Originally Posted By: Meadowlark
I never learned to do this properly, as it was impressed upon me at a young age that this method was overly time consuming and used up too much valuable energy in an emergency situation.

Another potential drawback is that it can make you sweat. That would create different hazards depending on whether you're stuck in a hot, dry environment with no drinking water or a cold environment where hypothermia is a risk. Unlike a lot of physical activities you might perform in a survival situation, you can't really pace yourself when trying to use any sort of friction to start a fire. You just go like heck until you can produce an ember or you end up with nothing.

Blisters and other injuries are also a possibility when using this technique. Under normal circumstances, these would just be annoyances, but any injury could turn into a much bigger problem out in the bush.