So you want to rub some sticks together?

[DOC-CANADA]

Apparently, there are more than a few people on this forum that are interested in making fire with a bow drill. Some time ago, I attempted to put together a course, for want of a better word, for learning bow drill over the internet. The problem with trying to teach this in a forum setting is that everybody has different ideas when it comes to friction fire making, and that can lead to confusion to the person wanting to learn, so I did it on an individual basis.

In retrospect, I'm thinking about posting it here for whoever is interested, and more importantly, since there are many experienced fire makers here, it might be good to get other input, in case I've left something out, or perhaps they have a better way of explaining it. So to this end, the following is the first part. I'm looking forward to your input. (This part is in italics so you can differentiate between my current comments and the way I set up the tutorial information).

PART ONE

Hi, and welcome. If you're reading this it probably means you've decided to learn how to make friction fire via the internet. Now I probably don't have to tell you that personal in-your-face instruction would be a lot easier, but this does work. The only thing you have to do is follow instructions.

FIRST AND FOREMOST, THE METHOD THAT YOU ARE GOING TO BE READING AND DOING IS ONLY ONE WAY TO DO THIS. THERE ARE OTHERS. THIS MAY NOT BE THE BEST WAY, BUT IT DOES WORK!

I've chosen this method because I think it will make it easiest to teach friction fire over the internet. One of the problems with doing it in a discussion forum is that everybody has opinions, some conflicting with what you are reading, and don't get me wrong, some of those conflicting ideas may be great but they should be addressed after you can consistently make fire, not before. All it serves to do is confuse and further discourage you, who are learning. Get rid of any other preconceived notions that you have, for the time being. We're going to start from scratch.

As we go along, if you think maybe something else might work better, go back and read this:
FIRST AND FOREMOST, THE METHOD THAT YOU ARE GOING TO BE READING AND DOING IS ONLY ONE WAY TO DO THIS. THERE ARE OTHERS. THIS MAY NOT BE THE BEST WAY, BUT IT DOES WORK!
By using the same materials, it will be a lot easier to diagnose any problems that you are having, especially considering that it is done over the internet.

The material we are going to be using is American Basswood (Tilia americana). I have used this material many, many times and it is about the best native material for this purpose, that I can find in my area. American Basswood was used for a great many other purposes, such as cordage making, basket making, bowl making and so on. It is also an edible and medicinal plant, so aside from friction fire considerations, it is a worthwhile tree to learn to identify. Actually, Basswood can be used for making every component of the bow drill set - the bow, the bow string, the drill, the hearth and the headpiece. How can it get any better than that?

For the time being, though, we'll not deal with cordage making.

Just before we get into the nuts and bolts of this, keep in mind that if you're having problems with any aspects of this, or you have any questions, no matter how trivial they may seem, ask about them. Do not ignore these things, they could serve to make this much more difficult.

Now let's get to it………………

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THE PARTS OF THE BOW DRILL TOOL - Part 2

The bow drill tool consists of 5, arguably 6 parts. They are: the headpiece (top bearing), the drill or spindle, the bow, the bow string, the hearth or fireboard and maybe, the fire pan.


The Headpiece

The headpiece serves a few purposes in the bow drill tool. It protects your hand from the moving, sharp upper end of the drill; it allows you to stabilize the lateral movement at the upper end of the drill (which translates, although to a much lesser degree, wobble at the hearth level), and allows you to apply pressure to the drill, downward into the hearth (this creates the friction).

Headpieces can be made of many different materials - bone, stone, wood, plastic, metal, glass. The qualities you look for in a headpiece are - something that is comfortable to hold, something solid enough to protect your hand and to allow you to apply downward pressure on the drill. You also want material that will create the minimum amount of friction - you want the bulk of the friction at the hearth not the headpiece. I prefer moose antler, others like stone. It probably goes without saying, but there must be a socket or depression in the head piece - in the case of wood, bone, and antler, you can carve it in with a knife, sharp rock, or whatever you have available. In the case of stone, you can either find a stone with a suitable depression (good luck with that!) or create a socket by pecking at a rock with a much harder rock.

