Hi - I've been experimenting with a bowdrill for the first time and managed to produce lots of smoke and lots of black dust but unfortunately no ember.
I tried old bone dry cherry on itself (from the same piece of wood) with a spindle of about 25-30mm diameter. I then tried pine (or possibly spruce?) on something similar to itself - just building timber offcuts. The pine spindle was smaller, about 20mm diameter. In both cases the drill started to wander into the notch and towards the edge of the board - perhaps I made the notches either too wide or too far into the depression? In both cases I managed to produce a lot of dust and lots of smoke but when i blew on the dust there was no glow - it just blew away. It didn't want to bunch together in any way.
I want to demonstrate this technique to our scouts on Tuesday and I'd really like to get a flame instead of just lots of smoke. So... some questions:
I've seen willow, hazel, sycamore etc mentionned - can you use them green? split from the centre of a green log? or do they have to be dead and dry? if green can they be used immediately or dried a little first?
Is anyone in the North East Wales / Cheshire area willing to meet up for a quick tutorial - beer /chocolate etc can be freely supplied!
What would be the choice of woods and exact age / condition / size of the pieces for a best chance first go at it?
Thanks in advance guys:You_Rock_
Dom.
I tried old bone dry cherry on itself (from the same piece of wood) with a spindle of about 25-30mm diameter. I then tried pine (or possibly spruce?) on something similar to itself - just building timber offcuts. The pine spindle was smaller, about 20mm diameter. In both cases the drill started to wander into the notch and towards the edge of the board - perhaps I made the notches either too wide or too far into the depression? In both cases I managed to produce a lot of dust and lots of smoke but when i blew on the dust there was no glow - it just blew away. It didn't want to bunch together in any way.
I want to demonstrate this technique to our scouts on Tuesday and I'd really like to get a flame instead of just lots of smoke. So... some questions:
I've seen willow, hazel, sycamore etc mentionned - can you use them green? split from the centre of a green log? or do they have to be dead and dry? if green can they be used immediately or dried a little first?
Is anyone in the North East Wales / Cheshire area willing to meet up for a quick tutorial - beer /chocolate etc can be freely supplied!
What would be the choice of woods and exact age / condition / size of the pieces for a best chance first go at it?
Thanks in advance guys:You_Rock_
Dom.