An important part of manhood has always been about having the competence to be effective in the world — having the breadth of skills, the savoir-faire, to handle any situation you find yourself in. With that in mind, each Sunday we’ll be republishing one of the illustrated guides from our archives, so you can hone your manly know-how week by week.
Do you remember the scene in The Road where the boy and his father discover an untouched, perfectly stocked survival bunker? The hungry nomads happily gape as they take in crate after crate of canned goods, an unbelievable oasis in an otherwise desolate, apocalyptic landscape. The pair liberate the contents of the cans with a can opener, and make a dinner of canned pears and peaches; “They licked the spoons and tipped the bowls and drank the rich sweet syrup.”
But what if father and son hadn’t found a can opener amongst the supplies? Fortunately, as long as they knew some alternative opening methods, they wouldn’t have been out of luck.
Despite how impenetrable they may seem, cans of food are made from fairly thin aluminum. Exploiting the can’s weakness with a variety of tools is easy. Here are three ways to get at your next meal if ever you find yourself without a can opener.
Have you ever wondered what Don King is worth? He has been involved with some of the biggest names in boxing and has taken a slice from each of their earnings.
Also, there are the accusations that he has conned more than one fighter out of millions of dollars. Some of these have tried suing him and have been settled out of court, for a small fraction of what they claimed to be owed.
So here we find out what he’s worth or shall we say ‘what he’s estimated to be worth’. We would put money on it being much, much higher!
Who is Don King?
Don King is an American businessman who has an estimated net worth of $150 million as of 2023. Don King is widely regarded as one of the most famous and successful boxing promoters of all time. He regularly made headlines for his unique image and his controversial actions. In terms of his career, Don King has represented some of the biggest names in boxing including Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, George Foreman, Evander Holyfield, Larry Holmes, Julio César Chávez, Andrew Golota, Félix Trinidad, Roy Jones Jr., and Marco Antonio Barrera. He was the promoter behind Muhammad Ali’s most famous fights, the “Rumble in the Jungle” and the “Thrilla in Manila.” Although many remain divided about his contributions to the world of boxing, it is undeniable that Don King has made an impressive name for himself.
Early Life
Don King was born on August 20th of 1931 in Cleveland, Ohio. After attending high school, he attended Kent State University, although he soon dropped out. King’s early involvements in organized sport were suspect, to say the least. He initially ran an illegal bookmaking operation out of the basement of a record store, but this operation came to a halt when King was jailed for murder.
While in prison, Don King spent most of his time reading and self-educating. Eventually, King would receive a full pardon for his crimes – but only after he had been released from prison for many years. Numerous high-profile figures wrote letters to the courts in support of King, which undoubtedly contributed to “cleaning up” his image.
Upon being released, Don King immediately started to pursue a career as a boxing promoter. An important first step in his career path was convincing Mohammed Ali to fight in a charity event that would help raise money for a hospital. After this, he formed a partnership with Don Elbaum. Elbaum had years of experience as a boxing promoter, and he already represented various successful boxers.
Breakthrough
Don King’s breakthrough came when he negotiated a record-breaking $10 million purse for the much-anticipated showdown between George Foreman and Mohammed Ali in 1974. The fight was promoted as “The Rumble in the Jungle,” and took place in Zaire, Africa. Part of the reason Don King was able to reign supreme over other rival promoters was the fact that he managed to negotiate the purse with the government of Zaire.
In, 1975, King promoted another of Ali’s fights, this time against Chuck Wepner. Although many assumed Ali would win against Wepner, the underdog managed to knock Ali down. Fortunately for Ali and King, the journeyman was knocked out in the dying seconds of the fight.
King’s next major accomplishment came with the promotion of Ali’s fight against Joe Frazier. Don King dubbed this meeting the “Thrilla in Manilla” because of its location in the capital of the Phillippines.