For this exercise, if possible, use a shot glass (yes, you'll have to pour your rye and coke by guesstimate for the moment). A shot glass is ideal because most people have one laying around, and the friction in a shot glass is minimal. It is also easy to hold onto.

WARNING - IF YOU USE A SHOT GLASS, HEAVILY TAPE THE OUTSIDE OF THE GLASS WITH DUCT TAPE. THEY HAVE BEEN KNOWN TO BREAK AND YOU DON'T WANT TO DRIVE GLASS INTO YOUR HAND!

If a shot glass is not available, find something else with as little friction as possible and something comfortable to hold and apply pressure with.

The very worst choice is wood, although it will work too. If you have to use wood, use the hardest wood you can find. This will help eliminate friction at the upper end. It also will last a lot longer. You can also lubricate the upper end of the drill to help reduce the friction. In a primitive setting this consists of rubbing the upper end of the drill on the sides of your nose or behind your ears, where natural skin oils occur. The dimensions of the headpiece are not too important, except for the comfort consideration.

Picture of my headpiece (moose antler):

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So that's it for the moment. Part 3 will be the drill. Comments, please, ANY AND ALL!

Doc

 

[3wolves]

Hurry up with part 3 already. I'm usually hope less when it comes to bowdrill fires and my goal is to master them before fall.
Oh yeah, and post tons of pics, I learn better with pics.

 

[kgd]

Doc this is great - keep it up!

 

[DOC-CANADA]

Hurry up with part 3 already. I'm usually hope less when it comes to bowdrill fires and my goal is to master them before fall.
Oh yeah, and post tons of pics, I learn better with pics.

There are quite a few pictures but I want to get feedback on each section. The goal is to make it as instructional, and understandable as possible. That's why I'm looking for input from people who already do friction fire. That's assuming, of course, that they're willing to add their comments.

As far as the pictures go, if you see a place where you think a picture would be a good idea, say so.

I'm heading off hiking now, so we'll see what happens.

Doc

 

[mneedham]

Doc,
Can't wait to see the next installment!

 

[boing]

I just came in ten minutes ago from my latest bow drill "attempt".

I'm drinking now. :grumpy:

Subscribed!

 

[DOC-CANADA]

THE DRILL OR SPINDLE - Part 3

The drill is made out of Basswood (Tilia americana). Basswood is a fairly soft, hardwood and it is easy to carve. The wood is grainless or relatively so, and for these reasons, is a favourite wood among wood carvers.

The function of the drill is to oscillate back and forth, creating friction between it and the hearth. As the drill is rotated, and pressure is applied, the wood heats up, small 'grindings' of wood are worn off and collect in the notch in the fire board (more on that later). The more 'drilling' the hotter the 'grindings' become until they get very hot and char (turn black). Once the char is hot enough, and the pile is large enough, a 'coal' will form, a coal, being a small ember that kind of gathers together into a little glowing lump.

So, drill dimensions. Most dimensions for the parts of a bow drill kit are approximate. They are not carved in stone, but for this exercise, let's all make them the same. Length about 10" overall, 12" if you have problems with your back and have difficulties bending over. Now before you say, so and so says they shouldn't be any longer than 6" or whatever, remember:

FIRST AND FOREMOST, THE METHOD THAT YOU ARE GOING TO BE READING AND DOING. IS ONLY ONE WAY TO DO THIS. THERE ARE OTHERS. THIS MAY NOT BE THE BEST WAY, BUT IT DOES WORK!


Just so you understand, one advantage of a longer drill can be that a given amount of lateral movement at the top of the drill, will result in a smaller amount of wobble at the hearth.

As far as diameter, here again we will depart from the norm. This is how I want you to make the drill (and as straight as possible, of course - not straight enough, no fire):

You probably will not always make a drill like this, and it's not necessary, but for this exercise, it is. The purpose of the hexed main shaft is to provide better traction between the drill and the string. The single biggest reason for string breakage is string slippage, so this helps to prevent slippage. That's also why the diameter of the drill, where the string will ride is larger than the bottom end of the drill. The larger the diameter, the better the traction. The smaller bottom end reduces the area over which the friction is applied, making it easier to raise the temperature. Theoretically, by increasing the diameter of the main part of the drill, you will decrease the speed at which the drill oscillates. In actual practice, I find the increased traction between the drill and the string more than compensates for this.

