Fire Bow

**Rick** · 06-06-2009, 07:01 AM

I have professed my lack of ability to start a fire using a fire bow for quite a while. But I have a question about using one that I've never seen answered. Let's say I'm caught out in the woods and for whatever reason I do not have anything to make a fire with.

What am I looking for that will allow me to use a fire bow?

Here's my confusion. The very time I need to make a fire, rain or snow, for example is the worse time to find the pieces I need for the fire bow. I'm going to have to find a dry piece of something like Willow or Cedar or Spruce to make the components but they can't be green or they will have too much moisture. So I'm out tromping through the rain or snow trying to find the pieces. Am I not wasting energy the same as I would trying to forage?

Make it and carry it with you.

Okay. I can buy that but if I'm going to do that I'd be ahead of the game just to carry a lighter or flint and some tinder. It would be quicker and I'd expend less energy.

Can someone set me straight on the "I'm lost in the woods and don't have anything to a start a fire with" aspect? Am I making this too difficult or am I right about expending the energy?

Has anyone tried the Egyptian Fire Bow?

http://www.primitiveways.com/e-fire.html

**crashdive123** · 06-06-2009, 07:30 AM

I believe that if you find yourself in that situation it is best to "gather as you go". While looking for a water source, setting snares, or whatever activity you are doing - also be mindful of your other needs. Pick up those items that will be used at some point. In the conditions that you described it will obviously be more difficult. Finding dry material is a challenge in wet conditions and more time consuming - that's why I believe activities that are less narrowly focused and involve the bigger picture will often lead to success. Finding that lower branch that is dead, the pine roots that can be used for cordage later, etc. Here's a pretty good video on fire bow without any tools at all. Granted it's not wet. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmipIIBpzMk

**RobertRogers** · 06-06-2009, 09:14 AM

The firebow is just one more tool you can use to make a fire. Under the right conditions it may be quite easy to do. I wouldn't rely upon just the bow - a wise person carries alternative means at all times.

But even in wet conditions you can often find dry wood. Over hanging rocks and trees may have some at their bases. Split a larger stick to reveal the dry wood inside.

As mentioned earlier, don't wait until you actually want to use the bow - gather materials of opportunity throughout the day in preparation for the tasks you are likely to do later on.

**Pict** · 06-06-2009, 09:53 AM

Rick,

I don't think you're off the mark at all. I have made friction fire from a variety of materials and methods but I have never made it "from scratch" in the bush in Brazil. The main reason being that all the woods in my area are rock hard. Bamboo is great material for friction fire, but only when it is seasoned and it has to be large enough. Good luck finding the right piece of bamboo in the bush. Tinder is another matter. You have to have tinder that will take a coal and produce flame, too damp and you won't get there.

You are touching on something that I hammer away at regarding primitive skills in general. They are highly dependent upon having the time to create them, being able to locate the correct materials to make them from, weather conditions at the time you need them (for fire especially), seasons of the year and growing stages of local plants, not to discount your personal skill in making them work.

From a wilderness survival training aspect friction fire is SOLID GOLD. There is no single course of action in training that will teach you more about emergency fire making than forcing yourself to make friction fire in the bush. Anybody can pop a trioxene bar out of the pack and make a fire right now and in terms of wilderness survival planning that is exactly what you should prepare to do, and have a back-up system that is just as easy stored in a place you won't lose it. The problem is that the trioxene bar fire will teach you close to nothing about making fire or the natural world around you.

Friction fire raises the bar for fire making. It can be done, but it is work. Making a bow drill under "classroom" conditions is a good exercise to get the design right. Making one from wood and tinder collected in the bush at the same time is even better, that in itself adds another level of challenge. Making it work under adverse field conditions will challenge even an expert.

All of these exercises will reinforce the FACT that carrying modern means to light a fire takes an end run around a primitive techniques that take hours if not days to make work under bad conditions. That little Sparklite and tinder in the PSK puts you into a broken-field running situation and scores you not only a fire but also several hours to improve your shelter, find water etc.

Primitive skills are the ultimate back-up system, they are a failsafe, a system you can't lose or leave at home. They should never be the primary line of attack when solving a wilderness emergency. Never plan to improvise.
Mac

ETA - I just read the other two posts. I find the "Gather as you go" aspect of wilderness survival to be one of the most enjoyable things to do in the bush. It's like walking through a huge supermarket where everything is free. According to scripture this is how God intended man to live in the first place, we are designed for exactly that. Nothing makes us more happy, and more human, than living according to intelligence, combined with skill, applied to the gifts all around us.

**erunkiswldrnssurvival** · 06-06-2009, 10:39 AM

and remember that if a "bow" is not to your liking, you can just carry a rope long enough to use a spring pole or sapling instead.
and the Samoan people just rub a pointed stick into a grove in a piece of the same wood(which is also a walking stick)

bringing a fire bow and drill with you is also a good idea because you can test its performance at home so there is no guessing in the bush.

**Rick** · 06-06-2009, 12:28 PM

I guess that was my point. If I'm going to carry it with me then I really don't need it. I'll carry a lighter and/or flint and tinder and save my energy.

I also gather as I go. By the time I stop of an evening I usually have some strips of dry cedar, a couple of pine cones, some dry pine needles or cattail depending on where I am.

Thanks Mac, I get what you're saying. I would stand in the woods and I was clueless why I would want to start running around, wasting energy, trying to find the things I need to make fire when it was so much easier to flip a Bic and light some cotton balls.

**Pict** · 06-06-2009, 12:52 PM

You have to know your personal limitations and the limitations of the system you are trying to make work. One of the things I worry about is that people go to a school and learn friction fire with perfect, pre-harvested materials and perfect conditions and think they are prepared to survive in the wild. Making it work from start to finish on demand and under pressure of necessity is a whole 'nother thing.

I carry a big yellow Bic, a fire steel, and a trioxene bar in my possibles pouch. I carry a small yellow Bic in the pouch on my canteen. I carry a Sparklite and four tinders in my Altoids tin PSK. None of these things take up room or encumber me in the bush. Mac