Although Mohammed Ali was a major focus for Don King, he also expanded his operation to work with many other successful boxers such as Larry Holmes, Salvador Sanchez, Roberto Duran, Mike Tyson, Wilfried Benitez, and Alexis Arguello, among others. This continued for many years after Mohammed Ali’s retirement.
Activities Outside of Boxing
In addition to boxing, Don King managed Michael Jackson’s Victory Tour. He also purchased a newspaper called Call and Post and ran it as the editor for many years
Legal Issues
When Don King operated his illegal bookmaking operation, he murdered two men. In one incident, King shot a man in the back while he was trying to rob one of his underground gambling establishments. In the other incident, Don King stomped a man to death because he owed King $600. The man was a former employee of King’s. These two murders occurred between 1964 and 1967.
The court came to the conclusion that the first murder, in which King shot a man in the back, was justifiable homicide since King was being robbed. For the second murder, in which King stomped his employee to death, King was found guilty of second-degree murder. However, this would later be changed to non-negligent manslaughter, as it was deemed to be “in the heat of the moment.”
Don King has been sued by a number of boxers. Mohammed Ali took King to court in 1982, alleging that he had been underpaid to the tune of $1.1 million. The case was handled outside of court for a settlement of $50,000. Some have suggested that Ali was taken advantage of during this time, as he was in poor health and mental condition.
Larry Holmes stated that Don King cheated him out of $10 million in fight purse money. After suing King, the boxer agreed to take a settlement of $150,000. He also agreed not to say negative things about King in public.
Tim Witherspoon alleges that he was tricked into handing over more than 80% of his fight money to King and his associates. This is much more than is allowed by law. This meant that Tim Witherspoon was frequently handing over more than two-thirds of everything he made in each fight, including sanctioning fees and other payments that should have gone to the fighter. Witherspoon was also forced to train at King’s own gym at a cost rather than train elsewhere for free. After suing King for more than $25 million, he eventually settled outside of court for $1 million.
Mike Tyson also thought ill of Don King. Tyson alleged that his promoter had cheated him out of millions of dollars over the decades in which they worked together. He eventually sued King for $100 million and settled for $14 million outside of court.
Many other boxers would eventually come forward with similar accounts. Some have even suggested that King threatened to have boxers killed or severely injured if they did not take certain fights or do certain things.
It is alleged that Don King was arrested more than 35 times for a variety of crimes.
Personal Life
Don King’s wife of 50 years, Henrietta, passed away on December 2, 2010. Don has three kids, five grandchildren, and three great grandchildren.
King was known for holding a turkey giveaway each Christmas in which he distributed thousands of free turkeys to South Florida residents in need.
Don King was elected to the Gaming Hall of Fame in 2008.
All net worths are calculated using data drawn from public sources. When provided, we also incorporate private tips and feedback received from the celebrities or their representatives. While we work diligently to ensure that our numbers are as accurate as possible, unless otherwise indicated they are only estimates. We welcome all corrections and feedback using the button below.
Whether for warmth, cooking, or signaling, fire is a survival essential. As is the knowledge of how to make one without matches. You never know when you’ll find yourself without those convenient little red-tipped tools. Maybe your single engine plane goes down while you’re flying over the Alaskan wilderness, like the kid in Hatchet. Or perhaps you’re out camping and you lose your backpack in a tussle with a bear. It needn’t even be something so dramatic — even extremely windy or wet conditions can render matches virtually useless.
Fortunately, if you need to make fire and don’t have matches, you’re not at all out of luck; a wide variety of other options remain for catalyzing a flame. Below, we go over nine of them, from those which utilize items you might scrounge in an urban environment to ones which only require the natural leavings of the wilderness.
Friction-Based Fire Making
Friction-based fire making is not for the faint of heart, and represents the most difficult of the non-match methods. There are different techniques you can use to make a fire with friction, but the most important aspect is the type of wood you use for the fireboard and spindle.
