How to get fire without matches. Ways to make fire without matches and a lighter - choose the option for yourself. Lighting a fire with chemicals
You never know what surprises life will bring to you. Therefore it is worth it. We present to your attention the post of Boris Zak - a lover of travel, trail running and running in general (who, by the way, has already told us about his own). Today Boris will tell you about 10 ways to start a fire. Some of them will seem useful to you, and some will surely surprise you. :)
A bit of theory. What is fire?
Fire is the main phase of the combustion process, which is accompanied by the release of light and heat. Ignition can occur for various reasons: heating, chemical reaction, exposure to electricity.
So, to kindle a fire, we need combustible materials, oxygen and high temperature.
Method 1. Start a fire with a condom
The condom is truly a unique thing, I think that all travelers have long appreciated this multi-purpose item. So, take a transparent condom and fill it with water.
Lighting a fire with a condom
We use it as a lens, focus the beam on pre-prepared dry grass or paper, a little patience, and now smoke appears.
Method 2. Pepsi can
We polish the bottom of the can and use it as a reflector. We direct the beam onto a sheet of paper or dry grass.
The bottom of the can is an excellent reflector Method 3. Photo frame and cling film
Take a photo frame and wrap it with cling film.
Frame wrapped in cling film We put the frame on a stand and pour water.
Pour water carefully Everything, the installation for kindling the fire is ready.
Ready! Method 4. Steel wool and mobile phone battery
Steel wool is an interlacing of a very thin fiber of steel, in appearance it resembles ordinary cotton wool from a pharmacy. The steel itself consists of 98% iron and 2% carbon, the proportions may vary depending on the type of steel. We prepare a “nest” from dry leaves and grass, put cotton wool into it and run the battery contacts over the cotton wool several times.
Lighting a fire with steel wool and a battery Method 5: Battery and chewing gum foil
AA battery and chewing gum foil Cut off a strip of foil, fold it in half and sharpen the fold with scissors.
We apply the ends of the strip to the poles of the battery, and the main thing here is not to burn your fingers.
The same manipulations, only more clearly, are presented in the video.
Method 6. An interesting but expensive way to start a fire with IKEA products
Method 7. Ice
This method requires patience. You will not only make a fire, but also keep warm. We take a piece of ice and with light movements of the knife we give it a shape into lenses. Then we polish the surface of the lens with our hands.
Smooth ice works like a lens Well, how to kindle a fire with a lens - every child knows.
Method 8. Chemical reaction
Sodium is a silvery-white metal, plastic, even soft (easily cut with a knife), a fresh cut of sodium glistens in air and easily oxidizes to sodium oxide. To protect against oxygen in the air, metallic sodium is stored under a layer of kerosene.
Sodium reacts very violently with water: a piece of sodium placed in water floats, melts due to the heat released, turning into a white ball that quickly moves in different directions over the surface of the water; The reaction proceeds with the release of hydrogen, which can ignite. This experiment is also called "dancing fire".
sodium + water Method 9. Flint and steel
With the help of a fire starter, sparks are cut. The tool is compact, lightweight and can be used in any weather. On the Internet, you can find a wide range of fire starters. Which one you get - does not matter, the main thing is to learn how to use this gadget correctly.
It's easy to strike sparks, you just need to prepare a good tinder. To do this, use a dry flammable material.
Method 10. Fire Piston
This pneumatic lighter was invented around 1770. It works on the same principle as a diesel engine. With strong compression, the air in the cylinder is heated to a temperature of over 300 ° C, which leads to the ignition of the tinder located at the end of the piston.
Fire Piston In order to reach a high temperature, a strong blow is needed.
The ability to make fire is perhaps the most useful skill in terms of survival. Fire is a source of heat and light, on fire you can cook food, boil water, making it drinkable. Therefore, survivalists pay so much attention to all kinds of devices for making fire. The ability to light a fire without matches and a lighter can be a great help in difficult times, for example, when the matches get wet or get lost.
