Share this:
I recently purchased a book and as I was reading through it I really felt the need to just post as a back to the basics look at – How to Start a Fire – with all you need to know information.
The following is an excerpt from When Technology Fails by Matthew Stein (Chelsea Green, 2008). This excerpt is from Chapter 4, “Emergency Measures for Survival.”
Your ability to start a fire is important for staying warm in cold climates, for cooking food and for sterilizing water. I’ll start with simple instructions for building a campfire with matches and paper, and then proceed through the more Spartan methods, ending with the difficult process of starting a fire by rubbing two sticks together.
Starting a Fire With Matches
Materials
I like to separate my materials into piles by size. Start by gathering a couple handfuls of tinder, about one-third of a shopping bag’s worth of kindling, at least half a shopping bag’s worth of small sticks (1/2 to 2 inches thick), and at least a shopping bag’s worth of thicker wood (2 to 12 inches thick).
Tinder
Any kind of material that takes very little heat to start on fire can be used for tinder. Paper makes great tinder, if you have matches. If you don’t have matches and are attempting to build a fire with a spark (see “Starting a Fire with Flint and Steel,” below), you will need extra-fine dry tinder. Dry pine needles, fine dry grasses, shredded paper, birch bark, dried moss, bird down, mouse nests, cotton balls, wood shavings, pulverized dry pine cones and fibrous inner cedar bark all make good tinder.
Kindling
Kindling must catch on fire within a few seconds from burning tinder, yet burns for only a few minutes to ignite the larger pieces of wood. Dry pine needles, still stuck to branches, are perfect. Small twigs, 1/8- to 1/4-inch thick, are also excellent. Test the sticks to see whether they are wet or dry. If the sticks can be bent and twisted without snapping, they are wet and will not do for kindling. If all available kindling is wet, you can still burn green pine needles, but otherwise you must find standing wood, which can be split with an axe or shaved down to find a dry core. You can make “feather sticks” for kindling from larger sticks of wood by carving many shallow cuts with a knife to create fine, curved shavings protruding from the side of the sticks.
Positioning the Fire
Build your fire in a protected spot, especially if the area is windy. If it is exceptionally windy, you may have to dig a trench for your fire or build it on the leeward side of a fallen tree or large rock. If the ground is swampy or the snow is deep, you may have to build your fire on a platform of green logs covered by dirt.
Caution: Do not use stones from a riverbed or porous stones around or under a fire. These stones can explode if heated because of internal steam pockets.
Building the Fire
If you have paper, crumple a couple of sheets, build a small pile of fine kindling on top of the paper, then light the paper in several places. If you don’t have paper, use two handfuls of extremely fine, dry tinder instead. Make sure you don’t smother the tiny flames of the beginning fire with a pile that’s too big or too tightly packed, or by stacking larger wood too quickly onto the fire. As the kindling catches on fire, pile on more kindling and gradually add thicker chunks of wood. Make sure the fire gets enough air circulating through it. Either build your fire in a crisscross fashion, or lean the wood against itself in a tipi-like cone shape, to ensure there are plenty of gaps between the wood for air circulation. A well-built fire, with dry wood and plenty of gaps for air circulation, will not smoke much.
Starting a Fire With Flint and Steel
Flint is a naturally occurring stone that yields heavy sparks if struck by a knife or other sharp stones. Artificial flints do the same thing and may come with a saw striker, which creates lots of good sparks. Starting a fire with the spark from the flint requires shelter from wind, patience and very fine, dry tinder. Strike sparks into your tinder, and gently blow on a spark resting in the tinder until it grows into flames. Continue building your fire following the previous set of instructions.
A modern improvement on the flint and steel is a commercial magnesium block with a flint. Using a knife, shave a pile of fine magnesium filings from the side of the block. If struck by a spark from a flint, magnesium filings rapidly burst into a hot flame, easily igniting kindling or tinder.
Starting a Fire With Bow and Drill
A fire can be started by rapidly spinning a wooden “drill” — under pressure — against a notch in a board until enough heat is generated to create a small coal, which can dropped into tinder and fanned into fire. This is not easy, but it’s about a hundred times easier than starting a fire with a hand-spun stick.
Bow
Use any stick, preferably curved and roughly 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick by 30 inches long. With your knife, make a shallow groove around each end (about an inch from the ends) to make a spot to tie your bowstring. Use a hefty, strong string or leather thong (not rope) to tie the bow. Braided leather thongs or 1/8- to 1/4-inch nylon cord work well as bowstring. Typically, plant fiber cordage must be doubled back on itself and corded a second time to make it strong enough for the bowstring on a fire drill bow. The string may stretch as you work the bow. Tie the bowstring with a little slack to allow for the string to wrap around the drill. Experiment with different string tensions and with using your fingers to tweak the string for more or less tension while using the bow.
