Comments on: 9 Ways To Start a Fire Without Matches

By: Taleswapper

Taleswapper — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 11:55:32 +0000

Very few people are without their cell phones these days, and if you have no signal to call for help, a cell phone battery will work on steel wool as well. ATS has a great post on firestarting as well:
http://www.itstactical.com/2010/03/01/alternative-fire-starting-techniques-without-matches/

By: Chris Macey

Chris Macey — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 22:16:42 +0000

Ahhh, the coke can and chocolate method. I’ve personally dont it before. It takes a very long time to start.

Regards,
Chris Macey

By: Johnny Utah

Johnny Utah — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 11:36:49 +0000

saw a survivorman episode where Les did the coke can and chocolate method- so cool.

By: Joshua

Joshua — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 23:05:56 +0000

I own a fire piston that I use when I go camping. Very reliable (as in I’ve never been able to NOT start a fire) provided you have good dry tender or char (which I make in advance at home). Just place a bit of tender at the end of the piston and smack both ends together the sudden change of pressure turns your tiny bit of tender into a good ember which will start the rest of your tender bed with good air circulation. Google fire pistons and you’ll find many quality pistons on the market.

By: shanyse

shanyse — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 23:31:48 +0000

thses methods are cool. they rock and they are good for backyard science but in a real survival situation it takes u hours up on hours unless your an expert.there should be some for rain weathy methods because non of these really helps u in a soaking wet with nothing but a pocket knife situation

By: Rick Scoutmaster

Rick Scoutmaster — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:52:00 +0000

To David Young, the guy with the pistol. Good idea, but very unlikely to succeed. Bullets are seated very tightly into their brass casing. Without a commercial bullet puller, you will not be able to remove a rifle bullet. Just now I did my best with 2 pairs of pliers on a handgun cartriage (.38) and only mutilated it, no powder yet. A good knife, or better a file, and you eventually could cut the brass below the bullet. But you still are far from fire, you are just going to scatter your tinder/powder with the minor blast (mostly from the primer). Modern powders usually don’t ignite unless confined (hence the reason bullets are seated so firmly.) You are correct, it can be done, but without knowing the method, and without practice, you will not get fire. Fire is life in the wilderness, second only to water. Study and practice; challenge your friends to contests like we do in Boy Scouting. Making fire is indeed a manly skill to have, and a life saver.

By: Rick Scoutmaster

Rick Scoutmaster — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:30:53 +0000

My first negative response to AOM: This fire post is terrible.
Lesson #1 for most all things: “there are no answers in the office.” I dare the writer to go into the bush and try any of these things. The battery/steel wool method is your only hope, and then only if you have good tinder, which is a whole subject by itself. Please don’t give people false hope. Fire is often the difference between life and death. Even a 3 day summer rain can kill you with hypothermia. Unless you have extenstive training, always always carry survival materials, including at least 3 ways to make fire and a good knife when you are going anywhere that you could get stuck, stranded, injured, dissoriented, or cut off from help. The novice must have tinder like a commercial fire starter or birch bark. The military steel/flint/magnesium bar is good. Water proof cases of matches, and the skill to know how to make them work in wind and rain. This means practice. Good luck,

By: David Young

David Young — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:40:45 +0000

Brett,

One more interesting way is if you happen to have a pistol or rifle handy. Remove the round from the casing, pour anywhere from 50-75% of the powder on to whatever you’re trying to light, stuff a wad of cotton (think tearing a small piece from the bottom of your shirt) back in to the shell casing, then just point and shoot. You’ll fire a flaming ball of cotton on to the gun powder and will most certainly light your fire.

By: Lainey

Lainey — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:05:13 +0000

Just a thought… with the coke can/chocolate method, I doubt it would be the chocolate itself causing the metal to become reflective. Chocolate is generally coated and/or mixed with carnauba wax to make it shiny, so don’t go getting any wrong ideas about the magical, mystical, fire-making properties of chocolate.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 21:34:13 +0000

This is a really great site!! I have a few different ways to start fires on my blog. If you want to check it out at http://www.kingofdiamonds1.blogspot.com there are also some gear reviews and such there. Hope you like it!

By: ronin1975

ronin1975 — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 10:59:40 +0000

If backpacking or hunting Ive found that taking a magnesium block along to be as helpful as flint and steel, it burns at extremely high temperatures and will even burn wet wood, the only draw back is the amount you have to use. It takes a pile of shavings about the size of a quarter, in windy conditions it becomes a challenge to keep your shavings together.

By: Bob Saget

Bob Saget — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:29:59 +0000

Wipe the chocolate off……

-noob

By: dancasa

dancasa — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 03:12:57 +0000

how do u rub the chocolate because when i did it the metal was coverd in chocolate

By: paul

paul — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:56:20 +0000

one comment on fire and ice. In the test cases, people are using “artificial” ice — ie: ice from a refridgerator and going out on a sunny day to make fire.

More typically, outside of the tropic zones, you’re not going to find ice when the sun is strong enough to make a fire. Optical reading lenses are a different matter, since eye glasses can be fairly powerful.

In a wilderness situation, skip the ice method and go hunting for a bow/drill or quartz for flint and steel. (A real neat trick is to use two stones– one with iron against a piece of quartz.)

paul

By: Matt

Matt — Sat, 02 May 2009 03:36:42 +0000

I knew about the fire and ice method before reading this, and I have used it successfully. However, I would like to add a word to the wise – WEAR GLOVES, PEOPLE!!!! Ice is cold, and will melt in your hands. If you are in freezing temperatures, then you may not be able handle the ice due to two reasons – 1. Your hands will hurt like hell until they go numb, and 2. You have a high risk of getting frostbite, which can almost be a death sentence to loose the use of your hands in the wild.

However, the method is still awesome, and this page really hammered it down. Great job. I now consider you a man.