A picture of one of my drills.

Since this is dealing with drills, a note about removing the char. As you can see in the picture above the business end is very black with char. If you were to use the drill like this, you would have problems getting a coal. So, what you do is remove the char. A lot of survival books tell you to take a knife and cut 'facets' at the end, removing the char. I find this to be quite a detriment because, the friction really doesn't start until the drill mates with the hearth, that means before anything productive is going to start, you have to wear off the facets! How's that for counterproductive? What you want to do is get a piece of sandstone, or rough rock, etc. (coarse sandpaper for this experiment) and if your drill is charred, you want to sand off the char and maintain the shape of the end as much as possible but don't get obsessive. This will make it much faster to get back to business.

The top of the drill needs to be slow tapered and very sharp pointed - this reduces the friction at the headpiece. As it wears down in use, you take your knife and reprofile it. Conversely the bottom end needs to have a sharp pointed but rapidly tapering end. (The picture shows a rounded end, but you need to make it sharp. More of this later, when we start putting the pieces together.

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Now, I really have to go,

Doc

 

[Diomedes Industries]

Doc,

SURE - show me up! This is awesome - and a great addition to this page - perhaps sticky worthy.

I have written various manuals for the paintball industry over the last few years and I think you have a GREAT start (here is a LINK to an example of my work). If I may be so brazen to make a few suggestions. Please take no umbrage by these - they are meant to be constructive - so take them or leave them.

Here are my additions that may help your very good instructions:

1) List the alternate names for the bow drill pieces in part two. You call the Handhold a 'headpeice' - I have also seen it called a top bearing and so on. You would only need to do this once - but just to clear up any confusion for people looking at multiple publications.

2) You can make a depression in stone with a masonry bit - unless you are restricting your instructions to primitive methods - then simply state that in part one.

3) You state in part three that 'there are many methods for doing this' which is what you stated in part one. Simply state it in part one - and then leave it alone.

4) List the 'Top' and 'bottom' of the spindle in your illustration. It will lessen confusion for beginners.

5) May I suggest a template for every part that you can reuse? Here is what I mean. It seems that you break every part (after part one) down by: What the part is. What the demensions of the part is. How to make the part.

I would simply divide each section up by these sub sections and then reuse this template for every part. It allows the reader to predict what is coming next.

6) I would also suggest MORE pictures of the stages of making every part. This does a couple of things. It forces you to get good pictures - it also makes you go through the process slowly and you will remember to write down steps you may have forgotten in your manual.

This is great though - although I had seen it before - I think putting it out to the public will only make it better!

I can't wait for the next posts.

TF

 

[Hartsell]

Looks great Doc! That'll be a great resource.

Only comments I would add would be that the drill needs to be as straight as possible. If you wrap the cord around the spindle 2 or 3 times, you will get sufficient traction so the cord won't slip. The cord will also last longer. I've never had to carve a hex shape spindle using this method. I just make it pointy at the top and blunt at the base, then wrap a couple times and go for it.

Oh, and the thumbnail test: If you can mark the wood with your thumbnail, it is likely soft enough to work with fire by friction. I'd add some other woods that are suitable, like Willow, Cottonwood, Mulefat (seep willow), Cedar, Sycamore, etc.

And then a bit on woods that don't work well, like hardwoods or woods with a lot of resin, like Pine - although Pine knots work for a bearing.

When you get to the fireboard, you can mention some alternatives. Like strapping two sticks together and drilling in the space between them. Or taking advantage of an existing crack in a piece of dead wood. Or using the fork of a branch that has a convenient shape.

There are lots of ways to do this! I think that is part of the fun in experimenting with it and learning the skill.

 

[kgd]

Doc, hope you don't mind but the first question I had in reading Post #1 - was how do I identify an American Basswood. So I'm posting some pictures of trees I obtained from the web....

