wood type

[PurpleHeath]

hi, i have used a hand drills and bow drills a few times but i have never got any embers from it. i have always put this down to doing the method wrong, after reading your posts on the subject it sounds like i used the wrong type of wood. what type of wood to you guys use?

 

[Buckshot]

The best combination I've used so far is red cedar for the harth and hazle for the spindle. The coal seems to hold together well. I once droped it twice putting it into the tinder and it still held together and produced fire !

I know DG likes this combination as well (he showed it to me)

Cheers

Mark

 

[den]

As Buckshot just mentioned Red cedar hearth and hazel drill is a favourite for some.

Ivy hearth with a sycamore or hazel drill is favourite for others.

Personally I Use Poplar for both the hearth and drill.

 

[leon-1]

Purple Heath, here are a few combinations of woods that you could try;

Ash drill on a Willow hearth
Cattail drill on a limewood hearth.
Elder drill on an Elder hearth.
Elder drill and a Willow hearth.
Elder drill on a Pine hearth.
Elder drill on a clematis hearth.
Hazel drill on a willow hearth.
Hazel drill on a Crack Willow hearth.
Hazel drill on a Limewood hearth.
Hazel drill on a Pine hearth.
Hazel drill on a Sycamore hearth.
Ivy drill on a Ivy hearth.
Ivy drill on a Hazel hearth.
Ivy drill on an Alder hearth.
Poplar, Limewood and Cedar should work just fine on a cedar hearth board.
Sycamore drill on a Sycamore hearth.
Willow drill and hearth.

All have been used with success by members of the forum, the elder and clematis combination has been quite good in hand drill usage.

I believe that Gary has a hand out on bow drill practice, if you ask him nicely he may send it to you

Generally keep the drill level, start slowly and steadily. When the smoke thickens and spirals around the drill, speed the bowing action up then the smoke should get very thick around this point you should have managed to get an ember in the notch.

The dust that forms the ember should be fine and very dark brown to black to view, if the dust is longer and lighter in colour it may be that you are rushing it and the dust is not getting hot enough to form the ember properly, I hope this will be of use.

 

[Ed]

i have always put this down to doing the method wrong, after reading your posts on the subject it sounds like i used the wrong type of wood.

No such thing as wrong type of wood (unless its sopping wet).... with some woods its just harder to do ;-) .....

once you get the technique with easier woods you should try with you current set and see if you can get it going... don't throw it away.

Another piece of advice is to make lots of different sets out of different woods till you find one that suits you.

:biggthump
Ed

 

[Abbe Osram]

No such thing as wrong type of wood (unless its sopping wet).... with some woods its just harder to do ;-) .....

once you get the technique with easier woods you should try with you current set and see if you can get it going... don't throw it away.

Another piece of advice is to make lots of different sets out of different woods till you find one that suits you.

:biggthump
Ed

Hi guys,
I never thought I would want to try to get my fire going by rubbing sticks together as I always have matches with me ...... ..BUT.... NOW I got real hungry too and would like to try it too.

I have to admit that I don't know anything about it, is there a tree or wood type found up here in the north? All the trees I can see around me are birches and pines. We don't have trees here with leaves. Maybe the fjäll willow but they are under the snow right now. Can I use the wood I have here too and how long will I have to dry the wood before using it?

thanks and cheers
Abbe

:chill:

 

[TheViking]

Well i've used hazel for bow and drill and I believe it was willow for the hearthboard. But I agree with Ed.

 

[leon-1]

Hi guys,
I never thought I would want to try to get my fire going by rubbing sticks together as I always have matches with me ...... ..BUT.... NOW I got real hungry too and would like to try it too.

I have to admit that I don't know anything about it, is there a tree or wood type found up here in the north? All the trees I can see around me are birches and pines. We don't have trees here with leaves. Maybe the fjäll willow but they are under the snow right now. Can I use the wood I have here too and how long will I have to dry the wood before using it?

thanks and cheers
Abbe

:chill:

Abbe, as Ed said there are no absolutes, but I cannot see why you should not try combinations of the woods that you have, perhaps birch drill on a pine hearth or willow drill on a pine or birch hearth.

For the hearth try and find standing dead wood, this may be reasonably dry inside already, so when it is split you may be able to try it almost immediately.
You can do likewise with the drill if you use a spokeshave to strip the outer wood away so that you can get to the drier heart wood.

If the set is freshly cut then I cannot tell you how long it will take to season as it takes as long as it takes (Ivy seems to take quite a while), as far as I know Ash can be used pretty much freshly cut, but it is one of the few (I don't personally know of any others). I hope this may help you in your quest for fire ):

 

[Ed]

I have to admit that I don't know anything about it, is there a tree or wood type found up here in the north? All the trees I can see around me are birches and pines.

