Buying a bow drill kit - why?

[Bartooon]

I saw these bow drill kits for sale online -
http://www.a-finlay-primitive-crafts.co.uk/bow_drills.html

Personally, I can't quite grasp the logic of buying a ready made kit. Surely the whole fun of creating fire this way is the fact that you have been able to get an ember from nothing by shaping a few bits of wood and using a bit of elbow grease. I can see the point of buying something that is difficult or impossible to make, but it doesn't take long to knock up your own kit, so where is the satisfaction in using a bow drill that someone else has produced commercially?

Whilst creating fire using a bow drill is fun, in my opinion it is really only a party trick. If you were in a survival situation and your life depended on you being able to create fire by making and using a bow drill (especially if you had no other survival gear, 'cos if you did, you would be using the matches that you brought with you!) I would say that you are pretty much stuffed anyway!

I have no problem with the site that offers the kits for sale - good luck to them I say. It just seems to me to be against the spirit of bushcraft to buy a set instead of making your own. Or perhaps I am just becoming a grumpy old so & so!

 

[Lyope]

Perhaps this is a way of learning the skills you need to make fire by friction, whilst being sure that the materials you're using are completely suited for the task? You can read all you like about how it's done, but nothing beats knowing that the kit you're using is fine for the job and that all you need to do is hone your skills with it.

A friend of mine recently taught me some basic fire bow techniques and gave me a set of starter pieces to practice with. Although I've since gathered replacements for all the components, I was really grateful to be able to have a set that I could have in my hands to compare sizes, wood density and so on when I went out to gather my own pieces.

Anyway - isn't one of our makers on here selling bearing blocks with real steel bearings in them? They seem to be well regarded...

 

[Goatboy]

Plus home made bow drills can be soul destroying and energy sapping. Get a wee morale boost with a bought one and then develop the skill. Or should we all make our own kit from scratch - (there's an argument, sorry discussion I'm not getting into again)

 

[Swallow]

You are being grumpy.

If you think it would not work in the wild when it matters and is only a party trick then what difference does it make if people cheat?

And how spirit of bushcraft are you for building party trick geat instead of stuff you know has practical use, or potential practical use, in the field?


As it happens I had a lot of good fortune at the beginning, but I have seen people really struggle to get their first ember.

Breaking that barrier has done them a lot of good, and if that barrier is really in their way who is to say how it should be broken down.

I've have also seen people recommending to dry a home built set out in the oven so it will light. But if you are doing that constantly rather than to break down a barrier then you have probably missed the point somewhere along the way.

 

[Stringmaker]

It depends how you like to learn a new physical skill.

It isn't just a question of knocking up a couple of bits of wood if you have no idea what woods you need. I learned this technique by initially using somebody else's set, so I knew any failure was down to me. Then I did buy a set (not from the people you linked to), as again, I wanted to acquire the technique and muscle memory with a set that I knew worked.

Now, I have my own sets because I have acquired the knowledge of how the technique works and what are the best materials to use. I only ever use them in anger when I am demonstrating to family groups; if the whole idea of friction fire is new to you then it is mightily impressive to see it done, but yes there are easier ways.

The point to bear in mind is that sets were used multiple times; just like a firesteel or lighter. It wasn't a question of making one from scratch as a "survival" exercise, it was a tool which had parts that wore out so you either cut a new drill when needed or (more likely I think), you had seasoned wood ready to go.

It is a bit of a party trick but it still takes some skill to do it whether you bought the kit or made it.

By the same token you could say the same thing about buying a knife instead of making your own?

 

[Hibrion]

When it comes to bowdrills, every little helps. As said before, it can be a soul destroying process to develop the skill to identify the correct material, make the set, and then begin the lengthy process of learning correct technique and eventually getting an ember.
I still wouldn't pay that for a 'bowdrill kit' though.

That being said, I think making fire by friction was the most rewarding thing I've ever done in bushcraft.

 

[Kepis]

Buying a bow drill kit - why? - Why not?