The most important thing in starting a fire is good tinder. Many of the techniques described below will simply be useless if you do not have good tinder, because the fire should flare up from a tiny spark. Good tinder must be dry. Dry grass, leaves, shavings, bark, and tinder fungus are usually used as tinder. Of course, tinder can be prepared in advance, for example, by taking a piece of burnt cotton cloth or cotton balls soaked in petroleum jelly. Finally, you can buy special synthetic tinder from the tourist shop.
Here are some of the most popular ways to start a fire without matches or a lighter:
Flint and Magnesium
The steel is a metal rod made of ferrocerium, an alloy of iron and mischmetal, which strikes sparks when it hits the metal. When a metal flint strikes a metal rod - "flint" - small particles of metal are cut off, which creates a high temperature and the formation of a spark. By carefully fanning the smoldering tinder, you thus ensure the flow of oxygen and, as a result, the ignition of the tinder. Some fire starters may come with a magnesium bar. In this case, before setting the chair in motion, carefully scratch a few small particles of magnesium onto your tinder, then it will flare up faster.
Friction
Friction is perhaps the most ancient way of making fire, invented by our distant ancestors. This technique is based on creating heat by rubbing two pieces of wood against each other. There are many variations of this method, but the simplest is the bow drill method.
The bow spindle consists of a wooden board, a spindle, a support block and, in fact, a bow. It is desirable that all elements be made of dry soft wood, especially the board, the wood for it should be as soft as possible. Cut a round hole in the board to fit your spindle. Then make a cut from the edge of the board to the notch for the spindle.
From a curved branch, make a bow by tying a piece of rope, string, or even a string to both ends of the bow. Roll the spindle around the string so that it wraps around the spindle. Lay the board on the ground, the notch should be on top of a small pile of tinder. Place your foot on one side of the board, place the spindle in the round notch. Install the support block on top of the spindle and fix it.
Now move the bow back and forth against the slot in the board. Due to friction, smoke will begin to appear - continue rotating the spindle until you see that ash has appeared and smokes in the recess. Take the tinder with the ashes and gently fan it until a flame appears.
Magnifying glass
There are several different ways to increase the sun's rays. The use of a magnifying glass is the most common, but by no means the only technique. Sunlight can be magnified through any transparent liquid, such as water in any curved vessel whose sphere will act as a lens. A clear plastic bag will also work. The main secret is to magnify the sunbeam through glass or water and concentrate it on one point of your tinder. To do this, the water must be transparent, and the weather is clear. It is best to choose the afternoon when the sun is at its brightest.
Flint and steel
You can strike a spark by striking with a rod of mild steel - for example, with the butt of a pocket knife, on hard stone, flint is best. To do this, you need to hold a flint with a flammable tinder in one hand, for example, from burnt cloth. The flint impact surface needs to have a sharp edge, so you may need to split your flint or quartz beforehand to get a sharp edge. With your other hand, strike the edge of the flint against the steel surface of the knife and, if you are lucky, a spark on the tinder will ignite it.
In the conditions of a hike, extreme tourism, or in difficult life situations, there is often a need for a fire. But how to make a fire without a lighter and matches - here you will need special skills, plus improvised means that are sure to be found.
Putting together a variety of ways to make fire without resorting to matches and a lighter so that they are suitable for any difficult situation, regardless of season and weather, is the goal of this article.
Magnifying glass plus cotton wool
This method of making fire without a lighter and matches will help out on a sunny day, even when the day before everything was mercilessly wet in the rain, and regardless of the season. The main condition is a shining sun without clouds at the moment.
- Cotton wool can be found in the first aid kit, but it can be replaced with a paper napkin, a lump of toilet paper, or a bunch of dry grass or a piece of birch bark, if any - that is, everything that is useful as tinder.
- A lens of a convex type with a thickened middle is brought to a flammable medium and the sun's beam is focused as close as possible in one point beam.
- Soon - and this depends on the collecting properties of the convex glass - the agent placed under the lens will light up, in the case of grass and birch bark - it will smoke, so the flame will have to be fanned.
