How to Start a Fire in a Survival Situation | Basic Instincts | WIRED
Dr. Bill Schindler, a professor of archeology and anthropology at Washington College, demonstrates a couple of the most effective methods for starting a fire in the wilderness with limited resources. "Even though you may never find yourself in a survival situation, I firmly believe that learning and practicing these primitive skills are an essential part of connecting to your past, your environment, and everything it means to be human," says Bill, explaining why it's important for everyone to have some basic survival skills knowledge.
For more on Dr. Bill Schindler’s work, follow the links below:
www.drbillschindler.com
www.washcoll.edu/esfl
@drbillschindler
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How to calculate algebra My brain: forget How to start a fire with your bare hands My brain: never forget, burn into memory
underrated comment ROFL
"burn" into memory. I get it xD
nice tha pun was on *F I R E*
I think it has to do with the fact that one can save your life and has more primitive use and the other is, in a survival sense, useless.
ow my brain
As soon as he started mentioning all the types of trees, woods, and plants..I knew I would die if I was in the middle of the forest in winter 😂😂
I have this book that might help- Winter Botany: An Identification Guide to Native Trees and Shrubs
Hi
Even this guy wouldn’t survive a winter, that’s why early humans lived in Africa
Mike L Neanderthals were adapted for it, humans like us arrived 40000 years ago
notinspiredatall ~ your comment = phun-knee
JUST IMAGINE THE AWE ON PEOPLE'S FACES WHEN THEY DISCOVERED FIRE....
Omg lol I imagine a couple of tesnge friends are joking sround tryna create a hole in soft wood for 😉 😉 then they make a fire so they put it on a stick and try to burn each other ten one gets really hurt and they freak out so then they idk go back to putting there weiners in such a significant sight
Chip the Dino they probably hit 2 stones by mistake and saw sparkles... and continued to hit them
GLR Nah a lightning strike probably caused a natural fire and they were like “ooga?”
word
“AY BOIS COME LOOK AT DIS”
“Even though you may never find yourself in a survival situation, I firmly believe that learning and practicing these primitive skills are an essential part of connecting with your past, your environment, and everything that it means to be human.” Lovely quote. Cool to see this return to the primitive. Fascinating to think an ancestor figured this out since it’s so improbable and required a great deal of knowledge of one’s natural surroundings to pick the right spindle, hearthboard, etc.
Honestly, considering everything, the likelihood of finding yourself in a survival situation increases with each flood and mega-wildfires.
People need to be more connected with nature...
That's the part that got me. I loved it so much it made me cry.. in a happy emotional way... I'm weird. Idk. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
facts
I hope this guy is in my shelter group during the apocalypse
assuming you can afford one
@@nabilyassin1742 oh i have some skills myself, so I'll be more or less in-demand then :)
i would personally want kim byungman
Or you can ask John Plant to join you
I would prefer bear grylls
I like that this video didn't really sanitize or gloss over the sheer effort required to do this, and how much grinding failure you will endure along the way.
I really felt for him when that spindle snapped
And he's experienced at it and it still looks difficult! Imagine how hard it would be for a beginner.
Oh, I think he made it look a lot easier than it is. I recall in Boy Scout none of us could do the stick fire and we took hours to do it with a bow and that is kids and scout masters
@@seanshea8596 I was the only one that could do it in my troop. We had a competition during summer camp to see if any troop could start a fire. There were 8 troops that participated and 2 won with mine being one of the winners.
How to Make Everything did this, and the redheaded girl fought with a bow drill for apparently hours, and hurt herself a few times before finally blundering into actual fire.
I like how he used the flake for everything, not just when creating the hearth board, but also when cutting the meat, he used it. Dedication.
After the camera stopped recording he put it in his mouth to assist in chewing the meat. Then he swallowed to aid his digestion.
