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- Feb 28, 2007
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A good local buddy that I met through BUSA lent me his copy of Mors Kochansky's BushCraft. It is a great read and I started browsing through the fire section which provided cartoon descriptions of different set ups like the standard single hole with notch, split stick, natural V method and the two hole method.
I've tried the split stick a couple of times and haven't yet had success at it. Seeing the last cartoon on the two hole method my eye was attracted to a little bit of italics script in the cartoon saying 'This method is the best one of all'. Well, I was intrigued to figure out why Mors likes this one so much and I just had to try it.
In the two hole method, you drill out two holes in your hearth next to one another. The holes can either intersect at their edges or you can drill a little channel between the two of them. You are supposed to drill out the holes pretty deep, about 2 cm. The ember forms in between the holes or in the second hole as you are drilling.
It was a lot of effort drilling. I actually blew through a drill and had to get a second drill to complete the job. Had I been using the standard hole with notch in the side, I would have finished a coal much faster.
This was the last bit of drill out before I achieved success.
Here is the ember. It formed right in the center channel between the holes.
Pleased with my success, I blew that ember into flame using jute twin as a tinder nest and started up a fire that lit up my BBQ coals for cooking dinner.
On tonights menu was Chinook salmon and chicken breast. The salmon was marinated with soy sauce and the chicken with a balsamic vinegrette.
So why the two hole method? As I see it, the chief advantage is the ability to form the ember on top of your hearth wood. This can circumvent problems when the ground is wet and you can't find something suitable to put under your hearth when using the standard single hole with notch technique.
The disadvantage to the two stick method is that there is more processing to split your hearth and you need to drill out two holes which requires a lot of drilling. Might be a good idea to consider using a harder drill to facilitate the drilling and then switch to your normal drill to get an ember. The advantage over the two stick method is that you are accessing the interior of the wood which is likely to be more dry than drilling through the bark as you would do on the two stick.
I've tried the split stick a couple of times and haven't yet had success at it. Seeing the last cartoon on the two hole method my eye was attracted to a little bit of italics script in the cartoon saying 'This method is the best one of all'. Well, I was intrigued to figure out why Mors likes this one so much and I just had to try it.
In the two hole method, you drill out two holes in your hearth next to one another. The holes can either intersect at their edges or you can drill a little channel between the two of them. You are supposed to drill out the holes pretty deep, about 2 cm. The ember forms in between the holes or in the second hole as you are drilling.
It was a lot of effort drilling. I actually blew through a drill and had to get a second drill to complete the job. Had I been using the standard hole with notch in the side, I would have finished a coal much faster.
This was the last bit of drill out before I achieved success.
Here is the ember. It formed right in the center channel between the holes.
Pleased with my success, I blew that ember into flame using jute twin as a tinder nest and started up a fire that lit up my BBQ coals for cooking dinner.
On tonights menu was Chinook salmon and chicken breast. The salmon was marinated with soy sauce and the chicken with a balsamic vinegrette.
So why the two hole method? As I see it, the chief advantage is the ability to form the ember on top of your hearth wood. This can circumvent problems when the ground is wet and you can't find something suitable to put under your hearth when using the standard single hole with notch technique.
The disadvantage to the two stick method is that there is more processing to split your hearth and you need to drill out two holes which requires a lot of drilling. Might be a good idea to consider using a harder drill to facilitate the drilling and then switch to your normal drill to get an ember. The advantage over the two stick method is that you are accessing the interior of the wood which is likely to be more dry than drilling through the bark as you would do on the two stick.
