On the 4th of July my dad would grab a coat hanger and fasten some steel wool to it and light it. Us kids would then twirl this around. Well folks, that's what we called the poor boys 4th of July sparkler. We had fun! I found this one, starting a fire with a 9 volt battery and steel wool. I knew as a boy, steel wool was flammable and a 9 volt battery has more current and should work, right? Yes it does! The finer the steel wool the better.

Here's one I found one on YouTube "Starting a Fire with a AA Battery." I was curious so I decided to watch it. Every thing in this video made sense. When shorting out a battery it creates heat. I was sitting at my desk at the time, and noticed that I had some AA batteries that my wife had just recently bought. So I grabbed one and proceeded to follow the directions from the video. Well the battery got really hot and I burnt my finger. Well maybe I'm not doing this right. He did say that using char cloth works better...NOT...but it would make a good a hand warmer. My point here is you may read or watch a lot of stuff on the net, but if you don’t actually try them you never know if it's going to work when they're really needed.

Fire Starting for Survival

Fire making skills are one of the most important skills in survival. The cavemen were smart enough to know how valuable fire was. If they didn’t we most likely would not be here today. Early man most likely stumbled on fire at first, maybe a lightening strike or from a volcano. Then they discovered that knocking two rocks together made a spark. They then learned to rub two sticks together to get fire. We all should be very grateful to early man.

Having the ability to start a fire in a survival situation has many life saving advantages. Fire can provide warmth, sterilize your drinking water, be used as a source of light, cook your food, keep animals and bugs away, dry out your clothing, and used for signaling. What’s important is that you learn as many ways to get a fire started as you can.

Primitive fire starting methods are rather challenging, but very possible with some practice. It is possible to walk in the woods and gather all raw materials needed to start a fire. There all right there, no kidding! The Indians did it and you can to! (Especially you ladies!) The word "can’t" is no longer in a survivalist vocabulary.

I’ll give you the methods of primitive fire making. Please take the time to learn at lease one of these methods. Get the whole family involved!

All primitive methods of fire starting are based on friction. Just rub your palms together real fast, what’s happening? Your feeling heat, the faster you rub the hotter it gets. Same difference as rubbing to two sticks together.

There are a few important things to consider before starting your fire. The first and most important is safety. We don’t want to injure ourselves or burn our shelter's down in a survival situation. Help may not be available, and besides a burn hurts really bad! Safety first! Ok, with that said, clear an area free of any combustibles (meaning flammable). If rocks are available use them. Be careful if its windy. Also take into consideration clothing and long hair hanging down.

There are three things that are needed for any fire:, Heat, Fuel, Oxygen.
Gather materials to make your fire and gather a lot of it. All fire starting materials need to be dry. Tinder, dry and fluffy like cedar bark shaving, cattails, dryer lint, wood shavings, pine needles, leaves or grass. Kindling is small twigs and splinters of wood, about the size of your little finger and smaller. Fuel wood are branches smaller than your wrist to be add after you get your fire going well. You can also check out Utah Preppers about how to make char cloth.

Some of the primitive methods include the fire plow, hand drill and what is called the bow drill which is the easiest of these three. These three methods all work on the same principle, friction, by rubbing or turning vigorously with enough applied pressure. Doing this will create a fine dust though the process of friction. This dust gets hot, starts to smoke and where there’s smoke there's usually fire. Transfer this dust, using a leaf or a piece of bark, on to your tinder bundle. Blow on your tinder bundle, giving it oxygen, until you get a flame. Now that you have a flame, set your tinder bundle down in the area that you previously cleared, and slowly start adding your kindling. It's important to be patient as not to add to much at one time, we don't want to smother the fire. If you feel it's going well at this point start adding your fuel wood. Happy fire starting!

Here are some great examples:
Maine Primitive Skills School head instructor Mal Stephens teaches the Fire Plow friction fire method.


Maine Primitive Skills School instructor Nick Spadaro teaches the hand drill friction fire method.


Maine Primitive Skills School instructor Nick Spadaro teaches the bow drill friction fire method.

How to Make a Laser Mag-Lite

Here is a really cool video on how to make a laser flashlight. It shows you how to turn an ordinary mini Mag-Lite into a powerful laser beam. This laser is so powerful that it can light a match, pop a balloon or light a fuse. It might not be the "perfect" survival tool because it's questionable as to how long the batteries would last but for a quick fire starter this should be able to light any tinder you have. Watch the video for the parts list and instructions. If I can get a cheap DVD burner I'm going to give this a try!




**Caution: This is a very powerful laser and WILL burn your skin. Keep the laser away from your skin and any animals skin. NEVER point into ANYONE'S eyes, this will cause permanent damage.

Gear Review: Fire Starters

Making a fire is the most important thing in a survival situation. It can provide you with warmth, food, and a huge moral booster. Fire is also useful when camping and for fellowship of friends and family. There are many different ways to start a fire and knowing different ways to start a fire is important whether you're in a survival situation or not. A fire needs 3 elements to burn (fire triangle) heat, fuel, and oxygen. Sufficient heat is needed to start any fire, and the proper fuel to oxygen ratio is needed to keep a fire going.

First off is the trusty lighter or matches. Every prepper should have a few packs of quality Bic lighters put back, and a few thousand matches. This is the easiest way to start a fire. When starting any fire you will need something to burn to get the wood going. Newspaper is good to use to start a fire, and those free want ad papers at gas stations are great to have on hand. You want to stay away from using fuels to light a fire, especially if you plan on cooking over the fire. You run the risk of getting those chemicals on your food.

The next best thing to a lighter or matches is a firesteel. A firesteel should be part of every preppers survival kit. Whether it's your get home bag, everyday carry, bug out bag, or camping supplies; a firesteel is invaluable. If you're lighter runs out, or your matches get wet, your fire steel is your last line of defense so to speak. A firesteel works by moving a metal blade across a magnesium alloy to create sparks that can get up to 5,500°F. Those hot sparks can be thrown on a number of different types of tinder to start a flame that will light your fire. Firesteels can even be used in the rain or snow and will last for around 12,000 strikes.

Here are some ideas for tinder:
-Vaseline Soaked Cotton Balls
-Hand Sanitizer Soaked Cotton Balls
-Dryer Lint
-Pine Needles
-Dried Grass
-Unraveled twine

There are a lot of ways to start fires in the wilderness if you don't have a lighter or firesteel. I will do a part 2 to this post detailing some ways to start a fire without them. This post is to show that you need to have these things on hand so you don't have to rub sticks together to try to keep yourself warm at night. A firesteel can fit in your pocket and is a crucial part of your everyday carry.