Nature & Primitive Skills
Have you ever had to light a fire and found that your last match was wet or you were out of matches or your lighter was empty? Well in this day and age odds are some one near you smokes or has a lighter or matches. But what if you were stuck somewhere and no one around you did! What would you do?

You are in luck there are several ways that you can light a fire with out matches or a lighter.

Fire By Friction

Fire by friction is about one of the oldest ways of making fire.
To make fire by friction you will need to gather a few supplies that you could find in your average park .
Tinder( leaves, fluffy stuff from a cotton wood tree, Lint, Paper)
Kindling ( Small branches, twigs, )
Wood

Method 1
Hand Drill
The hand drill is a rather primitive method of creating fire. You will need four things to do this.

1. A hearth board � a flat piece of wood about 8 inches long 1 �  inch wide and about a � - � inch thick     (Must be a dry piece of wood)
2. A Spindle- A straight branch about 6-9 inches long and a bout � inch thick
    (as straight and as dry as possible)
3. Tinder- You will need to make a small pile of tinder about the size of a birds nest. I find that a pile of shredded paper and a leaf work well
4. Time- This method will take some time to master and practice is very important  but be patient.

What you need to do is make a small dent in the hearth board. Place your spindle onto the board near an edge and move in towards the center of the board about a � of an inch.
Press the spindle into the hearth board to make a dent. Next you will want to place the spindle between the palms of your and as you press the spindle into the dent start to spin the spindle between your palms. As you spin the spindle your hands will travel down the spindle and as you reach the bottom you will want to move your hands back to the top and keep spinning. It may take some time for the spindle to burn into the hearth board but it will happen. You will start to hear some squeaking and then you will start to smell the wood burning. Now you will want to remove the spindle and cut a triangle shaped notch into the hearth board on the edge where you have just burnt the spindle in.
(See Diagram 1) Now place a leaf under the notch and with your tinder pile near by place the spindle back into the dent and start to spin the spindle in the same manor as before dust will start to pile up on the leaf soon it will begin to smoke. Once you have large amounts of smoke coming from the pile you will have a coal but don�t stop spinning just yet spin for a few more good strokes no gently move your coal into the pile of tinder and allow it to burn for a second or two then gently blow into the tinder pile.
Smoke will start to pour out of the pile keep blowing and soon you will see fire now you can stop blowing.                  
                                                  Congrats you have made fire!!!!
          Diagram 1a
Hearth Board  with notch
          Diagram 1b
Hearth Board  & Spindle
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