Just a newbie asking perhaps an ignorant question... I see a number of threads of making a fire with friction to develop the necessary primitive skills necessary for survival. I find this interesting, but I see it being taught using a fire board with a specific knotch cut in it and specific types of wood for the fire board etc... My question is, If the purpose is to develop survival skills, there generally won't be access to a fireboard and specific woods so you'd have to make due with what you find where you are.
Unless of course you brought that with you but a bic is smaller and easier to use. I can see the satisfaction of getting it done, but is it really a feasable survival skill if you do it with equipment you buy at the hardware andmake in your garage?
Sorry for the multiple posts, but I did want to address this initial post, and it is a good one, Deerslayer. No one that I know of, here, has used store bought supplies. Just to clear that up.
I like your question, because, I had asked the same thing a while back.
My issue was more along the lines of finding the exact correct wood, that it would be dry, and that the stars would be aligned.
So our discussions progressed, and several folks got me thinking.
This is a multi-faceted skill, which includes identifying different woods, knowing their characteristics and making the correct selection. Then there is the fabrication of trhe Bow n Drill, another skill, then the actual use of the Drill, another skill. So it is a series of skills and understandings to get that elusive ember. The notch isn't too specific, it's important, but, it's not like we need a laser guuided saw to cut it, a knife does fine.
Now the garage part.... I have a family and a career, it's winter and the sun sets early. i could drink beer and watch TV, 'or' I could make some use of what little spare time I have, go out the garage and try my hand at a new skill? I have woods literally an acre away, and they are mine, I am fortunate. But, to use tonight as an example, it rained, turned to snow, and it's about 20 degrees out there. and pretty dammed dark on top of it.
I worked a long day, and am not going out there in the woods to spin a bow and drill tonight to prove how tough I am.
When spring arrives, and/or the next time I go camping, I'll grab some material and work at it, in the wild, and be better off already knowing the "drill" (pun intended).
Nothing is being formally taught here, and nothing is being taught in any certain way, for any certain reason. We did our own research, and put knife to wood.
We are receiving guidance from our friends/experienced folks and it is paying off. It would be great if they were our neighbors, or just a mile down the road, and could give hands on expereince, but they are in New York, Oregon, Canada, New Zealand, and Brazil, just to name a few places.
It's actually pretty amazing to be able to tap all this experience.
Hope this helps answer your questions.
Again, I asked similar ones a while ago.
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