If you have a tablet candle or dry alcohol with you, it is better to kindle a flame under them so that they turn into a stable source of fire, from which a fire will subsequently be lit.
Used flint lighter plus cotton or paper
It does not matter if the silicon lighter runs out of gas at the most critical moment - the flame can still be obtained from it.
- You need to stock up on the same cotton, napkin or piece of toilet paper, placing them on something longer burning, for example, on the same pill candle, on a lump of dry grass or old dried moss.
- First you need to remove the top metal cap, and, bringing the lighter close, strike it - sparks will fall on the tinder and cause ignition.
Therefore, do not rush to throw away a lighter devoid of gas - it can still help out by causing a fire without matches.
Working battery plus foil paper
Surely there will be a wrapping paper that has a foil coating on one side, like inside a cigarette pack or on a chewing gum wrapper. It remains to find a working cylindrical battery - and fire without a lighter and matches is provided.
- A thin long strip is cut off from a piece of paper foil, capable of reaching from one pole to another, but with a margin.
- If only a short piece is available, it’s not scary, it’s enough to step back from the negative pole, which is a flat area, clean the insulating layer on the cylinder with a knife - this will already be a positive pole, and their closure will give a discharge.
- You will have to experiment with the thickness of the foil, as it either burns out instantly or warms up slowly.
- It makes sense to make the jumper itself a couple of mm thinner than the ends of the tape.
It is enough to put the sagging middle on a flammable agent - and the flame without matches is ready!
Evenly concave spoon or ladle plus cotton or paper roll
The larger the diameter of the object and the depth of the concave bottom, the faster the fire will appear in the sun without the need for matches or a lighter. A tablespoon can be trimmed so that the concavity is approximately the same on all sides - this is necessary for the maximum concentration of the sun's ray beam at one point.
- A couple of napkins or a piece of toilet paper should be rolled into a tight roller the size of a pencil.
- One end of the roller is evenly cut off and smeared with soot, you can use ash - it will be like a wick.
- Now it remains to direct the concave bottom towards the sun, bring it close to the point where the beam of rays is reflected, and wait for the haze to appear.
Then you have to blow up a homemade wick and bring it to the tinder, so that in the absence of matches, make a fire.
Water-filled condom plus coals
This trick to make fire without matches and a lighter has the same principle of a focusing lens, concentrating the rays of the sun at a single point.
- First, fill the straightened condom with a portion of water.
- Then the tip is pulled down and clamped between the knees.
- Now you need to pour as much water as possible into the product so that the home-made “lens” is larger in diameter - so the flame will arise faster.
- The water collected at the bottom in the form of a round flask must be fixed by tying a condom on top of the knot.
- Then they put a bunch of coals and send a beam of sunlight to one of them, waiting for a light smoke.
- They take a heated coal, inflate it red-hot and, pressing another one against it, continue to blow.
Now the red-hot coals are returned to the pile and, still inflating, put tinder - soon the long-awaited flames will appear.
Can with concave bottom plus tinder
Household aerosols in cans have a uniformly concave bottom, which plays the same role as a lens collecting the sun's rays. A beer can with a similar bottom will also come in handy.
- First, a wick is constructed on a stem by winding a piece of cotton wool onto a stick or wrapping it in a lump of dry twisted reed.
- It remains to bring the wick to the point where the light beam has gathered, and wait for the first haze to appear.
block of ice plus wick
On a sunny frosty day, if there are no matches and a lighter at hand, and the need for fire arises, you can look for a block of glass-like ice - and the flame, after some effort, is provided.
- The block is cleared of snow and roughness, first with a knife or an ax, and then polished by hand.
- The main thing is to achieve the shape of the meniscus, when one of the surfaces is convex, the second can be left flat.
- Now the sun's concentrated spot is sent to the wick until the smoke comes out.
It remains to set fire to the tinder with a red-hot wick and make a fire.
Friction force for making fire
Flame has long been mined by friction, so it is not a sin to use ancient knowledge in an extreme situation.
