Ways to start a fire

[Kong Soo Do]

Obviously fire has a plethora of uses, warmth and drying, protection, purifying water etc. And yes, a lighter is a great way to start a fire, particularly when you can run down to Walmart and buy a package of Bic or Bic clone lighters for very cheap. I think I bought a package of 8 or so Bic-style lighters for $1.99. However, the ability to make fire is an area I really like to be redundant. Harbor Freight has the magnesium bars w/striker for less than $3 and sometimes on sale for less than $2. Each could literally start thousands of fires.

The person in the video is shaving the mag bar with a knife, which is fine, but many mag bars like the one displayed above in the picture come with their own scraper/striker.

Here is some firesteel.com videos. The sparks are suppose to be around 5500 degrees F.

And as you can see in the video, a cotton ball with vasaline or chapstick makes great tinder as well as steel wool.

 

[Kong Soo Do]

 

[Sukerkin]

Aboriginal method (plus a half a tip on finding water and why controlled burns of woodland is a good idea):

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[Sukerkin]

And survival technique doesn't have to be all 'ancient ancestors' stuff :

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In the snow? No problem

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[Sukerkin]

And some commercial stuff that Ray carries on his web site:

http://www.raymears.com/Bushcraft_Products/Fire/