 

[3wolves]

Oh, and the thumbnail test: If you can mark the wood with your thumbnail, it is likely soft enough to work with fire by friction. I'd add some other woods that are suitable, like Willow, Cottonwood, Mulefat (seep willow), Cedar, Sycamore, etc.

Is this for the arrow (spindle) or the board? Does the wood have to be old or can it be fresh off a tree?
Yep great thread DOC.

 

[Hartsell]

Both woods should pass the thumbnail test. Preferably dead wood.

 

[DOC-CANADA]

Doc, SURE - show me up!

Although, TF, you are the reason for this thread, it certainly wasn't to show you up, and that would be pretty difficult to do as you shown yourself to be multi talented.

The reason is that in your thread, you asked a question in response to a post of mine regarding reverse twist cordage. This left me scratching my head because I talk about it in this tutorial and you have a copy, so that made me wonder if I'm not explaining things clearly enough, so I thought I would toss it up here for feedback.

I have written various manuals for the paintball industry over the last few years and I think you have a GREAT start (here is a LINK to an example of my work). If I may be so brazen to make a few suggestions. Please take no umbrage by these - they are meant to be constructive - so take them or leave them.

By all means, brazen guy , that's why I'm posting this.

Here are my additions that may help your very good instructions:

1) List the alternate names for the bow drill pieces in part two. You call the Handhold a 'headpeice' - I have also seen it called a top bearing and so on. You would only need to do this once - but just to clear up any confusion for people looking at multiple publications.

You will recall that I said to forget everything they have read before so I didn't think it would be a problem, but you may have a point.

2) You can make a depression in stone with a masonry bit - unless you are restricting your instructions to primitive methods - then simply state that in part one.

You are right, of course, but the point of the tutorial is fire making not working with stone.

3) You state in part three that 'there are many methods for doing this' which is what you stated in part one. Simply state it in part one - and then leave it alone.

Point taken, although I'm not going to change it in the previous post because anybody that reads this later will be scratching their heads as to what you're talking about.

4) List the 'Top' and 'bottom' of the spindle in your illustration. It will lessen confusion for beginners.

I will take care of that presently. I added 'TOP' and 'BOTTOM' in Photobucket but it wouldn't change here. I have changed it in my original, though.

5) May I suggest a template for every part that you can reuse? Here is what I mean. It seems that you break every part (after part one) down by: What the part is. What the demensions of the part is. How to make the part.

I would simply divide each section up by these sub sections and then reuse this template for every part. It allows the reader to predict what is coming next.

I'm going to consider this.

6) I would also suggest MORE pictures of the stages of making every part. This does a couple of things. It forces you to get good pictures - it also makes you go through the process slowly and you will remember to write down steps you may have forgotten in your manual.

I thought there is more than enough pictures. Let's see what others say.

This is great though - although I had seen it before - I think putting it out to the public will only make it better!

I can't wait for the next posts. TF

Why? You've seen it before.

Thanks for your input, TF. BTW, the strings are dry and maybe tonight..........................

Doc

 

[DOC-CANADA]

Only comments I would add would be that the drill needs to be as straight as possible. If you wrap the cord around the spindle 2 or 3 times, you will get sufficient traction so the cord won't slip. The cord will also last longer. I've never had to carve a hex shape spindle using this method. I just make it pointy at the top and blunt at the base, then wrap a couple times and go for it.

Hi Hartsell, thanks for taking the time to comment. You will notice that I did mention the importance of being straight, right before the diagram. As far as wrapping the cord around 2 or 3 times, then you are describing an Egyptian bow drill. And, of course, you are correct regarding the cord lasting longer and not necessary to 'hex' the drill. However, this was intended as a tutorial to help a first time friction fire maker achieve his first coal, so I tried to 'hedge' the bet by including every advantage I could think of, such as 'hexing' the drill, and reducing the hearth end, etc.

Oh, and the thumbnail test: If you can mark the wood with your thumbnail, it is likely soft enough to work with fire by friction. I'd add some other woods that are suitable, like Willow, Cottonwood, Mulefat (seep willow), Cedar, Sycamore, etc.

All good points, but once again, I'm trying to remove as many variables as possible considering this hopefully will work over the internet.

