Did you know that you can start a fire with a soda can and a chocolate bar? It doesn’t have to be a soda can, any aluminum can will do. In this post, you’ll learn how to do it.
Whether you’re an avid hiker looking to brush up on your survivalist skills or you’re looking for a cool trick to impress your friends on your next campout, lighting a fire with a soda can and a piece of chocolate isn’t as difficult or absurd is it might sound. In fact, the science behind this nifty life hack is simple as can be. Let’s take a peek at what you’re going to need to pull this impressive feat off.
Supplies
- Soda Can
- Chocolate
- Paper Towel or Cloth
- Tinder
- The Sun
Soda Can
If you’ve ever taken a stroll through the woods near any populated area you might find quite a bit of litter. As fortunate as this might be, why not double up your efforts to be environmentally friendly by picking up a few cans and recycling them into invaluable tools that might even help cook your next dinner.
Be on the lookout for a cleaner can with minimal corrosion. The aluminum can be used as a reflective lens to harness the power of the sun. All you really need is the bottom of the can. You can cut this part off and fold in the sharp bits if you want to reuse it in the future.
Chocolate
Not only a delicious calorie-heavy delicacy but potentially a life-saving piece of survival gear. Who knew? Milk chocolate is preferable but really any variety will do. Chocolate acts as polish to shine the bottom concave part of the can. Make sure to save a couple of pieces for s’mores after you make your fire.
Paper Towel or Cloth
Paper fine works just fine but micro-fiber is superior if you got it. You could even use a piece of a shirt or an old sock if you’re really going through some hard times. The cloth or towel is used to finish polishing the can after the chocolate is applied
Tinder
You gotta have something to ignite if you’re going to be lighting any fires. That’s where tinder comes in. The dryer the better. You can finely shred paper into strips if you have a notebook or you can seek out hay and tiny little twigs, but my expert opinion is to find the dryest tree bark you can find and pulverize it between two rocks. This is the good stuff. You’ll be sitting around a cozy fire telling ghost stories in no time.
The Sun
Let’s take a second and give props to our Sun. Without it all life on earth and all of its byproducts simply wouldn’t be. Also, without the sun we wouldn’t be able to make our fire with our soda can. So, make sure it’s a sunny day. High noon is preferable for optimal results.
Instructions
1. Clean It
Take your soda can and clean the concave bottom as much as you can with water if you have it. Make sure it’s dry before applying the chocolate.
2. Rub
Next, take your chocolate and rub it all over the bottom of your can. Make sure that the waxy coating is thick. Use your paper towel or cloth to start polishing the can. Put a little bit of elbow grease into it. I always go in a clockwise motion but that parts all up to you.
Repeat this application and polishing pattern a few times until the bottom of your can is shiny and mirror-like.
3. Focus The Sun
After your can is super shiny, make a pile of your tinder on a flat surface such as a rock or grassless dirt. Take your can and position it horizontally facing towards the tinder.
Make sure that you are able to reflect light from the sun directly into the tinder. If you’ve ever seen someone make a fire with a magnifying glass, the process is essentially one and the same.
You want to focus the sun’s light using your can as directly as you can into your tinder. Adjust the angle of your can by adding sticks or rocks underneath if you need it.
4. Feed The Fire
Once you’ve ignited your tinder, slowly start feeding your fire with small sticks working your way up to bigger sticks.
That’s it, it’s a very simple yet effective way to light a fire in a more creative way for when you want to try something new. Just to add to your list of different methods of fire starting.
If you liked this post on how to start a fire with an aluminum can and a chocolate bar, you might also be interested in the post on how to make a self-feeding fire just like the pioneers did or the guide on how to make a swedish log fire.
Remember to always practice fire safety and have water and a shovel available in case your fire gets out of hand. And most importantly, have fun.
That’s all you need to do. I hope this guide on how to start a fire using a soda can and a chocolate bar helped you.
If you want to see a video guide, check out the video below.
