Bow drills don't just make fire...

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Oct 18, 2005
41
0
36
Kidlington, Oxfordshire, UK
Today I was making a spoon and got a little trigger happy with the knife, so another spoon for the scrap pile. Then I started wondering if it was possiable to drill holes using a bow drill.

I realised that a normal piece of wood would take hours to drill a hole with so I took a piece of coppe pipe, cut it on one edge and flatened it out.

Then I used a Jr.hacksaw to cut a point on the top.

I took an old, warn out drill stick (from a bow drill) and cut a notch long enough to put the piece of copper in with just the point sticking out.

I tied the wood together tightly around the copper so it was nice and tight.

Then I used the bow drill to drill a hole in my failed spoon attempt, it requires little practice and if you can use a bow drill to make fire it should be easy to master. JUst don't press too hard on the copper as it began to bend like it did for me, perhaps steel or even bronze would be alot better. Here's some pictures and I hope for some suggestion for improvement!

drillandholes.jpg


drillbit.jpg


(sorry about the poor picture quality!)
 

tomtom

Full Member
Dec 9, 2003
4,283
5
38
Sunny South Devon
Good post mate, looks like a good set up i have been thinking about something similar for a while.. i have noticed In a couple of Patric M's great tutorial he uses the same system with a flint drill bit..
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,937
4,570
S. Lanarkshire
Archaeologically we know of beaver and squirrel teeth being used as tips on tools on pole lathes, might work in this sort of drilling too. Don't know how you'd set them in though :confused:

Cheers,
Toddy
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,937
4,570
S. Lanarkshire
Daniel Edwards said:
Thanks for your views guys.
Toddy, it would be difficult to secure teeth into a piece of wood, perhaps I should do a little research. To Google!!!!

I've been thinking about this, they are nore peg shaped in the jaw , it's the
growing tip that's chisel shaped. Pitch would hold it in place I'm sure but you'd need to make a well shaped socket in the first place. Let's know how it goes?

Cheers,
Toddy
 
Oct 18, 2005
41
0
36
Kidlington, Oxfordshire, UK
Toddy said:
I've been thinking about this, they are nore peg shaped in the jaw , it's the
growing tip that's chisel shaped. Pitch would hold it in place I'm sure but you'd need to make a well shaped socket in the first place. Let's know how it goes?

Cheers,
Toddy

I'll start trying to find the bits I need for that when I get back off holiday next sunday.

Thanks All,
 

match

Settler
Sep 29, 2004
707
8
Edinburgh
Pump drills are commonly used for this kind of drilling - usually set with either flint or quartz. The pump drill gives a better speed and relies less on body posture - i.e it can be used to drill horizontally.

pumpdrill.jpg
 

torjusg

Native
Aug 10, 2005
1,246
21
41
Telemark, Norway
livingprimitively.com
Toddy said:
Archaeologically we know of beaver and squirrel teeth being used as tips on tools on pole lathes, might work in this sort of drilling too. Don't know how you'd set them in though :confused:

Cheers,
Toddy

I have thought about using them for drilling as well. I made some simple knives of the upper teeth of a beaver last summer and they work very well for carving green wood. The lower jaw incisors I will make chisels from, but maybe I should use one of them for a drill.

Otherwise I use flint and quartz. There is a chrystal mine in a mountain nearby, just as wolf, I think that would indeed be the ultimate in drilling hard materials. Perhaps even better than a iron point?

Torjus Gaaren
 
Nov 22, 2006
1
0
54
Louisville, KY, USA
Gentlemen,

In the U.S. there are archaeology remains that indicate at least some of the natives used pump drills to put holes through rock. They would apparently use small pieces of cane as bits, and use fine river sand as a cutting agent. This was from the Poverty Point site in the state of Louisiana.

This is my first post on this site, if it is inappropriate then I apologize.
 

Ogri the trog

Mod
Mod
Apr 29, 2005
7,182
71
60
Mid Wales UK
jim_bell said:
This is my first post on this site, if it is inappropriate then I apologize.

Hardly inappropriate Jim - its another angle to the drilling idea, sort of tip grinding. Welcome to BCUK anyway.

ATB

Ogri the trog
 
jim_bell said:
Gentlemen,

In the U.S. there are archaeology remains that indicate at least some of the natives used pump drills to put holes through rock. They would apparently use small pieces of cane as bits, and use fine river sand as a cutting agent. This was from the Poverty Point site in the state of Louisiana.

This is my first post on this site, if it is inappropriate then I apologize.

Hi Jim,

Welcome to BCUK - enjoy!

In relation to the pump drill - I have also read that the Ancient Egyptians used a similar method of drill into rock - but then again there is plenty of sand to use as a cutting agent in Egypt ;) Some of the holes that were drilled several thousand years ago are incredibly accurate even compared to what can be achieved today with modern machinery - amazing!

Phil.
 

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