Q&A for How to Make Fire Without Matches or a Lighter

Flint looks shiny and gray and it almost feels like pencil lead. You can find it by looking around rocks. It should be easy to scratch off, but it shouldn't come off in chunks. It should come off in shavings.

Using a hand drill takes 30+ minutes. A bow drill would take 5-10 minutes while using steel wool would only take 2-3 minutes. A magnifying glass would also take about 10-15 minutes.

Then the hand drill is your best bet. Try to find a base log that already has a small hole, and a pointed stick. That should be all you need.

Ferrous metals such as carbon steels will make a spark when struck with a hard mineral or rock such, as a flint or quartz. The hard rock chips small shavings off the metal, and those small shavings ignite when exposed to oxygen, creating sparks. Very hard carbon steels work best for this.

You could find two rocks and rub them until sparks flash. Make sure the rocks are smooth. After it sparks, quickly make sure you have a fire place that is dry and ready, then blow a little to make the flame bigger.

Look outside for dry grass or shredded bark. You can also find tinder in your home, for example dryer lint, paper, or cloth.

No, its the electricity In the battery + and - that short out and get hot heating the steel wool.

In a fire pit or an area where there is dirt or sand. Do not put it near tall grass, if you light a fire near tall grass it would start a huge grass fire.

You could try rubbing sticks together till you see smoke, at which point you would blow on the source of the smoke -- not too much, but enough to make embers. Then add a little fuel (like dry grass) to the pile, and build it up little by little.

No. Using a piece of metal will not work. The steel wool is made up of individual wires that, when electrically charged by two terminals, cause conflicting currents and result in a fire. With a chunk of metal, the current can freely flow through it without conflict.

That depends on the size of the fire.

You can use a bag of water in the place of a magnifying glass and use it in the same fashion.

Get one piece of flint and strike another piece of flint against it to get sparks to catch on to some tinder.

Yes to both. The ignition comes from the electricity, so it will work as long as you have a charge.

Sure, but accidents happen, you might forget your lighter one day when you really need it. Also, here's a fun fact about lighters: even if they run out of fluid, they still have the flint and steel, so they can still be used to ignite tinder. It just takes longer.

No. Only the sun creates light with enough heat to create fire.

The fastest method is the battery and steel wool trick, next are flint-and-steel and the magnifying lens methods - but only if you've practiced at home. The bow and drill is next, then the hand drill, and finally rubbing two sticks together. For tinder - if you wear a cotton shirt like a t-shirt, check your belly button for lint. Pull some bark from a cedar or juniper tree and roll it into smithereens between your hands - great tinder! Crushed dried moss or grass works too, it has lots of dry tiny fibers to max out surface area.

Considering you have access to a permanent shelter, you probably have access to match sticks and firewood. These can be bought at stores. Strike a match stick then light the firewood.

Perhaps, if the bamboo is dry enough, but making sparks with sticks is very time and labor intensive.

An ice lens acts as a magnifying glass or other piece of glass. So you pretty much use the magnifying glass method.

Absolutely. The key word is "dry" material. More specifically, dry fine material. My favorite is strips of old newspaper, but crunched leaves work fine.

You point the magnifying glass in the direction of the sun so one end is facing the sun and the other is facing your kindling or paper. Then, you just hold it in this position until it catches fire.

Make sure that you have tinder nearby to quickly place on the paper as soon as major discoloration begins. Also, make sure you are in a dry area without wind. You can put kindling under the paper and blow on the edges of the paper when it starts to burn through.

Anyone can make fire in any of these ways, just make sure you either have proper supervision, or have taken ALL of the proper precautions so you don't burn your house down, or start an out of control wildfire.

Flint is a rock often found in caves and often placed within other rocks. Search online for photos of it to see what exactly it looks like.

Turn an aluminum can (beer/soda) upside down. Fill to the indention with water and freeze it. No carving. Insulate it from the heat of your hand with a cloth, such as a handkerchief.

You can purchase steel wool at any hardware store.

There are many commercial fuels for backbackers, trekkers, and the like available on the market for this purpose. Also, in areas with little wood, "comfort campfires" may not be a viable option. Cooking in such areas should be done with appropriate stoves that do not rely on wood.

It is possible to make fire with a lens made out of ice, but it is very difficult. Getting a focal point out of frozen water is not usually very practical in an actual survival situation, either. One of the above methods would likely be more successful.

You'll know it's working when a thin bit of smoke starts rising from your tinder, and the area around your focal point turns black.