METHODS FOR IGNITING FIRE

Hand Drill

The hand drill is the most widespread among indigenous cultures, characterised 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 repeated 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 among dense, fine tinder, which is pressed against it as one blows directly onto the coal until the tinder begins burning and eventually catches into flame. The advantage of the hand drill technique is that it requires no rope.

Bow Drill

The bow drill uses the same principle as the hand drill (friction by rotation of wood on wood) but the spindle is shorter, wider (about the size of a human thumb) and driven by a bow, which allows longer, easier strokes and protects the palms. Additional downward pressure is generated by the handhold.

Pump Drill

A pump drill is a variant of the bow drill that uses a coiled rope around a cross-section of wooden stake spin the shaft by pumping up and down a cross-member.

Fire Plough 

The fire plough or fireplow consists of a stick cut to a dull point, and a long piece of wood with a groove cut down its length. The stake is pressed down hard and rubbed quickly against the groove of the second piece in a "plowing" motion, to produce hot dust creates an ember. A split is often made down the length of the grooved piece, so that oxygen can flow freely to the coal/ember.

Fire Saw

A fire-saw is a method by which a piece of wood is sawed through a notch in a second piece or pieces to generate friction. The tinder may be placed between two slats of wood with the third piece or "saw" drawn over them above the tinder so as to catch a coal, but there is more than one configuration.

Fire Thong

A fire-thong uses a non-melting cord, ratan, or flexibe strip of wood to 'saw' the wood creating friction. On the board, opposite side the cord, is a well with a hole through the board to gathered the charred, soon-to-smoke, wood dust.

The Rudiger Roll friction fire method 

Also known as "Fire Roll" method. It's believed to have been invented by WWII POWs. A German survival expert named Rüdiger Nehberg wrote about this method in one of his books. A small amount of wood ash is rolled up inside of cotton like a cigar. The cotton is then placed between two boards and rolled back and forth. Pressure and speed are both gradually increased. With proper technique ignition can occur in seconds.

Fire Straker Or Fire Steel

A fire striker or firesteel when hit by a hard, glassy stone such as quartz, jasper, agate or flint cleaves small, hot, oxidizing metal particles that can ignite tinder. The steel should be high carbon, non-alloyed, and hardened. Similarly, two pieces of iron pyrite or marcasite when struck together can create sparks.

The use of flint in particular became the most common method of producing flames in pre-industrial societies (see also fire striker). Travelers up to the late 19th century would often use self-contained kits known as tinderboxes to start fires.

Matches

An igniting match A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, modern matches are made of small wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by frictional heat generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Wooden matches are packaged in matchboxes, and paper matches are partially cut into rows and stapled into matchbooks. The coated end of a match, known as the match "head", consists of a bead of active ingredients and binder; often colored for easier inspection. There are two main types of matches: safety matches, which can be struck only against a specially prepared surface, and strike-anywhere matches, for which any suitably frictional surface can be used.

Ferro Spark Generator

Spark trails from a cigarette lighter Ferrocerium is a synthetic pyrophoric alloy that produces hot sparks that can reach temperatures of 3,000 °C (5,430 °F) when rapidly oxidized by the process of striking.[clarification needed] This property allows it to have many commercial applications, such as the ignition source for lighters (where it is often known by the misleading name "flint"), strikers for gas welding and cutting torches, deoxidization in metallurgy, and ferrocerium rods (also called ferro rods, flint-spark-lighters and wrongly "flint-and-steel" as this is the name of a different type of lighter using a section of high carbon steel and a natural flint). Due to ferrocerium's ability to ignite in adverse conditions, rods of ferrocerium are commonly used as an emergency combustion device in survival kits.

Lighters

A lighter is a portable device used to create a flame, and to ignite a variety of combustible materials, such as cigars, gas stoves, fireworks, candles or cigarettes. It consists of a metal or plastic container filled with a flammable fluid or pressurized liquid gas, a means of ignition to produce the flame, and some provision for extinguishing the flame. Alternatively, a lighter can be powered by electricity, using an electric arc or heating element to ignite the target.

Electrical Firemaking

Electrical firemaking involves the contact of an electrically heated object to tinder. A current is run through the object until it is red hot, like the burners on an electric stove, and it is brought into contact with the tinder, lighting it. For example, a foil-paper chewing gum wrapper will heat-up and ignite; or a flashlight battery coming into contact with a thin wire mesh (such as steel wool) may produce enough heat to ignite charcloth or other tinder. Larger batteries can generate sparks when its leads touch.

Chemical Firemaking

An exothermic chemical reaction can generate enough heat as to catch itself or tinder on fire. A few examples:

• calcium hypochlorite and automotive brake fluid
• potassium permanganate and glycerin
• potassium permanganate, acetone, and sulfuric acid
• sodium chlorate, sugar, and sulfuric acid
• ammonium nitrate powder, finely ground zinc powder, and hydrochloric acid
• sulfuric acid, zinc, and platinum (as in Döbereiner's lamp)
• Percussion caps, as used in muzzleloader firearms, and primers used in rifle and shotgun shells create a stream of sparks when rapidly struck.