How to Make Fire Without Matches or a Lighter

Co-authored by Britt Edelen

Last Updated: December 1, 2023 References

Being able to start a fire is an essential tool for surviving in the wilderness. When someone in your camping group drops the matches into the river or the lighter gets lost along the way, you may need to know how to start a fire using natural or household objects to create friction or magnify the sun. Learn how to start a fire without using matches or a lighter by reading the methods below.

Method 1

Method 1 of 6:

Getting Started

Learn how to make tinder for a fire and have your tinder nest ready. For all of the methods below, you will need a tinder nest to nurture the sparks and/or embers you create into a flame.
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Gather dry wood. In order to create friction and maintain a flame, you will need to use dry wood, as best as you can get.
- Dry wood hiding places. If the area is damp, you may have to check the interior of logs, under ledges, and other places that are protected from wetness.
- Know your trees. Not all wood ignites equally. Depending on your locality, some particular trees start fires more readily. For instance, paper birch yields paper-like bark that, even when wet, often makes an excellent tinder.
- Look beyond wood. Although fire-building is usually taught in the spirit of building a fire in the wilderness, you may have to adapt. In an urban situation there may be no trees, so you may have to look at things like old books, wooden pallets, furniture, and the like to get a fire started.

Method 2

Method 2 of 6:

Using Batteries and Steel Wool

You can use dry grass, leaves, small sticks, and bark. This nest will be used to create a flame out of the spark you create with the battery and steel wool.
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Find a battery and locate the battery terminals. The terminals are the two circular receiving prongs located on the top of the battery.^{[1]
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- Any battery voltage will work, but 9-volt batteries will ignite the quickest.
The finer the steel wool, the better for this process.
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Continue to create friction by rubbing the steel wool on the batteries. This process works by creating a current through the tiny steel wires that then heat up and ignite.^{[2]
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- Another way to do this is to take a 9-volt battery and a metal paperclip and rub the paperclip on both battery terminals at the same time to create sparks. This is similar to how the wires in light bulbs and toasters ovens operate.
This helps nurture the flame and encourages it to spread.
Transfer the steel wool to your tinder nest quickly, once the steel wool is glowing brightly, continuing to blow lightly on the nest until the tinder ignites, creating a flame.
Add increasingly larger pieces of dry wood to build your fire once the tinder nest has ignited into a flame and enjoy your fire!

Method 3

Method 3 of 6:

Using Flint and Steel

Take your flint rock^{[3]
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Char cloths are small squares of cloth that have been turned into easily combustible charcoal pieces. If you do not have any char cloth on hand, you can also use lightweight tree fungus.
Take the back of a steel striker or the back of a knife blade (depending on which you have handy) and quickly scrape the steel against the flint. Continue to strike until sparks begin to form.
Char cloths are specially designed to hold a glow without catching fire.

Method 4

Method 4 of 6:

Using a Magnifying Glass

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Notice whether or not there is enough sunlight to create a fire using this method. You generally need the sun to be unobstructed by clouds in order to utilize it with your magnifying glass.^{[4]
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- If you do not have a magnifying glass, eye glass lenses and binocular lenses work as well.
- Adding water to the lens allows you to create a more intense, focused beam of light.
You'll probably have to test out holding the lens at different angles to create the most focused beam of light possible.
Blow lightly on the tinder nest to nurture the flame.

Method 5

Method 5 of 6:

Fashioning a Hand Drill

Again, be sure that the material can catch fire easily.
You will drill on this wood piece to create friction.
Make sure that your notch is just big enough to hold your spindle stick.
The bark will be used to catch an ember from the friction between the spindle and fire board.
Take your spindle stick, which should be a thin stick about two feet long and half an inch in diameter, and place it in the V-shaped notch in the center of your fire board.
Be sure to push the spindle stick firmly down into the fire board.^{[5]
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Continue to roll the spindle quickly between your hands, pushing one hand forward and then the other, until an ember is formed on the fire board.
You should have already placed a few small pieces of bark next to the notch for this purpose.
Continue to blow gently on the tinder nest to fully transfer the ember and create a flame.
Be advised that this method takes a while to create a fire, and requires physical as well as mental determination.

Method 6

Method 6 of 6:

Making a Bow Drill

Use any dry plant material you can gather.
The socket will be used to put pressure on the spindle.
It is best if this piece of wood has a slight curve in it. This will serve as the handle of your bow.
You might want to use a shoelace, a thin rope or string, paracord, or a strip of rawhide.^{[6]
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If there are not already natural notches in the bow wood to anchor the string, whittle small, straight notches into the wood in order to act as a groove for the string.
Find a piece of wood to use as the base of your hand drill, otherwise known as a fire board, and cut a small V-shaped notch into the center using a knife or other sharp object.
You want to have the tinder right next to base of the spindle so that you can easily create flames.
Make sure you do so in the middle of the bow string to create enough space to roll the string back and forth.
Once a char starts on this end, avoid cutting it off to make the spindle last longer.
Place one end of the spindle in the V-shaped notch in your fire board and then stack the socket on the top end of the spindle. Hold the socket with your non-dominant hand.
This will cause the spindle to spin (hence the name "spindle") and create heat at the base of the fire board.
Make sure your tinder nest is close by.
You may just be able to slide the ember off of the fire board into your tinder nest.

Expert Q&A

Question

How do I find flint? What does it look like?

Britt Edelen
Outdoor Educator
Britt Edelen was an active member of his local Boy Scouts troop near Athens, Georgia from ages 8 to 16. As a Scout, he went on dozens of camping trips, learned and practiced many wilderness survival skills, and spent countless hours appreciating the great outdoors. In addition, Britt worked as a counselor for several summers at an adventure camp in his hometown, which allowed him to share his passion for and knowledge of the outdoors with others.

Britt Edelen

Outdoor Educator

Expert Answer

Flint looks shiny and gray and it almost feels like pencil lead. You can find it by looking around rocks. It should be easy to scratch off, but it shouldn't come off in chunks. It should come off in shavings.
Question

How long do the different methods take?

Community Answer

Using a hand drill takes 30+ minutes. A bow drill would take 5-10 minutes while using steel wool would only take 2-3 minutes. A magnifying glass would also take about 10-15 minutes.
Question

What if I don't have anything with me?

Community Answer

Then the hand drill is your best bet. Try to find a base log that already has a small hole, and a pointed stick. That should be all you need.

Warnings

Be aware of sparks and embers that may fly off when creating friction.

Thanks
Helpful 110 Not Helpful 38
Be sure to put out your fire using water or by smothering it with sand or dirt before leaving the fire site unattended.

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Always remember to be careful when dealing with fire.

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