does anyone know of a good tutorial for making and using a bowdrill and handrill, also i live in england so with wood you would find there.
cheers,
alex
cheers,
alex
hand drill/bow drill
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Yes, I've compiled this mini-article for use in forums, websites, etc.
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Just thought I'd share how I make fire by friction. This is a skill that everyone can master, I've heard of kids down to the age of 6 do it. It's a skill easier to learn, when physically instructed by someone, but it's possible to do it without physical instruction, like I did for example.
What you need is a bow, a spindle, a hearth board, and ember pan, a string and a bearing block. The bow is about 60-70 cm long and made of any wood available. The string is tied to the bow, so it is tight, but not too tight. It cannot be loose. The best string is a nylon or leather one, mine is of nylon. Minimum thickness is 4-5 mm, anything thinner will break, just as my first ones did.
The hearth board is usually made of a soft wood and the spindle of hard wood. Hearth board must be split so it is about 2 cm thick, 30 cm long and about 4 cm wide.
The spindle is preferably of hard wood and is about 2-3 cm. in diameter. It must be about 20-25 cm long and carved flat in the drilling end and pointy in the other (not spear pointy, just a rounded of point to minimize friction). The almost flat surface on the drilling piece will increase friction which is what we want to achieve.
The bearing block is a piece of wood or a cup, in my case used to protect the other hand by friction (my cup got so hot that I couldn't touch it, so I've wrapped it with leather but it still gets freakin' hot). The spindle top must fit in the bearing block good.
The ember pan is a piece of bark or wood used to collect the ember. It doesn't matter that much, but it's useful if you want to protect the ember from ground cold, for example. The ember pan must rest under the notch, which I will get to now.
Let's begin. Start by placing the heart board securely on the ground and placing your knife tip in the middle of the heart board and drilling a bit to make a small hole. Put your spindle in the string, so the spindle is outside of the bow, if you get that. Place the drilling piece of the spindle in the small hole and gently put in force with the hand that holds the bearing block, while bowing. When you have a small depression that is a bit wider in mm than the spindle diameter, cut a 1/8 notch with a knife or a small saw. Don't cut any further than to the middle of the depression. The notch is very important, as it is here the ember must form itself, from. Put the heart board back on the ground and place the ember pan under the notch. Begin drilling until you have thic, grey-white smoke and when you've had that for 30-50 seconds, make 10-20 long strokes and stop. Remove the heart board and look if there's a little pile of black wood dust. If this pile is smoking and continues doing this, blow very gently on the pile or if it's a bit windy it can take care of itself. After a few seconds you will see a glow in the pile. That is the ember and believe it or not. A pile like this will burn for minutes!
A few tips: if you don't think enough smoke is coming out, tear the spindle with a knife in the drilling end and do this to the depression, in the heart board too. This will make it more rough, making it easier to succed. Another thing to do is remove all barl from the wood you're working with, except the bow. This doesn't matter.
That was it. I'f you have any questions feel free to ask. I'm a bit busy right now, so probably won't have time for a picture tutorial, but this would be the ultimate of course.
PS. Don't ever touch the drilling piece of the spindle after bowing, one can get burns of that, I did.
_________________________________________________
Cheers
____________________________________________________
Just thought I'd share how I make fire by friction. This is a skill that everyone can master, I've heard of kids down to the age of 6 do it. It's a skill easier to learn, when physically instructed by someone, but it's possible to do it without physical instruction, like I did for example.
What you need is a bow, a spindle, a hearth board, and ember pan, a string and a bearing block. The bow is about 60-70 cm long and made of any wood available. The string is tied to the bow, so it is tight, but not too tight. It cannot be loose. The best string is a nylon or leather one, mine is of nylon. Minimum thickness is 4-5 mm, anything thinner will break, just as my first ones did.
The hearth board is usually made of a soft wood and the spindle of hard wood. Hearth board must be split so it is about 2 cm thick, 30 cm long and about 4 cm wide.
