How to Make Fire With Flint & a Knife

Wilderness survival involves locating water, food and shelter. Starting a fire is an essential skill. A fire will provide warmth, enable you to cook food or boil water and can create a sense of security at night. A common method for starting a fire is to use a flint and steel striker. When a steel striker is lost or unavailable, a knife and flint can be used to create a spark to start fire.

Things You'll Need

  • Knife
  • Flint
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Instructions

    • 1

      Gather up loose and very dry tinder and place the tinder in your fire pit. Good tinder includes items such as frayed bark, dry leaves, crushed pine needles, cotton balls or newspaper.

    • 2

      Point the flint at the tinder. Hold the flint about 2 inches from the tinder. The closer to the tinder the more easily a spark will fall onto the tinder.

    • 3

      Hold the knife horizontally along the flint. Hold the knife with the cutting edge pointing up toward you. The flint and knife should form a cross.

    • 4

      Apply downward pressure onto the flint with the knife. Scrape the knife away from your body along the length of the flint. Do this a few times until the sparks start landing on the tinder. Lightly blow on the tinder to accelerate or kindle the spark into a flame.

    • 5

      Set more tinder near the flame, and then place larger logs onto the fire.