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- Mar 19, 2007
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I have learned quite a few things in my bow drill learning experiences - I want to share some of these with you all - I learned much of this on line - but experience is the best teacher. Much of this has already been published - but here it is anyway.
1) The bow is VERY important. It needs to be a little flexible. I would say it needs to be able to flex about 1 - 2" after the cordage has been tied on.
The best bow description is here:
http://wildwoodsurvival.com/survival/fire/bowdrill/pmoc/basicbowdrill.html
2) The depth of the hole is important.
You want to make it deep enough in the width of the board to allow the spindle to move freely without breaking out of the sides of the board if you tip the spindle accidentally while drilling. About 1 to 1.5 widths of the spindle is good.
3) The notch is important! (See amending posts below) Make it 1/8th of the pie or so - but be careful not to cut the notch all the way into the center of the hole - nor make it too wide. It simply means the spindle will break through the board or not drill at all. The notch depth and width are important - and for good flow of dust - cut is to be as clean and smooth as possible.
4) The spindle is not all that important. The spindle length should be about 9 inches - but carving it isn't all that important. Things tend to even out as you 'burn the spindle' into the board.
The important part is after you have used a kit once that you marr up the business end of the spindle and even the first board hole to allow for good friction. The spindle tends to burn hard and simply squeak at you instead of causing good friction.
A round spindle isn't necessary - in fact I find an octagonal spindle works just as good and even seems to slip less.
5) The hand hold being friction free makes life a LOT easier. I have used oak, bone, aluminum, Teflon (yes - teflon), steel, and rock. Rock is the best - in my experience. It weighs the most and would suck to toss in your pack.
Bone is probably the best compromise material. Be forewarned - cut your notch in a THICK portion of the bone or it gets HOT FAST!
Wood CERTAINLY works - but greasing your hand hold is critical to make life easier.
It isn't critical that you have rock or bone - but unless you are in good shape and have a strong arm - you may tire out before you get a good coal.
BTW - DON'T try Teflon - it just burns up.
6) Shouldering the tip of the spindle (where it meets the hand hold) makes life much easier as well. Less size means less less friction where you need it least.
7) 550 cord seems to slip more than shoe laces. It seems that a little cotton is a good thing. 550 CERTAINLY works - and I started two fires with it this morning - but seems to slip a bit.
8) Tying your cordage is important. Again, the bow shown above works VERY well for adjusting your cordage on the bow. You want the spindle TIGHT but not so tight you can't keep a hold of it.
9) When you get started - get your tinder ready. When you get a coal going there is NOTHING more depressing than watching it consume itself without getting anything to flame up.
The best thing I have found is drier lint - but something that works as well is cedar bark. You can buy a HUGE bag of this at a garden store for cheap and have all the tinder you would ever need to practice on.
Keep a small bowl of it near your practice area in case you see something that resembles a coal.
10) Here is the method I use to get a coal going on a fairly consistent basis:
a) Get in the proper stance (see link above) and get a good rhythm going. Don't apply too much downward pressure right away - just get things going well.
b) When you see smoke - this is the time to turn up the pressure and the speed. Use a long as strokes as you can, a good amount of pressure to fill the notch with black powdery material.
c) When the notch fills up and starts to spill out - it is time for SPEED and PRESSURE. More speed than pressure seems to work. You have you material - you want it to burn. I find the most speed I can apply with an appropriate amount of pressure works the best.
d) Things will REALLY be smoking at this point. You need to keep going until you know the coal is going or you simply run out of steam. When in doubt - go for broke. When you can no longer take it - stop without letting your spindle fly out.
Pick up your knife tip or a twig and hold the coal down (lightly) while picking up the fire board. Then CHILL.
If your coal stops smoking quickly - you have not had enough friction to get your coal going. You have no choice but to start over. You will make MANY of these cold coals before getting it right. KEEP TRYING!
e) You can wait a while while you catch your breath. Catching your breath is important. Being is good shape certainly helps the bow drill making process.
f) Transfer the coal to your tinder bundle without breaking it up. A small leaf under your fire board will help a lot. A big piece under your hearth simply makes things hard to dump into your tinder bundle without breaking it up.
g) When you get your coal in your tinder - blow LIGHTLY to get it to smoke. Not being out of breath at this point is a good thing.
h) Once you get some smoke - hold up your tinder bundle so you can get your breath to go over the coal around the coal and through the tinder bundle. This not only gets good oxygen to the coal but seems to make it spread to your tinder better.
g) You will get a LOT of smoke in your tinder to flame up - it will happen SUDDENLY - get near where you are going to put this tinder bundle - it seems to hit a critical thermal mass and then POOF - you have FIRE and a lot of it.
Here are some good videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2mm-YbE41E&feature=related
Finally, if you are a suburban weekend style warrior - like me - you can make a NICE bow drill set with little material.
Here is what I did:
Go to a home store with a decent lumber selection and buy a 4 foot length (or so) of Spruce 1 x 6. (Thicker would be great - a 4 x 4 would be great).
Go home and cut off two 1" lengths of Spruce and cut those into 1 foot lengths. This will give you a boat load of spindle material. Simply cut those into octagonal spindles and whittle off the ends.
Then use the remaining board (2 inches or more) for your fire board.
Go to the pet store and get a cheap section of leg bone (for dogs). Cut it in half and notch the middle for a spindle. Be warned - this will STINK! It made me sick to my stomach when I did it - you may even want to use a fan in your shop and cover your nose. YUCK!
Then take a hike somewhere and find some green wood for your bow. I found my bow material when a neighbor got rid of some shrubs. I took a length of it and made a bow. It works great!
