1st atempt at making fire w/ a bow
i was on a mens retreat this past weekend and we were going to have a sweat lodge. i thought it would be cool to start the fire for it w/ a way other than matches or lighter to make it more authentic. i searched for the perfect bow branch, then the perfect drill. found what i was looking for w/ some juniper. i cleaned the drill w/ a rock to take off the stems of small branches and put a notch all the way around it to give bow string some where to ride. wanted to make a rope out of bark etc. but no plants in this area afforded that luxury. i couldn't find any jute or hemp rope around so i used some rope someone had in their truck. i took out the inside of the rope and wove the 3 pieces together, again for the authentic factor. i found a piece of pine, the only other type of tree in this area besides juniper, and used my knife and another stick as a mallet to cut a plank out of it. i used knife and rock to drill a tapered hole thru the plank and carved a small try to hold combustibles on the edge of the hole. cut a second piece w/ an indentation to put on top of drill to hold it up right. all was set...or so i thought. the rope innards i had woven my bow rope out of were made out of some type of plastic like material that melted when the bowing action started. so i went back to the rope and used the outside section, some type of cotton. it worked well. i used some frayed fibers as the combustible material that the "sawdust" would ignite. at it again... or so i thought. the frayed fibers from the outside of the rope were polyester and as such, would not ignite. after a very short time we got smoke and heat but no fire. when we lifted the fire board we could see the burnt sawdust, that had fallen thru the hole, on the ground. more so there than in the tray i had carved on the side of the drill hole. lessons i learned:
1. make sure of your combustibles.
2. having another board, plank, w/ a bowl shape in it to hold combustibles under fireboard instead of tray next to hole, would have been the way to go. or just a raised fireboard w/ comb. under hole would have worked. this wasn't a survival situation, but it sure opened my eyes. i was doing this from a memory that was 30 yrs old, (boyscout stuff). i know, not taking the time to "make it authentic" i can have a fire in 5 mins. in perfect conditions. don't worry, i'll put this to the test coming up. we go camping once a year w/ a group of about 75 people. every year i take the kids that want to and teach them something having to do w/ the outdoors. last year was map and compass. i plotted a cat eye hike for them and let them follow the course after a brief tutorial on how to read a map and compass. this year...alternative fire starting. flint and steel, magnifying glass, bow and drill etc.
