Outstanding. Well done.
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Outstanding. Well done.
Nice job. It's not so much how you did it as the success you had. Instead of a red faced smiley face you'd have a laughing smiley face if the three of you had been outside in the cold and NEEDED a fire. Heat is heat. You're miles ahead of me.
In addition to the satisfaction of starting your first bow drill fire, you have answered that age old question.......
How many people does it take to start a bow drill fire?
That's terrific chari! And the smiles prove just how great an accomplishment it was for all of you. Thanks for the pics. I cherish those smiles just as much as the fire itself. Smiles warm our hearts and the fire warms the rest. Great work! The more you practice it, the more your endurance and strength will increase. WooHoo!!
Great job!
Hey!
I'm new to this forum. Nice thread you have here. I just want to share my experiences with bowdrill. So i've started using bowdirll in September and i've experimeted with different wood types. I'm from Europe (Slovenia) so I never tried yucca and cedar for making fire with bowdrill.
These are the woods I made fire using bowdrill:
Board:|Spindle:|Comment:
Willow | Willow| My 1st set. Really easy to make good ember
Willow | Basswood| Also good combo for beginner
Basswood | Basswood |I think this is best combo for beginners
Aspen | Aspen | Bit harder to make ember than Basswood
Hazel | Hazel | Same as aspen on aspen
Aspen | Hazel | Harder than Aspen on Aspen but still works fine
Beech | Beech | I've managed to create ember but it's HARD
Aspen | Beech | Managed to get good ember
Some pictures:
http://users.skavt.net/pkristja/Fire/1.jpg
Ember:
http://users.skavt.net/pkristja/Fire/7.jpg
My old bowdrill set:
http://users.skavt.net/pkristja/Fire/2.jpg
http://users.skavt.net/pkristja/Fire/3.jpg
Making fire in winter:
http://users.skavt.net/pkristja/Fire/4.jpg
http://users.skavt.net/pkristja/Fire/5.jpg
My new bowdrill set:
http://users.skavt.net/pkristja/Fire/6.jpg
Hope I helped someone.
Happy New Year!!
Outstanding! Thank you very much for the info and pictures!
Great pics. It's good to know that the fire-bow is being used in the wild.
ive been using an old lawn mower pull cord for my bow drill now. I have to say, its the strongest cordage ever. I think it has some metal braided in.
anyone tryed netle fiber rope for bowdrill?
I cheat and cary a premade kit http://s230.photobucket.com/albums/e...t=Video009.mp4
Very cool,, Thanks ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by MountanWolf
I like the way you personalized your bow and block with carvings.Nice job doing it in the snow.
With the bow drill ,I have had luck only with white cedar spindle on white cedar fire board.Got several fires last spring and fall.
I recently just started practicing again with the hand drill.Got fire at least 4 times last year with Mullein spindle and white cedar fire board.
I just got an ember on my second try yesterday on a proven set.
Although the technique is there,the triceps were not prepared for a work out.lol
Feeling it today.
It is a good workout. Glad you are having success with it!
Iīve been trying to get a fire going using the bowdrill, but it is just exhausting and frustraiting, i get a lot of smoke and sometimes i even get it to smoke for a few seconds after i take out the spindle. I donīt know what iīm doing wrong, is it the wrong kind of wood (pine for the spindle and the board) or do i just stop "drilling" too soon i really donīt know when i should stop.
Pine is not a good wood to use,too much pitch.Quote:
Originally Posted by assm0nk
I like white cedar myself.But there's a list here somewhere with all the different woods that work well.
It's in this thread.
You just stop drilling too soon, likely because your spindle is starting to bind. Don't stop until it's smoking like a freight train.
I just wanted to share my experience with bow drill fire. This was my first time doing it. I just came back from a 5 day wilderness primitive skill class.
