I saw a segment on the news the other day about wilderness survival, but I had the volume down so I missed what they were saying. They were obviously talking about how to start a fire without matches because the guy was showing a 9 volt battery and a piece of steel wool and when he touched the battery to the wool it sparked and caught fire. I thought that was super cool and good to know, but I'm curious if he had to do something to the battery first or if it would work with any regular 9 volt that had a charge. Has anybody heard of this before? Next time I see something about the great outdoors on the tv I need to turn up the volume, lol.
Starting the fire
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Smokeybear
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I have not heard about this but I would think the battery would have to be charged. It would be like putting in a new battery into a device. There would have to be juice in it to make it work.
hummingbird
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Cool idea but I don't know anyone who just carries steel wool and a 9 volt battery with them if they are just out driving or walking around. More often than not the ones that get lost have nothing at all with them-dorks. My husband has gone out on more than one "lost man" call where someone was just taking a walk and got lost. We get a lot of tourist at the lake and a lot of them are not the best woodsmen in the world. Then they need to be rescued. I'm surprised a bear hasn't eaten one yet.
outdoorgirl
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I wonder why they were just showing a 9V. They all have power going through them. It sounds like a good science project to try one day.
2coastcamper
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I saw Les Stroud do that to start a fire on Survivorman once.
I tend to agree with Hummingbird - who walks around in the woods with a battery and piece of steel wool? It's a clever little trick, but I think the key to survival is to know how to use things that you would readily have on hand. If I had a flashlight I would have batteries, but I usually leave the steel wool behind 