5 Unusual Ways to Make Fire
One of the most important survival skills is the ability to make a fire. If you spend a lot of time outdoors, you never know when you'll end up in a serious situation where the outcome depends on your ability to stay warm or fend off wild animals. To stay safe, you should always know a few ways to make a fire.
If you're a regular camper, you already know about flint, lighter fluid and other common fire-starting materials. However, you might not realize that you can also make a fire with:
1. AN ORANGE
Citrus oils are flammable. If you can get some sparks into an orange, you can set it on fire. Cool, right?
To make this trick work, you'll need to put a hole in the top of an orange and clear out some of the flesh. Let the orange dry for a little while.
Put a hard rock in the orange and place a knife or stick on it, then rub the tool rapidly to cause the rock to spark. You should be able to get a decent starter flame from your orange.
2. BEER OR SODA CANS
Aluminum can reflect sunlight, and sunlight can start a fire if it's concentrated in one place for long enough.
In order to reflect enough light to start a fire, you'll need to make the surface of your aluminum can extremely shiny. The best way to do this is with something like a chocolate bar. Rub a bit of chocolate on the can for a long time until you've worked up a bright shine, then angle the can to reflect sunlight on your kindling. With a little luck, you should see some smoke within a minute or two.
3. A BATTERY
If you think about it, this one makes a lot of sense. A fire is essentially energy, and a battery stores a ton of energy. The trick is getting the energy out of the battery, of course.
If you have a 9-volt battery, some cloth and some steel wool, you can quickly make a flame suitable for lighting your campfire. Wet the center of the cloth, but leave the outsides dry. Use the damp portion of the cloth to grip the steel wool and touch it to both contacts of the 9-volt battery. You'll quickly see sparks, even if the steel wool is wet, and you can use those sparks to start your fire.
4. POTATO CHIPS
Chips won't spontaneously explode or anything, but they are highly flammable. If you've got matches or another means of sparking a fire but you can't find any kindling, try pouring a few bags of chips under your wood.
Chips catch fire easily because they are covered in oil and fat. Both of those things burn fairly well, and a well-placed spark should get your fire started.
5. ICE
Even ice can start fire. You'll need a large, thin section of ice and a bright, sunny day to make this work.
The ice essentially acts as a magnifying glass, so angle it to put a beam of sunlight on your dry kindling. If you have fairly pure ice, you'll concentrate a lot of heat on your kindling, and you should see results fairly quickly.
Always take waterproof matches and other fire-starting tools on your camping trips. In a pinch, the tips above should help you stay warm during those cold nights, but remember to stay safe when working with fire at your campsite during dry seasons.