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Thread: EASIEST way to start a fire?

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    Default EASIEST way to start a fire?

    Whats the EASIEST way to start a fire without any tools available to you? Some friends of mine are having a little debate on it and were wondering what some pros think on the subject.

    Thanks!


  2. #2

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    Lightning.

    If you can use tools like sticks and stuff then you will have other options. If not, just lightning...

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    With a Bic Lighter! <Snort Chuckle>
    Seriously though;
    I have a Fire-stick on my Key chain. That thing is dangerous how well it shoots sparks and ignites cotton balls!

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ls_o04_s00_i00

    I'm going to put a couple of Bic's in my BOB as well.

    Finally, have a quart sized baggie filled with cotton balls in your BOB.
    You can put 1 cotton ball in with your tinder, and ignite with your fire stick. It works EVERY time!

    Ooops, I didn't fully read your post with the no tools restrictions. I always have my trusty key chain on me.
    Last edited by jcullen24; 05-23-2012 at 10:28 PM.
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    Senior Member BENESSE's Avatar
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    Start with beans for lunch. Then just make sure you don't start a forest fire.

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    Senior Member tjwilhelm's Avatar
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    What do you mean by "without tools?"

    Are you putting modern ignition sources in the "tools" category, such as Bic lighters, matches, ferrocerium/mischmetal rods, etc.?

    Are you referring to using only primitive, friction fire methods? If "yes," do you mean doing it without a knife or a hatchet?

    Touching 0000 steel wool to the terminals of a 9V battery will get a fire going right away. Are those "tools" though? There are also a number of exothermic chemical reactions that can be used to start a fire, such as mixing glycerine with potassium permanganate. Is that cheating? You can also take the parabolic reflector out of a large flashlight, aim it directly at the sun, hold tinder at the focal point and get a fire going. Is this another "tool?"

    How about flint, steel, and tinder fungus? If flint and steel are cheating, you can get a few sparks striking two pieces of pyrite together...have any fool's gold handy?

    Can you give us more info on the challenge?

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    Super Moderator crashdive123's Avatar
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    As TJ said - you need to define your parameters. Without tools is kind of ambiguous.
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    Senior Member natertot's Avatar
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    Find someone elses fire and light a torch off of it.

    I agree with crash and TJ.
    ”There's nothing glorious in dying. Anyone can do it.” ~Johnny Rotten

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    Senior Member Winter's Avatar
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    Be there when a plane crashes. Have a torch handy.
    I had a compass, but without a map, it's just a cool toy to show you where oceans and ice are.

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    You turn to the wife and say, "woman fetch me a ____". You then watch in awe as she burns your whole world to ash with just a simple look.

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    Alaska, The Madness! 1stimestar's Avatar
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    No tools? Guess we'll be relying on my awesome mind powers.
    Why do I live in Alaska? Because I can.

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    Senior Member randyt's Avatar
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    I think it's depends on the area you are in. Research the natives from those areas for what they used.

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    Carry the fire with you. That's what early man did. You can keep smoldering embers alive for hours and tote them with you.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rick View Post
    Carry the fire with you. That's what early man did. You can keep smoldering embers alive for hours and tote them with you.
    Quest for Fire, Loved Rae Dawn Chong's SKILLZ in that movie! Ooops that's for another Message board!
    Last edited by jcullen24; 05-24-2012 at 07:53 AM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by jcullen24 View Post
    Quest for Fire, Loved Rae DSawn Chong's SKILLZ in that movie! Ooops that's for another Message board!
    Yep she had skills.

    WC

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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by lucznik View Post
    You turn to the wife and say, "woman fetch me a ____". You then watch in awe as she burns your whole world to ash with just a simple look.
    Quote Originally Posted by 1stimestar View Post
    No tools? Guess we'll be relying on my awesome mind powers.

    Well there you have it....... Proof.

    Road flare when something really need to burn.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Winter View Post
    Be there when a plane crashes. Have a torch handy.
    That, or wienies on a stick
    Last edited by jcullen24; 05-26-2012 at 11:50 AM.
    Don't run, you'll only die tired!

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    Senior Member Thaddius Bickerton's Avatar
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    Man by his nature is a tool maker. there is nothing made without tools.

    The simplest tools would be sticks and stones.

    then put those together and make more complex stuff.

    OK I'll play

    find a nice piece of rock that when you smash it on another rock yields you some sharp chips that can cut stuff

    go find a source for making cordage, and twist up a piece of cordage strong enough to make a bow, or you could opt for the hand drill but that is for me slower than making a fire drill.

    Ok got cordage and a sharp rock. Not hunt a piece of sharp rock that will make into a adz or axe and haft it to a handle using your cordage.

    Cut a bow, spindle, spindle board, and hand piece or find usable ones.

    gather tinder, make enough cordage to string the bow, use friction and / or your sharp rock to cut the fire board,

    use the fire drill method to get an ember.

    Prior to that set up your tinder / fire making stuff.

    Be sure you have a container (birch bark comes to mind) and some long lasting fire material to carry your fire with you.

    Build the fire, use the fire, preserve the ember in your method of carrying fire with you.

    Take your primitive fire kit, knife and adz / axe and cordage and keep on making tools and improving your situation.

    Tools, No human does anything without making tools, but for primitive methods most can use a fire drill faster than flint and steel, esp if they lack char cloth.

    Now if you are asking for fast fire, then bic, or fire steel and petroleum jelly coated 100% cotton balls. Either will get you fire fast.

    If you want to get fancy then you can use a fire piston, making one primitive style requires - yep tools.

    Remember fire itself is a tool and can burn holes in wood and can heat rocks and be used to refine metals which gives you a metal blade which allows you to make better tools and such.

    magnifying glass, a balloon, a polished bottom of a coke can with a chocholate bar, a 9 volt battery and steel wool, a AA battery and a staple - often called a prison lighter.

    Fire requires something to produce ignition temperature for tinder.

    If you have a cigarette lighter in a car and some tinder that will make a fire.

    A spark from a set of jumper cables and tinder will light a fire.

    found fire from nature, and means to carry it was probably the earliest way to get fire.

    Fire flows from man using his mind to produce tools to collect or create fire and to preserve and use it.

    Without tools just is something that man does not do.

    But I think I got what you were shooting for.

    There are probably 2 dozen relatively easy fast ways to get a fire started for a simple bushcrafter.

    Now if I really need a fire and have access to stuff around my homestead, then some gasoline with styrofoam disolved in it and a bic lighter will get almost anything burning.

    Also powdered thermite and a sparkeler and a bic will burn through nearly anything even up to engine blocks, but I don't feel it wise to give instructions on making that. If you need and understand it you probably have a way to get it.

    Thad.
    Thaddius Bickerton

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    Not a Mod finallyME's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by HunterDan View Post
    Whats the EASIEST way to start a fire without any tools available to you? Some friends of mine are having a little debate on it and were wondering what some pros think on the subject.

    Thanks!
    Man cannot start a fire without tools. Sorry, we don't breath fire, or have laser vision, or turn into a human torch.

    But with tools, there are lots of ways. This one is pretty easy.
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    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    Lightening. Just sayin'.
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    Hold your head over gasoline vapors, and rub a large baloon over your head

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