Silver Birch Bow Drill?

[timtom1]

Is it possible to make all the pieces of the bow drill from the silver birch?

Also what is the difference between White Poplar (Populus alba) and Silver Birch (Betula pendula) they both look the same to me

 

[P Wren]

Hi there timtom1

I tried to make my drill and bow set entirely out of birch but didn't have much luck. I got lots of smoke very quickly but no ember and the wood was soft so the hearth charred through very quickly.

Other members in this forum gave me lots encouragement and practical advice regarding different types of wood and techniques.

the thread including pictures are at the following link:
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=8011

Good luck - I'm still struggling along - taking some time off next week and am hoping to get an ember and fire using the woods suggested.

P Wren

 

[tomtom]

By making both the hearth and spindle out of the same wood your really making life difficult for yourself, its possible though.

remember you want to drill bit to be quite hard and the hearth to be relativly soft so as i can drill in to it!

good luck!

 

[cgait]

I myself use a hazel drill, a hazel bearing block and an ivy hearth. This gives me quite good results. Shame I broke my bow not so long ago

 

[tomtom]

i have a set the same as yours cgai.. its the one i first used with sucess so i hang on to it! ivy makes a good hearth if you can find a decent sized dry bit!

 

[cgait]

You dont need to have it dry when its cut. When your drilling the wood on that area is dried before the coals are made. You can dry it while your drilling. All within reason though . Dont try doing this if its been soaking in a river. If all else fails dry it in your home.

 

[timtom1]

thanks, what does Hazle look like?
Also what is the difference between White Poplar (Populus alba) and Silver Birch (Betula pendula) they both look the same to me?

 

[cgait]

Here is a link which has quite a few different trees on it. Only a picture of a hazel leaf though not the whole tree.

http://www.british-trees.com/guide/hazel.htm

Here is a picture of the white poplar leaf.

http://www.offwell.free-online.co.uk/tree_gallery/white_poplar/white_poplar.jpg

And heres a picture of the Silver Birch

http://www.british-trees.com/guide/silverbirch.htm

The main difference between White poplar and Silver Birch from what i can see is the leaf. But don't take my word for it. Ask someone who has more knowledge on the subject

Hope this helps .

 

[leon-1]

timtom1, the people that I know that have tried birch have had very mixed success (mainly failure) with it.

Hazel seems to be good for use on a fair amount of wood when it is used for a drill (cedar, Ivy, limewood, and the wood from pallettes have been used with a good amount of success).

I have a load of sycamore which I am now seasoning for use in bow drill sets, I know that members on here have had success with this for all parts of the set.

I have had a fair amount of success with Ivy for the whole set.

Sycamore is quite easy to identify as it is the one with the helicopter seeds, if you kow what I mean and it also has leaves which are similair to the maple (check out the canadian flag).

I hope this will be of some use to you

 

[gregorach]

Bioimages is a great source of pics for identification.

Corylus avellana (Hazel)

Betula pendula (Silver Birch)

Populus alba (White poplar)

 

[timtom1]

thanks alot you all :You_Rock_

 

[rich59]

Is it possible to make all the pieces of the bow drill from the silver birch?

Also what is the difference between White Poplar (Populus alba) and Silver Birch (Betula pendula) they both look the same to me

I'm going to take your question literally for the moment and see where it gets me.

There are 5 parts to a bow drill. drill, hearth, bow wood, bow string, and top piece for the drill. Whether it works or not was not the question really? The string would challenge me most.

Drill - make from a dead branch perhaps 1cm diameter
Hearth - make from thicker dead wood - square off the top and bottom before cutting the notch
Bow wood - find a suitable curved or straight live branch. Think how you would tie the bow string one end and allow it to run through a hole or notch the other end.
Top piece - May be make from the same wood as the hearth, or use live wood. Oil the hole with nose grease or ear wax to help it run free and minimise friction

Now - the string. Tricky. I have never yet made a servicable bow drill set with a cordage I made myself. You could certainly dig up some birch root and split it or remove the bark and see if you could make up some cordage. The question is - will it withstand the rigours of drilling?

I think my failure at using natural cordage for bow string is what lead me to try hand drilling. Otherwise I was getting dependant on a manufactured product.

 

[cgait]

If by the top piece you the bearing block then might i suggest you don't use the same wood as the hearth board. If the hearth board is creating an ember then the bearing block would also create an ember.

The bearing block should be a harder wood than the drill. And the drill should be harder than the hearth.

As for sizes I think Ed gave them quite well

your bow ideally should be fingertip to armpit minimum, but personally i prefer something a little longer so a i can get a full stroke (fingertip to breast bone/sternum).... the spindle should be about as thick as your thumb pad (preferably not thinner than your thumb nail) and about the same length as the distance between your thumb tip to little finger tip when your fingers and thumb are splayed out.

 

[elma]

I'm hoping to make a bow drill for my next project, this thread has given me some good tips, I'll let you know how I got on :You_Rock_

 

[cgait]

I hope you get on fine with it. A bow drill set is quite easy once you know what you've got to do. I'd say the most difficult part is choosing woods that work with each other.

My bow drill set consist's of and Ivy hearth, a hazel spindle and a hazel bearing block. That gives me pretty good results.

Have fun

 

[rich59]

If by the top piece you the bearing block then might i suggest you don't use the same wood as the hearth board. If the hearth board is creating an ember then the bearing block would also create an ember.

The bearing block should be a harder wood than the drill. And the drill should be harder than the hearth.

As for sizes I think Ed gave them quite well

In an ideal world yes. However, if you lubricate the bearing block with grease (nose, ear, hair) you can get away with it.

 

[cgait]

Thats true .

And that would probably be the most effective way of making a bow drill set out of one type of wood.

 

[steve a]

With good nettle cordage you can get away without it braking provided you have good technique, the problem is abrasion rarther than tensile strength. The best method I know of that allows the use of much weaker natural material bow strings is to use the Eygption bow brill method.This removes nearly all the abrasion and a lot of the tensile stresses placed on the string.

 

[cgait]

Whats the difference??

Could you explain the egyptian bow drill method please?

 

[steve a]

The methods are basically the same but with the Eygption method you start with longer cord, clove hitch the spindle in the middle of the cord and use 6-8 wraps rarther than one. This site explains it but there are many on line
http://www.primitiveways.com/e-fire.html