Frustrating friction

[stuart f]

Can anyone give me some advice,i,m having trouble with friction fire lighting. The problem is that when i use my bow drill the cordage wears through very quick. I,m using paracord.Is it my techneque or something else.
I have got an ember and lit tinder before with it, but still seem to destroy the paracord after one use, is this normal?

Plus i seem to get so deep into the hearth that the drill piece stops rotating. does this mean i should start afresh with a new part of the hearth.What i mean is do you have to start anew everytime you want to start a fire on a different part of the hearth.

There as clear as mud!!! :roll:

Oh and i,ve used various woods today was Hazel and it smoked great guns but still seemed to eat paracord.

Oh well over to you CHEERS STUART F.

 

[Stuart]

the problem may be that you are using lots and lots of small strokes on the bow (and so wearing the same small area on the paracord)

try using a longer bow and using fewer but longer strokes to use the whole leanth of the cord. (and thus more rotations of the spindle per stroke)

drilling too deep too quickly into the harth is more of a problem with some woods than with others, however the problem is likley to be too much downward pressure

using less pressure will also produce a finer wood powder which produces an ember more easily and requires fewer bow strokes

I hope this makes sense :-D

 

[Adi007]

Keep the strokes steady too as that seems to wear out the cord. Keep the cord a little bit slack on the bow and use your index finger to adjust the tension in it (by pulling the cord closer to the body of the bow). If it starts to slip, that way you can take up the tension a bit. if it's too tight, you can loosen it off.

Hope this makes sense too! :-D

 

[stuart f]

Cheers guys, i,ll try out your suggestions and see how i get on.

 

[Roving Rich]

Hi Stuart, Paracord comes in all sorts or grades it seems and i have worn immitation stuff out quickly with the bow drill. The fake stuff lies flat like a shoe lace, and contains a load of fluffy fibres. The genuine article stays round and has a number of corded strands inside. There are a few threads on it here if you use the search option, which go into more detail.
The other thing that may help lessen wearing on the cord, is to place your thumb on the string and press down to seperate the string as it goes around the spindle. So as to avoid the string wearing against itself.
It might make more sense if you have a look here:
http://www.primitiveways.com/pt-bowfire.html
happy bowing
Rich

 

[Adi007]

Ahh, that's what I meant with the index finger, which is how I do it ... but looks like the thumb is just as good!

Amazing how there are different solutions to the same problem!

 

[Roving Rich]

:biggthump I wasn't sure if you were just using it to tighten you slack string ?
Rich

 

[Adi007]

It's far easier to demonstrate than it is to explain :-D !!!!

 

[Roving Rich]

Ther is no substitute for hands on experience.

 

[stuart f]

Hi guys i had a look at the link and now see what you mean about the thumb,i,ll give it a try.CHEERS again for the help.
CHEERS
STUART F.

 

[stuart f]

Hi again tried the thumb thing and it worked,but just as a side note, i noticed that the paracord started to slip on the drill piece and i think i know why! because with the cord being nylon i think its stretching with the friction of it being rubbed back and forth, and the build up of heat within it. I had to keep re-adjusting it to make it tight so as not to slip thus wearing the cord through.

So another question for you is WHAT IN YOUR OPINION WOULD BE THE BEST CORDAGE THAT WOULD,NT SLIP OR STRETCH?, thus eliminating re-adjustment half way through the process.

By the way i did,nt make it clear in my original post,but when i said that i had got an ember it was with the aid of someone else on the other end of the bow just as Ray mears suggested.But today i did it all by myself,got an ember then managed to light the tinder ): , so as you can imagine i,m chuffed to bits. i have never be on a course either only just read books and got great tips from all you guys in cyberland, so many thanks to you all because without your tips i would probably have struggled on and got nowhere fast. CHEERS STUART F.

"ENDEAVOUR TO PERSEVERE"
CHIEF DAN GEORGE

 

[Adi007]

Natural cord is best ... you could also try leather if you have some. They all handle the abrasion and heat better.

 

[Rob Hofman]

Stuart,

I found this forum just a few days ago , i like it a lot. I am learning/ training bushcraft with my son Willem ( he is just 8 years old). I am doing a lot off experiments with the fire bow and found some tricks that work for me ( my son can't manage the fire bow yet and is training with the fire steel)

For the drill and board i use mainly willow which is very common in the netherlands and works perfect. For the rope i use 8 mm climbing rope before i start drilling i make the rope wet , this give's more grip on the drill.

I've done some experiments with pine wood ( i think it's pine, have to do some research ) and a birch drill works also but not so easy as willow.

From ember to fire gave me a lot off trouble. When i transport the ember to dry grass and start blowing the ember died in 20 sec. I solved the problem with some finly grind charcoal (from a previous fire ) i mix this with dry grass and put the ember on top this works much better.

I am now working with different sort of woods but it doesn't get much better than willow yet.

Cheers from the Netherlands Rob

 

[Adi007]

Top tip about wetting the rope! Thanks!

For the rope i use 8 mm climbing rope before i start drilling i make the rope wet , this give's more grip on the drill.

 

[Ed]

I am learning/ training bushcraft with my son Willem ( he is just 8 years old)

Thats what I ike to hear... I was about the same age (maybe a year younger) when I started and it made my childhood a joy He'll get there with the fire drill in the end.

Ed

 

[ditchfield]

I've been experimenting with different techniques (currently a tiny set :-?) and different bearing blocks. I tryed pine lubricated with parafin wax, works ok but a little soft. My favourite at the moment is the rounded bottom of an aluminium can with an indent to hold the end. This works well. I also tryed a thimble which works ok, but is difficult to hold onto. The circular hole on the belt clip of the mora clipper works well but wears down quite easily. It gives you a comfortable grip and a lot to hold onto and prevents the need to carry a seperate bearing or to fabricate one on the spot.