Pine will work as a hearth though you may find if its freshly cut it may be a bit too resinous and sticky. My friend dean has a hearth made from an old pine timber fence post that was in the back garden and a piece of bamboo for the spindle.... works a treat every time :biggthump

Ed

 

[Abbe Osram]

Abbe, as Ed said there are no absolutes, but I cannot see why you should not try combinations of the woods that you have, perhaps birch drill on a pine hearth or willow drill on a pine or birch hearth.

For the hearth try and find standing dead wood, this may be reasonably dry inside already, so when it is split you may be able to try it almost immediately.
You can do likewise with the drill if you use a spokeshave to strip the outer wood away so that you can get to the drier heart wood.

If the set is freshly cut then I cannot tell you how long it will take to season as it takes as long as it takes (Ivy seems to take quite a while), as far as I know Ash can be used pretty much freshly cut, but it is one of the few (I don't personally know of any others). I hope this may help you in your quest for fire ):

Thanks for the help guys, I thought it would not work with the trees here at hand.
cheers
Abbe

 

[Gary]

Abbe, what are your local trees? I am assuming you have spruce and you mentioned willow, do you has Aspen or Birch?

Willow and Aspen work well, I have tried spruce with some success also, although I would warn against coniferous trees. Ideally go for dry, firm, non-resinious woods as these will likely work best. The big problem with conifers is the resin and you will need to be very selective here, even a slight amount of resin will cause the wood to glaze over and this will cause a failure and mean recarving over and over!!


.

 

[TheViking]

I would warn against coniferous trees.

I second that. Tried with pine, but it didn't work, and it was completely dry. :roll:

 

[tomtom]

im with den.. if you can find decent Ivy it makes a great harth! my number one combo is Ivy harth and Hazel dril!

 

[Abbe Osram]

Abbe, what are your local trees? I am assuming you have spruce and you mentioned willow, do you has Aspen or Birch?

Willow and Aspen work well, I have tried spruce with some success also, although I would warn against coniferous trees. Ideally go for dry, firm, non-resinious woods as these will likely work best. The big problem with conifers is the resin and you will need to be very selective here, even a slight amount of resin will cause the wood to glaze over and this will cause a failure and mean recarving over and over!!


.

Hi Gary,
we have for sure birches, spruces, pines and my wife insist that she saw aspens but I haven't seen one, we should have arctic willow but I haven't seen one either yet. I will now stretch out my eyes more for the aspen.
thanks mate for the tip
yours
Abbe

 

[PurpleHeath]

the first time i tried hand and bow drill method i used only hazel becuase that was what i had to hand. it didn't work, i got a lot of heat but no embers. this is probably a dumb question but is there reason that you don't use the same wood for the hearth and drill?

 

[match]

It is perfectly possible to use the same wood for the bow and the drill, but usually a harder wood is used for one, and a softer wood for the other (usually the drill is the harder, but this can vary). This is because the drill is actually 'drilling' away at the hearth, and it is the combination of the heat from friction and the powdering of the hearth wood (as sawdust from the drilling) that creates an ember.

For this reason, people talk about 'easy' and 'difficult' woods - trying to create a bow drill out of two pieces of mahogany for example would be much more difficult, as the amount fo force needed to 'wear down' this harder would is more difficult. This is why the recommended drills are usually semi-hardwoods, such as hazel, aspen, willow etc, and the recommended hearths are woods such as poplar, cedar, pine etc (all slightly softer). You can make a bow drill out of something like oak, but you'll be worn out by the time your fire is going

 

[den]

Another piece of advice is to make lots of different sets out of different woods till you find one that suits you.
Ed

Wise words from Ed. Don’t just make a set, make loads and try them all. I use the same bearing block and bow and just change the drill and hearth.

When you have more than one set with identical woods too you will still find a difference between the sets.

 

[Ed]

Wise words from Ed.

Not my wise words..... just repeating advice from DG given at the BCUK meetup last year.

Ed

 

[Gary]

In my woodlore days we always taught same wood for spindle and hearth, ideally same branch, but if not that same tree, if bot that same species.

But experience has taught various combo's work well.

Its all about trail and error - however once you find a good combo dont just stick to that as its entirely possible the day you need it that wood wont be available!

 

[Ed]

however once you find a good combo dont just stick to that as its entirely possible the day you need it that wood wont be available!

Very true. Finding a good combo just allows you perfect your drilling technique before tackling harder woods..... it'll help you get the 'feel' of the friction point to you need (amount ot bearing down) to get that thick smoke.

Ed