We used cedar for both spindle and board. The handle piece and bow were from a recently felled pine tree. We also cut out from that same pine a rectangular piece of bark to fold into a pine bark bowl for drying into shape. Since this was a controlled environment, we were able to get a coal easily. So I'll just talk about my experience with the solo challenge during our last day which was to use the skills that we learned to spend the night out in the woods. I'll say that for me, the difficult part in getting fire from bow drill is the tinder bundle. It took me 4 attempts to get from coal to fire because of my poorly constructed tinder bundle. For the tinder, I initially used a combination of dried leaves, birch bark, and dried fir needles. I had a hard time blowing that into a fire. What finally ended up working for me was punky wood from a standing dead trunk which I grinded down into really small pea sized chunks. From that first initial coal from my bow drill, I blew and it grew into a small pile of coals. Then I added a few pieces of dried leaves and really small thin twigs which caught fire after more blowing into it. I should mention that I did this solo challenge on a rainy day. So that was really satisfying to know that I could get fire in rainy conditions. Finally, one of the challenges were to boil water and so I used that pine bowl to boil some water on a bed of coals before I went to sleep.
Attachment 6710
Glad to hear of your accomplishment Json. I just want to know how big that smile on your face was when you made that fire! Good job!
Thanks. Honestly, I was just glad and a sense of relief that it worked. I might have said a 'YES!' on the inside. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by your_comforting_company
im using all cedar for my set, well accept the bow. this is my first day attempting the fire drill mmethod, and i've all eady got the smoke down, my problem is my power is brown, and only a little comes out
Cedar is far from ideal. I have a read heart cedar set that does work, but MAN at the calories that thing takes just to smoke!
Time to beef up your botany skill.. learn the weeds that grow in sandy areas and have long straight stalks: wild lettuce, horseweed, mullein, etc.
And the trees like willow.
If you get that cedar kit to fire up, you'll be surprised at how fast you can get good materials to go. ;)
Hey Comforting
Thanks for sharing that.... I have always wanted to make fire the Primitive way without resorting to rubbing two Boy Scouts together LOL.
I am going to do this and I'll let you know how I get on. Obviously the wood needs to be as bone dry as possible.
Would very dry Pine work for the spindle and base?? I ask because I am surrounded by pine but would have to find a harder wood to hold the top of the spindle. What are your thoughts??
I'm obviously not YCC, but I would avoid any wood like pine that is high in resins - just makes it more difficult and a lot of "glazing" will take place.
Maybe I need a trip to Home Depot then??? Not really sure where I could buy the right kind of wood locally
Either that or I will have to scour the Woods but it is pretty much all Pine and Oak here
If you're just practicing technique, there's nothing wrong with buying a piece or two. Cedar works pretty well.
If you do go to the Depot look for white pine or Lodge pole. It seems the least sappy.
Also, don't necessarily limit yourself to trees.. many herbaceous plants make excellent spindles.
I have not had great success with cedar, but it will work.
im no good at identifying wood. Can someone tell me what type of wood to use for the board and the spindle? I live in Utah
Don't know what is available to you. Best to experiment - just make sure it's real dry.
Nicely done.
Thanks for taking the time to document it.
Excellent pictures and instructions. thanks.
For anyone in the Virginia/South East Area, especially coastal Virginia who is having difficulty. I have had great success with Sycamore as the spindle and Tulip Poplar as the Hearthboard. I know many people suggest that the spindle and hearthboard should be of the same material, but I have never had success with that. Just take your time and pace yourself in the beginning. Create a good rhythm, get your heat built up, then when you see white smoke, go to town. I know the humidity in this area can play a big factor.
How come I can't see the pics?
They display. Try it again. If you are still having trouble what browser are you using?
I just edited the posts. You should be able to see them now.
What the?! That is one crazy bug. I just checked for that and they were showing. Weird.
You probably checked the pages I already edited. I had to go through 7 pages and am slow in the morning and afternoon and evening.
Well....there you go.
Hmmm..I wish you guys could speak my language and tell me what trees (in my language) are best for me to get the wood from cos, your trees and my trees are totally different.....I can get fire using the bow drill or the bamboo saww...but it is quite painstaking and requires a lot of time...and I am not good with trees..the only trees that I can identify are rattan, bamboo, banana, coconut, acrea nut, oil palm, rubber trees, aloe vera, tapioca, papaya trees and durian trees..hehehe..
Anyway, I still practice.