There are many reasons why, perhaps the person making the purchase lives in the big smoke and has no access to suitable materials, but still wants to learn, perhaps, as mentioned above by others, when first starting out the purchaser has no idea what woods to use, and it's therefore easier to purchase a kit that you will work, or perhaps the purchaser simply doesn't have the time to source and make their own set, or it could even be the purchaser is lazy and cant be bothered to source the materials and make their own set, at the end of the day at least they are having a go and trying making fire by friction, the method of procuring the set doesnt matter one bit.

I make fbf sets and sell them at the events and shows i do, people are fascinated by it and some, if not most of the purchases, are made by those who are just curious about the method, rather than using it as a survival or shrafting technique, at the last show i did, a lady bought a couple of sets from me to give to her husband for his birthday, as she thought it was a unique gift and something he would never expect to receive. He has since gone on and created his first ember, albeit with some coaching from myself and he was over the moon, but, by his own admission, he will never go into the woods and source his own set as he has no interest in doing that, preferring to purchase a fresh set from me as and when his current sets are spent, as far as he is concerned it's a party trick and little else.

 

[Karl82]

I made my own and it works using it this weekend to teach others at my local meet this weekend.


Sent from my Baobab Tree.

 

[Seoras]

Never thought of it as a party trick. That to me implies it is always easy to do, however no matter how often you practice sometimes it just does not happen.

I have bought a set once at the Gathering as I wanted the combination of woods they had. Never felt that was the wrong thing to do.

I have given away countless sets to students at the Moot who have been keen to carry on practicing. I would rather do that than see folk go off into the woods there where resources need to be sustained.

Well if some folk see it as a party trick it is one heck of a trick because to do it takes quite a few skills to master - safe knife use, knowing your knots, knowing your tinders, dealing with the wind, knowing to adjust your position if the spindle threatens to pop, knowing when to coast (drying the hearth around the notch), knowing when to go for it (building the ember) and finally turning the ember into a flame (and maintaining it).

Personally I would say the match was the party trick. After all we have only been using them for a short period of time in comparison how long the Bowdrill has been around.

Good luck to them is what I say.

George

 

[Wook]

If the spirit of Bushcraft only allowed things you could make with your bare hands, from scratch, in the wild, we'd all be running around in deer skin loin cloths and using flint knives.

Bushcraft isn't about total self sufficiency, which is impractical anyway and has been for thousands of years. Nor is it about Bear Grylls eXXXtreem survival where you make up highly improbable scenarios for your own amusement involving things like surviving on Big Diomede with nothing but a pair of Y-Fronts and a tub of Vaseline.

Bushcraft is about finding ways to live in harmony with your environment rather than fighting against it.

 

[Bartooon]

Good points all, I guess - perhaps with the exception of should we make all our own kit

I believe that "Bushcraft" (whatever that actually is!) encompasses a whole range of activities and equipment, some of which can be relatively high-tech, others being more primitive. For me, personally (and I must stress this a personal view and I'm not knocking anyone else's opinion), creating fire by bow drill is a primitive activity and therefore buying a set just doesn't seem to sit well. Similarly, I would not use a bearing block with ball bearings etc in - it just seems to me to defeat the object of trying to produce fire primitively. However, using a limpet shell to reduce fiction seems to be more in keeping.

I know I'm a hypocrite though as I generally use a ferro rod / striker to produce a spark out of convenience and laziness. I have a traditional flint & steel combo (which is more primitive), but I struggle to consistently get a spark with them. In my defence, I can't readily make the steel!

Yeah - you're probably right, I'm a grouchy old git!

 

[Goatboy]

One thing I'd say Bartoon and BCUK kind of embodies it to this day, is that humankind has always traded ideas and resources. That's why (maybe) the Beaker people came over and had such prominent burials, why precious materials from thousands of miles away were found here and tin and people were sold off to the rest of the world.

That thirst for wine, spices and equipment drove us forward. And I know that I could never make leather goods like Hamish, draw like Aaron, make knives like Mark Hill (please don't get offended if I've not mentioned you). But I may want those things and the enhanced capabilities it gives me. (I'm sure there's even something I'm good at that someone may want one day - Hmmm.)

