Posted by: venom

Starting a fire in the wild without any modern tools at all is no easy task. In fact, it would be almost impossible for most people who have not been trained. The steps provided assume that you at least have a flint and striker set. The flint and striker set is the preferred choice (as compared to matches, etc.) as the flint and striker set is still usable if wet.

Firstly, you will need to set a place to start the fire. Select a location that is not too windy as any strong winds will make it more difficult to light the initial kindling. Also, it is best to dig shallow but wide hole in the spot that you want to light the fire. This allows a draft to flow in an feed the fire.

The next step is to gather enough firewood to fuel the fire once the fire has been started. Collect enough for your purpose and stack the collected firewood neatly in a location safely away from the fire. This prevents accidents from happening.

Once you have enough firewood collected, you will need to set the kindling for the initial lighting. If possible, prepare some seed kindling (e.g. small pieces of cloth soaked in flamable liquids and stored in an air-tight container) before the trip as this is infinitely easier to light as compared to natural kindling. If this is not available, use dry grass or wood shavings as they also work well as kindling. Do not pack the kindling too tightly as air is need for the fire to start.

Kneel close to the kindling and hold the striker steady with one hand on top of the kindling. Using the other hand, strike the flint downwards against the striker to produce sparks directed towards the kindling. Repeat this until the kindling is ignited.

When the kindling is first ignited, blow softly on it to feed oxygen to the fire. As the kindling is properly ignited, add more wood to the fire. Start off with smaller pieces like twigs and when the fire is secure, add the larger pieces.

To keep the fire consistently going, continue to feed wood to the fire at regular intervals and use a long piece of wood to poke the fire. This spreads the heat around and produces an evenly spread fire. Also, try to always ensure that there are flames in your fire. Otherwise, the fire is inefficient and will be smokey.

it is actually easier than it may seem. All you need is some patience. Good luck!