northern MN fire by friction materials

**danmc** · 07-13-2008, 09:56 PM

Can anyone familiar with the north woods (say northern Minnesota) share their list of favorite fire by friction materials with someone who lives in the south? I'm curious about your favorite materials for both hand drill fires as well as bow drill fires. If you had to find something in usable shape today (mid july) and didn't have a month to let it dry out good, what would be your "goto" plants/trees?

I know white pines will work as the spindle and fireboard for bow drill fires. How about any of the other northern pines? Down south here the others seem to have too much resin.

My skills at recognizing basswood are pretty limited as there isn't much near my house to get to know on a personal basis. I guess theres a good bit of that?

Does yucca (a favorite here) grow much in the north?

Many thanks.

-Dan

**trax** · 07-14-2008, 11:13 AM

Well, I'm a few steps north of Minnesota. No yucca here. The best firestarters are birch bark for tinder (will light even when wet, although not soaking wet) and the little dry sticks at the bottom of pine and spruce trees for your first kindling. If need be, say you're lighting with a bow and drill or flint sparker, pull the birch bark into little tiny strips, lots and lots of them, they'll kind of curl up and you just lay them in a pile, "teepee" some of those dry pine branches around it and have your bigger kindling ready. Spark the birchbark (might have to get down and blow) and be ready to start adding sticks. It'll take longer if the bark is damp, but if it starts smoking, you got it.

**Gray Wolf** · 07-14-2008, 12:00 PM

I think he was asking about your favorite materials for making both hand drills and bow drills.

**trax** · 07-14-2008, 12:04 PM

yep, you're right, guess I got confused when he mentioned letting the wood dry. My bad.

**danmc** · 07-14-2008, 02:36 PM

Originally Posted by trax

yep, you're right, guess I got confused when he mentioned letting the wood dry. My bad.

Yes, I was looking for spindle and fireboard materials, but I appreciate the tips on birch bark anyway. That's not one I have a lot of around here. For that matter, those wonderfully small and flammable white pine twigs only come as far south as about an hour north of me. In my yard the pines are all loblolly pines and the lowest branches are 25' up. My other trees are oak (3 kinds), hickory, and a couple of dogwoods.

My comment about wood drying came from me harvesting a handful of yucca stalks recently for hand drill spindles but they're still green and won't be usable for a bit until they dry out more. Fine for backyard practice supplies but not so good for "I'd like a fire today please"

Mullein and horseweed (Conyza canadensis) both grow around here too but last years stalks are either gone or too rotted and this years are way too green this time of year.

-Dan

**wareagle69** · 07-14-2008, 07:30 PM

tammarack and cedar

**danmc** · 07-15-2008, 09:19 AM

Thanks. I can recognize cedar. I'll have to learn tamarack next time I'm up north. It is in my tree book.

**bulrush** · 07-21-2008, 08:34 AM

There's a little yucca growing in my area of Michigan in the wild. But that was probably because seeds were dispersed by animals from landscape yucca plants. Anyway, they grow fine in the hot, dry summers of Michigan and survive the winters as well.

**danmc** · 07-30-2008, 01:11 AM

I ended up not having much time to play around with making fire on my trip up north but I did get a chance to take note of where the cedars were and where they weren't. There weren't any tamaraks right in the area where I was but I studied that part of the tree book enough to feel confident I could identify one in the summer. A helpful park ranger confirmed that there weren't any in the area I was in.

On a more southernly note, anyone have luck using sweetgum for a spindle and fireboard? I've heard sweetgum will work but I've had no luck. I can easily get clouds of smoke but no coal. The wood has been drying out in my basement for months and doesn't seem to be damp or rotted. In contrast, the white pine I've had down there for about the same time fairly easily yields a coal.

One last question is if anyone has experience splicing two pieces of wood together for a spindle (hand or bow drill). The idea would be to take a small bit of something that works for fire and making it big enough to drill with by splicing it to something which may not be the best firemaking material but is a nice size/shape.

Thanks
-Dan

**sh4d0wm4573ri7** · 04-07-2011, 03:25 AM

Ceder is my preferred for both

**OhioGrizzLapp** · 04-07-2011, 07:05 AM

Cedar would be my pick, prefer downed Red Cedar, but downed shag bark cedar works well for all components for a dril or friction fire. Cotton wood would be my 2nd pick if you have it.

**sh4d0wm4573ri7** · 04-11-2011, 04:52 PM

I have found it much wiser to carry a redi to go kit in a plastic bag with the only component needed being the bow which is easily fashioned from any available trees or brush. The kit I carry is complete though Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

**Justin Case** · 04-11-2011, 04:57 PM

Originally Posted by sh4d0wm4573ri7

I have found it much wiser to carry a redi to go kit in a plastic bag with the only component needed being the bow which is easily fashioned from any available trees or brush. The kit I carry is complete though Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

Not trying to diss here,, but why not just carry a lighter ? not as much fum but way more practice ,,

**danmc** · 04-11-2011, 05:37 PM

Originally Posted by Justin Case

Not trying to diss here,, but why not just carry a lighter ? not as much fum but way more practice ,,

well... actually I *always* carry a waterproof container of matches and often times a lighter too in the woods. My original question was because I thought it would be fun to see what can be done with native materials on a trip to that part of the US since different stuff grows there than near where I live in the southeast. The standard thing I tell the few people that I've demonstrated friction fire too is that the real benefit is it made me be much more careful about doing a good job of constructing the fire since the cost of the initial flame was so much more. After all if the 2nd "match" is gonna be the different between red hand and blistered hands, you're gonna make sure the first one counts!

**your_comforting_company** · 04-11-2011, 07:47 PM

I tell folks it's about the liberation. It's about doing something for yourself without having to depend on anyone else to "make" something for you. It's deeply rooted in independence, rather than interdependence. To resurrect fire by splitting molecules and releasing the energy stored therein, has a certain appeal to me over using some manufactured good that took 10 people to make, that produces waste by-products, and continually makes me more dependent on society.
At least that's what I tell folks. I still carry a bic. It's all about knowing you can do something important for yourself.