We talk a lot on here about fire starting methods and materials but I don't think I've ever heard the answer to this question: Are fire starting methods dependant on anything other than personal preference and the availability of materials? I'm thinking particularly about using natural materials. A magnifying glass won't work without sunlight but, for example, would there ever be a time that you'd choose one friction method over another? When would you choose a hand-drill, fire plough or a fire bow, for example, if you had the right materials on hand for either? I imagine that temperature, wind, moisture and altitude might all play a role in any given method, making some more effective in certain situations than others.

There is a big difference between first starting for fun and fire starting in order to save one's life.

For fun I encourage people to play with all kinds of methods of starting fires (in appropriate places ... not in your parents' basement!!!).

I've worked with Scouts to expose them to all sorts of techniques, including use of a battery & steel wool, a magnifying glass, a sparker, .... and to use of several kinds of fire starting materials (tinder).

Unfortunately I have never used fire by friction. Not that I don't want to, but just haven't yet.

The sparker worked well IF the appropriate tinder is available. The battery/steel wool worked OK, but he had to be quick and a tad lucky to get it going. The magnifying glass was easily the most difficult since it had to be a good magnifying glass, the sun had to be bright in the sky, the boy had to hold it just right, and the tinder had to be just right.

For a survival kit my goal is to set myself up so fire starting is as easy - and as sure a thing - as possible, since the conditions are most likely not going to be optimal. Doug Ritter even recommends that we avoid two-handed methods where possible - makes sense since injury could limit use of hands.

For my survival gear I want proven and easy fire starting methods. I would prefer to use some kind of lighter, rather than a sparker. I certainly want to bring several back up devices - just to be safe. Since lighters can malfunction, I bring a sparker along - even though it is not nearly as easy to use as a lighter. The sparkers are simply and unlikely to malfunction.

Oh, I bring along some REI waterproof matches too, but I really have no plan/interest in using them. They are the backup to the backup.

For tinder, I tend to carry commercial stuff as a backup, and then Vaseline-coated cotton balls as my primary stuff, along with a few uncoated cotton balls to be safe.

For the sake of discussion, one method I would consider perhaps easier than any of the ones you mentioned, because I actually have some personal experience with it, is sparking some tinder fungus (or similar) alight and then using it to develop a coal that, when fanned, could start a flame in a big wad of dry grass. That seems to be less fidgety than the friction methods you mentioned, and it is easy enough to carry around some of the fungus once you locate a chunk. It doesn't take much of it, and it catches a spark pretty easily. Without the fungus, of course, one of the other methods you mentioned could be invaluable. My guess would be, as I alluded to above, that personal experience with a particular method would be of primary consideration. From what I've observed, there is a "trick" to being successful with all these methods.

I personally think about worst case scenarios and plan accordingly. If my system works there, then it should work anywhere without any extra thought. My personal worst case scenario is snowboarding off piste, high altitude, windy, raining and snowing. A hand drill or fire bow is not a sane option if I'm planning beforehand. I need something that can be self-contained around my neck. I have a fire starting kit that includes (at a minimum) a neck lanyard, a Peanut Lighter, a ferro rod, a scraper, and a waterproof tinder container.



I'm not sure what you mean when you say you're thinking about natural materials because, in the following sentence, you talk about using a magnifying glass. That is not a natural material and requires planning before the outing. While we're planning, we might as well plan to bring along easy fire starters (e.g., lighters and ferro rods) and optimal tinder (e.g., cotton balls and petroleum jelly). Even with a more primitive fire bow, I still can't figure out how I would go out into the woods in my birthday suit and construct a fire bow. Even the fire bow requires planning before the outing.

Fun question!

I guess in addition to preference and availability of materials, you could factor in: whether or not you have any other fire-starting choices; whether the current conditions make success with a given fire-starting method likely; whether you really need fire; and whether it makes sense to try to start fire where you are or to move to an area with better shelter, water, food, fire fuel, likely signaling success, or other survival pluses.

Edit: BYW fire from magnified sun can be done with a lens created from clear ice, a shined aluminum can bottom, some eye glass lenses, parabolic-shaped reflectors or reflector arrays, and probably a host of other ways of which I would be delighted to learn.

A fine question with some answers!

You need a handhold to position and put pressure on the top of your spindle, a spindle to spin in your hearthboard to create the friction leading to an ember, a hearthboard or equivalent to contain a socket or equivalent in which the spindle bottom spins, a shallow curved bow piece, and a bow cord to work back and forth spinning the spindle.

It is nice to have some relatively flat pieces for the hearthboard and handhold. Among other methods which must exist given the ingenuity of man, you can find a tree with a dry branch about 4-5 inches in diameter fairly close to the ground, use a rock edge to score a groove on the bottom of the branch a couple feet from the trunk, score a second groove on the top of the branch next to the trunk, break the branch straight down however you can, and at the broken end of the branch you will have relatively flat, sharp pieces of wood free from the tree and near the trunk a second such piece still attached to the tree. Break the second piece off. Choose one as a handhold and one as a hearthboard. Use a rock point to start sockets in each piece, or use naturally ocurring cracks and let the action of the spindle create socket-equivalents.

Try to find pieces of branches that do not need much if any work to use as a bow and as a spindle. You know, a slightly curved branch for a bow and a pretty straight piece about thumb thick for the spindle. Use rock edges and abrasive rock surfaces to shape notches or grooves on the bow to attach a bow string and to put a sharper top point and rounder bottom point on the spindle.

Typically the harder part is to find material to make good cordage. You pretty much need experience finding and processing plants for this. There are many possibilities: certain bark, dogbane, milkweed, stinging nettle, yucca and its relative, and on and on. You need to use good technique to carefully make a strong, multi-stranded bow string.

Now you have a bow-drill set.

This is an exercise done in many survival training and primitive technology training sessions.

Ray Mears shows to boil an egg with just a boot lace out in the woods.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPk28DiIWPU

Historically, I think it is interesting how when Europeans contacted native groups, how quickly the more "primitive" techniques (fire drill, plow, etc.) gave way to more technological means, even flint and steel were appreciably easier. Many groups that used the more laborious methods went to great lengths to keep the fire glowing and developed elaborate means to transport glowing coals.

I go for easy but try prepare for situations more in line with the potential worst case scenario. I will always have my knowledge and experience, but may not always the gear I would prefer.

I'm going to incorporate a mini ferro rod into each of my shoe laces.