Primitive Fire Sticks

Primitive Technology: How To Make Fire With Sticks

Making primitive fire sticks from scratch, making a fire using the sticks and making and firing a small pot to test clay from the hut.
The species of wood used for the fire sticks is ‘Abroma mollis’. In the hibiscus/cottonwood family (Malvaceae).

Helpful Tips:

If you are using either the hand drill or the bow drill method, you will need to first prepare your fire board. This is what you will press the drill against to create the friction that will hopefully start your fire. The fire board and the drill both need to be made from light, dry, non-resinous wood.

The best wood for this won’t have any sap and will be light and soft enough to easily dent with your thumbnail without gouging.

Ideally the fire board should be an inch thick, 2-4 inches (5-10 cm) across and at least 12 inches (31 cm) long

Once you have your fire board you will need make your drill. Your drill should be made of harder wood than your fire board. Poplar and Maple are good woods for this. Try to find the straightest piece of wood possible, and carve it down to a length of around 8 inches and a diameter of about 1.5 inches.

Carve one end of the stick into a tapered point, like the end of a pencil. Carve the other end into a blunt point. (Source)

Best wood for starting a fire by hand

Of course geographically local indigenous wood vary from region to region. Here is a list of wood types that should work well together to make your primitive fire sticks

Willow on Lime
Willow on Willow
Hazel on Lime
Willow on sycamore
hazel on poplar
Spruce on Spruce
Ash on Willow
Elder on Pine
Hazel on Cedar
Hazel on Ivy
Hazel on Pine
Hazel on Sycamore
Poplar on Cedar
Sycamore on Sycamore
Bird Cherry on Alder
Wild Rose on Alder
Willow on Aspen
Willow on Poplar