Australia & New Zealand Outdoor Adventure Forum

Okay so here we are stranded in a middle of a forest at night and have no option but to spend the night in an open spot.

We decide to make a campfire but have no fuel with us. How do we make a campfire from scratch? We have axes and other tools.

If other tools include a radio, the battery will be useful to start the fire. All you need is a battery and aluminum foil. The aluminum wrap of a chewing gum is enough. What you need to do is twist the aluminum foil in the middle so that only the middle is twisted tight. Then, touch the untwisted end on the - and + sides of the battery. In a few seconds, the middle of the tin foil should catch fire. I recommend using some protective gloves if both sides are aluminum. Bubble gum wrappers are best.

Like this:

TheKnight wrote:If other tools include a radio, the battery will be useful to start the fire. All you need is a battery and aluminum foil. The aluminum wrap of a chewing gum is enough. What you need to do is twist the aluminum foil in the middle so that only the middle is twisted tight. Then, touch the untwisted end on the - and + sides of the battery. In a few seconds, the middle of the tin foil should catch fire. I recommend using some protective gloves if both sides are aluminum. Bubble gum wrappers are best.

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I must say this is totally new idea for me. We used to do lots of campfire during our hiking and trekking time but none of us having idea of this. And it sounds quite simple too as both items are quite common. You said to have bubble gum as wrapper, I wonder how to do that. Are you saying to wrap gum on foil paper on + and - end right? I will surely try it out on my next hiking.

naruto100 wrote:

TheKnight wrote:If other tools include a radio, the battery will be useful to start the fire. All you need is a battery and aluminum foil. The aluminum wrap of a chewing gum is enough. What you need to do is twist the aluminum foil in the middle so that only the middle is twisted tight. Then, touch the untwisted end on the - and + sides of the battery. In a few seconds, the middle of the tin foil should catch fire. I recommend using some protective gloves if both sides are aluminum. Bubble gum wrappers are best.

Like this:

I must say this is totally new idea for me. We used to do lots of campfire during our hiking and trekking time but none of us having idea of this. And it sounds quite simple too as both items are quite common. You said to have bubble gum as wrapper, I wonder how to do that. Are you saying to wrap gum on foil paper on + and - end right? I will surely try it out on my next hiking.

No. Don't put gum anywhere near it. You have to use the gum WRAPPER. Most stick gum comes with a foil wrapper.
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Amazing! @TheKnight precisely the reason why I started this thread. I love innovative ideas and I must say I never knew about this one. It is a fantastic way to start a fire.

I still didn't get the twist part. Are you like saying the positive and negative ends should have the "paper' part touching them while the center should have the foil?

Got it. This is really easy trick. Even I don't understand the twist part properly. You mean we need to touch foil part only at + - but middle part should be twisted. Right? Twisting means we just need to fold it from middle or something like that?

I am surprised why you have no age old matchbox while visiting a forest in your kit bag LOL? However, we were taught during our school days how to use stones to start a fire if we had nothing else. For fuel, you said you had axes with you so that would have solved the problem as you could have cut dry wood available in almost everywhere. I think there is no better campfire than heavy logs of wood which lasts for longer duration and keeps you warm besides keeping animals away.

Wow...this is an amazing trick and that to very convenient as well. It is really worth trying. I will always keep it on my mind from now on.

Gee, @TheKnight, that's one good way to start a fire without a lighter or match. Maybe i have to try it before going on a camping trip. This would surely amaze the kids, waheehee. And since I always have a camera with me which uses an AA battery then the only problem now is the bubble gum foil. And for sure the kids have those bubble gum with them.