I have had a couple of goes at the bamboo fire saw and, amazingly, I seem to be getting coals. Here is my first one, yesterday. You can just see the ember on the black area of bamboo.
And here is how I did it again today,
Here are the main parts
Close ups of my 3 previous attempts grooves (2/3 created fire)
top
and reverse
Here is a new notch cut with a saw
and now with a hole dug out with a knife through the thin wood remaining
close up
Now the other side
Next I placed 2 bundles of tinder/ packing material each side of the hole
and then brought them loosely together and steadied them in place with a scrap of wood
Next I made sure the "saw" edge was sharp enough to fit into the base of the groove.
OK, so next I positioned the saw, wedged into my shed door, just above the lock - to support it in place
The other end was against my stomach, trying to rest on my belt, with 2 gardening gloves to protect me from injury
Then I brought the piece with notch and tinder up to rest on the saw edge - saw edge in newly made groove
Then I placed my 2nd hand on the bamboo - in mirror image to the other hand (no picture of this) and started rubbing it backwards and forwards along the saw edge. I steadily increased speed and pressure over about a minute until at nearly flat out I got smoke. Then I went flat out for another 10 seconds or so before stopping. NO COAL! So I did it again. YES. COAL THIS TIME!!
The small coal quickly transferred fire into the thinned down bamboo wood itself. Sorry about the aim of the camera. I was trying to blow and hold it and take pictures at the same time
And now I have got that "first coal" grin all over again!
Purists would make all the parts, including the tinder wads from the bamboo and blow it into flame.
You probably can't do it without those wads of material. Otherwise the dust scatters.
And here is how I did it again today,
Here are the main parts
Close ups of my 3 previous attempts grooves (2/3 created fire)
top
and reverse
Here is a new notch cut with a saw
and now with a hole dug out with a knife through the thin wood remaining
close up
Now the other side
Next I placed 2 bundles of tinder/ packing material each side of the hole
and then brought them loosely together and steadied them in place with a scrap of wood
Next I made sure the "saw" edge was sharp enough to fit into the base of the groove.
OK, so next I positioned the saw, wedged into my shed door, just above the lock - to support it in place
The other end was against my stomach, trying to rest on my belt, with 2 gardening gloves to protect me from injury
Then I brought the piece with notch and tinder up to rest on the saw edge - saw edge in newly made groove
Then I placed my 2nd hand on the bamboo - in mirror image to the other hand (no picture of this) and started rubbing it backwards and forwards along the saw edge. I steadily increased speed and pressure over about a minute until at nearly flat out I got smoke. Then I went flat out for another 10 seconds or so before stopping. NO COAL! So I did it again. YES. COAL THIS TIME!!
The small coal quickly transferred fire into the thinned down bamboo wood itself. Sorry about the aim of the camera. I was trying to blow and hold it and take pictures at the same time
And now I have got that "first coal" grin all over again!
Purists would make all the parts, including the tinder wads from the bamboo and blow it into flame.
You probably can't do it without those wads of material. Otherwise the dust scatters.