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Thread: Bow and Drill fire/wood experiment, please watch and give opinion

  1. #1

    Default Bow and Drill fire/wood experiment, please watch and give opinion

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz1C...ature=youtu.be

    Please give your opinion on wood viability and sawdust evidence. Thanks.


  2. #2
    Super Moderater RangerXanatos's Avatar
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    I am far from any guru on the bow drill, but that dust looked dark to me. Have you tried seeing if a spark from a ferro rod or even a flame on the powder will make a coal? If it doesn't, I'd say the wood is too hard and you're just make a carbon powder that is already burned.
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  3. #3

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    Good observation. I will try to ignite the sawdust and see. Thanks!

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    naturalist primitive your_comforting_company's Avatar
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    I think your spindle is much too large. Try one that is about the size of your index finger. The dust looks pretty good. Did you try to ignite it as per RX suggestion?
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  5. #5

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    Yeah I tried to light it. It wouldn't burn. I'm just surprised with the outcome. With all that friction I would have thought any wood would ignite.

  6. #6

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    My main source of fire when camping is the bow drill and up in Canada, one of the most popular kinds of wood is cedar so I am not too sure about sycamore. I've tried many times with a drill press and could never get it to work and I think it has to do with different pressure while you are spinning. As someone above mentioned, the dust you are getting seems to be pretty black. I try to get it as light brown as possible and as much as possible at which point you apply more pressure to get the ember. I could not get the right amount with a drill press. I have found that you do not want to spin with the same pressure always. Once you have your hole burnt in and the notch cut, start spinning with a little pressure and fast. Once there is a fair bit of smoke, you now want to accumulate your dust. To do that, I put pressure (lots) only when I am pulling the bow towards me and let off on the return. This will grind off the wood and it will gather in the notch. You want the notch full of light brown dust if possible. Now you want to apply the heat to get your ember. To do that, I do the same as accumulating the dust but I use faster shorter strokes and more pressure. You were getting a little squealing at the end which likely means your wood is polished. You could grind that down on a rock first and I might make it a little flatter (less pointy). Trying to explain it is kinda difficult. Hope this helps.

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