How To Make a Fire By Rubbing Sticks

this might be a situation you never
thought could happen but here you are
cast away on a deserted island with
nothing but the clothes on your back in
this project we’ll be making a survival
fire by rubbing sticks together because
if you can do that you’ll have a much
better chance of being found alive
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looking around the island the first
thing you notice are plenty of coconut
trees and at the base or some old
coconut husks those might come in handy
there’s also plenty of wood lying around
so you just need to find a dry piece of
a softwood like this branch from a
hibiscus tree hibiscus is a very
lightweight wood and when it’s this dry
it’s a great choice your old coconut
husk will make a great tinder bundle
because it’s stacked with a very fine
fibers that should burn easily okay to
prepare these sticks for a friction fire
it’s important that both sticks come
from the same branch a sharp Rock can be
used to fashion some of the wood into a
long narrow stick cutting the tip of the
stick so that it’s slanted at a 45
degree angle on both sides when it’s
ready it should look something like this
now use your sharp rock to carve a flat
spot into the other piece of wood
smoking it down until you’ve got a
surface at least eight inches long then
make a groove down the center to act as
a track for guiding the other stick okay
the last step is to wedge anything you
can find under the base to help
stabilize it then go sit down in the
back it’s time for the action taking the
shorter stick in one hand like this
place your other hand over top sand to
stick nestled securely at the base of
your thumbs okay when you’ve got the tip
set firmly in the groove track try
pushing it back and forth keeping it at
a 45 degree angle to the base not much
pressure is needed yet so don’t worry
about putting too much effort into it
when the heat of the friction builds to
where the wood is ready you’ll notice a
change in how it feels and might even
see a little smoke at this point push a
little faster and use your strong hand
to pull down adding pressure to the tip
you should see a lot more smoke now and
bits of charred wood dust starting to
pile up at the top but you’re back into
it and increase the pressure making sure
the tip is stopping just short of the
pile it looks like you’ve got a little
Ember burning now but let’s continue
just a little longer to be sure
hopefully when you stop it’ll keep
smoking okay perfect you’ve got a nice
little coal now go turn it into a flame
this is a good time to get your coconut
husk ready by pulling apart the fibers
the fluffier they are the better
transferring the coal is a delicate
process
so try pressing the husk right up to the
coal then turn the Ember base over and
tap the bottom with a stick to make sure
all the embers transfer out
nice your coal has been captured so
loosely cover it over with more fibers
so that it’s protected from the wind and
continues to smolder patience is a
virtue here you don’t want to pitch it
too tight or you’ll smother it out too
loosely and the fibers won’t burn the
heat needs to build slowly so try to
balance the amount of air the coal is
getting with the quantity of tinder it’s
exposed to the amount of smoke being
generated is a good indication of how
well you’re doing and sometimes blowing
gently can help speed the process when
the smoke is thick and you start to feel
the heat radiating it’s time to get a
little more aggressive waive the bundle
around to get some more airflow and blow
right into the center of the coals just
a little more air now and success
there’s your flame the hardest part is
over but don’t pat yourself on the back
just yet because by the time you add
some wood shavings your flame may be
going out not to worry though because as
long as the smoke is thick there’s still
a good amount of heat and the same
techniques can be used for blowing the
coals back into a flame well there you
have it now you can start a fire by
rubbing sticks together now best of luck
getting rescued if you like this project
perhaps you’ll like some of my others
check them out at the king of random
calm
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