Any Cal., you're not the only one who had issues. I never successfully got a coal, but I'm going to post up my failure anyway in the spirit of the thread. I promised I'd participate, and so I will. I did learn some important things, and I also got to put to task some Beckers that had only seen light use to date. That part was a lot of fun.
I originally intended to head over to a local WMA, find some downed cedar, and go that route. However, with the holidays, my bronchial infection, and other limitations, I decided to do what I could at home. I thought I had some juniper chunks out back, and I've read that juniper is actually a good wood for a fire kit. However, when I poked through the wood pile, all I could find was some old hemlock from a tree I took down nearly three years ago. Hemlock is an evergreen like cedar and juniper, and I figured it was plenty dry by now, so I decided to give it ago.
I started with a small log, and using the Brute, Machax, and Combat Bowie, I split it and made a couple of planks.
Using a long strip from one plank, I carved my spindle indoors, mostly with a Campanion and the EsKabar (no pic of this step, sorry). Then, I used the Crewman and the Magnum Camp for the rest of the process. Here is a pic of the pieces coming together. The tip of the Crewman was very handy for making the divot in the bearing block and the fire board. You can see the divots started in the pic below.
And here's the set-up just after the burn in.
I used the Magnum Camp for the rest of the process. Here's the board being notched and back cut.
After getting some smoke (but no coal)...
This is the point at which I began to correct some of the equipment. I mentioned before that I saw three issues: (1) too big of a bow, and (2) a slight curve at the top of my spindle, and (2) not enough "tit" on the spindle (too much friction at the top). Using the Magnum Camp, I corrected the spindle, and I went for a smaller bow, which was much easier to manipulate.
Then, I tried like crazy. I could get smoke repeatedly, but never a good coal. After numerous attempts and spinning till my arm was worn out, I finally got fed up and decided to test the wood. Just for kicks, I inserted a wood screw in the tit of my spindle, hooked it to a portable drill, and spun the heck out of it on the board. Again, I got smoke but that was it. I had some serious RPMs going but never got a coal.
So I came to a couple of tentative conclusions. One is that the wood got too damp. I did let it sit outside between making the planks and completing the kit. In the interim, we had some rain and a pretty good snowfall. Still, it was under a tarp, and I brought the wood in for a while thereafter, and it should have been pretty dry. My other hypothesis is that hemlock just doesn't make the cut like some other evergreens. I don't find it mentioned much in Google searches on bow drill kits, so maybe it was just a poor choice from the get-go.
Regarding knives... my Campanion and my Combat Bowie have long been my main two Becker users, but I was happy to try out some of the others that have languished far too long. I still like the BK-9 best as a chopper, but I was very impressed by two knives: the Crewman and the Magnum Camp. The Crewman is a great little knife, and I'm going to start putting it into my woods rotation more often. The Camp, I'd used a good bit in the kitchen, but not so much on woods chores. I was really impressed with the way that it shaved and carved wood. Now that I have the nice Spec-Ops sheath for it, I'm going to put it in my pack more often as well.
That's it for this report. Good Lord willing, I'm hitting the woods next week, and I'm going to try to find dry cedar now that I've gotten some of the technique down. I'll update here or in the open forum once I have some success. Like I said in a recent W&SS thread, I've been an outdoorsman all my life, but there are still lots of things I can learn about wilderness survival. This challenge gave me the incentive to start learning one such skill, and I enjoyed taking the step. Kudos to Ethan and Moose for getting this challenge going. :thumbup:
