Practical Primitive | Skill of the Month: The Uber Match. Hey Newsletter Subscribers — Sorry about the incorrect link! Click here to see the photos for Making Char Cloth The Uber Match (As featured in the Setpember 2011 issue of Practically Seeking) The ability to get a fire going can be the difference between life and death. The Uber Match is simple to make, and when done correctly is reliable, along with being highly water and wind resistant. Though traditionally made using strike anywhere matches (yes, you can still find them in this post 9-11 world) they can also be made using strike-on-the-box varieties — just make sure you have the box striker as well or you are screwed. A major trick to making sure your Uber Matches will really work well is to allow a little bit of space between the matches and just below the match head. Now onward with the process! Step-by-step Instructions on How to Make an Uber Match: Take out 4 matches, preferably of the strike-anywhere variety.
These Uber Matches will strike even when wet. 5 Ideas for Fire Tinder. A while ago I asked readers Do You Have 5 Ways to Make Fire? The article concentrated on fire starters; steel and flight, lighters, and a few less common systems. However, most of those will be useless for building a fire if you don’t have some tinder to put the flame to. Here are 5 great ideas for fire tinder, both natural and homemade. 1. Dryer Lint Everybody can collect it for free, and even get it from the bottom of your pockets in a pinch. 2. Collect the stringy shavings from the bark of a cedar tree for the best (in my opinion) natural fire tinder. 3. This might be the oldest survivalist trick in the book. 4. Obviously these won’t be available in all areas, but when you can find them the light feathery material inside cattails is like burning paper or cotton. 5. Like cedar, just shave some bark off of a birch tree. Two great products to keep in your Bug Out Bag are “WetFire” and “Fire Paste“.
What do you use? I know these are just the tip of the iceberg for survival fire tender. How to Build a Fire: 5 Methods. Survival Fire Starters – Do You Have 5 Ways to Make Fire? I would put the ability to make fire right behind water, shelter, and food in the list of most important things in a survival situation, and before food and shelter in some cases. Since being able to start a fire is so important, are you really going to rely on only one or two ways to do it? I think you should have at least 5 fire starters in your Bug Out Bag or in any survival preps for that matter. Be sure to notice that I am not talking about different types of tinder, like cedar shavings, fire log, paper etc. I am talking about 5 ways to actually make fire, to get that first spark. Without that, the rest really doesn’t matter. Updated Topic: 5 Ideas for Fire Tinder 1. No surprises here. 1.They need to be waterproof. 2. 2. Notice lighters is plural. If you are going to buy a nice lighter like that one, you should carry some Butane refill fluid and it will last you 5 times as long as any of the throw away lighters. 3.
A firesteel and scraper is important to have for a couple of reasons. EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW TO BUILD A FIRE. 3 Steps to Building a Fire. There is no doubt about the greatest advance since mankind started hunting with spears, clubs and wearing animal skins… is the ability to harness the power of fire. In a survival situation, being able to get a fire going can mean the difference between life and death. With a fire you can boil water for drinking or cooking, provide heat, and even signal for help.
The heat and light provided by a fire while alone at night in the middle of nowhere, can provide a sense of security and comfort. Fire can also serve as a weapon to drive off predatory animals. It can be extremely difficult to get a fire to ignite and burn. 1. Fires must have fuel or “tinder” which helps start the fire. 2. Keeping your fire lit can be a challenge of its own. Following items on hand: plenty of small twigs, bark, or any other type of flammable material you can procure. First, it keeps the fire contained. Third, it protects the fire from being snuffed out by a gust of wind. 3.
Make fire without matches Video. How to Start a Fire Without Matches. Fire. There's no doubt that the ability to make and control fire was one of the greatest technological advancements of mankind after tool making. It was there for warmth, protection, cooking, hunting and even primitive agricultural techniques. The knowledge of how to make fire utilizing primitive methods directly connects us to the people who used these techniques. When you are coaxing fire from some tinder using a coal that you created, and you see the glow get brighter, and you smell that curl of smoke, and the tinder suddenly bursts into flame, you are experiencing exactly what the ancient ones did so very long ago.
Sparks From Flint It is the old one. Long ago the ability to create and make use of hot sparks to make fire was discovered. Top: A fire works kit consisting of a striker and a piece of good black flint is shown in its waterproof tinder box. Before the introduction of steel, sparks were obtained using a piece of iron pyrite for the striker. How To Catch A Spark. Use Condom To Make Fire! How to make Fire from ICE. How to Build a Clean Fire: The Top-Down Fire. Living Published on November 24th, 2011 | by ziggy There’s more than one way to skin a cat, and there’s more than one way to build a fire. But that doesn’t mean they are all equal: the top-down fire (or upside down fire) is perhaps the most efficient and cleanest way to build a fire. You can use this method when you build a fire in your small wood stove, your big wood furace, at a campsite, or basically any place you would have reason to burn wood.
Here I will describe how to do it. How to Build a Clean, Top-Down Fire Remember all of those smoky attempts at getting a fire going during those camping trips? The top-down fire is basically the exact opposite of that mess: a bed of bigger logs, with smaller wood placed atop that, and kindling and paper at the top, where the fire is lit, and then burns down the pile. A top-down fire is superior in that it is much more clean-burning than any other type of fire building. Here’s a (slightly wordy) video that describes how to build a top-down fire: The Dakota Fire Hole. A little known survival aid related to wilderness fire making skills is the Dakota Fire Hole, also known as the Dakota Fire Pit. This handy device is easy to construct and has marked advantages over other types of camp fire constructs. Once you make a Dakota fire hole and try it out, you may choose to use this method for outdoor fires on a regular basis. Making a Dakota Fire Hole is initially more labor intensive than simply building a fire on the surface of the ground.
However the outlay in energy required to make a Dakota fire hole is more than offset by its efficient consumption of fuel; it greatly reduces the amount of firewood required to cook meals, treat water to destroy pathogens, or warm your body. The Dakota fire hole is a valuable wilderness survival aid because it burns fuel more efficiently, producing hotter fires with less wood. In many areas firewood is scarce or requires a large amount of time and expenditure of energy in foraging to obtain it. Making a Dakota Fire Hole. Oil & Cola Emergency Lamp. How to Make an Emergency Car Heater. Stay Warm This Winter With Canned Heat. Homemade Lamps from Everyday Objects. Having the ability to create light without needing electricity should be part of everyone’s emergency essentials.
While flashlights are certainly helpful, batteries quickly die out so having a store of candles on hand can provide the light and morale boost that one needs to make it through a dark night or two. But what if you didn’t have any candles available? Fortunately there are very simple ways to make homemade lamps from everyday objects found around the house. In this article I’ll be teaching you the principles of how a simple lamp works and showing you a few examples so that if needed you can make your own. How a Lamp Works Both oil lamps and candles are able to continually burn their fuel (wax or oil) through a process called capillary action. Understanding this is the key to creating many different types of wicks for your homemade lamps.
Making a Tuna Fish Can Oil Lamp Here’s a simple example of how to make your own oil lamp using a tuna fish can. What you’ll need to do is: Make an Oil Lamp with an Orange – Portugal Smallholding. Chopping wood without messing about.