The fuel of a fire can be separated into 3 parts:
1.Tinder
2. Kindling
3. Fuel
To start a fire you will need plenty of all three types of fuel on hand. It will work best if they are as dry as possible, one easy way to get dry tinder and sometimes kindling is to find very dead, broken twigs and such that are above the ground in some way. However do not use living plants, as that could disrupt the environment and are too wet any way.
Tinder is the smallest of the 3, it is made of very small pieces of shavings, twigs or grass. The point of tinder is to have the most surface area, and therefore be the easiest to catch fire. Leaves do not work well as tinder.
Kindling is just a little bigger than tinder. Kindling is the stage after tinder and will catch after tinder and will burn for longer.
Fuel is for after kindling and is what the fire will run primarily off of. This burns hot and for a long time, however it takes a lot of heat to start burning.
After you have gathered about twice the amount of tinder, kindling, and fuel, you need to know to create the spark that will start your fire. There are several ways to create that spark, some of the most popular are:
flint and steel,
matches,
magnifying glass/ or like eyeglasses,
battery and
steel wool.
All of these are possible ways to start a fire, however some have advantages and disadvantages. For instance, matches can be a great way and easy way to start a fire, however they are a finite resource and so you might not always have them with you. Flint and steel,and magnifying glasses, can be good alternatives, because they can be used many many times before becoming unusable. However, it can be difficult to start a fire using these methods, and you will need experience and training to learn how to use them properly.
Flint and Steel
Flint and steel (Note striker products are often called flint and steel even if they are not made of flint and steel)
The goal of flint and steel is to use the steel to strike the flint and create a spark, which will light the tinder underneath. This is best done, with your hands stabilized, preferably resting in or around your tinder, making sure that the spark will go into the tinder, quickly before it dies out. For more information, and guides go to a few of these websites:
This is about the more modern “flint and steel”(ferro rod)
This one is about traditional flint and steel
This is a tutorial on magnesium fire starters.
Magnifying glass
There are a few things to remember when trying to use a magnifying glass to start a fire. First off you need to understand how a fire can be started using light. To start a fire using light you need to first condense the light into a focal point, you can usually see this through the dot of bright light that appears on the ground after the light hits your magnifying glass. This light carries with it a lot of energy. On a white surface however, that light is just being reflected away and therefore, is not being converted to heat. A darker surface works well for making light into heat because of the amount of light it absorbs. This heat then will light your tinder like any other method can.
Now that you know how it works you can put that knowledge into action. To start you will need an area that has a lot of light, this could mean a clear opening this will also work better when the sun is higher because you will get more direct brighter light. Then you need to find what you would like to light on fire. This works best if it is dark and small, if you can’t find something dark enough it can be darkened artificially, by charcoal or some other dark substance, however be careful not to light or inhale anything that could be toxic. Then to light the material, you need to take your magnifying glass and adjust it until the bright spot of light is over the spot you want to light.
Matches and battery & steel wool are not as important to learn as flint and steel and magnifying glass however they can still help.
Steel Wool
Steel wool is a little unconventional, it works by taking the battery and connecting the two sides with steel wool. (This is sometimes easier with a 9volt because the prongs are close together.) The small wires that make up the steel wool will heat up and that heat can be used to light the tinder. Note that the steel wool is not reusable and will look like it is burning and turning black, unlike the popular consensus that iron doesn’t burn, the difference is mainly in the surface area.
Matches
Matches are fairly self explanatory, and really just pick up where the others left off, with the fire now “started” you need to allow the kindling to catch fire. To do this you want to have the kindling semi organized in a pile, then position the tinder near the base of the kindling to make sure that the heat from the tinder can rise, heating up and catching the kindling on fire. Fanning can help this process, however you need to be careful not to blow it out. Once the kindling starts to light you will need to add fuel, stacking it on top to allow enough airflow. If you prepared and followed these steps correctly you should have a blazing fire.