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Buying a bow drill kit - why?

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I struggled for ages....and ages and very nearly just gave up. If it wasn't for someone elses home made kit giving me that first ember, morale boost and determination I would have give up, walked away and failed the course. I think its ok to buy one to help you understand the nuts and bolts of it. When you do succeed with your own, what a feeling...you just cant buy that.
 
Gray said:
I struggled for ages....and ages and very nearly just gave up. If it wasn't for someone elses home made kit giving me that first ember, morale boost and determination I would have give up, walked away and failed the course. I think its ok to buy one to help you understand the nuts and bolts of it. When you do succeed with your own, what a feeling...you just cant buy that.
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+1

I would also add that when you help a complete beginner with no interest/experience in traditional living skills to get an ember, the look on their face is also beyond price.
 
If you buy a bow kit, good for you! Carry it, use it get good with it. If you are in the need for one in the "wild" and it is not with you, well you will ( I hope ) know what is required and have an easier time to make it. If after you buy one you would like to build one for practice good for you even better.
I don't weave my own pants, shirt, knife etc... but I still manage to get out, enjoy don't get so wrapped up that you loose sight of the goal (being in nature)
 
I can see both sides to this debate, but I think we oversimplify things sometimes when we say we can use a bowdrill. If you've got a fire by friction, I don't believe it follows that henceforth you will always be able to achieve it. Your first ember imho, is just the start. All of us are on a spectrum of ability with respect to this and any other skill. So if you've got half a dozen embers under your belt, it still might sometimes be a struggle to use the technique under more demanding circumstances. The more experience you have, the more viable the technique becomes, and the less energy you expend in getting what you want, I think. The key point is that when you start out, particularly if you are working without guidance, there are many variables that could prevent you getting an ember. Buying a set will allow you to eliminate some of the variables and proceed with more confidence. I reckon that could build technique. Equally, Tom Brown tells how he was given a really crummy set with inapproprate woods, so that once he was allowed better materials, he got an ember very quickly. Horses for courses overall, and even though I'm a bit of a purist on this topic, I wouldn't criticise someone for buying the confidence that a known working set could give.
 
Kepis said:
Buying a bow drill kit - why? - Why not?

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,
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Think that about says it for me. For the cost of a couple of those sets in the OP, you could have gone on a course and learnt from a master. Also you would more than likely have made your own set and come home with it.
 
It's a novel party trick but if you're prepared enough to carry a kit with you then you're prepared enough to carry a lighter/firesteel/matches etc.

I've had an ember a couple of times, first with Kepis (which I brought to flame) and with Jack (which I didn't). I understand the technique but not sure how confident I'd be in making a set "for real"
 
spandit said:
I've had an ember a couple of times, first with Kepis (which I brought to flame) and with Jack (which I didn't). I understand the technique but not sure how confident I'd be in making a set "for real"
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The next meet i get to then, we can a make a set from scratch, doesn't take long and it will build that confidence level up with the technique, then you can have a go at the hand drill:) (i'll bring a hand drill set or two with me)
 
spandit said:
It's a novel party trick but if you're prepared enough to carry a kit with you then you're prepared enough to carry a lighter/firesteel/matches etc.

I've had an ember a couple of times, first with Kepis (which I brought to flame) and with Jack (which I didn't). I understand the technique but not sure how confident I'd be in making a set "for real"
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Haven't you done that bit? Or did you use Lego?
 
spandit said:
The drill was hazel, I think and the hearth was pallet wood (soft wood). It was a while ago and the bow was too curved to be stable. Haven't really tried at home since
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Ray's book says the drill and hearth would ideally be from the same wood and the same branch.

We've had good results from that, but sometimes it is tricky because the hearth obviously has to be wider than the drill. That said, if you use the right ends in each case and have a bit long enough it can be done.

We have been uber lucky thus far in the woods we have used. The first mystery piece turning out to be Willow and a lot of others hazel. We've also had some ivy but not got down to fashioning a hearth board from it.

In honesty though there has been a gap between collection and use, so I don't think we can say we did it wild. We didn't store them in an oven at a low setting between collection and use though.
 
I've had really good results from green ash as my drill and ivy hearth. But goat willow hearth has worked with green ash, hazel and poplar. The set we used at the last meet was a fresh set Spandit. Pete and I foraged it that day.
 
Spandit, stick with it. I don't profess great expertise, but I can almost always get a fire if a set is workable. I suspect like everyone else I carry a lighter or matches etc around with me, but on about five occasions I have gone into my local woods with my EDC (Swiss Army Knife) only, and have put together a set from natural materials (except I used my bootlace) and got an ember then blown briefly to fire just for the hell of it. Not boasting, just making the point that it need not be a technique where you carry all the gear - just gain the experience and carry the knowledge. It is remarkably liberating to know you've achieved it.
 
.
Im constantly picking wood up, and have a little wood pile in the back garden, in a metal dustbin, and will occasionally carve one from there.
It really is satisfying.

The trick is having a good socket for your hand. Bone, a nice colorful rounded pebble and put your own hole in it, a shell, a shotglass, and just carry that around with you.
Its very easy with a decent socket to press down with.

Ive been using one of the yew jobbies with the steel bearings in it, for the last few weeks, which is very easy to get an ember with. If youre having difficulties, nothing wrong with buying a socket, and using it. Just collect the heartboard and drill, and bow from your local wood.

[And if youve got an audience, they dont need to see the socket youre using.....] Just accept their plaudits as you whip up an ember in seconds. :naughty:




This is the one Im using at the moment. An ash drill, pine hearthboard, [1/16th of a trunk, split down with the sfa] scots pine bow, paracord shoelace.
 
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Dave said:
.


The trick is having a good socket for your hand.
Its very easy with a decent socket to press down with.

[And if youve got an audience, they dont need to see the socket youre using.....] Just accept their plaudits as you whip up an ember in seconds. :naughty:





QUOTE]

I agree; the biggest single effect on the effort expended is the bearing block. I use a limpet shell set into a wooden hand hold, but I also get beginners to use a wooden bearing (with green leaves) too so they can feel the difference.

So far they still usually applaud :)
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What you guys have found by experience is borne out by the science too. That is, we expect to start our fire by friction at the bottom end of the drill. But the drill doesn'r know where the hearth is or where the bearing is. Since the drill doesn't know which end is which, the energy the user puts into the system seeking an ember could be largely wasted trying to light a fire at both ends, but becoming exhausted before you get there.
Therefore, the lesson is to minimize friction at the bearing block. Whether that's achieved by using crushed leaves and a greenwood bearing, "nose grease", vaseline or something like a pebble or seashell, (or even a modern ball race bearing), making sure your effort is focussed at the hearth/drill is definetely a key principle.
 
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