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Make a Fire

Learn critical fire building skills, primitive fire making, starting a fire with flint and steel, and making fire under emergency conditions, including rain and snow.

Why bother learning primitive fire making skills? Here are several reasons why

 533 400 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness
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There are incredibly-effective fire making survival tools on the market. So why invest the time in learning the old-time methods? There are several good reasons why.

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build a fire, survival fire making, best fire making tools

Survival fire making | Old time flint and steel can be a lifesaver

 600 300 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness
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One of the most effective methods of starting a survival fire is also one of the oldest – flint and steel.  Here is why you should consider adding a F&S kit to your survival gear.

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Feather sticks make good firestarting materials and they are easy to carve.

Five tips to make better feather sticks for firemaking

 600 318 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness
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Suppose you need to start a fire, it’s been raining, and all the sticks are wet. Here’s how to make dry firestarting materials.

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Video: How to find dry fire making tinder in wet weather

 448 325 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness
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The ability to start a fire under survival conditions can save your life. The inability can cost your life. Here are some tips for finding dry tinder under wet, stormy conditions.

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brick rocket stove, cast iron cooking

Brick rocket stoves could help slow Mali deforestation

 326 400 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness
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In Mali, wood-fueled campfires may be the only way some people have to cook and boil water. Rural residents frequently use small trees that have been replanted in the devastated areas. Here is another option.

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Mike Stewart, bark river knives

Knife maker Mike Stewart discusses thin blades and batoning firewood

 300 168 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness
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I like thin-bladed knives and think batoning firewood is highly overrated. Mike Stewart, president of Bark River Knives, and a knife industry legend, explains why today’s knife blades had to be made thicker because of the batoning fad. Here are his Facebook comments, used with his permission. 

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build a fire, survival fire making, best fire making tools

Best survival firemaking method | Use cotton balls, Vaseline and ferro rod

 600 300 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness
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Here is my go-to fire making method for survival situations and how to use it. My number one choice is a combination of cotton balls infused with petroleum jelly and ignited with a ferro rod.

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The L.T. Wright Next Gen (top) and Rouge River are great user knives.

How to: Baton firewood with a butter knife

 600 366 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness
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Most survival knife reviews at some point show the blade being pounded – or batoned -through a block of firewood. But batoning is not a big deal if you use the right technique. This method is so simple you can baton firewood with a butter knife.

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Zippo butane lighter, Zippo

Review | Butane Zippo may need to be part of your survival fire making kit

 542 400 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness
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It is hard to improve on a tried and proven piece of gear, especially when 500 million have already been sold. But this latest fire making tool from Zippo may be an improvement on that old classic lighter.

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Video: Dryer lint as wilderness survival firestarter? No way!

 600 300 Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness
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You stake your life on your firemaking kit components. My recommendation is to substitute cotton balls in any application you might be using dryer lint.

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