- Joined
- Mar 19, 2007
- Messages
- 7,440
So - I have been thinking about the bow drill - and how to start a fire with very little materials at hand.
I was thinking about a hard wood forest - where the the only wood was very hard - perhaps too hard for the average person to make a bow drill fire with. (a forest of only confers would also make this scenario work). Let's also imagine that either you can find or can't get to any kindling under pinkie size and made of hard wood.
This is not a good forest to get a fire going from a coal. You have very little tinder to make a tinder bundle out of. You have to go from coal - to kindling.
I imagined having the SHTF in this forest, needing fire (say for signaling) and having on the some string (say shoe laces) and knife on hand. Let's imagine in this scenario that you also brought your favorite walking stick - you chose this stick out of medium hard wood.
I took this as my scenario last night and today - and made two successful bow drill fires with only this as my wood. Here is how I did it.
1) I took the straightest part of the walking stick and measured a 9 inch section - or so and then used my blade to cut around stave to start to section it in half. This part would be my spindle. I simply made .45 degree angle cuts one way - and then .45 degree angle cuts toward the first cuts to get a V cut all the way around the stick.
2) Once I had a V of about 1/2 inch in depth - I used this depth to start making the spindle smaller. I held on to the stave section and started hogging off material. I was able to get 1/6th in deep curls at a swipe and soon had quite a pile of those going.
3) Once I had the spindle down to about a thumb with - and fairly octagonal (this took making the V cut deeper and turning the stave back and forth. It was very good to have the whole stave to hold on to.) - I began to sharpen both ends of the spindle. When I sharpened this spindle I took very small curls off the ends. I could have made deeper cuts - but what I needed was little curls to help form what would be my tinder bundle.
4) Once the spindle was done I had quite a pile of small curls and quite a pile of larger thicker curls. I set these in two separate piles.
5) I then turned the rest of the stave around to the thick end and used my knife (and a baton - this was allowed in my scenario above) to get a 1/8th thick peice about 9 inches off what was to become my hearth.
I set that 1/8th peice aside.
6) I used my hearth (with the now flat portion on the ground) and drilled a started hole in it with my knife tip.
7) I then took a length of wood (thumb thick and from arm pit to finger tip long) to make a bow out of. I used my cordage (a hand wrap of my walking stick) to finish the bow.
8) I grabbed a piece of hard wood (again - okay in this scenario) and baton-ed it in half. I would use this as my hand hold. I made a depression in this hand hold and was ready to go.
Here is what I had.
a) the 1/8th inch section off the hearth as a coal catcher - no need to put the hearth where the coal would be made on the wet ground.
b) a PILE of small small shavings in a pile.
c) A LARGER pile of large shavings in another pile.
So - when I busted out a coal - which was no problem with a nice dry cured stick - I put it in the small shavings pile. I could not pick this pile up - but I laid on the ground and blew it into a flame. I had to be careful for sure - but pinching it together - and taking my time - I had a decent flame.
I quickly put the larger pile of shavings into the fire - and they took off. I then (in theory) could have added my pinkie thick kindling to this pile and I should have had a good fire.
This took one piece of wood for the most important components of the fire - and very little searching around.
I like the one branch idea - and will continue to refine it.
TF
I was thinking about a hard wood forest - where the the only wood was very hard - perhaps too hard for the average person to make a bow drill fire with. (a forest of only confers would also make this scenario work). Let's also imagine that either you can find or can't get to any kindling under pinkie size and made of hard wood.
This is not a good forest to get a fire going from a coal. You have very little tinder to make a tinder bundle out of. You have to go from coal - to kindling.
I imagined having the SHTF in this forest, needing fire (say for signaling) and having on the some string (say shoe laces) and knife on hand. Let's imagine in this scenario that you also brought your favorite walking stick - you chose this stick out of medium hard wood.
I took this as my scenario last night and today - and made two successful bow drill fires with only this as my wood. Here is how I did it.
1) I took the straightest part of the walking stick and measured a 9 inch section - or so and then used my blade to cut around stave to start to section it in half. This part would be my spindle. I simply made .45 degree angle cuts one way - and then .45 degree angle cuts toward the first cuts to get a V cut all the way around the stick.
2) Once I had a V of about 1/2 inch in depth - I used this depth to start making the spindle smaller. I held on to the stave section and started hogging off material. I was able to get 1/6th in deep curls at a swipe and soon had quite a pile of those going.
3) Once I had the spindle down to about a thumb with - and fairly octagonal (this took making the V cut deeper and turning the stave back and forth. It was very good to have the whole stave to hold on to.) - I began to sharpen both ends of the spindle. When I sharpened this spindle I took very small curls off the ends. I could have made deeper cuts - but what I needed was little curls to help form what would be my tinder bundle.
4) Once the spindle was done I had quite a pile of small curls and quite a pile of larger thicker curls. I set these in two separate piles.
5) I then turned the rest of the stave around to the thick end and used my knife (and a baton - this was allowed in my scenario above) to get a 1/8th thick peice about 9 inches off what was to become my hearth.
I set that 1/8th peice aside.
6) I used my hearth (with the now flat portion on the ground) and drilled a started hole in it with my knife tip.
7) I then took a length of wood (thumb thick and from arm pit to finger tip long) to make a bow out of. I used my cordage (a hand wrap of my walking stick) to finish the bow.
8) I grabbed a piece of hard wood (again - okay in this scenario) and baton-ed it in half. I would use this as my hand hold. I made a depression in this hand hold and was ready to go.
Here is what I had.
a) the 1/8th inch section off the hearth as a coal catcher - no need to put the hearth where the coal would be made on the wet ground.
b) a PILE of small small shavings in a pile.
c) A LARGER pile of large shavings in another pile.
So - when I busted out a coal - which was no problem with a nice dry cured stick - I put it in the small shavings pile. I could not pick this pile up - but I laid on the ground and blew it into a flame. I had to be careful for sure - but pinching it together - and taking my time - I had a decent flame.
I quickly put the larger pile of shavings into the fire - and they took off. I then (in theory) could have added my pinkie thick kindling to this pile and I should have had a good fire.
This took one piece of wood for the most important components of the fire - and very little searching around.
I like the one branch idea - and will continue to refine it.
TF
