Primitive Fire Starting

Here are 6 different ways to make fire without using your bic lighter.

Bow Drill

Bow drills were used in Mehrgarh between the 4th and 5th millennium BCE.

Photo by Steve Sanford

Fire Plough

It consists of a stick cut to a dull point, and a long piece of wood with a groove cut down its length. The point of the first piece is rubbed against the groove of the second piece in a “plowing” motion, rapidly, to produce hot dust that then becomes a coal. A split is often made down the length of the grooved piece, so that oxygen can flow freely to the coal/ember. Once hot enough, the coal is introduced to the tinder, more oxygen is added by blowing and the result is ignition.

Photo by Steve Sanford

Flint and Steel

Steel and iron produce hot sparks when struck against any glassy stone such as quartz, jasper, agate or flint. A flint alone does not produce incandescent embers; it is the flint’s ability to violently release small particles of iron, exposing them to oxygen, that starts the burning.

Photo by Steve Sanford

Hand Drill

The hand drill is suggested to be the oldest method of fire by friction, characterized by the use of a thin, straightened wooden shaft or reed to be spun with the hands, grinding within a notch against the soft wooden base of a fire board (a wooden board with a carved notch in which to catch heated wood fibers created by friction). This repetitive spinning and downward pressure causes black dust to form in the notch of the fireboard, eventually creating a hot, glowing coal. The coal is then carefully placed onto suitable tinder and fanned gently until flame is produced.

Photo by Steve Sanford

Pump Fire Drill

A fire pump or pump drill is variant on the bow drill that uses a coiled rope around a cross-section of wooden stakes to produce friction on a hard surface, combusting material underneath the mechanism.

Photo by Steve Sanford

Two Man Friction Drill

Similar to the bow drill, but it is used to with two people, and without the bow.

Photo by Steve Sanford