Becker Bow Drill (Pic Heavy)

Thanks for the tutorial Moose, I was hoping to try the challenge but have never done the bow drill before and was at a bit of a loss. Now I gots instructions! Thanks!
 
Got mine started. Tryin to make it purdy. Not sure I will succeed, but it's a fun project. Pics will be coming.
 
Cedar, Basswood, Willow, Pawpaw are some of the best. Really, you can do it with a myriad of woods, you just have to check to see if they are dry and the right density.

Moose
 
Good one Moose, great tutorial!
Very well detailed, one of the best step-by-step bo drill tutorials I've seen. I'll second that you should put that in WSS as well. Should get some new guys to try it out.

While PawPaw and Cedar are the standards that most are judged by I have grown quite fond of Yucca for the spindle. This is a vid of using it with red cedar for the hearth. It took only 9 seconds, started at 43 seconds into the vid and ends at 52 seconds. I have found the Yucca is so soft that it really prolongs the hearth, no matter what the hearth is made of.

[youtube]hwnUfX6PumQ[/youtube]
 
No, not Joshua Tree. Its a shrub that is commonly planted for decoration around the Mid Atlantic and has spread to many areas where it is not native. Annually, it sprouts a single stalk that is superb for friction fires. It is Yucca Filamentosa. Found along side roads and around restaurants. Also found in some parks, especially near moving water.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucca_filamentosa
 
thanks doc,

I use the notch on one side of the only 2 I've ever done, next time I'm out I will specifically look for the fork to make my next bow..
 
Thanks MD, and DOC, I appreciate the nice comments. I done this one for the December Challenge, and we posted links in the WSS for this thread.

Great stuff all, guys.

Moose
 
Last weekend I went camping with the fam (no pics, I'm too lazy) and decided I was going to trying my hand with a bow drill kit and attempting to make fire but to no avail. I did not read this thread beforehand, and was only recently directed to it by DerekH. The biggest problem I had was with trying to find something acceptable as a bearing block - now that I have Moose's step by step, I'm going to give it another try on my next outing. I spent over 2 hours trying, even with different methods and the closest I was too creating a fire was smoke - better than nothing I guess.

So easy a caveman can do it! Sure Geico, I'd like to see that lizard pull this off.
 
Arkanian said:
It had rained, everything was wet.
Click to expand...

The reason I ask, I been experiencing a problem lately with friction fire. Both my hand drills and bowdrills have been giving me fits, and I couldn't explain it.

So, I done what anyone else in my position would do, I gave up and started carrying a BIC again. :D I'm kidding.

I called and asked someone who knew more about it than I did. I was told that humidity makes a huge difference in making it work. Now, wet wood, I've worked with. You can use the same method to dry the wood, just run it til is starts to smoke 3 or 4 times, and it should have the wood dried out. But air humidity will kill the coal almost instantly.

So, not sure what the fellas of old did on cold wet days, but the ones around here, just start a flickin'.

Moose
 
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