Shaping a bowdrill kit with ESEE-3

I love the bow drill method. I think the key thing to remember is that you don't have to try to push the spindle through the hearthboard, and to start off slow and smooth until you see smoke--then pour the coal to it (no pun intended).
Too many people, when they're learning, think you have to start out bowing for all you're worth, only to get discouraged when they run out of steam before they get a coal.

Form is extremely important, too. I worked for two months on just form, and didn't start worrying about a coal until I felt comfortable with the position.

I'm having to adjust just a little bit to work the bow drill with the RC5 as the knife handle is thinner than a bearing block and you have to remember to keep your fingers out of the way of the spindle (so far I've managed to shoot a spindle across the yard because I forget that!)

Good stuff!! :thumbup:
 
kgd said:
Well, sorry guys, photobucket gave me my monthly slap on the wrist. I'll switch the pics to another holding place.
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Ken, you can do multiple p.b. accounts....you just need a different email address for each one. Don't ask how many I have :o
 
vhram said:
Very nice write up and thread, my 12 year old son has been wanting to do this together.
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That would be a great thing to do with your son! If you haven't tried traditional flint and steel yet that might be a good starting place as it forces you to focus on the tinder bundle.

KEmSAT-Survival said:
I love the bow drill method. I think the key thing to remember is that you don't have to try to push the spindle through the hearthboard, and to start off slow and smooth until you see smoke--then pour the coal to it (no pun intended).
Too many people, when they're learning, think you have to start out bowing for all you're worth, only to get discouraged when they run out of steam before they get a coal.

Form is extremely important, too. I worked for two months on just form, and didn't start worrying about a coal until I felt comfortable with the position.

I'm having to adjust just a little bit to work the bow drill with the RC5 as the knife handle is thinner than a bearing block and you have to remember to keep your fingers out of the way of the spindle (so far I've managed to shoot a spindle across the yard because I forget that!)
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Great comments KEmSat!

Mistwalker - I often use Tinypic instead of photobucket, so I switched to that server. Its seems like more people can see Tinypic pictures so that is a bit of a plus.
 
kodak picture gallery online, unlimited space. I'm pretty sure my mom has close to 10 GB of photos on there, and it's free
 
Today I had my first success with the two stick method. This method circumvents having to notch the wood. Basically, you tie two sticks together and drill in between them. The dust pile forms to the side and you get a coal. I've tried this a few times and it didn't work for me, but tonight it all came together and remarkably fast!

If you are just beginning, my recommendation is to stick with the tried and true notch method until you get a feeling for the drill. Once you've done that you might be interested in other techniques. There is also the two hole method and the through hole methods.

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Ken, how far into the hearth hole should one notch? And I seem to remember reading somewhere (maybe in Kevin's presentation on the bow drill) that the notch should be angled in some fashion rather than straight down to the bottom of the hearth, is this correct?
 
I usually shoot for the notch to be a 1/8 pie slice in width. The notch shouldn't proceed right to the center. If your notch is too wide, then your drill will tend to slip out while drilling. If that starts happening to you, you are best to just start a new hole.

If you think about the function of the notch, it is to collect the dust and cause it to form a pile. The superhead pieces of dust will keep collecting and contributing to heat until an ember forms. You want that dust pile to be like a little inverted ice cream cone.

One way to help this out is to widen the notch at the bottom of the hearth to make sure there is extra clearance and a good 'base layer' of dust can form with lots of access to oxygen to feed it. Before you start make sure your notch is nice and clean so that there are no little ridges or other places to collect the dust and divert it from your growing pile.
 
Thanks :thumbup:. Yes, I thought it was wider towards the bottom. I'm really looking forward to trying this out :)
 
Great pics... I plan to get the scouts in our troop fired up on the bow drill this weekend. We have a camp out and I am challenging our senior scouts to build a bow drill and start a fire. I will supply them with a length of paracord and they will have to do the rest at camp.
 
While there have indeed been a lot of other similar threads, its always a great pleasure to read something that is presented and explained in a most EXCELLENT manner. Thank you very much for the detailed and organized presentation. :thumbup:
 
I should give it a try some time...
Nice way to light a smal fire in my backyard on a late summers evening.
Nice explanation and love the pics.
 
Thanks for the post as I heard you had to have hearth and spindle of two different woods, one soft and one hard, yet I have read elsewhere that is not so. Glade to see it for sure,now for some fire time.
 
canadiantrailman said:
I also had a challenge whenever the hearth started smoking the drill started squeeking really loud and started gripping the hearth. This caused the shoe lace to start free wheeling due to the resistance between the drill and hearth from the heat. Maybe this was all due to the hearth being hard wood but it was really frustrating seeing the smoke build up and then no ember. I experimented with different pressure (light and heavy) but still ended up with the drill gaining too much resistance once the hearth heated up.:(
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This is one of the drawbacks of woods that are hard and what makes them difficult. Sometimes hard woods will form a glaze that insulates its from producing enough heat. Often times the dust being formed in this case is from the spindle rather than the hearth. That is one reason that if you are going to mix woods, you want your spindle to be of harder stuff then the hearth.

You often have to alter your technique on difficult woods. Many times if there is moisture, or in the case of woods that are quite hard (to avoid the glaze issue), you want to lighten on the pressure and increase the speed. This can be facilitated by using a longer bow and also a thinner spindle (which rotates faster than a thick one). When you are trying to give it a go on these difficult woods its all about technique. I'll admit to not be so good as to accomplish it readily and difficult woods. Magnussen is the goto guy for that kind of thing. He's produced ember's in green oak :eek:

My advice is to practice on good materials first and get your technique so that you know what works and what doesn't. After that begin foraging for wood on site. Even then, I try to be mindful of getting a softer type of wood. The great thing is there are species that can be found in most places with the right characteristics, whether you are dealing with evergreens (balsam fir works great; cedar works great) or deciduous (basswood, popular, aspen, willow).
 
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