You don't have to have a diomond pickaxe to make a nether (hell) portal all you 
need to do is: 

First get around 20 buckets full of lava and 20 full of water.

step 2: Secondly put water on the ground, then place lava on top that makes 1 block
of obsidian keep doing that untill you make the portal base

Hint: Use and block to stand on so you car actually reach the distance you should 
place the water on.

step 3: then make a flind and steel and right click on the inside of the portal base
(flind and steel requires 1 iron ingot and 1 flint)

Hint: pretend the double dots are iron and the single dot is flint:. you would use 
your crafting table to craft flint and steel.

If you did not under stand the flint and steel look at a crafting chart :) thankyou 
readers and hope it works out.