HQ Fire Starting

How to build and start a fire

What do you need to start a fire when you do not have matches? As you begin your Quest, you will need many items along the way. The Food Quest begins with this Question: "What do you need to start a fire so you can cook your food?" If you are not sure what you need, just scan the QR Code and get a hint.

Flint

Flint is a hard, sedimentary crqptocrysalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white or brown in colour, and often has a glassy or waxy appearance. A thin layer on the outside of the nodules is usually different in colour, typically white and rough in texture.

Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure. Coal is composed primarily of carbon, along with variable quantities of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen and nitrogen. Coal is a fossil fuel that forms when dead plant matter is converted into peat, which in turn is converted into lignite, then sub-bituminous coal, after that bituminous coal, and lastly anthracite. This involves biological and geological processes. The geological processes take place over millions of years.

Steel or Striking Tool

In early times, percussion firemaking was often used to start fires. Before the advent of steel, a variety of iron pyrite or marcasite was used with flint and other stones to produce a high-temperature spark that could be used to create fire. There are indications that the "Iceman" called Otzi may have used iron pyrite to make fire.
From the Iron Age forward, until the invention of the friction match, the use of flint and steel was a common method of firelighting. Percussion fire-starting was prevalent in Europe during ancient times, the Middle Ages and the Viking Age.
When flint and steel were used, the fire steel was often kept in a metal tinderbox together with flint and tinder.

Medicated Alcohol

Rubbing alcohol refers to either isopropyl alcohol (propan-2-ol) or ethanol based liquids,or the comparable Brish Phamacopeia defined surgical spirit, with isopropyl alcohol products being the most widely available. Rubbing alcohol is undrinkable even if it is ethanol based, due to the bitterants added.

See Some Examples