The spindle is preferably of hard wood and is about 2-3 cm. in diameter. It must be about 20-25 cm long and carved flat in the drilling end and pointy in the other (not spear pointy, just a rounded of point to minimize friction). The almost flat surface on the drilling piece will increase friction which is what we want to achieve.
The bearing block is a piece of wood or a cup, in my case used to protect the other hand by friction (my cup got so hot that I couldn't touch it, so I've wrapped it with leather but it still gets freakin' hot). The spindle top must fit in the bearing block good.
The ember pan is a piece of bark or wood used to collect the ember. It doesn't matter that much, but it's useful if you want to protect the ember from ground cold, for example. The ember pan must rest under the notch, which I will get to now.
Let's begin. Start by placing the heart board securely on the ground and placing your knife tip in the middle of the heart board and drilling a bit to make a small hole. Put your spindle in the string, so the spindle is outside of the bow, if you get that. Place the drilling piece of the spindle in the small hole and gently put in force with the hand that holds the bearing block, while bowing. When you have a small depression that is a bit wider in mm than the spindle diameter, cut a 1/8 notch with a knife or a small saw. Don't cut any further than to the middle of the depression. The notch is very important, as it is here the ember must form itself, from. Put the heart board back on the ground and place the ember pan under the notch. Begin drilling until you have thic, grey-white smoke and when you've had that for 30-50 seconds, make 10-20 long strokes and stop. Remove the heart board and look if there's a little pile of black wood dust. If this pile is smoking and continues doing this, blow very gently on the pile or if it's a bit windy it can take care of itself. After a few seconds you will see a glow in the pile. That is the ember and believe it or not. A pile like this will burn for minutes!
A few tips: if you don't think enough smoke is coming out, tear the spindle with a knife in the drilling end and do this to the depression, in the heart board too. This will make it more rough, making it easier to succed. Another thing to do is remove all barl from the wood you're working with, except the bow. This doesn't matter.
That was it. I'f you have any questions feel free to ask. I'm a bit busy right now, so probably won't have time for a picture tutorial, but this would be the ultimate of course.
PS. Don't ever touch the drilling piece of the spindle after bowing, one can get burns of that, I did.
_________________________________________________
Cheers
cheers thats some really useful information, im gonna have to get out and try this now 
cheers,
alex
cheers,
alex
I started a similar thread a few weeks ago as I'm learning about the bow and drill technology at the moment too. My learnings and some very useful advice from more experienced firestarters can be found here:
http://72.36.134.230/community/showthread.php?t=6000
http://72.36.134.230/community/showthread.php?t=6000
I've been trying to achieve this recently too, but I still have had some problems. Mainly around the fact that I'm not very flexible and can't get into a comfortable position.
I can get the drill going until I get tired, but nothing seems to happen. A taught bow I found was hard to control, so I fiddled with it for ages until I got it on the point of it not slipping on the spindle.
I press hard with my left hand, and I've managed to get it warm, but no further. I suppose the answer to this is persistance.
I can get the drill going until I get tired, but nothing seems to happen. A taught bow I found was hard to control, so I fiddled with it for ages until I got it on the point of it not slipping on the spindle.
I press hard with my left hand, and I've managed to get it warm, but no further. I suppose the answer to this is persistance.
Biddlesby said:
The bow does not need to be totally taught, you can tension the string using the bowing hand so that it grips the Drill tightly enough.
A bow which is long and manageable is good, use longer strokes trying to keep the bow at the same angle.
When you are bowing keep the pace even, you do not need to bow like the clappers, likewise you do not need to put excessive amounts of pressure on the bearing block, this will just cause the cord / string to slip on the drill.
Combinations of wood can be used, but some like Ivy and Sycamore can be used happily for drill and hearth and you will still attain a good result.
If you do use combinations use the slightly harder of the woods for the drill and not the hearth, I hope that some of this will be usefull
