It seems sometimes that there is a bit of animosity towards people asking questions about skills that can be difficult to acquire.
Billofthenorth simply asked what technique worked best to start a fire with nothing and acknowledged that this would be a "worst case scenario".
That being said if you can build a friction fire, even if everything you carried failed or was taken from you, you can still achieve your goal of fire.
So, having this skill will have you making careful preps so that the hard one coal is not squandered. That is another big advantage to practicing these skills at there most basic levels.
I practice primitive fire and carry many fire starting aids. I started the campfire Saturday night using dead grass and live oak twigs with some cabbage palm fronds and jack boots. Then we used live oak. We cooked all of our food on that one fire this weekend without needing a lighter of matches at all. Chicken, steak, sausage, hotdogs and hamburgers, bacon, eggs, corn, beans, poke salet, mixed vegetables, grilled peppers. All with a single flick of my bic.
Nothing unusual there. Knowing how to build a fire, restart a fire, what wood is good to cook over are all simple skills. I have seen a bunch of people that don't properly prepare for fire or have any idea what kind of wood they have and if it is good for cooking with. That fire was permanently extinguished today after lunch.
Do we tell people studying wild edibles that they need to keep a pack of granola in their pack and forget learning wild edibles?
To the OP, I have had good success with willow spindle and willow hearth board. I also used willow for the bow. I used a shot glass for a bearing block. I tried using shells and the shot glass was just that much more comfortable. I am going to carve a bearing block out of Live Oak or West Indian Mahogany, both of which a locally very abundant and I think might work good. I have tried Cabbage Palm on Cabbage Palm with lots of smoke. But, I burn through the frond before I get a coal. I will keep trying. LOL
Thanks for your answer, you get what I meant.
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