I can see your point though and it is satisfying mastering a skill that's hard to achieve. I remember my first rifle shot, taking down a huge tree, sneaking up on deer, lighting my first fire - hating my mate Belzeebob for lighting a fire with his flint and steel on the second chap of the flint. (I was happy for him really).

anyway I'm wandering, was just wanting to say it's horses for courses and I personally wouldn't feel bad about buying a firedrill, though making would be more special.

 

[Swallow]

If the spirit of Bushcraft only allowed things you could make with your bare hands, from scratch, in the wild, we'd all be running around in deer skin loin cloths and using flint knives.

That doesn't make any sense at all. We didn't jump directly from Bushcraft into the industrialised age. There were a lot of steps along the way.

Bushcraft isn't about total self sufficiency, which is impractical anyway and has been for thousands of years.

So why do so many bushcraft schools include expeditions to meet people who are doing just that?

 

[Bartooon]

I personally wouldn't feel bad about buying a firedrill, though making would be more special.

Thanks Hamish - I think you have summed it up well there. I guess if I wanted to be 100% accurate, I would have to make the bow drill components using flint axes etc instead of a modern knife. As you say, it is so much more special if you have fashioned the all the parts yourself and then, from just a few sticks (and a hell of a lot of effort!) produce the magic of fire. Then you just have to be careful the sweat from your brow doesn't put it out....

Seoras - by saying it was a "party trick", I certainly I'd not mean to imply it was easy! Just the opposite really. What I really meant was that it is so hard physically that no-one would ever choose to light a fire this way these days, unless it was for the "enjoyment" and sense of achievement if, and when, fire is created. We only light fires by friction for fun or to teach others.

 

[Wook]

That doesn't make any sense at all. We didn't jump directly from Bushcraft into the industrialised age. There were a lot of steps along the way.

What doesn't make sense to you? I was taking issue with the suggestion that bushcraft can only involve things made from the immediate environment. Even Otzi the Iceman was carrying many things he did not make himself and would have traded for.

So why do so many bushcraft schools include expeditions to meet people who are doing just that?

I'll go out on a limb here and suggest that again, this is more about observing a people who have achieved "harmony" with their environment through the application of traditional skills rather than people who have achieved anything close to self sufficiency. Even the last uncontacted tribes deep in the Amazon rely on division of labour within a camp, and trade between tribes for survival. If you look at more westernised tribal societies like the Sami or Inuit, even when participating in documentaries about traditional skills, you'll see Ski-Doo Snowmobiles, Gore-Tex Jackets, Remington Rifles, Zippo Lighters and so on.

No one is totally self sufficient. However some people manage to achieve a means of living in their environment that does not a) destroy it and b) destroy them.

This balance is what I believe bushcraft to be about. You may feel differently.

 

[Bartooon]

My post was not meant to suggest in anyway that bushcraft is all about total self-sufficiency. Rather that if we choose to do a particular activity (in this case, creating fire by friction) in a primitive way, then my personal take on it is that it rather defeats the "primitiveness" if you buy the kit and/or use modern accessories such as ball bearings.

I will whisper it quietly, but sometimes I even use a Jet Boil!

 

[calgarychef]

It does seem wrong to guy a bow drill on some level. The braintan hides that I've done mean a lot more to me than the ones I've purchased and now tha I know how to do it i'll never buy again. But brain tanning is a complex skill that involves a lot of backbreaking labour and needs a suitable spot to accomplish it in, so it's different. A bow drill is easy to make if you have a couple hours in a wood lot so it's something I would never buy, others might I suppose. The one I can't get my head around is the bearing blocks with the steel bearings in them, that's way too far "out there" for me. I make my own arrows and knap my heads but I don't make bows, I buy. I also have made black powder but I prefer to buy it ready made...different strokes for different folks.

 

[TheNative]

Personally I believe the only way you can improve a skill is if you work on all the aspects of it. I feel that skipping the making process of the bow drill is skipping part of the skill.

 

[Swallow]

Sometimes you need to master things one aspect at a time.

 

[Big Stu 12]

Sometimes you need to master things one aspect at a time.

I agree... if you have trouble doing one part then that can sotp you from doing the rest, where as if you can for a few time miss the bad bit, and get the good bits good, then theres less to work on and the bad bit comes good because your not worrying about the bad bits... if you see what I mean