That’s archaeologists for you
A while back, I took some of my friends, all of whom lived in towns and cities at the time and brought them to a wild valley. We spent hours gathering fire wood for the weekend, and found a nice little sheltered spot for camping. We had a boulder which helped us draft wind to our fire, and we built rocks up and down to adjust as the weekend went on. Eventually we unearthed a rock slab, and used it to cover our fire, and cook raw meat as though the slab were a hot plate. It was an amazing feast and the hot plate lasted three days before in inevitably cracked. P.S. our experiment to cook eggs on a porous rock went about as well as you can imagine, we still ate though.
This was really cool to hear. I long for such adventures.
Yesss sounds amazing
This guy really has perfected his technique. I've watched many people attempt the hand drill method and I've never seen someone make it look as easy as this guy does.
Your name is hilarious
I thought about Rhett while watching this only to scroll down and find this masterpiece of an account.
Suprisingly enough I actually managed to get a fire with a hand drill on my first try
John Plant: hold my camera!
Well, then you'll need to checkout the channel "primitive technology"
Moral of the story people... Always pack a lighter!
And a pocket knife, just in case.
LagiNaLangAko23 make that a beer can, might as well
Lighters can fail you in a variety of ways. If nothing else, sooner or later you'll run out of fuel. Yes, bring them. Bring several. But have the skill to do it without any man-made materials.
@@Ghost_Os Thank you. If these guys were paying attention to the point of this video ( with your BARE HANDS, in the wilderness) you wouldn't have had to point this out. So the moral of this story isnt bring a lighter (or lots of them), when in fact that couldnt be faryher than the truth. It is always a good idea to be as self sufficient as you can especially should the SHTF, however unlikely or not that is. I bought one of those flint/striker gadgets this way I could start as many fires as I could ever need before such a massive flint wears out. A magnifying glass is useful too in the sense that even though it is only useful if there is sufficient sunlight, there are plenty of examples where a fire could be needed even during daylight hours. Just because the sun is out doesnt mean you wont need a fire for a variety of reasons. If your a smoker, you could light your smoke in seconds, without any fire at all, just heat amplification
CJR Are you talking about a ferrocerium rod?
Me: aight time to sleep KZhead: How to start a fire Me: nah, I'll sleep My brain: but but wou- wouldn't it be cool if you you can start a fire with sticks?
Literally me right now 😂😂
This is the best comment I’ve seen on the video so far.
Dio... I think it's cool enough that you can stop time itself let alone starting a fire lmao
Why would 130yrs old metrosexual vampire want to start a fire ?
Exactly what just happened to me
he is a very good teacher, i've never watched an explanation for this stuff that looked so simple and provided this much information in an easy to understand way. props to the guy
Indeed. Very informational
Me: *in my bed* *hasn’t seen the sun in 1000 years* *will never need* My brain: yeah, but what if?
@Amelia DeVille yes
You clicked on the wrong video, try : how to start a fire in your bed using only your pillows.
Dave now that’s a challenge (except there’s electrical (plasma) fires, heat source (heat gun/ hair dryer, curling iron, etc)
Indeed, what if something happened and life turned back into primetive atmosphere or what if we were end up in the wilderness where there is a lack of modern energy sources.
Now I just need to bust apart my bedside table and give this a try¡! LoL
13:29 background music will play once you've succeed.
😂
Your profile picture is a demon
It didnt play for me my game bug.
@@GDCilia :D
If only real life worked this way 😭
this guy: "lick your hands to..." the whole world right now: "wait, that's illegal"
Government: you got a permit to take off your mask?
@@solomonheppner 😂 I’m here for when China and Russia invade
@@solomonheppner government is really pushing it with this,Corona is pretty much just the flu this is all political when Biden gets in all this stuff will be lifted
The left is evil and all the people who voted for Biden will see how idiotic they are when he gets in
@@godsnotdead1030 stfu
Me in the wild trying to make a fire in a spruce forest: “welp…. according to Bill, I’m screwed”💀✋🏼
"you gotta lick your hands, if they get dry lick them again" sounds good so far.
this guy wants to have corona i think
the frick? Bruh there’s a 98% survival rate. Also it only kills people who have health problems or are old. It’s spreads by contaminated surfaces or in contact and your in a forest so that’s not gonna happen
@@dinh6327 yeah he is in a forest which can lead to more serious diseases and do u think that licking your hands are very healthy
the frick? If you gotta make a fire
Ha, lick your hands.... What kind of survivalist doesn't pack a nice flower scented hand lotion when toughing it in the woods, He's a joke. 🙄 LMAO 😂🤣
Primitive Technology got me covered.
