Or, if you prefer, you could place all of the newspaper balls together and use them to light a large piece of wood on fire. If you don’t have newspaper, you can use paper towels as tinder instead. They’ll burn in practically the same way. [1] X Research source
If you have a “bug out” bag or a survival kit, add a few pieces of char cloth so that you won’t be without it in a survival situation. You can purchase char cloth at a local hardware store. You could also make your own char cloth using a metal tin, a heat source, and white fabric.
Make sure that natural substances are dry before you attempt to light them on fire. Wet leaves or pine needles will smolder and smoke, but never actually burn.
If you are in the forest don’t have a clear area nearby, you can use the side of your foot to sweep leaves and pine needles off of a patch of soil, and then light the fire on the dirt.
Aim to focus the circle until it’s only about 1⁄4 inch (0. 64 cm) across.
If you’re creating a fire on a day without strong, direct sunlight, it may take more than 5 minutes for the tinder to catch on fire.
Once the fire is out, use your shovel to turn over any smoldering coals and douse them again with water. Make sure that the fire is fully extinguished.
You can find small magnifying lenses at a local hardware store, or at a pharmacy or grocery store. You can also start a fire by using a page-sized flat magnifying lens. Note that one side of a flat magnifier is ridged and the other side is smooth. It will work a little better if you hold it so that the smooth side faces the tinder.
Eyeglasses aren’t as powerful at focusing the sun’s rays as a magnifying glass, since glasses are only convex one 1 side, while the magnifying glass is convex on both sides. Compensate for this by placing 1 drop of clear water on the inside surface of the eyeglasses. This will give the lens 2 convex surfaces, and make it channel more heat onto your tinder.
Be aware that, if you’re using a flat page magnifier, the concentrated image will be rectangular and not round.
Consider wearing sunglasses if you’re using a large focusing device. The glasses will protect your eyes from potential damage.