I hope this helps - I hope, also, that an amateur can post this and share what I have learned without being pretentious.
TF
1) The bow is VERY important. It needs to be a little flexible. I would say it needs to be able to flex about 1 - 2" after the cordage has been tied on.
The best bow description is here:
http://wildwoodsurvival.com/survival/fire/bowdrill/pmoc/basicbowdrill.html
2) The depth of the hole is important.
You want to make it deep enough in the width of the board to allow the spindle to move freely without breaking out of the sides of the board if you tip the spindle accidentally while drilling. About 1 to 1.5 widths of the spindle is good.
3) The notch is important! (See amending posts below) Make it 1/8th of the pie or so - but be careful not to cut the notch all the way into the center of the hole - nor make it too wide. It simply means the spindle will break through the board or not drill at all. The notch depth and width are important - and for good flow of dust - cut is to be as clean and smooth as possible.
4) The spindle is not all that important. The spindle length should be about 9 inches - but carving it isn't all that important. Things tend to even out as you 'burn the spindle' into the board.
The important part is after you have used a kit once that you marr up the business end of the spindle and even the first board hole to allow for good friction. The spindle tends to burn hard and simply squeak at you instead of causing good friction.
A round spindle isn't necessary - in fact I find an octagonal spindle works just as good and even seems to slip less.
5) The hand hold being friction free makes life a LOT easier. I have used oak, bone, aluminum, Teflon (yes - teflon), steel, and rock. Rock is the best - in my experience. It weighs the most and would suck to toss in your pack.
Bone is probably the best compromise material. Be forewarned - cut your notch in a THICK portion of the bone or it gets HOT FAST!
Wood CERTAINLY works - but greasing your hand hold is critical to make life easier.
It isn't critical that you have rock or bone - but unless you are in good shape and have a strong arm - you may tire out before you get a good coal.
BTW - DON'T try Teflon - it just burns up.
6) Shouldering the tip of the spindle (where it meets the hand hold) makes life much easier as well. Less size means less less friction where you need it least.
7) 550 cord seems to slip more than shoe laces. It seems that a little cotton is a good thing. 550 CERTAINLY works - and I started two fires with it this morning - but seems to slip a bit.
8) Tying your cordage is important. Again, the bow shown above works VERY well for adjusting your cordage on the bow. You want the spindle TIGHT but not so tight you can't keep a hold of it.
9) When you get started - get your tinder ready. When you get a coal going there is NOTHING more depressing than watching it consume itself without getting anything to flame up.
The best thing I have found is drier lint - but something that works as well is cedar bark. You can buy a HUGE bag of this at a garden store for cheap and have all the tinder you would ever need to practice on.
Keep a small bowl of it near your practice area in case you see something that resembles a coal.
10) Here is the method I use to get a coal going on a fairly consistent basis:
a) Get in the proper stance (see link above) and get a good rhythm going. Don't apply too much downward pressure right away - just get things going well.
b) When you see smoke - this is the time to turn up the pressure and the speed. Use a long as strokes as you can, a good amount of pressure to fill the notch with black powdery material.
c) When the notch fills up and starts to spill out - it is time for SPEED and PRESSURE. More speed than pressure seems to work. You have you material - you want it to burn. I find the most speed I can apply with an appropriate amount of pressure works the best.
d) Things will REALLY be smoking at this point. You need to keep going until you know the coal is going or you simply run out of steam. When in doubt - go for broke. When you can no longer take it - stop without letting your spindle fly out.
Pick up your knife tip or a twig and hold the coal down (lightly) while picking up the fire board. Then CHILL.
If your coal stops smoking quickly - you have not had enough friction to get your coal going. You have no choice but to start over. You will make MANY of these cold coals before getting it right. KEEP TRYING!
e) You can wait a while while you catch your breath. Catching your breath is important. Being is good shape certainly helps the bow drill making process.
f) Transfer the coal to your tinder bundle without breaking it up. A small leaf under your fire board will help a lot. A big piece under your hearth simply makes things hard to dump into your tinder bundle without breaking it up.
g) When you get your coal in your tinder - blow LIGHTLY to get it to smoke. Not being out of breath at this point is a good thing.
h) Once you get some smoke - hold up your tinder bundle so you can get your breath to go over the coal around the coal and through the tinder bundle. This not only gets good oxygen to the coal but seems to make it spread to your tinder better.
g) You will get a LOT of smoke in your tinder to flame up - it will happen SUDDENLY - get near where you are going to put this tinder bundle - it seems to hit a critical thermal mass and then POOF - you have FIRE and a lot of it.
Here are some good videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2mm-YbE41E&feature=related
Finally, if you are a suburban weekend style warrior - like me - you can make a NICE bow drill set with little material.
Here is what I did:
Go to a home store with a decent lumber selection and buy a 4 foot length (or so) of Spruce 1 x 6. (Thicker would be great - a 4 x 4 would be great).
Go home and cut off two 1" lengths of Spruce and cut those into 1 foot lengths. This will give you a boat load of spindle material. Simply cut those into octagonal spindles and whittle off the ends.
Then use the remaining board (2 inches or more) for your fire board.
Go to the pet store and get a cheap section of leg bone (for dogs). Cut it in half and notch the middle for a spindle. Be warned - this will STINK! It made me sick to my stomach when I did it - you may even want to use a fan in your shop and cover your nose. YUCK!
Then take a hike somewhere and find some green wood for your bow. I found my bow material when a neighbor got rid of some shrubs. I took a length of it and made a bow. It works great!
I hope this helps - I hope, also, that an amateur can post this and share what I have learned without being pretentious.
TF
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