How to Start a Fire

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The one thing that separates an experienced outdoorsman and a first-time venturer in the woods, might possibly be their ability to safely and efficiently start a fire. Since there are a million different schools of thought on fire starting, I will describe a couple different ways that have always worked for me.

Method 1: Using a Fire Starter

At a minimum, you will need waterproof matches, or a lighter.

For me, this is THE best way to get a fire going. Using a fire starter allows you to start a fire whether its wet or dry out. You will first want to gather dead twigs, branches, wood shavings, as long as it's dead. If it is raining or very wet out, look for dead branches ON trees instead of looking on the ground. Trying to start a fire with live (green) branches will prove to be an incredible waste of time and energy.

Start by taking your fire starter, whether you purchased it or made it yourself, and place it in the center of your soon to be fire. Be sure to have all of your twigs and kindling ready when you light it. Once you light it, start by building sort of a tee-pee around and on top of the fire starter, starting with the smallest pieces first. As the tiny twigs start to catch, gradually add more and larger ones on top as the fire builds. Always try to allow air to reach the flames. Building a tee-pee usually lets the perfect amount of air get to your flame.

As you keep adding more and more kindling, the temperature of the fire will increase, and larger twigs and branches will start to catch. Within several minutes you should have a nice fire going and can now start adding larger branches and small logs.

Start by taking your fire starter, whether you purchased it or made it yourself, and place it in the center of your soon to be fire.

Method 2: Flint & Steel

This method may impress your friends more, but takes a bit more effort. The flint and steel forgoes the need for a lighter, and in a survival situation, you can actually use the back of a pocket knife, and a piece of quartz, jasper or agate to create a spark.

For this to work, you need very small pieces of tinder, dead grass, tiny cedar shavings or birch bark. Strike the quartz against the knife (NOT the knife against the quartz since you can cut yourself) aiming the sparks at the tinder. Repeat this until the tinder ignites. Once you have a small flame, gradually increase the size of twigs and grass that you add to the fire as mentioned above.