Fire Plow

The fire-plow is a friction method of ignition. You rub a hardwood shaft against a softer wood base. To use this method, cut a straight groove in the base and plow the tip of the shaft up and down the groove. The plowing action of the shaft pushes out small particles of wood fibers. Then, as you apply more pressure on each stroke, the friction ignites the wood particles to create an ember.

Once hot enough, the ember is dumped into tinder, then blowing forces in oxygen which raises the temperature as the ember glows more brightly and hopefully results in ignition of the tender.