Saw this on TV...

[Mantracker]

I was watching CNN "Presents" a few weeks ago when they showed Special Forces going through SERE school. I just saw a quick glimpse of this method of fire starting and was wondering if anybody else saw it too and can tell me if there was anything special they may have left out.

One of the instructors was "sawing" through a piece of wood really fast with a wire saw. The wood was probably somewhere between 4-5 inches in diameter. I don't know how long he was sawing beforehand but when they showed him he was completing about 5-6 strokes. He then removed the saw from the wood and touched it to a pile of powder(I am assuming it was smokless powder from a cartridge) and it immediately flashed and ignited the tinder nearby.

Am I right in guessing that he had to of been really sawing before they showed him in order to get the saw that hot?

Anybody ever tried this?

 

[MelancholyMutt]

seems like a lot to go through to start a fire...
I mean, it's nice to know, but if you have a wire saw, and a cartridge, and something to pull the round from the cartridge, I would hope you have a match or lighter as well...

I hear that other methods include...

steel wool, flammable liquid and a car battery.

taking out half the powder and the bullet from a cartridge, wadding cloth into the cartridge and firing it through a gun into tinder...

soaking tinder in flammable liquid, placing it on a rock and then striking rock with another rock.

the possibilities are endless, but I think it's best done with matches or a lighter.