re: Has anyone ever started a fire using primitive methods?

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Has anyone ever started a fire using primitive methods?

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Once. Never again. Took forever

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I’ve used a flint fire starter where you strike it to create sparks.

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this is the most primitive I've gotten

used the back of a carbon steel knife on a firesteel

In Boy Scouts I took an extended survival class that lasted an entire week. Some of the stuff I leanred there can be invaluable. In talking to some military people in adulthood, what I learned there is actually very similar to the survival stuff they teach in SERE school.

We were required to start a fire using primitive methods...no flint.

If you can get your hands on a good flint and steel or magnesium setup, that's the best method.

The bow method also sucks, but it does work. The fire saw method in that video above is the best. The key is getting the right kind of wood. You need a soft wood. Balsa wood is ideal. Bamboo shoots would also be great, but they have to be dry and well seasoned.

Make sure you have a trench and just friction the shite out of it. It could take more Than an hour but if it's for your life's survival, that's nothing.

Helpful tips: pocket and navel lint is your friend as is dryness and seasoned soft woods. Once you get a coal, you've won.

I leaned all of this when there was no real modern internetbto speak of. Today, there a wealth in YouTube and other places. Use it. Try it on the weekend just for fun if its that important to you.

Survival skills can save your life.

Magnesium and steel fire starter with cotton balls and petroleum jelly...works every time.

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Magnesium and steel fire starter with cotton balls and petroleum jelly...works every time.

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But why? Just carry lighters guys. It’s no harder to carry a lighter then a more basic starting method. The key as said is to also carry or find something that’s very easy to light. Where a lot of people screw up including myself is not having enough tinder. Have 3-4 times as much as you think you need and going from a spark to a fire is much much easier.

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But why? Just carry lighters guys.

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Get a lighter wet = no fire. You fall in, gear is wet and it's raining, a lighter is worthless.

I do still have some 35 mm film canisters smashed full of petroleum jelly-soaked cotton balls from SERE training. I think there's one in my tackle box.

You'd be surprised what a tiny fire, the size of your palm will do to warm you up when you're sitting in a tree well in 3 foot of snow and it's 17 degrees out. Cotton ball soaked in petroleum jelly and a fist full of twigs will turn you from hating life to a strong dislike of life quickly.

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magnifying glass ...everything has to be lined up right

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We used them for starting fires, for lighting fire crackers, and melting little green army men, in elementary school.

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We used them for starting fires, for lighting fire crackers, and melting little green army men, in elementary school.

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We cooked an egg with one 1 time. One of the other kids said that because it was cooked with radiation, it was probably poison, so we were all afraid to eat it.

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Get a lighter wet = no fire. You fall in, gear is wet and it's raining, a lighter is worthless.

I do still have some 35 mm film canisters smashed full of petroleum jelly-soaked cotton balls from SERE training. I think there's one in my tackle box.

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You realize you can make a lighter waterproof right? Put it in a plastic bag or a 35mm water canister like your jelly soaked cotton.

In your situation if you fall into frozen water and need to light something the last thing you want is a ferro rod I can promise you.

Look, I get it. But I’m saying it’s 2020 there’s no reason to not use a lighter

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Look, I get it. But I’m saying it’s 2020

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Actually it is 2021