Fire bow problem: Please help!

T

tuxtex

Joined
Jun 18, 2009
Messages
82
Dear All,

after watching a lot of YouTube videos about friction fires and reading a lot of postings here in this forum, I tried today the first time the fire bow.

Unfortunately I was only able to produce a hard, glas looking surface on the drill and partly also on the heart.

I used hazel for the bow, beech for the headpiece and poplar for the heart and the drill. Having said this, I used a piece of a poplar branch for the drill and the heart was made by splitting a bigger poplar log.

The string was 550 paracord.

What went wrong?
 
The glass look is from the "polishing" effect that you can get without enough pressure. I have done that many times before. You can rough up the wood on the spindle with a knife, or you can try throwing some sand in there to rough it up during your burn in. Are you using a green leaf or grass as a lubricant in your bearing block? That was what did it for me. I wasn't using enough pressure, because my bearing block was "locking" up on my spindle, so I would lighten the pressure to allow it to spin, thus glazing my hearth divot and spindle head. I started REALLY cramming alot of greenery into my bearing block, and I found I could bear down more, and the spindle was still moving freely. That was my first success at friction, and it all had to do with the bearing block lubricant. I hope this helps. Moose
 
I agree with Moose. You may just need more pressure. Pics of what is going on and of the powder you are producing will help greatly as well.
 
moosez45 said:
The glass look is from the "polishing" effect that you can get without enough pressure. I have done that many times before. You can rough up the wood on the spindle with a knife, or you can try throwing some sand in there to rough it up during your burn in. Are you using a green leaf or grass as a lubricant in your bearing block? That was what did it for me. I wasn't using enough pressure, because my bearing block was "locking" up on my spindle, so I would lighten the pressure to allow it to spin, thus glazing my hearth divot and spindle head. I started REALLY cramming alot of greenery into my bearing block, and I found I could bear down more, and the spindle was still moving freely. That was my first success at friction, and it all had to do with the bearing block lubricant. I hope this helps. Moose
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Thank you for your reply!

Yes, I used green leaves as lubricant. Having said this, at the beginning I forgot to lubricate the bearing block and the spindle went black at the top, but not on the heart.
 
tonym said:
I agree with Moose. You may just need more pressure. Pics of what is going on and of the powder you are producing will help greatly as well.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your reply!

I will try it again and will try provide pictures. Unfortunately, there was no powder, just this glass looking surface. The wood seemed to be hardened.
 
tuxtex said:
Thank you for your reply!

I will try it again and will try provide pictures. Unfortunately, there was no powder, just this glass looking surface. The wood seemed to be hardened.
Click to expand...

Did you carve your notch?

Make sure you scuff up the divot in the hearth and the business end of your spindle after every attempt.
 
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Sounds to me like more pressure, like others mentioned. What really helped me was a real bearing block. Something that will produce little friction at the top end even with a lot of pressure. Also make sure the top end of the spindle is very pointed and does not "mate" with the top of the bearing block. I'm not sure on the hardness of that wood, but I used the same wood for spindle and the hearth. Use your fingernail to test, it should make a light dent in the wood, but not be very easy. (ie very soft wood or punky) Hope that helps, it took me a long time to get my first fire, after that it came much easier. Good luck keep it up!
 
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