Hand Drill Sets

[Kepis]

Spent a bit of time before the Singapore GP, making some hand drill hearths and sets, all of the boards are Clematis and the drills are Elder, after making them i figured id better have a practice myself, so i grabbed my personal set and got spinning the drill, got a couple of weak embers and some minor blisters, I've not done a great deal of hand drilling of late, as I've been concentrating on the Bow Drill, so i need to re-establish the callouses on my hands as well as the all important muscle memory.

The picture shows the cut off ends from a couple of old drills and half a dozen Clematis boards that I'm sending off to Northern Ireland in the next week or so, so that Abo at Belfast Bushcraft can see how the Clematis compares to his usual hand drill hearths.

oh yes, the hearths were made from this, my Stewart Marsh gives a sense of scale.

 

[lannyman8]

Kepis would it be possible to post some more pictures of the "drill" please, with a ten pence piece or some thing like it for scale...

thank you...

chris.

 

[Kepis]

Kepis would it be possible to post some more pictures of the "drill" please, with a ten pence piece or some thing like it for scale...

thank you...

chris.

 

[Andy B]

Hello!,

Looking forward to getting my hands on these.

Cheers

 

[Kepis]

Hello!,

Looking forward to getting my hands on these.

Cheers

Wont be long

 

[lannyman8]

Kepis, thank you very much mate, thats just what i was after... i now know that my drill is WAY WAY to small its about half the size of a five pence piece across the drill, i think this would reduce the friction due to the size/surface area...

looking at your drills in comparison to my drill, i think i would get a coal with a fatter drill, and using the "V" notch to the edge of the hearth board drill hole not the centre....

meany thanks Kepis

 

[Kepis]

no prob mate

 

[lannyman8]

what else can be used as a hearth board because there is no chance of me getting clematis for a hearth board...

what about white willow, or sycamore????

 

[Kepis]

ive used both Willow & Sycamore with success, ive also used larger pieces of Elder in conjunction with an elder drill

 

[lannyman8]

awesome mate, will try some willow with some larger elder drills.....

thanks again Kepis...

chris.

 

[Andy B]

Hi mate,

Here is quite a thick and long drill in use on a wet day.If you want to ask anything just ask.

[video=youtube;suVktCRvKtU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suVktCRvKtU[/video]

 

[sasquatch]

Finally managed to get a very successful ember with a hand drill in my garden last night using an Elder drill and Clematis hearth. As you mentioned it's all about muscle memory and callouses for me, I was really happy to get an ember after several attempts that failed in the last few weeks. Good stuff, thanks for sharing pics of your set up!

 

[Kepis]

Finally managed to get a very successful ember with a hand drill in my garden last night using an Elder drill and Clematis hearth. As you mentioned it's all about muscle memory and callouses for me, I was really happy to get an ember after several attempts that failed in the last few weeks. Good stuff, thanks for sharing pics of your set up!

Good stuff mate, welcome to the hand drill club

 

[andyBruce]

I've had some success with clematis hearth, and a dog rose drill! I also found that a lime hearth and a sturdy bramble worked, although I've not tried that combination again since. I like the idea of using Elder, mostly as there's alot of it around my woods!
Does anybody know if birch is usable for fire by friction?

Andy

 

[rich59]

"what else can be used as a hearth board because there is no chance of me getting clematis for a hearth board...what about white willow, or sycamore???? "

I find that pretty well any softish wood will do for the hearth. That certainly includes untreated commercial pine/ pallet wood, ivy, , clematis. It probably includes hoarse chestnut, sweet chestnut, poplar, willow and lime.

The harder woods tend to char and polish. - Certainly get this problem with elder and sycamore.

I have an impression that the harder the hearth wood the smaller the drill diameter needs to be, and vice versa. I have yet to try lime but it might need a larger diameter drill than the others.

This also applies to the effect of dampness. Dampness softens wood, so a slightly damp hearth may respond better to a larger diameter drill.

 

[Kepis]

"

The harder woods tend to char and polish. - Certainly get this problem with elder and sycamore.
.

one of my favouite combinations that

 

[rich59]

one of my favouite combinations that

I'll give this a go again. Might have to change my drill diameter. Certainly plenty of sycamore about.