first time bow drill

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shawn

Tenderfoot
Nov 6, 2008
51
0
usa
gabushcraft.blogspot.com
hi, ive been working with a bow drill the past few days and havnt yet gotten to the point of creating an ember.
i get alot of black powder, and lots of smoke from the drill, but no smoke has come from the powder itself. how long should it take to get an ember after the drill starts to smoke? ive gone about a minute then give out. does everything look alright here?
img3165tb1.jpg
 

Joe

Need to contact Admin...
Hi Shawn,

You are so nearly there! If that was my bow drill set this is what I would do to increase the chances of getting a smoking ember...

1. Carve the 'V' notch on the hearth board a little deeper (further into the centre of your burnt socket) but hardly any wider.
2. Carve your drill a bit thinner at the burnt, blunt end. Through drilling you've created a little 'shoulder' as the drill locates into the socket on the hearth board. This means that there could be a slight gap between the end of your drill and the inside of the socket because the 'shoulder' is resting on the outside of the socket so all your effort is going into making the point of contact between shoulder and socket hot, not the end of the drill as much. By thinning down the thickness of the drill at the blunt end, you should find that the drill locates much better into the socket putting all the heat from your drilling where it should be - around the inside of the socket.
3. I can't see the top end of your drill but by keeping it sharp like a pencil and rubbing the sharp end and the socket on your bearing block with a moist green leaf to build up a waxy point of contact between the two, you will minimize friction at the top end of the drill, meaning that all your bowing efforts are going towards making the blunt end in the hearth socket as hot as possible.
4. You've created char (the black wood dust from drilling the drill into the hearth board) and obviously got smoke so you're nearly there. Use the whole length of the bow with every bowing stroke and keep the bow string taut by pressing down on it with your thumb or gripping it as well as the end of the bow. When you start bowing, use long, moderately fast strokes until you have got char forming and smoke. the char should be jet black, if not it could mean that you need to bow faster, get more rotations of the drill by using the whole of the length of the bow, or put more downward pressure on the bearing block. It's really important to have a steady hand holding the bearing block or this can become tired before the bowing hand. Brace it firmly against your shin to achieve this.

Once you have that jet black char forming and the smoke is building, gradually speed up the bowing strokes. You should have a little pile of black char forming in your 'V' notch and a ring of black char around the end of the drill where it meets the hearth - all this should be giving off smoke. The trick is to save some energy for a sprint finish as once you've filled your 'V' notch with char and the smoke it gives off has got quite a bit thicker, count thirty good, fast, strong, sprint strokes using the whole length of the bow, with good drill rotations and a taut bowstring and you should be there. The tell tale give away is a little emission of smoke from the bottom of the char pile (although you won't always see this). Total bowing time should be around 50 seconds with the right materials, but could take longer. If something isn't quite right and needs adjustment then don't be afraid to stop halfway through, adjust whatever it is and pick up where you left off. Just try to keep the char pile intact so it can be incorporated into the new pile making a bigger ember.

When you've got your ember, carefully roll away the hearth board and shelter it from wind while gently fanning it, so that it can form into a little glowing coal. This should take around 30 seconds. If you dump it straight into the tinder bundle it's likely to break up into powder again. Make sure your tinder bundle is as fine as it can be and hopefully you know what to do from that point onwards.

Hope that helps you out - let me know how you get on.

Here's an example of how long it takes when you're under a bit of pressure...

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=NVdA2hfr7-I
 

john scrivy

Nomad
May 28, 2007
398
0
essex
Joe covered every thing quite nicely there But if its available Cramp ball fungus or sometimes known a King Alfred cakes it grows on dead ASH --- break a dry cramp ball in two and light the gramp ball from the glowing ember this can be droped into the tinder bundle as it will burn bigger and longer than just the ember But only any good if you can source dry cramp balls Give you a better chance of success -- Hope this also helps
 

mick miller

Full Member
Jan 4, 2008
520
0
Herts.
Hey shawn, your getting there. It is a bugger to get going but keep on trying. With the exception of the points mentioned above I'd also ask what wood combo are you using?

Some good ones I've found are willow, sycamore and hazel. I always use the same woods for both hearth and drill.
 

rich59

Maker
Aug 28, 2005
2,217
25
65
London
My 2 penny worth is that the rounded point to your drill seems off centre. This I would guess may give you vibration/ squeaking. This is the enemy of getting a coal as it is the hearth vibrating and this bounces away the char dust from the notch.

Once the notch is full is the time I put the extra effort in. At this point you need to be getting a "flow" of char dust into the top of the notch, displacing what is already there.

A fair amount of pressure at this last effort usually gets rid of any minor squeaks and vibrations and gives the volume of char dust you need.

Really helpful picture by the way.:You_Rock_
 

shawn

Tenderfoot
Nov 6, 2008
51
0
usa
gabushcraft.blogspot.com
thanks for all the advice! i cut the notch deeper and evened out the off center drill tip- it spun more effortlessly and i could use alot more pressure without it slipping. it started smoking after only 5 strokes! i noticed a little smoke emanating from the char pile but it stopped when i fanned it with my hand. then the leather string on my bow broke. ill probably rig up a new bow, the stick for this one is a bit too limber.

i wish i knew what kind of wood it was, other than its old and dry, got it from the woodpile , makes an indentation when pressed into with your fingernail,i heard this means its dry enough.

thanks again, ill keep at it and keep you posted on my progress. :)
 

bushcraftbob

Settler
Jun 1, 2007
845
0
41
Oxfordshire
Keep at it I was at exactly the same stage as you - you'll get there!

I have found the easiest wood to get a coal so far is hazel spindle and lime base board.

Jambo
 

chem_doc

Tenderfoot
Sep 14, 2007
90
0
56
Atlanta, GA
thanks for all the advice! i cut the notch deeper and evened out the off center drill tip- it spun more effortlessly and i could use alot more pressure without it slipping. it started smoking after only 5 strokes! i noticed a little smoke emanating from the char pile but it stopped when i fanned it with my hand. then the leather string on my bow broke. ill probably rig up a new bow, the stick for this one is a bit too limber.

i wish i knew what kind of wood it was, other than its old and dry, got it from the woodpile , makes an indentation when pressed into with your fingernail,i heard this means its dry enough.

thanks again, ill keep at it and keep you posted on my progress. :)

You may want to give this setup a whirl:
http://www.dirttime.com/egyptian bow and drill.html

It's what I'm trying to learn. It's less stressful on the bow string, and it keeps the spindle from flipping out, letting you focus on the other mechanics of getting an ember.

Doc
 

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