how to start a fire with no material on a desert island

How To Start A Fire With No Material On A Deserted Island

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Imagine finding yourself in a situation you never thought possible – stranded on a deserted island, reminiscent of the classic movie scene with Tom Hanks and Wilson. You have nothing but the clothes on your back, and starting a fire seems like an impossible feat. However, fear not! In this guide, we will show you how to ignite a life-saving fire using only materials found on the island itself – no need for a bow drill or any modern equipment.

Learning how to start a fire in such dire circumstances can be a game-changer. With this essential survival skill in your repertoire, your chances of being found alive increase significantly – provided you succeed, of course. We will walk you through the ancient technique of rubbing sticks together, teaching you the art of fire-making from scratch.

So, join us on this thrilling journey of mastering survival fire-making. With the right knowledge and determination, you’ll be ready to conquer the challenges of your deserted island and increase your chances of being rescued and reunited with civilization. Let’s embark on this adventure of self-reliance and resilience, empowering you to survive and thrive even in the most unexpected situations.

How to Start a Fire with no Material

First look for materials you can use

Around the island, the first thing you notice will be plenty of coconut trees at the base or some old coconut husks so that’ll come in handy.

There’s also plenty of wood lying around so you just need to find a dry piece of softwood like a branch from a hibiscus tree has a very lightweight wood and when it’s dry it’s a great choice.

Your old coconut husk will make a great tinder bundle because it’s packed with very fine fibers that should burn easily to ignite a fire.

It’s also important that both sticks come from the same branch, a sharp rock can work as a tool to fashion some of the wood into a long narrow stick.

Cutting the tip of the sticks that are on a 45-degree angle on both sides, when it’s starting to look like something you could use.

Get a sharp rock to carve a flat spot into the other piece of wood, knocking it down until you got a surface at least as long as any other stick to the last.

Make sure to wedge something under the base to help stabilize it.

Then go sit down in the back. It’s time for the action, taking the shortest one with one hand and placing your other hand over top carefully.

See 3 Primitive Ways To Make a Fire In Video Below:

Then The Tricky Part

The tops may be a little tricky, try pushing it back and forth keeping it at a 45-degree angle to the bay.

Not much pressure though, 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 and how it feels and might even see a little smoke at this point.

Next just push a little faster and use your strong hand to pull down adding pressure to the tips you should see a lot more smoke now and bits of charred starting to pile up at the top.

Put your back into it and increase the pressure you have to make sure the tip is stopping just short of the pile so it looks like you got a little amber burning.

Now, let’s continue just a little longer to be sure, and hopefully, when you stop, it will keep smoking.

Now it’s all starting to come together!

Nice, so by now you should have a little flame. Now is a good time to get your coconut husk ready by pulling apart the fibers to fluffier.

Then turn the amber base over and tap the bottle with a stick to make sure all the amber transfer out nicely.

Your coal has been captured, so loosely cover it over by adding more fiber.

Make sure it’s protected from the wind and continues to smolder patience is a virtue here you don’t want to push 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 that Cole is getting. One of the best tips on how to start a fire with no material on a deserted island.

The quantity of tender burning to the amount of smoke being generated is a good indication of how well you’re doing.

Sometimes blowing gently can help speed the process when the smoke is so thick and you start to feel the heat radiating.

it’s time to be a little more aggressive around to get some more airflow and flow right into the center of the coal a little more now there’s your flame.

Wrapping it up

The hardest part is over, but don’t pat yourself on the back just yet because by the time you had some wood shavings your flame may be already dying out. The video provided is from the YouTube channel: Primitive Technology Idea and is by far the fastest fire I’ve ever seen anyone start. A practice makes perfect situation!

Do not worry though because as long as the smoke is thick and still has a good amount of heat and the same techniques can be applied once again.

There you go!  You now can start a fire by rubbing sticks together! You wanted to learn how to start a fire with no material on a deserted island and so there you have it!

Best of luck getting rescued if you like this project perhaps you like some of my others check them out of some of our other tutorials.

If you liked this guide on how to start a fire with no materials on a deserted island then you should check some of our other blogs out! 

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