Watch: Make a Simple Fire-Starter With a 9v Battery

The video below contains three projects, but the first one is the best and most sensible–although the alarm system at the end isn’t bad either.

Basically, you use a wire to create a small heater element, add a switch, and cobble it all together on a 9-volt battery. Then when you mash the little momentary switch, the element heats up and can be used to start a fire, as demonstrated in the video.

This certainly beats a butane lighter in windy conditions.

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.