with out matches, lighter, etc.

I saw this video and figured it would be a good start.

Start a fire using water and a condom....yes water + condom = flame :laughing:

http://fragg.net/video/condom-fire

A fresh 9v battery and some steel wool.
Simple quick and effective. Get some steel wool from the hardwarestore, toss in a zip lock and throw it into your truck. Can use the car battery.
Add the 9v battery and its more portable.
Just touch the steel wool to the battery terminals and it sparks up.

Chocolate and a soda can.

http://www.wildwoodsurvival.com/survival/fire/cokeandchocolatebar/

Personally I've got a bunch the flit/steel magnesium kits...they are cheap and I have at least a half dozen of them laying around.

cotton balls with vaseline make great firestarters. Need a spark though.

Trying the coke can now!!!

with out matches, lighter, etc.

I saw this video and figured it would be a good start.

Start a fire using water and a condom....yes water + condom = flame :laughing:

http://fragg.net/video/condom-fire

I guess one would be SOL on an overcast day...:laughing:

I used to light fireworks with a magnifying glass when I was a kid and my parents wouldn't give me matches to light them.

It didn't work too well when the sun went behind the clouds though:laughing:

A good thing to do is to practice different techniques too. When I went camping last year I brought a magnesium stick and started my campfire that way several times. It was as easy as I thought it was going to be but after about 2 fires I got the hang of it

Trying the coke can now!!!


It takes a while to get the can polished but it works for sure.

Try an icicle some time... ;)

I use the more classical flint and steel (w/o magnesium), takes about 3 smacks and its started. For a particularly time consuming and annoying method, try the drill bow approach when you dont have anything else planned to do.

Mag-lite reflector:

Unscrew lens and take reflector out of flashlight - aim towards sun at waist level. Put cigarette up through bottom hole in reflector about 1/2" and focus bright spot. when you see smoke, take a drag and light whatever fire using cigarette. Whole process takes about a minute on a bright day.

Note: Only works if you're a smoker, with a full size mag-lite handy, and it's pretty sunny outside. I used this trick a few times at work when my Bic lighter died and it was 1/2 mile walk back to the shop.

Mag-lite reflector:

Unscrew lens and take reflector out of flashlight - aim towards sun at waist level. Put cigarette up through bottom hole in reflector about 1/2" and focus bright spot. when you see smoke, take a drag and light whatever fire using cigarette. Whole process takes about a minute on a bright day.

Note: Only works if you're a smoker, with a full size mag-lite handy, and it's pretty sunny outside. I used this trick a few times at work when my Bic lighter died and it was 1/2 mile walk back to the shop.

That would work if you did some fine shavings, whitled onto the end of a stick.
This is a cool idea.

Starting a fire with a flint and steel or those spark strips you run your knife across is made much easier if you have char cloth. Its simple to make (basically charred linen or cotton).

Another great item is called a fire piston. Compresses air into a small space and it gets really hot and ignites tinder. Same idea as a diesel engine.