Trying out bow drill woods

[punkrockcaveman]

Had a play with some woods I foraged yesterday- willow and birch.

Up to this point I have only used willow for hearth, and hazel and ash as the spindle, both work great with the willow hearth, but I came across a table of spindle/hearth combo's and got me thinking that I should really be trying more combo's and it would hopefully make me a little more aware of what resources I have locally, and probably brush up on my tree ID skills (or lack of!)


Top to bottom; willow, birch, hazel

I tried willow spindle on willow hearth and birch spindle on willow hearth. (I really need to spend some time carving something out of birch, even just cutting the spindle was lovely!)



Both combo's got me a good ember and fire on the first go!

Hoping to get chance tomorrow to try birch on birch, and then try hazel spindle on birch hearth

 

[TinkyPete]

Very nice indeed.

I have tried many combos of the years and like to try and see what is available close to me or when I go away. I am not the best bow driller by any means due to injured and broken parts of my body which don't like the normal way of doing it, so I have to modify it a bit when I do try. I have kept notes of what best works for me and which method I use. But it does help with tree ID and tree uses. But as a main fire technique it is close to the bottom for me. (I came form a military survival view).

 

[punkrockcaveman]

Very nice indeed.

I have tried many combos of the years and like to try and see what is available close to me or when I go away. I am not the best bow driller by any means due to injured and broken parts of my body which don't like the normal way of doing it, so I have to modify it a bit when I do try. I have kept notes of what best works for me and which method I use. But it does help with tree ID and tree uses. But as a main fire technique it is close to the bottom for me. (I came form a military survival view).

Good on you for finding a way around that works for you, can say fairer than that. Which method is at the top of the list for you? Ferro rod?

I'm a big fan of traditional/renewable/natural ways so this is quite high up for me. Although I would really like to nail down some natural cordage as I'm stuck with paracord at the moment. I think my number one is flint and steel with char cloth, I'd happily rely on that for fire starting.

 

[Robson Valley]

How many strokes of the bow are required to produce a useful coal?
As a rule, I always quit after 100 strokes with nothing ever to show for it.

 

[punkrockcaveman]

Not sure to be honest, I've never counted, I learned the technique from a guy called MCQbushcraft on youtube, his rule of thumb is to get thick smoke and count 20 proper seconds and you should have a decent ember. Problem is I haven't used any bad wood yet