FireBow Material Successful Combo's

dartanyon

dartanyon

Joined
May 10, 2002
Messages
705
I'm looking for feedback on successful combination's of firebow drill and base/hearth board.
Hard or soft drill with hard or soft base?

My combination has been a medium/hard drill with a softer base. This combo is hard work and not often successful. Some input would be appreciated.

Maybe some input on v'channel friction method materials can help too.

Cheers

Note: I would like to purchase timbers to make kits for a scout demo night so i'm looking for materials to make it easier for the scouts to have more successful attempts.
 
I have had excellent results using cedar, which is a medium soft wood. There are other woods that I am sure would work as well. Just try to stay with softer woods without any pitch in them. Sycamore is supposed to work well, but I dont have any first hand experience with Sycamore.
 
Dartanyon, have you tried medium wood as the drill and the hearth?

I can look into sending you some kits. How many scouts? The shipping may be kind of expensive though..
 
Hi all,

Dartanyon, You can get most woods to work for the bow drill.
I have tried and gotton coals with many different woods. Some are harder than others though.

Soft to med are recomended but that does not mean that hard woods
will not work. Just get out there and try different woods in you area.

If I may give you a little advice. Cut your woods green and then spilt them and then carve them. Hearth and spindles. If you use any HARD woods when they are seasoned they suck for getting prepared. Well that is what I think anyways. cutting notchs and then the divits are bad enough. Going out and just making a set up from hard woods when they are seasoned is a lot harder than with soft to med. woods. Also with harder woods I tend to anyways have to spin that spindle many more times to get my coal than when working with soft woods. Again my way might not be what yoru way is and stuff like that. Everyones skill level is at just that different levels. Someone doing the same hard wood might get there coal in 50 strokes as I normally take 70 to 80 when using hard wood like hickory.



Bail Doc mentioned sycamore and if it works well, Yep it does even with a Corn Cob :D and horseweed, golden rod, yucca, willow, cotton wood, Sunflower, and many more different woods and dreid plant stalks. Eversince skab0311 posted about using a corn cob I have been out trying it on all of the woods in my area.
I just love using a corn cob for a spindle lol. I just cut some fresh oak to try it on. In few days after it has sat on the heater vent I will give it a try and
see if I get a coal with corn cob and oak.

IMG_1609.jpg




Only by getting out there in the woods or where ever and practicing will you get the hard earned knowledge you seek.


Bryan
 
Hey dartanyon,

I'm thinking it may be difficult to give you specific wood combinations because of where you live. Maybe Southern Cross can help.

As far as differing hardnesses in one set of tools, my experience has been that the drill should be harder than the hearth. I could never make it work, the other way around. Of course, same material for both drill and hearth makes the most sense because the wear will be relatively equal for both drill and hearth.

Actually, this thread brings up a good point. We need a data base of successful (ones that you have been successful with) combinations. Rather than bog this thread down, if you (all of you) want, email the combinations to me, and I will record them and arrange them in some kind of order and post them when complete (although it may never be truly complete)

We would need the binomials for woods/weeds used, since we are an international community, whether hand drill or bow drill (heck, I guess we could include all types of friction fire - fire saw, thong, plough, etc.) and your location. It might also be helpful for a short assessment of difficulty.

Storm (R.I.P.), on another forum, did this with hand drill combinations for the west coast, but I would rather do a new list.

Thoughts?

Doc
 
Thanks for the response guys :thumbup:

Baildoc,
Thankyou.

Tonym,
Thanks mate ... I’m hoping to find materials at timber yard to make things easier.

Sicily02,
Wow ... what a great approach, well done with the tests! Think I might try same approach.

Doc-canada,
Cheers, I’m going to give these combinations a whirl. The database is a good idea.
 
DOC-CANADA said:
Hey dartanyon,

I'm thinking it may be difficult to give you specific wood combinations because of where you live. Maybe Southern Cross can help.

As far as differing hardnesses in one set of tools, my experience has been that the drill should be harder than the hearth. I could never make it work, the other way around. Of course, same material for both drill and hearth makes the most sense because the wear will be relatively equal for both drill and hearth.

