A lot of city folks don't know how to even select wood, much less prepare it in a way that will allow them to successfully build fire even with matches or a lighter! I've seen folks at campgrounds that can't get a fire going easily even with a can of lighter fluid.
That's an excellent point, one that gets overlooked far too often. Many times I get the impression, also from following various discussions on these boards, that we put a lot of focus, probably way too much for our own good, on modern gadgets and gear in general as opposed to the basic albeit mundane survival skills such as fire building.
Matches - if there's one thing Naked and Afraid has taught me, it's that without a proper fire-starter you're stuffed. Even if you know bow-drills, getting one to work on a strange island where you not familiar with the local wood is hard.
True as well, even though I think it has much to do with our lack of skills, or better put a general lack of hands-on practice in the field because there are so many other modern, convenient fire starting methods available.
Starting fire with a bow drill is not neccessarily a very difficult thing to do. As a matter of fact, it may look deceptively easy under the right circumstances. If the environment is dry and with lots of wood and natural tinder available it doesn't take all that much skill IME, providing you know how to build a fire correctly in the first place (a skill sadly not all that common these days).
I have been able to start a fire with a bow drill using different kinds of wood. Oftentimes, the actual selection of wood doesn't even seem to matter as long as it has the right properties - hard to describe but fairly simple to figure out through a little trial and error. The wood should be neither too soft nor hard and above all as dry as possible.
That said, in anything less than ideal conditions the chances of success drop dramatically. Rain, wind, too much moisture in the wood will ruin your odds very quickly. Also, the bowdrill method requires two hands (or better yet three
) and it takes a lot of physical effort. Hard to pull off if you're injured, in poor shape, dead tired or with a skull-splitting headache.
I would definitely recommend practicing primitive fire starting techniques, the bow drill being my favorite and probably the easiest by far (I have had little luck with any other method). It could come in useful sometimes and under the right circumstances it is surprisingly reliable. So it might work reasonably well on an arid island, maybe even in a tropical environment with little recent rainfall.
Unfortunately, when fire is needed the most the circumstances tend to be anything but ideal. Add a little Uncle Murphy and it becomes a gamble. So in terms of survival preparedness there is all the more reason for carrying a ferro rod and prepackaged tinder, plus a BIC lighter for good measure...
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