Egyptian Bow Drill

[rich59]

I was looking at my hearth last night and noticed something... The better/easier the coal formation, the better cut my "wedge" was. In some of my earlier attempts, the notch didn't quite go to the middle of the... Divot? in the wood. Those were hit and miss. As I stopped and looked and starting taking the cut all the way to the center, things started happening a lot better.

You may want to keep that in mind as you try...

Of course, I'm still new to this method, and there's a really, really good chance that I have no idea what I'm blathering on about.

Doc

:You_Rock_ Learn from what you observe and test it out. That is the way to improve and become a master

 

[Chris G]

One thing that I can add is;
- if using soft woods, cut a wider notch
- if using hard woods, cut a narrower notch.

The idea being that if you cut a narrow notch in soft wood the notch would fill up before you generated enough heat to make a coal, while a wide notch in a hard wood would allow the wood dust to cool down before you had enough material created to make a coal.

Just another bit of info pinched form somewhere else!

Chris

 

[chem_doc]

One thing that I can add is;
- if using soft woods, cut a wider notch
- if using hard woods, cut a narrower notch.

The idea being that if you cut a narrow notch in soft wood the notch would fill up before you generated enough heat to make a coal, while a wide notch in a hard wood would allow the wood dust to cool down before you had enough material created to make a coal.

Just another bit of info pinched form somewhere else!

Chris

Interesting. Is this a case of, assuming you don't know what the wood is you're using (let's say you've stumbled across a dead tree in the woods, no leaves on it, bark not in great shape, so it's tough to ID the tree...), if you can push in with your thumbnail and easily leave a mark, it's "soft" wood?

Doc

 

[Chris G]

I'd just go on the theory that if the cells of the wood are fairly easily seen (ie large) then it's probably a soft wood, if not, then it's a hard wood. The nail test is also a good one, but it doesn't work on some woods (eg balsa).

Chris

 

[chem_doc]

I'm still hit and miss with this method... and it's annoying.

I'm using the same hearth I started with (I've worked with a few spindles so far). Sometimes, I get an ember without too much work. Others, I work and work and.. a little smoke and... nothin'.

Any tips? I'd like to be able to reliably get an ember. As it is, I'm probably getting one about every fourth or so try.

Doc

 

[rich59]

One of the arts of friction fire is to learn from each failure to identify what needs to be improved to suceed after a correction.

You have 5 physical parts to consider. You have the char to check on - fineness, colour, quantity, relation to edge of socket. Then there is your technique. The dryness of the wood has a large effect.

Once you have sorted out a comfortable, reliable set that reduces the variables.

I would not worry about a failure. But I would hope to make a correction that meant I got it on the 2nd or 3rd attempt.