- Rubbing a stick against a wooden block, if a hole of a similar size is made in the block, will result in smoke, even when everything around is damp from rain.
- If a thin layer of cotton wool is sprinkled with soot or chalk, and then rolled into a dense roller, then, quickly rolling it between two boards, it will ignite inside.
- If with a flexible wire or a guitar string, attaching handles at the ends of the sticks, wrap around the trunk of a log and, placing a wick, begin to rub quickly, then the wick will soon ignite.
In principle, any friction between two hard surfaces will lead to a strong heating.
What can act as tinder and wick
Dry paper for lighting a fire is not always available, but a fire is needed. The following means can serve as a wick and tinder:
- cotton wool and cotton wool insulation;
- rags;
- handkerchief;
- cotton pads and swabs;
- toilet paper and napkins;
- small chips and wood shavings;
- old reeds, reeds and cattails;
- rocking chairs of old cattail;
- birch bark;
- hay and straw;
- old dry moss.
The main thing is not to get lost and look around, you will definitely find something suitable for lighting a fire.
Lighting a fire without matches is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. By learning this, you will be able to get out of a difficult situation. The duration of survival depends on your ability to make fire. Consider in this article how to make a fire with a knife (any piece of steel). First of all, choose a place to start a fire. It must be protected from rain and wind. If you need to make a fire in the snow, then the snow is either cleared from the place of the fire within a radius of several meters, or a platform is created from thick logs and stones, on which the fire is set up in the future.
Branches of dried trees can be used as fuel. In wet weather, look for branches on standing trees, not on the ground. They will be drier, as they are covered from moisture by the crown of the tree, and dry out faster in the wind. In addition, dry wood can be found under the trunks of fallen trees. In areas of sparse vegetation, dry roots, grasses, peat, animal fat, and even coal and shale tar can be used. Spongy filaments of raincoat fungus, pine needles and cones, tree bark, ferns and lichens, shreds of clothing, twine, bird feathers also ignite well. An excellent material for making a fire is dust, which can be found even in the rain, clearing the wet top layer of a rotten log.
The bottom of the fire pit is lined with dry, even finger-thick branches, so that a layer of air remains under them. This will provide oxygen access, and the branches will act as a blower in the stove. On top, in the form of a hut, thin dry twigs, birch bark, pine needles or other previously described, highly flammable materials are laid.
The next step is to make a fire tube. An excellent material for this is birch bark. In case of its absence, dry pine bark, taken entirely from a dry branch with a tube, will do. In addition, dry grass, fern leaves, etc. can be used. Several thin resinous twigs, pine needles, thin strips of birch bark are placed inside the tube.
Now you need to decide on the tinder. It is also very important that it is dry and flammable. As a tinder, a piece of cotton wool from the lining of a jacket, dust, felt, the smallest shavings, etc. is suitable. Now we come directly to the production of fire. In order for the tinder to begin to smolder, a small spark is enough. Such a spark is struck in an ordinary lighter and is well known to everyone. To do this, a hard stone is struck or struck with a steel bar.
Choose a fist-sized stone on the ground - silicon, granite, marble and other hard rocks will do. If the stone is smooth and has no sharp corners, break it between two other, larger ones. At a distance of a millimeter, a piece of tinder is applied to the face of the stone, after which a knife is struck along the face of the stone in the direction of the tinder. A spark falling on dry tinder will certainly cause it to smolder, you will see a faint thread of smoke. Gently, not strongly, but evenly and continuously blow on the tinder to increase the center of smoldering.
If the stone crumbles and sparks are not struck, do not despair. Choose another stone and try again. If you do not have a knife or other piece of steel, a spark can be struck by striking the face of one stone against the face of another.
After receiving a smoldering piece of tinder, it is placed in a pre-prepared tube. Holding it at a distance of 25-30 centimeters from the face, begin to slowly and evenly inflate the coal. Air will pass through the tube, heating its contents, the ember will grow, and soon the birch bark and needles will flare up. Using the bundle as a large match, set fire to small dry twigs in a fire.