Wow! The fire style was dead on, but the fire starting with a drill or a bow was really spectacular. Everybody has read the boy scout manuals, survival books...but actually watching it happen was invaluable. I'll give it a try tomorrow. Thanks!
I love the fact that he kept the failed attempt, and how to prep all the necessary materials. Brilliant!
Bill, you really need to have a greater presence on KZhead. Whether it's experimental archaeology, primitive bush craft, nose-to-tail meat eating or natural sourdough, this is an enormous audience eager for your knowledge and skills. You need to have your own channel.
Make sure everything you will need is at your disposal, like within arm's reach. Learnt that the hard way changing a baby's diaper.
I hate the word 'diaper'.......'nappy' doesn't sound as gross.
@@SilentHotdog28 no one in the USA west of the Mississippi river knows what a "nappy" is
I love how he got angry when the stick broke and just started swearing at it. 😂 But eventually after 5 tries and you can see that on the drill holes he finally got an amber and then fire. he's a good teacher!
we should all appreciate the fact that they showed us how difficult & tedious the process is. making fire without tools is no joke.
now i feel like walking outside, grabbing the nearest stick and rock, and building rome with a space station in the middle. gimme a half hour.
Just remember that when you are trying to make a fire, Make sure you take your left shoe off.... I tried for hours and as soon as my shoe came off almost everything around me burst into flames. Just a little FYI.... 🤣
@@xpndblhero5170 was your left shoe full of gasoline?
I had tried this and failed and now I know why. Also after watching the whole thing its makes sense why this video is 25min long.
well? why'd you fail?
He doesn't have a flint'n steel
@@ZaK_O_Vallentine "Hey steve can you pass me some wood"
The masculine urge to learn how to build a fire at 3 am
Anyone also watching this because: “ just in case”? Lol
Imma burn this into my memory.
Hah
Hah
Hah
Hah
Hah
Finally someone who actually knows. Good job.
Good tutorial, it's definitely not as easy as you made it look. I've done friction fires just for the novelty and practice, but I definitely prefer my ferrocerium rod. Thanks for sharing!
uuuuuluuluuluullulu klul lluu ullu u uu llu u uu lull u lu luu llulululluuluuluuuuluuuluuuuululuuuululuuululuululuulululluuuuuuulllluuululuuluuuuuulluuuulllululululullululuuluuuulluuluuuluuulluululululluuuluuuluuuuluuuullluuuululuuuluuuuluuullluuuluullluullululuulluulululululuuuuulutww
Best hand drill & bow drill fire making video on KZhead. Bonus explanation of the advantages of the teepee & parallel stick fires. Excellent.
Man has conjured one of the four elements. Man has just demonstrated its strength.
doctor: “you have 25 minutes and 30 seconds left to live” me:
beef jerky time!!!
Ah yes, learning survival techniques before death because you never know when you may need it, very smart!
Typical millenial... useless! :D
U clearly forgot about the ads unless you’re using premium
@@4udarren421 or an adblocker...
That's very cool. Never knew starting a fire was so freaking complicated.
This is amazing! The creativity, actually the immense leap in imagination that our ancestors did to be able to create this mechanism out of the simplest of materials is simply amazing.
I don’t why this was recommended to me, but I’m here and I’m intrigued.
21:19 Who hates that sound?
sounds like politics
Радослав Вакарелов no i love it
No one: Roddy Rich: EEE ERR
its kinda satisfying to me
Saving this to a survival USB thumb drive for when there's no internet servers, and everyone else is whining they don't have toilet paper or lighter fluid.
Could you perhaps share what other videos you keep as tutorials?
I have a whole file about survival in various situations. Army stuff. Boy scout stuff. Etc.
Why not write it down in hard pencil?
