The Bow-Drill thread - Pointers wanted

LMT66

LMT66

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Tell me everything you know about making fire with a bowdrill.

Bearing - what you use. (stone/wood/skateboard wheel with ball-bearing/ antler.

Bowdrill - How long, best wood to use, cordage or para-cord used, details about the best way to attach cord on both ends of the bow.

Spindle & hearth - type of wood or combination of woods that work.

Spindle & Heart - wood or wood combo's that should be avoided.

Region you live - (West Coast, South West, North Central, South East, East Coast) so readers in your region have something to go on when scouting for material.

Let the pointers run for a while and "soak" and then have a 3-4 week span for all who choose to participate, to get out and drill. Our successes or failures, whatever they may be, will also further educate us all on this subject.

Maybe make July the "get out and Bow-drill" month.
 
I was in a sort or wilderness bootcamp type deal about 7 years ago. I still have my bow drill set and I am still quite good at it, I tried last week. I acquired everything while in the Uinta Mountains and high desert somewhere. I know 100% that not everything I say is going to be useful to some people.
I used a "top rock" as a bearing. I would carve a small dimple into the bottom of the rock using bullet shells that I found along the way. I have used everything from sand stone (chews up the spindle) and river rock (my favorite).
I had various different woods like pine, juniper, and tamarisk. Really anything with a nice bend in it.
What worked best for me in terms of length were bows about as long as my arm w/ hand open. I used a basic cord where I was but would use 550 cord if I were going to make another bow. I would either do a cut out on the bottom of my bow and just use a knot to hold it in place, or I would drill a hole in the bow and put the cordage through that.
I only got to experiment with sage and cottonwood fireboards but they both worked, I liked sage the most.
As for spindles, I liked pine and sage.
I hope some of this helped.
 
Bearing - what you use. (stone/wood/skateboard wheel with ball-bearing/ antler.

I prefer a stone with hole shaped using a dremel grinding tool. I've also used a piece of moose antler with great success and fatwood. I've used hardwood as a top piece for on-site applications. This is generally a bit more difficult because you are fighting friction at both ends. A little bit of vegetation at the top end helps lubricate, but you still get burn in. Others I know like using a large slab of cottonwood bark as a top piece. I've gotten it to work but I find it no better then hardwood and it burns through much quicker.

Bowdrill - How long, best wood to use, cordage or para-cord used, details about the best way to attach cord on both ends of the bow.

I prefer my bow about little longer than my forearm but not quite the full length of my arm. I like to have a slight curve to it, but it can also be perfectly straight. I have tried many types of cords, but I find paracord lasts the longest and doesn't have that much slip to it. Reverse twist cords work better for anti-slippage but they rarely last as long as paracord. I fiddle with the right tension to make it slip less. There are several ways to attach the line. I make a small loop at the top of the string using a bowline knote. I cut a verticle slot in the top of the bow using my sack saw and fit the loop into the slot. At the bottom end of the bow I cut another slot and then make two notches about 0.5" distance from the bottom on the sides of the bow. I slip the bottom end of the line into the slot and leave a slight bit of slack in the bowline, it should hang about 1" lower than its taunt position, wrap the excess line around the notches and tie a square knot on the line to secure.

Spindle & hearth - type of wood or combination of woods that work.

Heath: cottonwood, basswood, aspen, weeping willow, balsam fir <-- all the easiest. Slightly more difficult: cedar, sassafrass, horsechestnut, staghorn sumac, American sycamore.

Spindle: when possible I try to make the hearth and spindle from the same piece of wood. Note, not just the same type of wood, but the same piece of wood. This provides me with the most success. Otherwise, I use a well dried harder wood for the spindle than the hearth. I've used ash, maple and oak as spindles with success. The nice thing about these harder spindles is that they last a very long time and you can do many fires with them.

Spindle & Heart - wood or wood combo's that should be avoided.

Avoid wood that doesn't pass the fingernail test for the hearth or wet wood. I have no luck with softwoods that have resin in them, like red pine. I try to avoid highly coloured heartwood and never had luck with purple wood of juniper (but the white sapwood works good). Ovoid really hardwood woods - e.g. I've had no luck with birch, mullberry or ash (although I've gotten ash root to work).

Region you live - (West Coast, South West, North Central, South East, East Coast) so readers in your region have something to go on when scouting for material.

North Central

[/QUOTE]

If you e-mail me, I wrote a detailed article about bowdrill that I will provide to you. The article is copyrighted and I don't own the copyright so I won't upload it here, but I'm glad to provide a personal copy of this instructional to you.
 
Bearing - I often just use wood but anything that will provide a low amount of resistant is best, such as a rock with a hole in it or a hole that you chipped out with another rock.

Bowdrill - I often don't save my bows since they are the most simple component of the set to produce in my opinion. Most of the time I find a small branch, green wood, about the length of my arm with a slight curve to it with a Y at one end.

For my cordage I like twisted paracord with a loop at one end that goes over the Y on the bow. The twisted cord helps to engage the spindle better then just a single strand of paracord.

Spindle & hearth - My #1 combo is cottonwood spindle and hearth, second would be cedar. I also like to not make the spindle perfectly round, I kind of leave facets on the middle of the spindle to help the cordage engage it with slipping.

Spindle & Heart - I avoid all hard woods, and heart woods.

Region you live - Pacific NW

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Bearing - I now use a piece of antler gifted to me from Mistwalker, before that I enjoyed using my ESSE-5. Using a hard wood work as well.

Bowdrill - My ideal length for the bow is from my wrist to my armpit. Too long and it's hard to control, too short and it makes you work harder.

Spindle & hearth - I prefer to use the same piece of wood for both spindle and hearth. The easiest woods I have used are White Cedar, Basswood, and Cottonwood.

Spindle & Heart - Anything too hard, too soft, or with allot of resin. Use the fingernail test as KGD mentions. Doc Canada's tutorial is superb.

Region you live - I live in New England. The most abundant easy wood to locate here is Poplar or Cotton Wood. Red Cedar works also, but can be more difficult for beginners.

The best pointer I can give someone is to be patient. After you have your notch cut out and you are ready to go for a coal do not rush it. Go slow and easy at first and get your stroke down. Try to use the whole bow and keep the bow parallel with the ground. Watch your notch. The first 20 seconds you should be trying fill your notch with dark powder. If the powder is brown apply a little more pressure. When your notch is full, lighten up your pressure and quicken your strokes. What you are trying to do is cook that dark powder to a coal. Note that different woods will require different techniques. You don't want to much pressure when using softer woods, cause you will wind up drilling through the hearth before you get your coal... The more you practice with different woods in different situations the more you learn. Good luck all.
 
kgd said:
If you e-mail me, I wrote a detailed article about bowdrill that I will provide to you. The article is copyrighted and I don't own the copyright so I won't upload it here, but I'm glad to provide a personal copy of this instructional to you.
Click to expand...

Any chance I could also receive a copy of your article? If so, pleaes email to my username on BF @ gmail dot com. Thank you, Doug
 
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