Just a thought, but I wonder if a bracket fungus like artist's conk might act as a hearth board for cattail drill.
Lake - can you tell me roughly how long it takes for you to get smoke when using cat tail stem on lime? I've been practising again today but no joy
My stamina is building up slowly so im sure ill get there, just want to know how long roughly ill need to drill for! Dont think im making enough downward pressure.
I like the ember in the spindle; very impressive.
Almost cracked it! Managed to get quite a bit of smoke the other night, doing a tag team effort using cat tail on Lime with my girlfriend(!).
I am going to have a go solo tonight. The blisters have healed on my hands, but the palms still feel a bit bruised so going to take it easy!
Hi guys, would appreciate some input because I would love to get this to work.
I am still in process of getting the technique down and hardening my hands. Especially the part where I pass the knuckles is pretty painful still.
I am using cattail on willow. I have some spindels of about 2 feet long (harvested green and dried) but find that I start to bend the spindle when I put pressure on it whilst spinning. It makes the drill less stable. The point of my spindle is a bit more than pencil thickness. Is that too thin? I am thinking of cutting the spindles a bit shorter to make them more rigid. Any thought on length and thickness?
Thanks for any help!
Lennart
rich59 said:The drill needs to be as wide a diameter (after removing outer leaves) as you can get
If you can get smoke then in a sense you are really almost there - if you concentrate on 3 separate efforts:-I will give a thicker spindle a go. Practiced again today and am getting more smoke before I run out of steam
I don't think I am anywhere near an ember yet though. Good thing patience is one of my virtues
Lennart
So is the cattail that is around now too old to be used for hand drilling?
Leo