Books are a thing you know
Someone call 911. My eyes are stuck in the back of my sockets 🙄
Amazing channel! Best teacher I have seen in a long time! Clear, detailed, thorough, passionate, masterful. What Bill failed to say is that all of this takes an amazing amount of dedication, determination, endurance, callus and *strength* (or at least at the beginning of mastery).
brambles are great fiber plant.
I did a wilderness therapy program a while back and in order to make fire we had to use friction like what is shown in the thumbnail which is known as a hand drill. Although the majority of the fires we made were actually done with a bow drill. I was better at hand drill than I was at bow drill so when ever I could I would use a hand drill. The only problem with that was it left my hands heavily blistered.
I’m watching this because of the Corona Virus, just in case
CC87 facts lol
What does making a fire have to do with corona virus
Sameee lawl
Same here 🤣
CC87 yeah cus a virus that is comparable to the flu will end the world , not viruses that have taken out almost an entire continent like the plague
I used to be obsessed with this kinda stuff when I was in the Boy Scouts, I’m so happy, most of what I remember is actually accurate down to the making the rope, this is awesome! I hope this guy makes more videos 😁👍👍
youtube: how to start a fire with bare hands literally no one: me: *just in case*
I see you're embracing your basic instinct.
Memes before 2019: Memes after 2019: nobody: Blablablah:
@@spengbabsquorponts2064 everybody gangster untill....no body is gangster, plz stop.
@@sabinfigaro7334 nobody:
😂yes just in case!
Him: *makes fire* Me, a primitive: wo hoh huh hoh huwoh huhah reeeeeeee!
Player Nova this is keck
I guarantee it starts raining as soon as I get an ember going
Amber*
Pranay Purohit i think he spelled it right
@@immortal_shrooms6757 it's tinder
This would be exactly my luck tbh lol
@@pranaypurohit7855 you're dumb aren't you?
How to start a fire in a survival situation 60000 City Kids: I'm going to need this
"Oxygen is already in the air" What do you know? You learn something new everyday.
@João Maverick nah we don't use up all the oxygen when we breathe in, so there's both carbon dioxide and leftover oxygen when we exhale
@João Maverick oh yeah, true!
João Maverick There’s always some douche trying to be a contrarian. Blowing simply displaces the smoke and adds oxygen via your breathe, and the air around you. You don’t blow out 100% carbon dioxide. Not even close.
@João Maverick Exhaled air 16% oxygen thats why CPR requires breaths to be given. By blowing you are able to supply oxygen directly where it is needed.
@João Maverick "saliva has water, therefore, oxygen." No he doesn't mean that - He is not a moron.
absolutely love how informative and direct the information is, very easy to follow and very detailed right down to proper materials. This video is just overall fantastic would love to see more I also liked that even in this instructional video some things still went wrong but he brushed through it and showed you how to correct them just as easily which I find helps make you more prepared for inconveniences you may face and how to quickly requite the situation
Wow this is the best video I've seen on the subject. Everyone just tells you how to do it; he actually explained why each step is important and what not to do. Great job brother.
Thank you for taking the effort to make this video. And to do so, warts and all and without condescending to your audience! Again, thank you. Hats off.
Absolutely encouraging! Thanks a lot! You are among those 4-5 people in the world who can do this!
I worked for a wilderness therapy/primitive survival program… this guy taught me more than my time there 😅 *We used the bow drill FYI
Thanks for not making this look too easy. I can't wait to give this a go. Thank you!
I really appreciate all the details Bill provides.
This man looks like hes done some wrestling
the ears gave it away ; cool video
Starts a fire in the wilderness, brings all the material in a basket
I'm not a survivalist or an outdoors man but I'm sure some of the details about the materials he used doesn't have to be so perfect
That's not a hard basket to weave in a primitive situation. He just has done preparation which is necessary for success.
