I love things like this, brilliant yet simple

[kenny]

Intelligent innovative humans, and the progression of their technology.

 

[LilAlex]

It's not easy! One of our kids spent a few years starting ("busting") fires with a bow drill and teaching troubled kids to do the same in wilderness therapy programs in the mountain west. It's better than "rubbing two sticks together" but you need super-dry tinder or dryer lint which is in short supply after a few winter months. Or so I've been told. Makes me so grateful for our little wax/sawdust fire-starters!

 

[Karl_K]

90% of it is having/finding the right material and the right weather.
Flint/steel with vaseline coated cotton balls is much easier and works under more conditions.
Even better is wax dipped paper around vaseline coated cotton to keep it dry.
Cut open, fluff, spark and it will burn long enough and hot enough to start damp twigs.
It is actually very close to prehistoric methods of using moss and animal fat with flint and ironstone they carried with them..

 

[kenny]

90% of it is having/finding the right material and the right weather.
Flint/steel with vaseline coated cotton balls is much easier and works under more conditions.
Even better is wax dipped paper around vaseline coated cotton to keep it dry.
Cut open, fluff, spark and it will burn long enough and hot enough to start damp twigs.
It is actually very close to prehistoric methods of using moss and animal fat with flint and ironstone they carried with them..

Now, after tens of millennia of progress, I'm sure you're right.

But I loved this video's ancient history demo of how it likely was back then, and the steps to improve the process using only what they had.
I find history fascinating, and plan to check out more videos from this channel, Primitive Technology.

If they don't have it already they'll soon have an iPhone app that starts a fire and roasts weenies and makes stores for you.
But then with Meta you can probably just experience it all via AI and Smell-O-Vision with Taste-O-Vision.


Today I'd just use ...

 

[jordyonbass]

That's a really cool design! I have made bow drills in the outback before and they work great too, but these are fantastic if you are looking to spend extended time in the wilderness.