Hi all,
I just wanted to share with you all something I did to my pump drill that has made it alot easier to use. I bought a Fire Pump Drill on the net & it had a neat little cutout on the bottom with a piece of mullein held in place by some sinew.
well that lasted for almost one coal & when I went to replace it I promply broke it where it ties in, it just snapped off. I got to thinking that this wasn't the most reliable way of using this thing around the house or in the woods.
What I did & I know some of you "Primitive Purist" types will shudder at the thought, was put a 1/2 inch keyless chuck like the kind on a drill, on the end as the dowel. It was 1/2 inch thick roughly. Now not only can I throw any piece of wood in the end regardless of diameter, it is extremely quick & I also can use it like a drill with a regular bit.
It works EXTREMELY well. This was my first drill fire & I was experimenting so I cut a 2 inch piece of the same 1/2 inch diameter dowel out & threw it in the end of the chuck tightened it up & went to work on the piece of cedar plank I had. within seconds it was smoking profusely & I got a big fat pile of smoking dust in which was a coal about 1/4 of an inch wide. When I started coughing from the smoke I stopped. I am a smoke pansy
It was so big it fell off the leaf I had it on & I just scooted it back on in one huge chunk. All in about 25 seconds the coal was so big when I blew on it it threw off a shower of embers. It's my best new toy!
Cheers!
I just wanted to share with you all something I did to my pump drill that has made it alot easier to use. I bought a Fire Pump Drill on the net & it had a neat little cutout on the bottom with a piece of mullein held in place by some sinew.
well that lasted for almost one coal & when I went to replace it I promply broke it where it ties in, it just snapped off. I got to thinking that this wasn't the most reliable way of using this thing around the house or in the woods.
What I did & I know some of you "Primitive Purist" types will shudder at the thought, was put a 1/2 inch keyless chuck like the kind on a drill, on the end as the dowel. It was 1/2 inch thick roughly. Now not only can I throw any piece of wood in the end regardless of diameter, it is extremely quick & I also can use it like a drill with a regular bit.
It works EXTREMELY well. This was my first drill fire & I was experimenting so I cut a 2 inch piece of the same 1/2 inch diameter dowel out & threw it in the end of the chuck tightened it up & went to work on the piece of cedar plank I had. within seconds it was smoking profusely & I got a big fat pile of smoking dust in which was a coal about 1/4 of an inch wide. When I started coughing from the smoke I stopped. I am a smoke pansy
It was so big it fell off the leaf I had it on & I just scooted it back on in one huge chunk. All in about 25 seconds the coal was so big when I blew on it it threw off a shower of embers. It's my best new toy!
Cheers!