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Thread: Help: All Smoke; No Fire

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    Default Help: All Smoke; No Fire

    Using a river cottonwood (Idaho) drill and a cottonwood fireboard, I get lots of smoke and black dust but cannot seem to get an ember. Any suggestions? I have kept the pieces indoors for several weeks so the wood is dry.


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    Quote Originally Posted by jbtusa View Post
    Using a river cottonwood (Idaho) drill and a cottonwood fireboard, I get lots of smoke and black dust but cannot seem to get an ember. Any suggestions? I have kept the pieces indoors for several weeks so the wood is dry.
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    naturalist primitive your_comforting_company's Avatar
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    are you hand drilling or bow drilling?
    Is your notch cut correctly?
    Is your posture correct?
    Are you spinning long enough or stopping too long when changing directions?
    There's a lot of reasons it could be. A picture or good description of your setup would help us help you better.
    There is an entire thread dedicated to the bow drill in the primitive skills forum.
    http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...ad.php?t=11393

    and heres a wonderful experiment Crash did with tinder fungus
    http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...ad.php?t=11706
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    http://s677.photobucket.com/albums/v...t=100_0501.jpg

    Here's a photo of the parts. They are all cut from the same branch of a river cottonwood tree in the Boise, Idaho area. They were dead when cut and have been indoors for a couple of months. I spin the drill fast enough to get a lot of gray smoke, but no ember starts. ...Lots of black dust too, but I can't seem to get the ember to start. What does it take to get the ember started?

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    When I first started in on bow-drill firemaking, I had that same problem. Pretty much what I've learned around here, especially from YCC, is that it takes practice and patience. You're not going to get it on your first try, but keep at it. It will happen.

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    naturalist primitive your_comforting_company's Avatar
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    just because it's spinning fast and constantly-enough to make black dust and grey smoke doesn't mean it's going fast enough to actually ignite.. It's sort of like jumping 99% of the way across a canyon.. your wood has a particular combustion temperature and you have to go 100% or more.
    Are you getting any squeeking or squeeling?

    When you've got grey smoke, try increasing pressure just a little and as you exhale purse your lips and blow your air out down toward your dustpile. Not hard breathing, just to make the air circulate. You have to keep going till the smoke catches a wisp of yellow. When I see grey smoke, I still drill for a few more seconds, maybe 5 or 10? till I get the little yellow wisp. your ember will be tiny and unstable so don't spill it. blow GENTLY till you see it emerge from the dust. then remove the hearthboard by tapping on it with your spindle gently.. don't go spilling your dust!!

    looking at your kit, the only other thing you might try is making your notch a little wider. measure across the circle with something, divide that into thirds and your notch should be about that wide, and intrude about 1/3 of the way into the circle.
    somethin' like this:
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    Really, it's a very mechanical process, and once you can make the motions, you just have to do them fast and long enough to get ignition. I don't really even think about making fire when I'm doing it anymore. You can do it. you might have to try different materials until you figure out the motions, then experiment with other stuff. What you have should be good, but I've never used it myself.
    You'll get it. Just keep tryin!
    Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. Helen Keller

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