One of the most essential survivalist skills to learn is how to start a fire. In this day and age, we can buy things like lighters or matches for a dollar to create fire. But should the day come when those tools aren’t on hand, it would be crucial to know how to start a fire with the natural resources around you.
Find a thick stick. Use a knife to whittle one of the ends of the stick to create a point. Scrape the wood pieces on the tip away from you, so if the knife slips you don't hurt yourself.
Take a long flat board and cut a small hole in the middle of it with your knife. This hole will be the point at which you will twist the tip of the drill to start the fire. Then cut a triangle that points to the small hole you made about an inch away from the small hole. This is so you know where the hole is later.
Put the flat board that you cut a small hole in over a cleared area on the ground. Place dry leaves and wood chips inside the hole you created and around the triangle. Step on the end of the flat piece of wood and kneel down onto the board with your thick pointy stick.
Place the pointed part of the pointy stick on the small hole and start twisting it into the hole with your hands. You need to twist it quickly enough to create friction between the hard pointy stick and the flat piece of wood.
Watch for black dust to form at the spot you are rubbing. This is a good sign that you are doing it correctly. Keep twisting the hard, pointy stick into the hole until you create more and more friction and heat in the hole. This works because the oxygen from inside the hole and the heat from the friction get hotter and hotter until a spark is generated. Once you have a spark, keep going to create a larger fire. Blow on the larger spark to make it larger yet, until the leaves and dust catch on fire.
Move the flat piece of wood with the fire to a larger pit, once it catches fire.
