First try at bowdrill = FAIL!!!!

F

frontiersman

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Dec 20, 2006
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I felt froggy today and thought I'd try to start a fire with a bowdrill ( Kinda have to be eat up with it to want a fire in 90 degree heat). I got my trusty ESEE 5 and went to work. First I made the spindle, and made it to fit the bowdrill divot in my knife handle. I think it was dry pine but not sure. Then I made my bow using just twine (more on that later). I cheated and used a piece of ceder for my fireboard that came from a pice of lumber. First thing that went wrong was my twine broke on my bow. (I should have known better I know). I replaced it with 550 cord and carried on. Once I got the tension right, I did a good burnout in the hole I started with my ESSE 5. Got smoke, now I'm getting excited. Cut my notch and fluffed up the jute wasted on the bow. Got set up and went to town. Got alot of smoke and was gettin ready to have a cole I believe and broke my spindle.:( I never could fine another spindle that would work. I ran out of daylight and stopped in disgust. Just thought you bushcraft guys would get a kick out of my woes.
 
no woes there brother... just trial and error.. I;d bet there's not a guy out there who;s got the bowdrill on there first attempt. even after you get a bunch of coals there is still no guarantees,
keep at it... and good luck.
 
keep trying, my first coal was after 6 hours and piles of dumb luck. sounds like you were on the right track though!
 
Thanks for the support guys. I have never considered myself a bushcrafty/bushhippy sorta guy but I got to thinking this might be a skill a person should know. I may not always have a Zippo in my pocket. I'll probably try again this weekend. Does it sound like I'm going down the right road? Am I missing something?
 
I've been trying for 2 weeks and haven't succeeded yet.
 
It took me 2 WEEKS of doing it for about 20 minutes a day, figuring things out by myself to get it done without hands on help. With a lot of practice you can become QUITE good at it, I used to race my friends when in a wilderness program, I eventually became good enough to have a small fire started in less than 90 seconds. Keep at it man!
 
Keep it up. If you have a large enough hearth from your cedar plank, try splitting off a section from the edge and making your drill from that. Often making the spindle and hearth out of the same piece of wood works. Alternatively, I am growing more and more convinced that the material of the spindle, as long as it is harder (as a general rule) than the hearth, is really not all that important. Last week and popped a coal off of cottonwood (hearth) with a relatively fresh piece of maple. I've also used oak and ash spindles with success as long as they were paired with a good soft hearth. The cedar hearth you have should work great.

Finally, I didn't catch what you were using for a top piece. When starting off, it pays to use a frictionless surface. If at a loss try one of those thick bottomed shot glasses. This will prevent you from zapping your energy at the top end of your spindle due to friction.

Good luck.
 
If you're going to use a shot glass for the top bearing, heavily duct tape it on the outside, to prevent injury if it breaks. Apparently, it has happened.

Doc
 
The shot glass sounds like a good idea. Will have to try it. The ESEE 5 has a divot in the handle of the micarta designed to be used as the bearing block. Works good if you get your technique down.
 
I think all of us have been there before. I like my spindles kind of short, relatively speaking, and about 5/8 inch or so in diameter to help avoid breaking them. It also took me a while to learn which way to "aim" my force (not at the notch) to avoid wallowing the socket. Successes are more fun yes, but you'll learn more from failures, at least at first because with successes you're too excited to remember everything :) I've only been at it for a year or so, I've gotten several coals and had several failures. To me it's easier to practice bow drill in the cooler months, sweat falling on the wrong place can really be a set back. I've had it drip off my nose right into me coaling dust before when I was trying to observe what was happening, that was really annoying. Just keep at it, sounds like you're on the right track.
 
Lots of people don't get it the first time around. I was actually impressed when two adults I showed got it on their first run. I thought "must be the teacher". Then the next day, of course, with the same material, I couldn't get one with a bunch of kids around me. Some days you get it, some days no one gets it ! keep going!
 
A few tips:

Use the right kind of wood (soft, dead)

Use proper cordage (varies)

Apply consistant pressure

Make the LARGEST pile of coals you can reasonably make

Use the FINEST tinder possible (bird nest, cattail fluff)

Know your own abilities (its a good thing you failed today, how else whould you know where you stand?)

And, lastly, carry a lighter :D
 
I Tried my hand at this for the first time today too (unsuccessfully). For the first attempt, I used dry pine for the hearth board, bearing block and spindle, 550 cord, and a green stick for the bow. I couldn't even get smoke.

For the second attempt, I replaced the spindle with a dry piece of harder wood. I got smoke right away, but could get any farther because my bow/spindle would come apart at crucial moments.
 
I have tried , and failed , numerous times at this .
Admittedly I havent sat down for hours to get it right either tho .
I second the guy above somewhere who said carry a lighter :) its a handy back up
 
All who have learned the bowdrill have failed at some point. I had good success early on, but when I failed, it was spectacularly and publicly! And some days the fire gods simply do not smile upon you, and no flame can be brought forth. The whole process really gives you some perspective on how fortunate we are, with our firesteels and lighters. Even flint-and-steel is a snap in comparison.

I think there are two elements to the bow drill that are important: technique and materials. I had good teachers so my technique is decent. Materials are another story: you have to work with what you have. In my experience, pine is difficult despite passing the "thumbnail test". However if you have sycamores (Platanus spp.) where you live, I suggest giving that a try for both spindle and fireboard. It wears quickly, but produces coals equally quickly.

Here's a good basic bowdrill instruction. This really lays out the foundation. Basic Bowdrill

Here is a good resource for other tips: Wildwood Survival: Bow Drill

One thing I've noticed is that one should take care that their spindle isn't too thick...shoot for thumb thickness. I also carve down the fireboard end of the spindle a bit to reduce the contact area. If there's too much surface area you'll make a lot of smoke, but not enough heat to ignite the coal.

Good luck, and keep at it! All the trial-and-error is just investment in your future success.
 
At the very least, it's not a bad workout!

I am having a hard time finding decent, standing, dry, dead wood in the woods behind my house. Next I am going to cut some fresh wood and dry it.
 
when i first started really trying it took me like a month to finally get it. i am decent at it now but hell some days i still can't get it to freaking work lol. it's just one of those things. just keep at it and you will figure it all out.
 
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