A new Milestone for an old Florida homeboy

Two weeks ago my son Nick and I ventured into the Florida scrub with the intent of producing an ember using material from the Florida state tree The Sabal palm. We watched a video of Gundog5 entitled "Bow Drill fire-All Sabal Palm Success". My son said "hey that looks easy I wanna try that" I looked at him and thought to myself "easy my a$$".

Now you see I have never been successful in making fire with the bow drill cause i never really persued it. It always seemed to me like a waste of energy and it was easier to use a Flint & steel, ferro rod, matches or my favorite a Bic lighter. Well, my attitude changed after seeing my son struggle with the bow drill two weeks ago. I felt that I needed to learn this after my son failed and became angry that it didn't work and that it was useless and a waste of time. I went back and researched the web at all the bow drill instructions and videos till I was practically blind lol. There's alot of good info out there BTW.

Well I went out and found some really dry Sabal palm fronds and some dried Brazilian Pepper tree limbs. My plan was to use the Brazilian pepper as a drill and Bow & sabal palm for the hearth and handhold. I found a piece of Brazilian pepper with a nice shallow bend and fashioned it using 550 paracord for the bow string. A straight piece of it became the spindle.

I made a handhold of dry Sabal palm boot and the hearth was a piece of really dry palm frond. My first attempt was a failure after numerous attempts. I took a breather (I was breathless and my old knees were cramped up).
After a 20 min respite I made another divot and notch and gave it a go. I cranked that bow till I almost collapsed and Viola there was a waft of smoke coming from that pile of dust. I almost passed out...I could'nt believe it! MY FIRST EMBER WITH A BOW DRILL!! ESTATIC isn't the word, Happy, Happy, Happy is more like it! At 61 years of age I felt like a youngster with his first real knife!

So far I've been successful at 3 attempts after that first intial success! I have some pix to share...sorry I was solo so I have no pix showing the actual work, only pix of the embers (3 different ones)... some are blurry as I had noodle arms after generating tremendous energy whew!

http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8b6a6cfb.jpg My first ember.

http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/...psd7f47ec2.jpg My second ember.

http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/...ps0bf2872f.jpg My third ember.

http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/...psc693307e.jpg My Drill set.

http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3eaa8ffb.jpg My Drill set

Thanx for looking!

Dom

Congrats man......make you glad they invented matches and Bics.....after all that work, and aren't sure it will work, or correct materials around, bad conditions.......etc.

Thanks for sharing your success......Rep your way.

Great post. Glad you were successful.

Well done.

Good job! I hope to accomplish that feat..... one day!

Good Job Dom!

Great job! That first ember is always going to be one you'll remember.

Excellent work Dom!

Great Job!!! Thanks for posting!

You are the new Bear Grylls of WSf, but seriously, congratulations man!

Very cool. Congratulations.

The first one you never forget,
nice work and congrats, it's nice when the effort pays off.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by natertot

Good job! I hope to accomplish that feat..... one day!

---

OK Nate, we are going to have to plan an intense "skills session" in the near future!

If I had known you never started a fire with a bow drill we could have done so at either of the jamborees. I carry my kit along for each of those meets.

We'll do a friction fire party at the next one.

I would also like to be a willing student........

Woooooo-Hooooooo!! Way to go!

Yeah I woke up the day before Fathers Day (14th) and bow drilled another ember within a minute and a half! But being able to get a coal in your backyard on a sunny day with a proven bow-drill set does not mean that you would be able to get a fire started in an actual survival situation. There are numerous variables that will make getting a coal alot more difficult. For instance, you must be able to get a coal with a variety of woods, in a variety of conditions. The wood may be damp, you may not have a knife, you may not have any cordage or you may already be tired. For these reasons, it is good to practice dealing with each of these factors, first separately, and then bring them all together. The quest doesn't stop it keeps going and now you have more challenges to overcome...just make sure to carry alternative methods of fire starting. As far as I'm concerned; primitive friction fire for me is a last ditch option. At sixty one years of age, a ferro rod, UCO Storm matches, or BIC lighter seems the way to go if calories are at stake...jmo.

DomC

Congratulations. I know exactly what you mean about the excitement. It is sooooo rewarding when you get that first ember.

Proper form is HUGE to bow drill success. Once you can learn to employ proper form you will not only see much greater success rate but you will find that it is MUCH less strenuous. On average, it takes me 30 seconds or less of drill twisting to produce a viable ember. I'm not trying to be fast. I'm just performing at a comfortable pace. I'm also just saying how key, proper form is to success. The following video demonstrates proper form far better than I could plus she is better to look at then I am. :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlxujVPiN6U