@@skullcrushers1000 yah I get it all I'm saying is if I got stranded and the sun was getting low and I needed a fire maybe the notches on my stick board wouldnt be so perfect (lol at your profile name)
Also wears a t-shirt, jeans and boots...and films on digital media. Very unauthentic.
watch Primitive Technology if you're not okay with the preparation
Trial and error my dood. Thanks for showing how difficult it really is to start a fire. People assume it's easy because it's normally made to look that way. But you've shown just how difficult it really is.
His last statement was the best part of this whole video. Learning how to do this connects us with our past, our environment and what it means to be human. At least in part what it means to be human. There are more aspects to humanity than this, of course.
I've been watching this video for 800 years I hope the fire step starts soon
i like how the raw meat just magically appeared in the end.
sealobo What? Did you want to see him grab a spear and hunt?
They prolly ate the camera man 😭
@@501thtrooper4 The camera man never dies
The hunters of his tribe don't like to be on camera -- it steals their souls.
That requires as he said a strong understanding of the materials you need, shaping them and muscle and observation. The movies make it look so easy.
thank you for all the tips and details explained in such a thoroughly manner! Great channel, man, have a nice one
Instructions unclear my house is now on fire
sounds like you succeeded
Wow! I've always wondered how to do that. Well done. You made that look so easy, I wonder if I could actually pull that off myself?
FINALLY! I could understand how to make fire with woods... Perfect explanation, thank you very much!
thanks man for teaching us this. something this simple can take us a long way in times of need
Big fan of this dude, and his lists.
Imagine how many lives this video is gonna save in future
Jammy none cause we are all to lazy to go outside and lighters are a thing
depends on the situation
I made my first bow drill fire today. I was so happy! Good bushcraft day
Brilliant. Thanks Bill. Definitely BEST and most thorough video on the subject I’ve ever seen. Thank you!
"Fire needs Oxygen to burn" My Big Brain: *_We could live on the sun_*
CarlosTomon wtf is wrong with you
@Elijah Kim 김기성 Oh uh...I was kind of...joking...
Interesting
What if I wanted to make fondue when I was on the moon.... What do I do then¿! LoL
He was joking dude
This guy has great advice, follow his every word, but he makes it look SOOOOOOOOO much more easy than it is in real life. In Boy Scouts it took me hours to make fire with a bow.
That making coals part was really good, I had never thought of it like that.
This guy is an absolute delight to watch.
I have much more respect for the ancient people now. Fascinating video. Thank you.
Only thing i would have a hard time with is finding the right wood for spindle and the hearth but anybody would if you are in the forest You would need the luck of the irish but if u in thewoods and are still alive then you must have luck already so finding the materials would be possible. Great Video Thank You‼️
Especially when everything around you is soaked with rain or snow.
I've been looking for someone to explain this to me in a way I can remember and understand....and you sire have successfully done that. Thank you!
My survival method in cold weather hunting, is to create a hole about a foot deep, three feet wide, filled with branches of fallen trees(hardwood trees), creating a few shovel loads of hot coals. Place those coals in a bed about six feet long, two feet wide, 10 inches(less than a foot, in extreme cold...below 0), and lightly cover the coals with the soil, and not packing-it-down. Put mattress over the soil bed, sleeping bag(SeaToSummit, makes awesome sleeping bags) on top, climb-in. Oh, the shelter wall/lean-To, would obviously be blocking the wind/cold air direction. Good for a couple hours of heat.
More of this guy, please. Very interesting and educational at the same time.
I was dead when the spindle broke💀
Great content. Wow. Thank you for finding this expert. Best tutorial on fire making I’ve ever seen.
Watching this at 2am in the middle of a quarantine... Will try this in the kitchen.
You missed one tool: the fire piston, which was widely used in Southeast Asia. Granted, it's harder to make with just stone tools, but it's still one of the most convenient and fastest ways of starting a fire, short of having match.
12:09 when you are actually making the fire make sure you keep your back leg at a 90 degree angle and lean your back to exert downward pressure for the bow drill string you do what he does at about 17:00 but if you dont have that rawhide you can use things like stinging nettle, tree bark and roots but each has a way to be prepared, best bet is to look on youtube stinging nettle, tree bark and root cordage. if you do stinging nettle it will sting your hands so use something like a sleave and then you can either put the nettle into water or you can put it over flame for a second but water is better if you clearly dont have fire already
Once they have been used for lighting fires and moving the burning tinder around, you do not even feel nettles though your calloused hands any more than using them to put burning paper out or stubbing your cigarettes out. .