The spindle is the stick you’ll spin in order to create friction between it and the fireboard. If you create enough friction between the spindle and the fireboard, you can create an ember that can be used to create a fire. Cottonwood, juniper, aspen, willow, cedar, cypress, and walnut make the best fireboard and spindle sets.
Before you can use wood to start a friction-based fire, the wood must be bone dry. If the wood isn’t dry, you’ll have to dry it out first.
1. The Hand Drill
The hand drill method is the most primeval, and the most difficult to do. All you need is wood, tireless hands, and some gritty determination. Here’s how it’s done:
Build a tinder nest. Your tinder nest will be used to turn the ember you create into a flame. Make a tinder nest out of anything that catches fire easily, like dry grass, leaves, and bark.
Make your notch. Cut a v-shaped notch into your fireboard and make a small depression adjacent to it.
Place bark underneath the notch. The bark will be used to catch an ember from the friction between the spindle and fireboard.
Start spinning. Place the spindle into the depression on your fireboard. Your spindle should be about 2 feet long for this to work properly. Maintain pressure on the board and start rolling the spindle between your hands, running them quickly down the spindle. Keep doing this until an ember is formed on the fireboard.
Start a fire! Once you see a glowing ember, tap the fireboard to drop your ember onto the piece of bark. Transfer the bark to your nest of tinder. Gently blow on it to start your flame.
2. Fire Plough
Prepare your fireboard. Cut a groove in the fireboard. This will be your track for the spindle.
Rub! Take the tip of your spindle and place it in the groove of your fireboard. Start rubbing the tip of the spindle up and down the groove.
Start a fire. Have your tinder nest at the end of the fireboard, so that you’ll plow embers into as you’re rubbing. Once you catch one, blow the nest gently and get that fire going.
3. Bow Drill
The bow drill is probably the most effective friction-based method to use because it’s easier to maintain the speed and pressure you need to create enough friction to start a fire. In addition to the spindle and fireboard, you’ll also need a socket and a bow.
Get a socket. The socket is used to put pressure on the other end of the spindle as you’re rotating it with the bow. The socket can be a stone or another piece of wood. If you use another piece of wood, try to find a harder piece than what you’re using for the spindle. Wood with sap and oil is good as it creates a lubricant between the spindle and the socket.
Make your bow. The bow should be about as long as your arm. Use a flexible piece of wood that has a slight curve. The string of the bow can be anything: a shoelace, rope, strip of rawhide, etc. Just find something that won’t break. String up your bow and you’re ready to go.
Prepare the fireboard. Cut a v-shaped notch and create a depression adjacent to it in the fireboard. Underneath the notch, place your tinder.
String up the spindle. Catch the spindle in a loop of the bow string. Place one end of the spindle in the fireboard and apply pressure on the other end with your socket.
Start sawing. Using your bow, start sawing back and forth. You’ve basically created a rudimentary mechanical drill. The spindle should be rotating quickly. Keep sawing until you create an ember.
Make your fire. Drop the ember into the tinder nest and blow on it gently. You’ve got yourself a fire.
4. Flint and Steel
This is an old standby. It’s always a good idea to carry around a good flint and steel set with you on a camping trip. Matches can get wet and be become pretty much useless, but you can still get a spark from putting steel to a good piece of flint.
If you’re caught without a flint and steel set, you can always improvise by using quartzite and the steel blade of your pocketknife (you are carrying your pocketknife, aren’t you?). You’ll also need char cloth. Char cloth is cloth that has been turned into charcoal. It catches a spark and keeps it smoldering without bursting into flames. If you don’t have char cloth, a piece of fungus or birch will do.
Grip the rock and char cloth. Take hold of the piece of rock between your thumb and forefinger. Make sure an edge is hanging out about 2 or 3 inches. Grasp the char between your thumb and the flint.
Strike! Grasp the back of the steel striker or use the back of your knife blade. Strike the steel against the flint several times. Sparks from the steel will fly off and land on the char cloth, causing a glow.
Start a fire. Fold up your char cloth into a tinder nest and gently blow on it to start a flame.
