Fire Bow success

T

Temper

Joined
Oct 30, 2002
Messages
3,011
After going for a training bike ride and a run I stopped off at my father in-laws to take out his dog while he was away on vacation. During the walk along the river bank I suddenly got cold as the sweat from the exercise started to cool me down too fast. I was in sweats without any gear and I wondered if I had the skill to make a fire and keep me warm. There was plently of reed like vegetation so a shelter wouldn't be too hard, but would I be able to make a fire with what I had on me? The answer was probably an empirical 'No' as I had no experience of fire from friction, although I had read a fair bit about it on the Internet.
So, this weekend I decided to give it a try and cut down some dead standing branches and went about making the necessary parts.

The biggest obstacle I came upon was the bearing, as I was using wood and not a bone joint or stone, friction was quite high. I used nose & hair grease but it wasnt spectacular. I finally cheated a little with some Vaseline just to remove the variables of non-success.

The other problem was due to a too hard fire board. I finally remembered some cedar that was from a lumber yard that I used a long time ago and tried that. I got smoke in literally seconds and on the second attempt with the new board I got an ember and fire :D

Here are a few pics of the setup.

Parts.jpg


Bow-end.jpg


Spindle-and-Socket.jpg


ember.jpg


Live-flame.jpg
 
Congrats

I takes me 3 days each time I try, and I regularly see people who make it in ten minutes on their first attempt. Life is a bitch.

Ceddar is said to be the best (easiest) wood for bow drill. You made a great choice, and that's an important point bow drill (and many other primitive/outdiir techniques) are a lot about preparation and finding the right material.
 
Rav, I almost got discouraged after the squeeking, hand hold being hotter that the fire board end etc :) but I can be tenacious at times. I realised that its do-able and just looked at it one problem at a time. The Cedar was about 5x easier that the Beech I was using initially as a fire board, I don't know what kind of wood the spindle is made from its like a softish hardwood.

I'm going to scout some nettles soon and have a go at making the cordage too.
 
Temper said:
Rav, I almost got discouraged after the squeeking, hand hold being hotter that the fire board end etc :) but I can be tenacious at times. I realised that its do-able and just looked at it one problem at a time. The Cedar was about 5x easier that the Beech I was using initially as a fire board, I don't know what kind of wood the spindle is made from its like a softish hardwood.

I'm going to scout some nettles soon and have a go at making the cordage too.
Click to expand...

First off , CONGRATULATIONS!! Nothing so satisfying as getting a fire from your own labor and the materials at hand. I too fought this one for a while and when I did finally get then I started to search for "what else will work".
By the pics you've got all the things I figured out. 1: hearth board seems to work best at about 1/2" thick. 2: spindle seems best 1/8 from the edge. 3: Notch doesn't go all the way to the center of the hole. All these things where mistakes on my part early on. It all may be differnt depending on materials, I really don't know. what I do know is that I keep my skills up by leaving my gear out and every once in awhile twist up a coal. It is getting easier and faster all the time. Once smoke starts I add pressure and don't stop til I see good smoke from the notch pile. The gear I made up is a Bison rib for the bow(YA right, like I'm gonna carry that around)it's cool tho:) Been collecting socket stuff too. Hip bones and whatever I find that looks like it work. I have taken to dripping candle wax into th socket and this works fantastic. You did better than I with the materials and I had a coach to start. I coulda smoked ten cases of Herring with no fire.
Matched wood, spindle and hearth, works good too.
so far I have got fire with:Basswood(my favorite)White cedar, Aeromatic cedar, Willow.:thumbup:
 
Good job Temper.:thumbup: I'd be reaching in my pocket for my Zippo.:D Nice pics too.
Scott
 
I keep telling myself that I'm going to try this one day, but haven't made myself do it yet.

Congratulations! From numerous other reports on this that I've read over the years, you had incredible success!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top