There are a few tips to keep in mind when it comes to saving fire. If you put a thick, rotten or, on the contrary, freshly cut log into a fire at night, the fire will burn slowly and for a long time. If you keep the red coals of the fire, sprinkled with ashes and a layer of soil on top, then it will be easier for you to get a fire in the morning. In addition, having several small fires around will warm you better than one big one.
Another way:
Building a fire without matches.
To do this, you will need what is in any home - this is potassium permanganate and glycerin.
Pour about 1 gram of potassium permanganate (potassium permanganate) ground into a fine powder. Then carefully drop 2-3 drops of glycerin onto it from a pipette or from a glass tube and quickly remove your hand. It will take only 2-3 seconds, and you will see how the fire breaks out.
ADDITIONAL MATERIAL
How to light a fire correctly? How to light a fire without matches? Types of fires
Fire is necessary for heating, drying clothes, signaling, cooking, purifying water by boiling it. Survival time will increase or decrease depending on your ability to make fire.
With matches, you can make a fire in any conditions and in any weather. If action is expected in remote areas, stock up on a sufficient number of matches, which should always be carried with you in a waterproof bag. It is necessary to learn how to keep the flame of a match as long as possible in strong winds.
Campfire site
Campfire site.
It is chosen in an open, but protected from the wind, safe place, preferably near water. A fire should be made on already trampled down sites or on old fires. It is advisable to have a sapper shovel with you: it is convenient for it to remove the sod from the place chosen for the fire. In extreme cases, an ax is used for this. In any case, all dry leaves, branches, needles, grass, can catch fire, should be removed from the fire at a distance of 1–1.5 meters.
Fire safety.
Do not build fires in areas with dry reeds, reeds, moss, or grass. They are on fire at high speed.
Don't light a fire in peat bogs. Remember that smoldering peat is very difficult to put out, even by flooding it with water. Unnoticed smoldering can easily turn into a destructive peat fire.
Kindling a fire
Kindling.
Kindling a fire begins with a preparation of kindling, which is made from small spruce twigs, birch bark, dry moss, lichen, shavings, torches. In wet weather, kindling is extracted from wood chips of deadwood split with an ax, from dry coniferous litter, sheltered from rain by tree crowns.
The prepared kindling-fuse is tightly placed under a small brushwood folded in a hut or well and set on fire, and neatly thicker brushwood and other firewood are neatly on top.
In the rain, a fire is made under the cover of a cape or raincoat, which is held by two tourists. The stronger the wind or rain, the denser the kindling and fuel on the fire should be. In bad weather, you need to have dry alcohol, an old photographic film, a candle stub, a piece of plexiglass or rubber with you.
Lighting a fire without matches.
Before you try to start a fire without matches, prepare some dry flammable materials. Then shelter them from wind and moisture. Good substances can be rot, patches of clothing, rope or twine, dry palm leaves, wood shavings and sawdust, bird feathers, woolly villi of plants, and others. To stock up on them for the future, put some in a waterproof bag.
Sun and lens.
A camera lens, a convex lens from binoculars or a telescope, and finally a mirror can be used to focus the sun's rays on flammable substances.
Flint and steel (steel plate).
In the absence of matches, this is the best way to quickly light dry tinder. The flint can be the corresponding side of a waterproof matchbox or a hard piece of stone. Hold the flint as close to the tinder as possible and strike it against a steel knife blade or some small piece of steel. Hit so that the sparks hit the center of the tinder. When it starts to smoke, lightly blow on the flame. You can add some fuel to the tinder, or you can transfer the tinder to the fuel. If you can't strike a spark with the first stone, try another.
The friction of wood on wood.
Given that friction is difficult to produce fire, use it as a last resort.
Bow and drill.
Make a resilient bow by pulling it with a cord, rope or belt. Use it to spin a dry, soft shaft through a small hole made in a dry, hard block of wood. As a result, you will get a powdery black dust, in which a spark will appear with further friction. Lift up the block and sprinkle this powder on the flammable substance (tinder).
