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For a bearing block or hand hold you can also use hard wood like oak. The drill will not be able to burn in to it much and the hole will have a tendancy to glaze in the inside and that will prevent friction. Good luck! Alberto

Hello There Hard woods like oak and hickory give lots of heat but little smoke. You can also fan the smoke when needed, like when you first start the fire. But once you got the fire burning good the hard woods should produce very little smoke. Good luck! Alberto

Hand Drill all the way!:)

Hola Jeff I have had problems with hand drill spindles that become hollow while I am using them to get a coal. Because some times they produce a ant hill affect on the fire board that causes a the spindle and fire board to bind! :( I prefer my hand drill spindles and especially my bow...

Bravo Longstrider! :lmao: :You_Rock_ :rolleyes: :D

Hello Mr. Wolf If you are new to hand drill fire making, I will recomend to make your mullein spindle as smooth as posible to reduce blisters while you learn. You may want to use sand paper for that. To help you with traction you can use some pine pitch on your hands or just some elmer glue...

Darn I can hardly wait to move out of Florida! :aargh4: That way I may be able to get together with like minded people! Down here in South Florida every thing that I know about primitive skills I had to learn on my own! :( Jeff if you have more pictures of events like that and if you can post...

Hello Jeff Nice picture :lmao: Who are the people in the picture and what kind of a event was it? They looks like my kind of people! :) Alberto

Hello Rich Yes when it comes to cattail spindles you got to be a little more careful with down ward pressure. The cattail stem has to be nice and dry and you need to be careful what part of the stem you are going to mate with the fire board! It must be strong, usually the thicker the stem when...

Hola Jeff When you get some cattails if you like I will be happy to give you some advice on how to use them! Cattails can be fragile and a little tricky to use. Buena suerte Amigo! Alberto

Hello Jeff If what you mean is a coal at the tip of the drill? Yes while using cattail as a drill on a few occasions just for fun. Just last week while trying out a new horse weed drill I accidentally had a coal with out a notch! I only wanted to try the new horse weed hand drill but next thing...

Nice picture Jeff! Like always thanks for sharing with everyone Amigo! Best wishes to you :You_Rock_ Alberto

Hello Jeff Bravo I am look forward to the pictures! Good luck! Alberto

Hola Jeff I think that in your part of the Country you may have a plant call teasel. That is another good weed for a hand drill! Hey I just finish sending you a private e-mail let me know if you receive it. Hasta luego Alberto

Hello Schwert Thanks for posting the pictures for Jeff! :D Hello Jeff Awesome great pictures, the pictures are virtually self explanatory :) Have you ever try horse weed or cattail? I like using them for hand drills too. Thanks again Guys ;) Alberto

Hello Rich That was very interesting, thanks for sharing it with us. I always like to encourage people that what to learn the hand drill method of friction fire making to to get a buddy and take turns spinning the drill. For a example when one person spin the drill to the botton the other...

Hello Everyone That is what I love about this great forum! That the members realy get into primitive skills and try to help each other improve there skills! I wish that I had use thumb loops years ago when I was teaching my self the hand drill method of friction fire making. I am sure that it...

Bravo Jeff I am looking forward to your video and hopefully some pictures too! :) To those of you who are learning the hand drill. My advice is when you start to spin the drill do not bother to spin all the way down the drill at first simply spin the drill at the top or near the top of...

Hello Storm and Stuart I can hardly wait to see it! I was thinking of posting something similar on hand drill fire making for biginners! But right now I do not have a lot of time because of work. Storm I truely believe that you are going to do a great job and like I wrote above I can...