Starting a fire...

A

andrew132

Joined
May 4, 2011
Messages
136
I dont quite know what the method is called, but I have seen it done a few times. Its when someone makes a bow and drill and notches out a cut and the friction will create an ember.

I have a few questions about this method. Do I just look around for a naturally curved piece of wood to use as the bow? Will paracord work as the string on the bow? Does it matter what kind of wood I use for the stick that is turning or the piece of wood that has the notch cut in it? Last question is at what time do I cut the notch in the wood, before I start or after ive drilled in a bit.

Thanks!
 
It is called the bow drill method.

Some use a straight bow, others prefer a curved bow...it is up to you.

Paracord works great.

The type of wood matters in that it needs to be dry. If you use green wood, you will get smoke, but no ember.

Generally people drill the hole, then cut the notch...but it can be done a lot of ways.

This method is fun to try, but it can be frustrating until you have some success.

I suggest searching the web and youtube for bow drill and learn up. There are numerous tips to use that will reduce frustration. I do not use this method very often, some others are QUITE knowledgeable about it.
 
Thank you for clearing that up for me. Im sure its really frustrating, but I want to give it a try sometime. Thanks again!
 
Andrew132, if you get a chance and can try a corn cob for the spindle, try that too.
IMG_1669.jpg


Even a corn cob on 2 corn cobs:D.

Bryan
 
Bryan, some of the those woods in your pic would have been very impressive to get a coal with. The ones that tweak my attention are birch, oak, mulberry and maple - all very hard woods. I imagine plum is also a very hard wood. I've tried birch a couple of times without luck. Lots of smoke and good dust, just no ignition. I used maple and oak as spindles with good success but never as a hearth.

Are you using the yucca as your spindle for some of these? Your divots look a lot skinnier than I'm used to seeing and more along the lines of hand drill divots. Yet, I've seen people do really difficult hard woods as a hearth on bowdrill but have not seen anyone do these woods with hand drill. If you are using the yucca as a spindle on these woods then I'm curious about that too. Here it would throw off my usual rule about having a softer hearth and harder spindle.

Just trying to figure out what you are doing right here so I can learn from it.

Ken
 
Hi Ken, every one of them hearths boards I have gotten a coal using a corn cob. The mullbery was a stinker. The mulberry root was better at getting a coal.
The birch was easy I thought. Some woods like the Bald cypress I cut fresh at 9 am. in the morning spilt and carved it up and set it in the sunshine with temps in the low 50s
and a slight breeze and by time 3:30 pm( 6.5hours later) I got a coal with the corn cob. It had dried out that much. , but the walnut branch i also cut that fresh and then split and carve it into a hearth board and set it on the heater to dry out and it took several days of that before I got a coal. It think it took like 70 strokes and there was coal. That bald cypress was like around 40 strokes and a coal was formed.
I really thought that oak branch was going to be a tough one but it was easyer than the mullberry and the birch.
The silver maple I use was easy to get a coal with the cob too. Just keep trying you will get it.

Yes there are some other ones that have thinner holes for sure. I have used sun fower, marestail, blazing star, goldenrod, and a mystery wood that I yet to get
figured out ( I found it down by the river) anyways.

Bryan
 
Okay, so you are primarily using dried corncob as your spindle for all these woods? I gotta think it has something to do with the corn cob as a spindle contributing that dust here as opposed to the hearth. What are your thoughts? How long do the cob spindles last when drilling into these harder woods? Do they grind down relatively quickly? I can take an ash spindle and use it for about 20 bowdrills when paired with softer hearths. When I have a basswood spindle, even starting pretty long, I'm only good for about 4-5 coals and then that spindle starts to nub down. Where does the corncob fit in this scheme of things?

Andrew132 - sorry for the thread de-rail. Doc Canada has a great tutorial link for the bowdrill method that is worth looking into. One of the mods, Kevin Estela also has a great power point slide show that is floating around.
 
Hi ken,
Yep just using cobs. I have used other woods with some of the hearths. but for evey hearth in that pic, I used a cob to get a coal.
Depending on the lenght of the corn cob when using on softer woods like willow and cypress, cottonwood, with a longer cob I will get 8 to 12 coals. You know what is terrible is that I will on purpose keep spinning that cob so the dust keeps pushing out of the notch and makes a big freaking coal lol. If I used the longer cobs to just get the coal. then I would say around 10 coals before I get a new cob. I think a corn cob is way tougher than willow and the softer woods. I have drill right through the softer woods by using a cob.

Bryan
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top