Firewood for a fire.
Near settlements, as well as in populated areas, firewood that is not suitable for the economic needs of the local population, such as small deadwood, dry crooked forest, old stumps, can be used as fuel. If there is no such fuel nearby, firewood should be purchased through the forestry or take stoves and gas stoves with you on a hike.
In the taiga regions, there is enough brushwood, dead wood, and dead wood. When preparing fuel, it should be borne in mind that damp and rotten firewood gives a lot of smoke, but little heat; small brushwood burns out in the first two or three minutes; aspen and fir firewood are bad because they “shoot” sparks too much.
For cooking, it is better to use birch and alder deadwood, which burns evenly and almost without smoke. If you need to build a large hot fire, for example, in winter with a forced overnight stay, firewood from pine, cedar and spruce dead wood will be the best.
Dry roll.
When preparing deadwood for a fire, they first determine the natural slope of the tree and the place of its possible fall, then look at the likely path of the falling tree to make sure that it does not hang on neighboring crowns, and only after that, from the side where the tree is planned to be felled, do undercut or filed a third of the diameter of the trunk.
Perhaps the most ancient and reliable way to make fire in the wild is to use dry wood. Remember how Tom Hanks washed his hands bloody in Cast Away? In fact, such sacrifices are not at all necessary.
First, dig a small hole in the ground to provide airflow. After that, take a dry flat piece of wood and drill a small recess in it - this can be done with an ordinary sharp stone. It remains to find a long thin stick that will play the role of a drill, and sharpen one of its tips. You will also have to collect some tinder - the smallest wood chips, tiny pieces of bark and bird fluff will do, as long as all materials are dry. Now just place the tinder in the recess, press it with the sharp end of the "drill" and begin to rotate it with measured, sharp movements, applying as much force as possible. If the oxygen supply is stable, the tinder will soon begin to smolder - it remains to carefully inflate the coals and place them in the prepared kindling. Voila, you got the fire!
Flint
Modern flint and flint consists of flint, flint and tinder. Armchair is any pyrophoric material. Previously, ordinary iron was used for these purposes, but over time, special alloys appeared, the most popular of which is currently ferrocerium - an alloy of iron, cerium, lanthanum and lanthanides. The principle of operation of the flint is extremely simple: when it hits a flint, the flint removes thin chips, which heat up and ignite in the process - this phenomenon is akin to a grinding stone that cuts sparks during sharpening. So you will need a piece of ordinary flint, an iron surface and a little skill - sooner or later, dry tinder will definitely catch fire.
Lens
This method is familiar to many of us since childhood. In sunny weather, making fire with it is as easy as shelling pears: just choose the right angle and focus the sun's rays on combustible material, and it will quickly warm up to combustion temperature. The obvious disadvantage of glass is that it is completely useless in cloudy weather.
No glass? Simply take a wok-bottomed soda can and polish it with chocolate. The fat contained in it will make the metal smooth and turn it into a miniature parabolic mirror that perfectly reflects the sun's rays. Even ordinary ice can be polished into a lens that focuses ultraviolet radiation - this will help you not to freeze if you are left without matches in winter. You will need a piece of ice about 5-7 cm thick, the edges of which should be slightly thinner than the convex middle. You can polish the ice with a piece of rough cloth or even with your hands.
Battery
You will need some natural wool, as well as a battery (optimum power is 9 watts). Just stretch the wool and start rubbing it with the battery head. Steel wool or cotton wool is also suitable for these purposes. As a result of friction, the wool will heat up and ignite, it remains only to put it in a fire.
Chemistry
If you are lucky enough to go hiking with a set of chemically active substances, then they can come to the rescue. Here are three of the most popular compounds that ignite when mixed:
- Potassium chlorate and sugar (3 to 1)
- Potassium permanganate (familiar to all "potassium permanganate") and glycerin
- Potassium permanganate and antifreeze
It is worth noting that in this case it is necessary to strictly observe safety precautions and prevent contact of the body with reagents.