To Build a Fire

Let’s say I was stuck in the woods. There is plenty of dry wood around, but I have no matches or flint and steel. How can I start a fire?

A firebow, if you have a piece of string. And know which types of wood are soft and hard. Find some of that rotten dry wood, that’s good for starting.

Do you have glasses or a watch?

You can use a chocolate bar and a can of Coke to start a fire. ( Really )

Here is a list of a few methods you can try: http://www.ehow.com/how_2466_start-fire-without.html

You’re in a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean. Conveniently, flying fish leap into the raft at night. You have a candle, a stove, and a pack of cigarettes, but no source of ignition. What do you do?

Throw one of the cigarettes overboard and make the lifeboat a cigarette lighter.

Glasses will only work if you’re farsighted, and probably not even then. Glasses for the much more common nearsightedness will diverge light rays, not converge them.

And there are a few types of fungus which make for better tinder than dry-rot wood, but I’m not sure I could reliably identify them. Lint will also work well, if you can scrounge enough from your pockets and belly-button.

Primitive Fire Starters :slight_smile:

Fire Piston :dubious:

A long time ago, as a Boy Scout here in Texas, we used to strip cedar bark off the tree* and shred it down until it was like lint. One spark from a steel on flint would usually do the trick.
*Probably not allowed anymore. Wouldn’t want to damage a cedar tree.