Actually, this thread brings up a good point. We need a data base of successful (ones that you have been successful with) combinations. Rather than bog this thread down, if you (all of you) want, email the combinations to me, and I will record them and arrange them in some kind of order and post them when complete (although it may never be truly complete)

We would need the binomials for woods/weeds used, since we are an international community, whether hand drill or bow drill (heck, I guess we could include all types of friction fire - fire saw, thong, plough, etc.) and your location. It might also be helpful for a short assessment of difficulty.

Storm (R.I.P.), on another forum, did this with hand drill combinations for the west coast, but I would rather do a new list.

Thoughts?

Doc
Click to expand...

Doc, are you proposing to develop a user-input database of bowdrill woods? That would be really cool if you did do it....Maybe start a new thread and hash out the info you want and manner in which you want the data provided?
 
DOC-CANADA said:
Actually, this thread brings up a good point. We need a data base of successful (ones that you have been successful with) combinations. Rather than bog this thread down, if you (all of you) want, email the combinations to me, and I will record them and arrange them in some kind of order and post them when complete (although it may never be truly complete)

We would need the binomials for woods/weeds used, since we are an international community, whether hand drill or bow drill (heck, I guess we could include all types of friction fire - fire saw, thong, plough, etc.) and your location. It might also be helpful for a short assessment of difficulty.

Storm (R.I.P.), on another forum, did this with hand drill combinations for the west coast, but I would rather do a new list.

Thoughts?

Doc
Click to expand...

I like the idea, but now I am going to have to start paying attention to the type of wood I find. Lately I just classify it as standing dead wood that looks like it should work...:p
 
kgd said:
Doc, are you proposing to develop a user-input database of bowdrill woods? That would be really cool if you did do it....Maybe start a new thread and hash out the info you want and manner in which you want the data provided?
Click to expand...

Yes. I'm going to think on it today, and hope to come up with something tonight.

tonym said:
I like the idea, but now I am going to have to start paying attention to the type of wood I find. Lately I just classify it as standing dead wood that looks like it should work...:p
Click to expand...

Really, that's all you need but since this question pops up every so often, I thought it might be helpful to take the time to record the combinations once and for all, for those that are interested. Besides, who knows what we might learn - skab's success with corn cobs is a good example. That was something I had never thought of or heard of before.

Doc
 
DOC-CANADA said:
Really, that's all you need but since this question pops up every so often, I thought it might be helpful to take the time to record the combinations once and for all, for those that are interested. Besides, who knows what we might learn - skab's success with corn cobs is a good example. That was something I had never thought of or heard of before.

Doc
Click to expand...

It will absolutely help people. When I first started out it helped me to know I was using wood that has worked for others. The more I do it now, the more I just grab what ever I can find when out. Sometimes I can identify it, sometimes I can not. There is no question that I would learn from this, and I look forward to it and contributing as well.:thumbup:
 
Doc ... awesome thankyou! Has given me a big head start.
Hope to get the Australian translation one day ;)
 
great stuff! There was a gentleman at falling leaves that seemed to have some good notes on the subject. I'll see if I can get his input.
 
I agree this is pure WSS, why move it here? If wood is considered gear, man I need a bigger pack!
 
Thankyou for moving this back to W&SS. I hope that some important survival tool threads dont end up in equipment ... like kits, bug out bags ... its going to be a difficult line to draw.

Anyhow ... I've found some Australian wood combinations that have been published on the web. Thanks Dave Little - Brisbane
It appars that some firebow users will use the same wood for both spindle and base.
A big issue is humidity.

Grass Tree or Blackboy flower stalk. (Xanthorrhoea)
Poinciana -- Delonix regia
Moreton Bay Fig: Ficus macrophylla
CAMPHOR LAUREL (Cinnamomum camphora)
Lantana: camara Verbenaceae
Broad leaf Pepper Tree or Pepperina Tree:- Schinus terebinthifolia
African Tulip: Spathodea campanulata.
Poplar Tree: (Populus alba or perhaps Populus euramericana)
Weeping Willow: Salix babylonica
Black Wattle: Acacia decurrens:
Paper barked Tea Tree: Melaleuca quinquenervia
Rubber Tree: Calotropis procera
 
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