Drill
Usually the drill and the fire board will be made from the same material, though the choice of wood for the fire board (also known as a “hearth board”) is most critical. For a fire drill and hearth board to make fire, they must be very dry and must generate an extremely fine powder when spun together. Try to pick free-standing wood with the bark weathered away, because wood lying on the ground usually picks up ground moisture. If your pieces of wood generate coarse, gritty wood shavings, you should find another chunk of wood. The best woods are usually softwoods that aren’t very resinous. Resins such as those found in most pines, spruce and firs tend to act like grease, making getting enough friction going to make a fire difficult. Some recommended varieties of wood are cottonwood, aspen, sagebrush, yucca, birch and poplar. Other woods that work, but not as easily, include box elder, elderberry and willow.
Note: Even pieces of the recommended varieties will not work well if they are moist or resinous or generate coarse shavings.
The drill should be about 1/2 to 3/4 inch in diameter and about 6 to 10 inches long. The wood should dent somewhat under your thumbnail, being neither too hard nor extremely soft. Round the drill end for the fire board and trim the corners of the drill end for the bearing block at about 45 degrees.
Fire Board
The exact dimensions of the fire board are not important but, like the drill, the type and condition of the wood are critical. The fire board should be long enough to steady with your foot and significantly wider than the drill. About 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide by a couple of feet long works well. In a real-life situation, you will use a fire board many times, until its entire length has been used up.
Using your knife, split an appropriate branch for fabricating your fire board. Shave down the round side until it’s about 1/2 inch thick, and then square up the sides. By rotating your knife tip, make a shallow depression in the fire board just over half the diameter of the drill from the board edge. This depression must hold the drill as it spins. Cut a narrow V-notch from the edge of the board to the center of the depression you just gouged into the fire board. This V-notch will collect bits of wood shavings, which smolder as you work the drill.
Bearing Block
You can use many different materials for the bearing block. The main requirements are that the materials be hard and slippery. A 1-ounce shot glass, a smooth stone with a depression, a chunk of bone, a knot of resinous softwood or a knot of hardwood will work well. Make a shallow hole in the bearing block to capture the end of the drill. If it’s made of wood, a little lip balm, some Crisco or animal fat will help to lubricate the bearing block. Make sure you don’t contaminate the fire board end of your drill with the lubricant.
Tinder
Almost any dry, fibrous material will work for tinder. The inner bark of cedar is great, and cottonwood also works well, as do many dried grasses. Roll these around between your fingers until they are shredded fine like a cotton ball. Make a small bird’s nest out of your tinder, with a depression in the middle to catch the glowing ember. Set it to the side on a piece of bark, so you can carry it when it bursts into flame without burning your hands. Make sure you have kindling and dry wood ready, too. Unlike matches, a second chance with a bow drill involves considerable effort.
Procedure
Place a piece of bark under the fire board notch to catch the ember and to insulate it from the ground. Wrap the bowstring in a single full loop around the drill. Kneel down with one foot firmly standing on top of the fire board next to the V-notch. Get comfortable, because this will probably take at least 20 minutes. Apply pressure with the bearing block, and start rotating the drill with a full back-and-forth stroke of the bow. Very little will happen until the drill seats itself into the cavity on the fire board; at that point it will develop considerably more friction and start to smolder. Once the spark inside the dust pile is clearly smoldering, relax and lift the spark on its bark bed, dumping the spark into your bird’s nest of tinder. Blow on the spark until the tinder bursts into flame. Congratulations, you have made fire!
Starting a Fire With a Hand Drill
This is tough, but doable. Prepare the tinder, kindling and fire board as above. The fire board should be a little thinner — perhaps as thin as 1/4 inch. The drill should be about 1/4 inch in diameter and about 30 inches long. Dried cattails are a favored drill material. Persistence, tough hands and lots of rapid drilling with steady downward pressure are the keys to success. Use the full length of your hands and apply downward pressure as you spin the drill between your hands. Some people are able to flutter their hands up the drill while maintaining the drill spin to prevent it from cooling down as they shift their hands to the top of the drill to begin another round of downward pressure spins. If you find that you must stop drilling to shift your hands, do so as quickly as possible to minimize cooling. Thumb loops of string or a leather thong attached to the top of the hand drill can help you start a fire faster by applying steady downward pressure as you spin the drill.
