Bowdrill succes!

Clouston98

Woodsman & Beekeeper
Aug 19, 2013
4,364
2
26
Cumbria
Here's a quick photo:

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Excuse the club foot, my sock was hanging off!

Only a quick one to show I'm no liar! :p
 
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Russell96

Forager
Jul 19, 2005
243
12
51
Surrey
Congratulations and well done! I have managed it a few times myself but not for a while! You have reminded me I need to have a go again. Well done though.
Russ
 
Jul 30, 2012
3,570
224
westmidlands
I've been trying some more today; scraping the char off and starting a new notch each time... works a charm! I also find as I'm only using each notch once; using a thinner hearth works well also. I'm guessing this is because there's less wood to sink the heat away.

Big thanks for everyone's advice!

That lime is great; hardly more effort than lighting the oven now (yeah right!). I'll pop out tomorrow evening and collect some wild timber to have a go with, now I have the basic gist of it:eek:

good point aboult the hearth thickness.

Congratulations Clouston, only managed it myself recently, but I'm twice your age.tried it years ago but only recently suceeded.
 

Clouston98

Woodsman & Beekeeper
Aug 19, 2013
4,364
2
26
Cumbria
Cheers mate!

Thanks for all the kind words and great advice! :)

I've got some lime not far away too, so I might have a tinker with it, there seems to be some good combinations, especially of wood I can source easily- and there's usually plenty of dead standing so il.have something to be getting on with :).
 

mattburgess

Tenderfoot
Jun 22, 2009
64
0
Wivenhoe
Clouston98 - I tried Buddleia on Buddleia as I had heard something about pith centred wood being good for hand drill! Anyway it worked a charm for bow drill. Yet to do hand drill. Bonus is - it's everywhere! If you can't find a long straight piece I did a small section and lashed it to a longer, straighter stick. That works well too.
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The Infamous Grouse

Tenderfoot
Apr 15, 2014
56
0
West Sussex
I found my biggest weakness is timber identification. Came home with an arm load of different woods; luckily I think some of it was sycamore, so worked quite well.

Well done Clouston!
 

Crank Cuffin

Tenderfoot
Feb 18, 2005
56
0
Bognor Regis
Well done, Cameron, it is a great feeling when it works.
I have been trying on and off for a while and have at last cracked it also. Although it does take a lot of effort to get the ember :burnout:
I'll have to try shaving the char off the spindle next time - thanks for the tip.
My most successful wood combo is sycamore on sycamore, hearth and drill made from the same chunk of branch.
I was also having a bit of a battle with the bearing block so I turned up a bit of ash into a comfy handful and set a limpet shell in the under side - this works like a dream.
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Bluffer

Nomad
Apr 12, 2013
464
1
North Yorkshire
As well as reshaping the ember-end of your spindle, don't forget to also re-point the bearing end as well.

Maximum friction at the blunt end, minimum friction at the bearing end.
 

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