And then a bit on woods that don't work well, like hardwoods or woods with a lot of resin, like Pine - although Pine knots work for a bearing.

Very true, once again, though, the variables.

When you get to the fireboard, you can mention some alternatives. Like strapping two sticks together and drilling in the space between them. Or taking advantage of an existing crack in a piece of dead wood. Or using the fork of a branch that has a convenient shape.

At this point, I don't want alternatives, I want them to get their first coal, although after that, all these techniques are great. Mors Kochanski mentions quite a few in his book.

There are lots of ways to do this! I think that is part of the fun in experimenting with it and learning the skill.

Absolutely.

Interestingly, I read how you smooth your notch. I've never had to do this, so didn't realize it could be a problem. I guess my notches are normally smooth, but it's a good point.

Once again, thanks for your input.

Doc

 

[Diomedes Industries]

Doc,

You are most likely using a very sharp knife to cut your V-notch. I was using my SAK saw to get through the meat of the board through and then cutting the notch. This left my hearth RAGGED. This is good advice for cheaters like me. I have since take to simply slowing down - cutting a nice sharp well manicured notch. Life is MUCH easier now. I cranked out three nice coals in a row and blew them up into flames this morning (all before 9 am. I really need to get a life).

Thanks again - awaiting the next installment.

TF

 

[DOC-CANADA]

Doc,

You are most likely using a very sharp knife to cut your V-notch. I was using my SAK saw to get through the meat of the board through and then cutting the notch. This left my hearth RAGGED. This is good advice for cheaters like me. I have since take to simply slowing down - cutting a nice sharp well manicured notch. Life is MUCH easier now. I cranked out three nice coals in a row and blew them up into flames this morning (all before 9 am. I really need to get a life).

Thanks again - awaiting the next installment.

TF

No, most of the time I also use my Vic SAK saw.

Next installment coming up as soon as I catch up on the posts.

Doc

 

[DOC-CANADA]

Sorry - accidentally hit the 'Submit' button while posting Part 4

 

[DOC-CANADA]

THE HEARTH - Part 4

Part 4 deals with the hearth or fireboard. This is the stationary piece into which the drill is worked to create the friction. The board can be made of many different materials, but for this exercise, we are using American Basswood, the same material as for the drill.


The dimensions for the hearth are not normally too critical, but for the sake of this exercise:

One of the reasons I want you to make the board this size is to provide stability while spinning the drill.

Now use the tip of your custom Charles May knife and make a dimple in the hearth at the 'x'. It doesn't need to be too deep, just needs to provide a place for the quickly-tapered point of the drill to engage the hearth. If it is placed properly and the drill was made to the specs given, the dotted outline in the diagram below should represent the position of the drill, when the tip is inserted in the dimple.

The board is now properly prepared (for the moment).

You don't want the drill to be any closer to the edge than this or it can pop out right when you think you're going to get that coal. If it doesn't line up properly, redo it. Don't try to bluff your way through. That's just counterproductive.

 

[gazaati]

I love this thread. Its designed for me. Most of my questiones are answerd already.

Thanks

 

[DOC-CANADA]

THE BOW - part 5

The bow should be a hard wood so that it can take the stress of a tight cord. Make it about 20" - 24" in length with a bit of a bow shape, but not too much. It must be thick enough so that it can stand the stresses and also not be overly weakened by a slot cut in for the string, at the handle end. A fortuitously placed branch stub would work in lieu of a slot - anything to hold the string.

The more critical part is a fork at the other end of the bow. You want each side of the fork to be a different diameter to allow for greater adjustability of the string tension. This can be accomplished by whittling one fork down with your Busse Battle Mistress.

The end of my bow:

A lot of people tie their strings on the bow, which is fine, but if and when you need to adjust the string for more tightness, you have to untie, and retie, and if it's not right, you have to do it all over again. By using this method, you just change how the cord is wrapped around the forks and/or the throat (C). Also you can carry spare strings, in case of breakage, and since the string at the handle end is also a loop fitted into a slot, you can change the string in a couple of seconds.


Picture of my bow. My bow is quite a bit shorter for my personal requirements. If you can find one this shape, they are excellent. Easy handle-end cord attachment.