I’ve used oak before for a Bow Drill. We found maybe only 3 or 4 when we were hiking the Appalachian Mountains in NC. It’s funny when you look at trees and you can see the hidden value it can have. An Oak Bow just in itself just sounded cool. An for an eleven year old it was the coolest thing I ever made.
What he said at the end there was powerful. Much respect.
Was hoping you'd make a fire set since that's easily the most complicated part of this.
Mavrck2711 How so?
@@embeaston Go make a proven kit and you'll find out.
Mavrck2711 I have. And I’ve failed a lot too. Even when everything felt the same in my eyes. I just think there’s a gate keeper of fire and will only let humans have successful coals when they feel like it. Haha
@@embeaston Lol I hear ya. The problem is moisture it's always moisture. Moisture in the air or in the wood. The reason why I wanted to see him make a kit is simple he kept saying in a survival situation. In a survival situation you don't have your fire kit you have to go get one. You have to dry it out. There are some tricks to drying wood but ultimately finding that right dead standing not punky tree that is also the right species is as hard as spinning the spindle. Also once you've found it making the board with a primitive edge would also take tons of finesse. He said a cat tail for spindle. Cat tails are in the water. No mention on how to prepare a cat tail just use a cat tail. That's gonna kill someone (ok overly dramatic it probably won't but you get the idea). Those times you couldn't get a coal I'm willing to bet it was just enough moisture to not allow enough air spaces between those tiny dust particles and bam no coal no fire.
@Tiitus Lehtonen You must not know what a fire set is. When you're watching videos like this and you see someone say fire set they're talking about the components of a friction fire (hearth board, spindle, with optional bow, string and bearing block. As far as I'm concerned him bringing a proven pre made fire set into the woods is almost the same as bringing a lighter. He could have just done this in his back yard. Going to the woods was just for added effect.
If I'm in a survival situation and I have 5 different kinds of wood and some leather, I probably have a lighter.
Wood is found in nature and leather isn’t completely needed to make a fire
Very good, easy to understand, informative, this is good stuff to know and you make it easy to learn it.
Excellent overview of making fire. Thanks for this
Bow drill all day. Forget that hand drill business
just dont forget the nice premade super cured deer hide , taken in summer moon to get that nice soft texture so your hands feel good. rofl... just use your shoes laces gowd. 10-15 min in and he still hasnt made the fire. Dont forget the pre made basket for your wood rods.
That's what I'm thinking, looks way easier, altho it may be a bit more preparation depending on the materials you already have
Too true man. It is possible via hand drill, but the speed and accuracy of a bowdrill,not mentioning the energy expenditure it saves makes it a clear winner( and no callouses too)
@@SageShadow096 or a nice thing called a ROCK to lay your sticks on. a nice flat ROCK. and im sure the laces aren't storong enough for constant rubbing against a stick to create fire.
So you're telling me that I need to: *_Lick my hands_* to get a *_stronger grip_* at the *_stick_* , and to *_keep the stick on the hole for a long period of time_* . Seems about right
You're hands are going to slowly move down the shaft
Downward pressure!
-_-
Be sure to stay gentle with the shaft once it finishes
I wanted to say you need God. But maybe I need God.
You know he's a real survivalist when he takes off his shoes and sits in that primitive posture that shows he is one with nature.
The very good thing here is: it’s not like in other videos where after 2 minutes there is a fire. Here you see how much effort goes into it.
Bear Grylls: How to start a fire with your own pee WIRED: How to start a fire with your bare hands pff...
Great video, very clear instructions. I would however suggest going more in depth with creating your bow string with fibres, since realistically you wouldn't have leather handy.
Watching the process and creation of the fire was so fun and exciting!
What a city man. The potential for the fire to spread, after a four day rain. Health and safety first.