Starting a Fire With a Fire Plow
Cut a lengthwise shallow groove in an 18-inch fire board made from soft, non-resinous wood that is at least 1 1/2 inches wide. Prepare your tinder and kindling in the same way as for starting a fire with a bow drill. Using a hardwood or other non-resinous stick, drive the stick back and forth under considerable pressure to generate friction, sawdust and, eventually, a spark.
Review
Whether you are seeking self-reliance and a simpler life or fear the collapse of social services, this compendium of practical information for sustainable living belongs on your bookshelf…
–Fred C. Walters, editor, Acres U.S.A. magazine
The depth of this book, covering everything from building materials to spiritual healing, is astounding. It is a one-stop source… to create a self-sufficient, earth-friendly lifestyle. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in preserving the health of themselves and the planet–and moving toward a sustainable, sane way of living.
–Robyn Griggs Lawrence, editor-in-chief, Natural Home magazine
Review From John Egan, proprietor of the website SurvivalistBooks.com
Matthew Stein has written a clear, concise book on the subject of survival that, while educating, also does what few others have managed to do – entertain and engage the reader.
Throughout the book you’ll find personal stories accompanying the text to further illustrate or drive home a point. The use of these asides brings you into Matthew Stein’s life, as he recounts personal stories of survival and tells the stories of others who have managed to overcome the odds to survive. Not just a survival book, Matthew also covers topics like alternative therapies; how to create a survival mindset; survival strategies; renewable energy; companion gardening; prophecies etc. as well as all the regular topics found in such books – edible plants; first aid; making a survival kit; growing, hunting and foraging; making tools; creating shelters; spinning/weaving/tanning etc. The book has some great illustrations that make plant identification and first aid that much easier to understand and each chapter finishes with a reference section listing books (along with a short review) and resources (with web addresses where available).
“Matthew Stein gives us a readable, updated wake-up call for sustainability practices in the best tradition of Paul Ehrlich, Lester Brown, and Jared Diamond.”
–Stephen Schneider, Ph.D., Melvin and Joan Lane Professor for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies at Stanford University and coordinating lead author in IPCC summary papers on climate change
“In this age of over-consumption, truth is lost in a myriad of commercialized details. Matthew Stein picks up and assembles these shattered shards, and by examining each in the meticulous manner of a crime scene investigator, offers valuable insight and practical tools to survive in a world at the brink of chaos. In doing so, he helps maintain sanity in a time of hardening denial about the state of the world–and helps throw open the door to Plato’s Cave where so many of us remain uncomfortably shackled.”
–Peter Droege, author of The Renewable City and Urban Energy Transition
Stein’s excellent guide to simplifying your life, reducing your environmental impact, and pulling yourself out of a jam is sure to gather no dust on your bookshelf… This book is a personal and planetary empowerment tool.
–Richard Heede, Ph.D., author, Homemade Money: How to Save Energy and Dollars in Your Home
I liked this book. It’s carefully researched, comprehensive, well illustrated, and readable. It presents much needed alternate information, for, in my opinion, technology has already ‘failed’ …So replacement of polluting ‘high’ technologies with non-polluting ‘low’ ones is urgent, and Matthew Stein’s handbook systematically and accurately surveys a wide array of possible low-tech options. Much hard work, time, and talent went into the building of this basic reference survey of low-tech options.
–Carla Emery, author, The Encyclopedia of Country Living: An Old-Fashioned Recipe Book
When Technology Fails is a massive project done well. First the book gives a superb presentation of WHY one should be more aware and prepared–and then HOW one should go about this. The scope of this book… is thorough. Not only is the information presented well, but a solid bibliography can carry the student as far as he desires in any particular area of interest.
–John McPherson, author, Primitive Wilderness Living and Survival Skills
“When Technology Fails. . . Like that’s some sort of unlikely future possibility! Technology is always failing while people stand around befuddled about what to do. With Mat Stein’s book, when push comes to shove, you can be your own veritable MacGyver. Not only does it provide us with the information we need to plan for, and deal with, potential emergencies and disasters, it also shows us how we can live more sustainably and self-reliantly in today’s world of climate change and gas prices that are going through the ceiling. This is the sort of ingenuity for which Americans have been famous. When Technology Fails is to the mechanical world what Joy of Cooking is to the world of cooking. In other words, the encyclopedia every home should have on hand. Keep it right next to the emergency flashlight and your Swiss Army knife.”
–David Blume, permaculturist and author of Alcohol Can Be A Gas!
“Matthew Stein has done us all a tremendous favor by searching far and wide for useful knowledge. In this era of specialization, personal and social viability depend on expansive thinking. When Technology Fails is itself a powerful expression of the technology of sustainable living. It teaches more skills than I thought possible in just one book and rightly combines the immediacy of an emergency escape plan with the urgency for long-term thinking.”
