I was exprimenting with a different woods for the bow drill today, and something rather interesting/strange happened.
I used holly for the drill, and pine for the hearthboard. I also, through lack of options, used pine for the bearing block as well.
As usual, the drill end was nearly flat , to maximise friction, whilst the other end was a point (to minimise it). On the hearth, the drill refused to become seated, and would not burn the hearth. BUT: the bearng block, with the ponted end, started to smoke. So I reversed the two, and commenced drilling. I produced an ember, with the bearing block and pointed end, and then set it to my tinder and got flames (yay!!!).
Now, call me stupid if I am, but shouldn't the end with less friction, by definition, produce less friction?
Has anyone else found that this has happened to them?
There are only two possible explanations I can think of - 1. The hearth was slighty damp, or more so than the bearing block (which was cut from the same board), which seems unlikely to me.
or 2 - Having a smaller surface area on the point increases the pressure on that point, therefore increasing friction.
Has anyone else got an explanation for this? as I'm rather curious as to why it happened.....
I used holly for the drill, and pine for the hearthboard. I also, through lack of options, used pine for the bearing block as well.
As usual, the drill end was nearly flat , to maximise friction, whilst the other end was a point (to minimise it). On the hearth, the drill refused to become seated, and would not burn the hearth. BUT: the bearng block, with the ponted end, started to smoke. So I reversed the two, and commenced drilling. I produced an ember, with the bearing block and pointed end, and then set it to my tinder and got flames (yay!!!).
Now, call me stupid if I am, but shouldn't the end with less friction, by definition, produce less friction?
Has anyone else found that this has happened to them?
There are only two possible explanations I can think of - 1. The hearth was slighty damp, or more so than the bearing block (which was cut from the same board), which seems unlikely to me.
or 2 - Having a smaller surface area on the point increases the pressure on that point, therefore increasing friction.
Has anyone else got an explanation for this? as I'm rather curious as to why it happened.....