Fire Bow

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unky_gumbi

Joined
Aug 28, 2009
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So I was bored today and grabbed pack, fire kit, knife and went out to try and start a fire with a fire bow. I had planned on taking pictures, but got so involved with the process that by the time I thought of it, it was too late. I never did get fire, or even a coal. I did however manage to get a fair amount of smoke while burning in the notch in the hearth and for a little bit after I cut the notch for the coal. Then suddenly there was nothing, I hadn't changed my attack or the pressure I was using, so the only thing I can think of is that either my hearth or drill were wet inside and I burned into that before I got enough heat. I kept trying but not long after I wore out the cord I was using.
Any tips for getting the fire bow and drill working? For some reason I feel the need to be able to start a fire by friction. I should never need to, I always have a lighter, matched and 2 fire steels on me when I go out, but you never know. I don't know why I carry 2 fire steels, but one is in my pack and the other is on my sheath that is one my belt.
 
I've had the same problem once the spindle has hit a certain temp and then cooled. it seems like something forming a layer on the spindle and when it hardens it has less friction, I find that all I have to do is a couple quick scrapes with a blade to rough it up again, and off I go. I've found I need to do this when ever I stop after getting smoke.
Also note that I've gotten coals twice, and a full fire once, so I could be totally wrong, but that seems to work for me.
 
Sounds like you polished up the spindle and hearth, thereby reducing the amount of friction you were creating. You can usually tell the difference because the spinning feels too smooth, or sometimes you'll hear squeaking sounds.

As gadgetgeek mentioned, just rough up the spindle and the hole and it should be smoking again.

If you were getting smoke fairly easily, then you were not far from creating a coal. If the process for getting a lot of smoke is taking a long time, your spindle and/or hearth may be too hard - trying softer woods should decrease the time to smoke.

Best tip I've read is that if you are out of breath by the time you create a coal, something is not right about your set-up; you may need to try different woods or alter your technique. Hope that helps! ;)
 
I think you guys may be right about the drill and hearth getting polished and losing friction. I was hearing the squeaking load and clear. I was getting smoke in less then a minute so I must have been doing something right. I will give it another try tomorrow and if I lose smoke again I will rough things up and see if that works.. I did a bit of reading and watched a few youtube videos and think I cut my notch wrong too and that is why I didn't get a coal
 
So far the advice seams spot on. Try taking pictures this time, as that will also help us to figure out what is going on.
Pay attention to the powder you get while burning in the board. It should be black and fine. Always ruff up the business end of the drill and the divot after every attempt.

Good luck!
 
I once hit a grub or an ant (talk about bad luck) while drilling in. Its little squishy body juices lubricated the bit and that was that. I had to cut off the tip of the drill and start a new divot on the hearth. As others have said, you can glaze the drill and you either have to cut off the glaze or press harder and drill through it - the latter can cut through your hearth too quick.

Finally, one of the quirky aspects of bowdrill. The amount a smoke you achieve while drilling is not an indicator of getting success in an ember. Of course you need the smoke to get an ember, but getting smoke does not mean you will get an ember. You can get just about any wood to smoke using bowdrill. However, the dust just won't easily ignite in hard to light woods, despite a guiser of smoke streaming out and dust forming.

Some woods will even trick you with the fleeting 3-5s of smoke tendrill after you stop drilling and then just self extinguish while you are trying to wave air into it and nurse that ember along. This can be a maddening thing when you get to this point because you sort of convince yourself that you will get it 'with just another run' and then 4 or 5 tries later you've run out of steam. I've done this with cherrywood a few times, thinking, dang it, I'm so close to getting it.

Rick always maintains that all woods can be brought to ember under the right conditions. I agree that sometimes you can get harder to ignite woods to ember by adjusting either your speed or downward pressure. More often though, I find better success to give up on a hearth after 2 tries and I'm not getting much success and go forage a better piece.

I maintain that the mystique and fun of bowdrill is you are never a 100% sure that you will get the next ember. Every time you start an attempt, it is a challenge. Thats why it continues to be fun to do after many attempts while other skills get a bit dull after you have effectively mastered them.
 
One thing that's worked for me instead of "roughing up" the spindle/divot with a knife is throwing a bit of sand or fine gravel into the divot.
 
Well I just finished up all the things I needed to do around the house and am getting ready to head out for round two. I think I am using the the right type of wood, I am using standing deadwood from a box elder. It is easy to ignite with a fire steel or matches and fairly soft. There was lots of fine charred powder from the drilling process that took a spark with no problem from my fire steel. Anyhow, the camera is charged and its about a mile walk to the spot I was at so I should get going before I get lazy. If I can get the video camera at the right angle without a tripod I will try taking some video.
Thanks everyone for the advice, time to see if it works for me.
 
unky_gumbi said:
Well I just finished up all the things I needed to do around the house and am getting ready to head out for round two. I think I am using the the right type of wood, I am using standing deadwood from a box elder. It is easy to ignite with a fire steel or matches and fairly soft. There was lots of fine charred powder from the drilling process that took a spark with no problem from my fire steel. Anyhow, the camera is charged and its about a mile walk to the spot I was at so I should get going before I get lazy. If I can get the video camera at the right angle without a tripod I will try taking some video.
Thanks everyone for the advice, time to see if it works for me.
Click to expand...

Box elder works....Good luck and don't forget to report back!
 
Well I am back and was successful on the first go. I am just getting the little video proof ready to be uploaded. Only thing is I didn't realize that I have a bad case of the sniffles on the video:o so please ignore that. All I was out to do is get flames with the bow and drill so I didn't make an actual fire today, but I am confident enough that if I managed to get a flame that I could make a full fire. I know I can make a bonfire with a 2" piece of fat wood and a fire steel with no other tinder:D
 
Hey congrats man! Getting your first ember is a great achievement. Certainly deserves a few sniffles :D
 
OK heres the video of my first friction created flames. I did it a few more times and what I found worked for me on the repeat attempts is to put a few grains of dirt in the bowl and to trim off the char on the drill between attempts. I also found that cutting in a light X on the face of the drill sped up the creation of the coal. It could have just been residual heat in the hearth and drill so I will test that out tomorrow after everything has had time to cool over night. Yes I kept the drill and heath, I like to mark my accomplishment.
So why is it that something so basic as making primitive fire feels so good?:p

[youtube]7mBDlndHJ9Y[/youtube]
 
got my first fire yesterday. for me, it was material selection. i got away from cedar and it started up real easy
 
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