–Mathis Wackernagel, Executive Director of the Global Footprint Network
“When Technology Fails is a comprehensive guide and compendium of the tools society will require as it reaches the convergence of hyper-inflation, oil depletion, and environmental limitations; in other words, at the point where technology fails.”
–William Kemp, author of The Renewable Energy Handbook
“A fascinating collection of concepts and skills that will satisfy everyone from the casual do-it-yourself enthusiast to someone who wants to attempt self-reliance and the ultimate emergency preparedness.”
–Howard Backer, MD, author of Wilderness First Aid: Emergency Care for Wilderness Locations and past president of the Wilderness Medical Society
“I have no children because I read M. King Hubbert’s analyses on the future of oil and other fossil fuels in 1969, and Limits to Growth shortly thereafter. It was clear to me then and in every year since that our whole economy, and all of our economic principles, were based on cheap oil that would not last. The reason that economists could get away with criticizing Hubbert and LTG as well promoting their basically absurd theories that often disregarded and even belittled natural resources was that, in fact, more oil could be pulled out of the ground to make ANY economic theory or policy work, no matter how stupid. Now that the oil spigot is sputtering the economists’ theories and policies are increasingly shown to be failures. We need a whole new way to think about how we do our economies. In the spirit of the old Whole Earth Catalogues Matt Stein does a marvelous and diverse job of helping us to think about how we might go about generating an approach to our economies that can make sense. This is a great book to have on your bookshelf as we enter the post-peak second half of the age of oil.”
–Professor Charles A.S. Hall, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
“When Technology Fails is the roadmap that you want and need to navigate whatever may lie ahead.”
–John L. Chunta, PeakOilResources.com
“We may all need a survival reference when technology fails. Matthew provides one–fact-filled, with useful tips on all aspects of survival, clothing, food, shelter, water, etc., including such vital subjects as grazing and the green pharmacy.”
–James A. Duke, economic botanist, USDA (ret.), and author of The Green Pharmacy
“A marvelous guidebook for helping us through the worst of times, and even improving on the best of times.”
–Thom Hartmann, syndicated radio host and author of The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight
“When the grid goes down, having this book with you could be the difference between life and death.”
–Matt Savinar, author of Life After the Oil Crash
“This book is an indispensable basic manual for the real-life issues that await us in the decades to come. Those who read it, and pay attention to its treasure trove of practical wisdom, will enjoy a huge advantage as the cheap oil fiesta winds down and circumstances compel us to live differently.”
–James Howard Kunstler, author of The Long Emergency
“You don’t need to be a survivalist to appreciate this book. If you are thoughtful. If you seek a simpler, more sustainable life or if you feel as though technology has already failed us in the ways that matter, this is a book you want in your personal library.”–Kathy Harrison, author of Just In Case: How to Be Self-Sufficient When the Unexpected Happens
“We imagine that we live in the age of information, but this engrossing book reminds us of how comparatively little we know. Most human communities used to know how to provide water and food and energy for themselves, but most of the tips in this comprehensive account will come as news to most Americans. You may never need to put them into practice (or you may need them this winter when home heating prices soar) but at the very least they illuminate the state of our comparative ignorance.”
–Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy
“If you’ve been wondering about how to respond to the twin dangers of peak oil and global warming, one of your best choices would be to read this book.”
–Greg Pahl, author of The Citizen-Powered Energy Handbook: Community Solutions to a Global Crisis
From the Publisher
Dear Editor:
We are pleased to submit WHEN TECHNOLOGY FAILS: A Manual for Self Reliance & Planetary Survival, by Matthew Stein, for your review.
No home is complete without this essential resource. M.I.T. graduate Matthew Stein spent 15 years compiling the information for When Technology Fails. This easy-to-use manual is designed for self-reliant living in today’s changing world.
As we begin the 21st Century, the rapidly expanding world population is quickly depleting the available natural resources and fossil fuel supply while increasing the demand for basic human needs-food, shelter, clothing and energy. This combined with the current worldwide infrastructure dependent on instant global communication and next-day distribution grids means that any disruption of the norm due to technology breakdowns, weather patterns, solar spots, techno-terrorism or natural upheavals can create massive disruptions to daily life.
When Technology Fails is the first book to offer basic instructions and recommended resources for the wide range of skills and technologies necessary for self-reliant living, achieving mastery of all kinds of emergency conditions, and treading lighter on Mother Earth. When Technology Fails is a user-friendly manual for the 2lst Century in the tradition of the Whole Earth Catalog.
We hope you enjoy reading this important book and can recommend it to your readers.
Thank you
Harmon Houghton
Publisher –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Editorial Reviews
