• Home
  • Video
  • Long Term Survival: Pro's and Con's of Fire Starting Styles

Long Term Survival: Pro's and Con's of Fire Starting Styles

Description

NativeSurvival Community Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxv1HGqDaf04BnpDIdQ4L1Q/videos

All the newest vids are posted advertisement free at the Community Channel, after 4 months they are published here with ads.

Website: http://nativesurvival.com/

Mitch, Mitchell, Alone, History, Channel, Survival, Nativesurvival.

Tags: native,survival,nativesurvival,fire,long term,self reliance,concepts,wilderness,abo,aboriginal,primitive,trapping,modern,deadfall,snare,trap,bow,arrow,atlatl,knapping,quartz,flint,chert,bushcraft,camping,hiking,bowdrill,handdrill,fireplow,firesaw,hide,buckskin,outdoor,hunting,fishing,outside,hobbies,outdoor recreation,shooting sports,shooting tips,hunting tips

Video Transcription

[Music]

hey doing this is missionary survival tonight we're gonna talk about long-term fire-starting all right so my blanket here I have fire fun ways that are calming to light fires first we have a lighter

we have matches fell run Flint steel and primitive fire friction so let's go Nora so the tool that you want to use the least for a long time fire as a lighter because obviously once the fluid runs out doesn't make fire too easily anymore now you can still make fire with the spark from the little piece of Flint that's in there but it's very small very delicate usually held in by Springs and it's really definitely not what you want to use it's not ideal next up matches matches are fantastic because they give you an actual flame now all you have to do is make it bigger right just like the lighter absolutely fantastic both of these are very very very easy to make fire with problem is once again that's that once it's used up the resource is gone now I carry my matches in a little waterproof bottle here and I carry something like 180 200 around there once they used up they used up so that's really not ideal for long term fire you know it's not going to really get you through a winter or even multiple winters right you know long term is really just that it's long term its permanent residency in the woods so obviously matches are not the way to go next up fella run no doubt about it can be used what can be used a whole lot more times than a lighter or matches I mean you know we're talking upwards of one hundred twenty thousand fires they've done with a single strike and you only use a quarter of an inch it's a lot of fire but the problem with this is it will run out you don't always get it with a single strike all right so that means those numbers are really kind of skewed you know you get a whole lot less fires out of this the loss where I see a lifetime maybe what about your wife's lifetime what about your son or daughters lifetime what about their kids lifetime is your whole family gonna pass around whatever you want to make a fire into all their different shelters wherever it happens to be nearby this one fella run for everyone's life forever

no so that's clearly not gonna do it next up some steel now Flint steel will outlast the fella rot all day every day year after year see it makes sparks but it really gets worn down a whole lot less then a Ferro rod does I mean my fella rods look like a beavers been chewing on them you know and I've only had this fellow out a couple years however these I've used for the same even longer I've chased useful steel before even bought meant for a spell rod and none of them have almost anywhere at all they just have some scrapings you know they look like they've been scratched

so more fire yeah you bet way more fire as long as you know how to make natural char so if you can make natural charm it's real whether it be out of cattail and you chart or whether it be out of some other material it's up to you whatever works in your area but I carry char at the bottom of my tin his'n Charcot to natural material that I can make again and again and again now the important thing is I can make it without the tin so for this to work long term I need to not have to use my tin to make char no big deal I wrote an article for self-reliance magazine called primitive trot cattail and what I did there was I took cattail and I buried it under the embers of my fire put my fire right over it like and I really cooked it in almost the same way as as an ember blanket and I did a video on that you can go ahead and check that out basically it's when you drag the embers over the material the chart so by covering it with some dirt before I covered it with the embers it excluded oxygen which means the cattail charred and it took a spark so that means that this can keep going and going and going and going long after the fellow rod has died away so so far the champion is Flint steel now rocks not a big deal you can use almost anything in any area I like quartz the best because it's prolific in my area I can walk 10 feet pick up piece of quartz that's why I love it

and your area you might like Flint who knows probably because it's easy to find right now

lastly the item that will far exceed this one Flint steel because again is your whole family gonna use this for us to your life you know your wife wants to make a fire and you're out hunting and you brought this with you what the family's gonna not eat while you're away you know you might be gone a couple days of course not you know this isn't the end-all be-all that my friends is a friction set now whether it be bow drill Andrew fire plough fire saw whatever you want to use these kits can go and go and go for the rest of your life rest of your children's life rest of your grandchildren's life and etc why because they can just make more kits and the beauty of it is that your son can make a kit and you still have your kits so it's like having a immeasurable amount of things that normally have to be manufactured in society and once you have them you have them that's it you know you're not gonna find you know wrought iron in the woods to be able to make a fire steel like this for Flint steel you know there are things out there like pig iron you know Ione exists obviously you know they can be done but it's shouldn't think a whole lot longer than it is with this now we're talking you know purifying forging and everything else to make this you have to make tools I mean crazy right or this you know you can bang one of these out if you have a knife oh man you know hour or less I mean no problem at all no problem at all this also can be made without a knife and by knife I mean manufactured steel knife these can be made with stone obviously because everybody before metal Knights were invented made them with stone knives so the winner on long term fire-making is going to be friction fire kits absolutely because they can just go go and go and you can make new kits now the thing to remember about bow drill is for it to be a long-term option you need to know how to make natural string for the bowl

because most people use nylon string or some other manufacture string for the bow and obviously that's not going to work now I've used maple roots to make bode row files for my string there's tons of materials that can be used depends on your area you can even use intestines of animals I mean this tons of tons of material you can use hides cut up into strips all sorts of things right so there's no doubt about it bow drill can be a long-term situation but you have to know how to make the natural cordage or it's not okay so hand drill having less parts not even not needing rope in that situation wins out same thing with fire plough fire saw they don't need cordage okay so let's discuss Tinder's real quick obviously lighters you know instant flame lighters and matches can be used on twigs can be used on dead grasses millions of things so it's already fire it's all rod absolutely tons of things birch bark whatever works in your area cedar bark it's up to you you know you can even use feather sticks however there are some people that use these these little pads you know they're they're sold by a lot of outdoor gear suppliers and there's really no need to pay for them you know you can make these for pennies no problem at all it's just a cotton pad with some petroleum jelly smear it on it and then dipped in wax that's all there is to it there's no need to buy those but once they're gone they're gone right so when you're using these things try to use a natural tinder if you can you know I think in my area birchbark is by far the best for Ferro rod or for matches or for a lighter it just goes straight away just lights right away has a lot of oil in it works fantastic find out whatever works in your area Flint steel I already described using cattail to make my tribe tender if you don't have cattail you can use something else you can use grasses to char you can use charred wood from your fire there are many many things that that can be used for that and obviously making tinder bundles with your primitive sets is the way to go and you know again dead grasses birch bark cedar bark I mean tons and tons and tons can be used for that you know the list goes on all right let's commission native survival appreciate you've used comes to sport see in the next one take care

About the Author

NativeSurvival

NativeSurvival

Mitch is a Wilderness Living Skills Instructor, he has been featured on The History Channel's program "ALONE" and written articles for Outdoor Magazines; he owns and operates The Native Survival School which provides woodland living and survival classes, as well as offering quality outdoor gear he's designed. Defintely, he is a master at bushcraft's techniques.

You can find all his videos on his YouTube channel.

More articles from this author