Picture the scene. A class of trainee Samurai warriors assemble. This is the day when they will learn the ancient skill of fire lighting. There is absolute silence and respect as the ancient grand Samurai master enters.
"Konnichiwa"
"Konnichiwa sensai" is the reply (that is about the extent of my Japanese)
The grand master then solemnly gives each student a piece of Oak before leaving the room without saying another word. The message is clear - master this wood in reliably making fire and you have passed this task. On the way you will learn how to make fire with almost all other woods as this is the ultimate test
"Sensai" is the Japanese word for teacher. More accurately it is translated "one who has gone before".
This thread is started as a place to share experiences for any who strive to become fire-by-friction masters and pass the Oak challenge - to reliably produce fire-by-friction of Oak on Oak. Those who don't want or need the challenge - look on and laugh if you must.
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I do not yet feel I can yet claim this as I think using a power drill is cheating. I have tried a lot of woods - particularly with hand drilling. I can say that each wood has its own qualities, pros and cons. I can say that Oak has pretty well all the cons and none of the pros:-
- It is pretty hard - making it difficult to shape as a hearth board. Hard hearth boards behave differently to soft woods. You may need a smaller drill to get the same effect.
- It has a coarse grain. This makes controlling the socket progression through the hearth board difficult - tending to slew into the notch and rendering the socket unusable quickly.
- It tends to produce a coarse, gritty punk unless you have technique to beat this
- It self polishes. So one can put huge amounts of force into getting it to smoke at all. This is especially so when using Oak on Oak. If used against another wood the polishing effect is much diminished.
- Its punk seems heavy and dense so not allowing much air through the pile so it is difficult to get it to continue to burn even if the coal starts to smoke
- Its punk also seems very reluctant to smoulder even if well aerated.
- for hand drilling a nice straight shaft is not a regular occurrence
- it lacks a soft centre (unlike mullein or elder) that gives an outer ring during drilling.
The power drill test did at least give me sight of what I have to achieve to master it.
"Konnichiwa"
"Konnichiwa sensai" is the reply (that is about the extent of my Japanese)
The grand master then solemnly gives each student a piece of Oak before leaving the room without saying another word. The message is clear - master this wood in reliably making fire and you have passed this task. On the way you will learn how to make fire with almost all other woods as this is the ultimate test
"Sensai" is the Japanese word for teacher. More accurately it is translated "one who has gone before".
This thread is started as a place to share experiences for any who strive to become fire-by-friction masters and pass the Oak challenge - to reliably produce fire-by-friction of Oak on Oak. Those who don't want or need the challenge - look on and laugh if you must.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I do not yet feel I can yet claim this as I think using a power drill is cheating. I have tried a lot of woods - particularly with hand drilling. I can say that each wood has its own qualities, pros and cons. I can say that Oak has pretty well all the cons and none of the pros:-
- It is pretty hard - making it difficult to shape as a hearth board. Hard hearth boards behave differently to soft woods. You may need a smaller drill to get the same effect.
- It has a coarse grain. This makes controlling the socket progression through the hearth board difficult - tending to slew into the notch and rendering the socket unusable quickly.
- It tends to produce a coarse, gritty punk unless you have technique to beat this
- It self polishes. So one can put huge amounts of force into getting it to smoke at all. This is especially so when using Oak on Oak. If used against another wood the polishing effect is much diminished.
- Its punk seems heavy and dense so not allowing much air through the pile so it is difficult to get it to continue to burn even if the coal starts to smoke
- Its punk also seems very reluctant to smoulder even if well aerated.
- for hand drilling a nice straight shaft is not a regular occurrence
- it lacks a soft centre (unlike mullein or elder) that gives an outer ring during drilling.
The power drill test did at least give me sight of what I have to achieve to master it.