Lens-Based Methods
Using a lens to start a fire is an easy matchless method. Any boy who has melted green plastic army men with a magnifying glass will know how to do it. If you have by chance never melted green plastic army men, here’s the technique.
5. Traditional Lenses
To create a fire, all you need is some sort of lens in order to focus sunlight on a specific spot. A magnifying glass, eyeglasses, or binocular lenses all work. If you add some water to the lens, you can intensify the beam. Angle the lens towards the sun in order to focus the beam into as small an area as possible. Put your tinder nest under this spot and you’ll soon have yourself a fire.
The only drawback to the lens-based method is that it only works when you have sun. So if it’s nighttime or overcast, you won’t have any luck.
In addition to the typical lens method, there are three odd, but effective, lens-based methods to start a fire as well.
6. Balloons and Condoms
By filling a balloon or condom with water, you can transform these ordinary objects into fire-creating lenses.
Fill the condom or balloon with water and tie off the end. You’ll want to make it as spherical as possible. Don’t make the inflated balloon or condom too big or it will distort the sunlight’s focal point. Squeeze the balloon to find a shape that gives you a sharp circle of light. Try squeezing the condom in the middle to form two smaller lenses.
Condoms and balloons both have a shorter focal length than an ordinary lens. Hold them 1 to 2 inches from your tinder.
7. Fire From Ice
Fire from ice isn’t just some dumb cliché used for high school prom themes. You can actually make fire from a piece of ice. All you need to do is form the ice into a lens shape and then use it as you would when starting a fire with any other lens. This method can be particularly handy for wintertime camping.
Get clear water. For this to work, the ice must be clear. If it’s cloudy or has other impurities, it’s not going to work. The best way to get a clear ice block is to fill up a bowl, cup, or a container made out of foil with clear lake or pond water or melted snow. Let it freeze until it forms ice. Your block should be about 2 inches thick for this to work.
Form your lens. Use your knife to shape the ice into a lens. Remember a lens shape is thicker in the middle and narrower near the edges.
Polish your lens. After you get the rough shape of a lens, finish the shaping of it by polishing it with your hands. The heat from your hands will melt the ice enough so you get a nice smooth surface.
Start a fire. Angle your ice lens towards the sun just as you would any other lens. Focus the light on your tinder nest and watch as you make a once stupid cliché come to life.
8. Soda Can and Chocolate Bar
A weird one that’s just cool to know.
Polish the bottom of the soda can with the chocolate. Open up your bar of chocolate and start rubbing it on the bottom of the soda can. The chocolate acts as a polish and will make the bottom of the can shine like a mirror. If you don’t have chocolate with you, toothpaste also works.
Make your fire. After polishing the bottom of your can, what you have is essentially a parabolic mirror. Sunlight will reflect off the bottom of the can, forming a single focal point. It’s kind of like how a mirror telescope works.
Point the bottom of the can towards the sun. You’ll have created a highly focused ray of light aimed directly at your tinder. Place the tinder about an inch from the reflecting light’s focal point. In a few seconds you should have a flame.
9. Batteries and Steel Wool
This one is quite easy and is fun to try at home, especially with kids.
Stretch out the steel wool. You want it to be about 6 inches long and a ½-inch wide.
Rub the battery on the steel wool. Hold the steel wool in one hand and the battery in the other. Any battery will do, but 9-volt batteries work best. Rub the side of the battery with the “contacts” on the wool. The wool will begin to glow and burn. Gently blow on it.
Transfer the burning wool to your tinder nest. The wool’s flame will extinguish quickly, so don’t waste any time.
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The Ultimate Firestarter: How to Make Char Cloth
How to Start a Fire With a Water Bottle
10 Wilderness Survival Lessons From Hatchet
3 Ways to Make DIY Waterproof Matches
How to Start a Fire With a Cell Phone Battery
Skill of the Week: Start a Fire in the Rain
