how about non-wood materials for friction fire?

[storm]

i'd like to hear about folk's experience (particularly the successes--coals attained) using bone, ivory, antler, rock, fungus, shell, and other non-wood materials as spindles or hearthboards with hand drill, bow drill, fire saw, fire thong (anyone use leather for the strap?) and fire plow.

i've got a couple friends who, along with myself, have gotten embers using wooden spindles on bone hearthboards (bow drill). i've also gotten a bow drill ember on a rock hearthboard. and it's not difficult to use a wooden spindle and get embers with bow drill and hand drill on polypore fungi hearthboards. anyone else had similar experiences?

 

[tomtom]

i've use a limpit shell as a the part of the baring block where the spindle meets it.. worked quite well!

thats about all i have to offer though.. wood all the way otherwise!

 

[rich59]

As part of a bow drill set :- the string is not wood. Also I usually use a metal ice cream scoop for the bearing block. Once used a piece of thick aluminium foil (pie tin) held with a glove to make the bearing block. Then there is the collecting leaf under the notch.

With hand drilling - mullein is not really a wood. Also I managed once with difficulty to get a coal using a bullrush stem.

A friend once described making fire rubbing a stick inside a sleeve of softer material. Not seen him do it though.

Heard of a demonstration of fire making by an Australian native - apparently rubbed a stick on the ground until got smoke and then a glowing tip to the stick.

I would be interested if others can confirm these hearsay stories.

 

[tomtom]

A friend once described making fire rubbing a stick inside a sleeve of softer material. Not seen him do it though.

any more info on this mate.. i really cant picture it or what the other material would be!?

 

[Galemys]

i'd like to hear about folk's experience (particularly the successes--coals attained) using bone, ivory, antler, rock, fungus, shell, and other non-wood materials as spindles or hearthboards with hand drill, bow drill, fire saw, fire thong (anyone use leather for the strap?) and fire plow.

Storm,

can't help you with your question 'cause up until now i'm totally crap at firecraft (lot's of smoke, no ember). I've got some Fomes fomentarius in my shed and I am gonna try some in my next attempt though.

Any chance of a tutorial on the fire thong?
I know this method is used in papua new guinea (a friend of mine who's been there showed me a shot of a papua using it on her holiday home video) but can't seem to find much information about it.
My friend thought they used a split hardwood log in combination with a rattan thong. Are there any temperate woods/shrubs that can replace those tropic items?

PS Thanx for your fantastic input over the last months!

Greetings,

Tom

 

[match]

I've used a few different (non-wood) materials for friction fire:

I've tried using fomes fomentarius (fresh and dried) for a hearth for hand drilling, with a mullein shaft - however the fungus didn't offer enough resistance and just powdered quickly, creating a smooth hole.

I've used a piece of quite soft sandstone for a hearth with a hazel spindle - knocked a notch into it and then drilled carefull to make the indentation - eventually got a coal, but it took quite a while to drill it, as I think the sand particles it created interfered with coal creation.

I'd also be interested in materials used (including wood) for a fire thong - tried this once with a leather strap and some softwood (alder I think) but never produced a dark coal dust - only finer sawdust as it cut.

 

[leon-1]

This thread has got me wondering, could you fit a quartz tip to a drill and then drill into a quartz hearth generating a lot of sparks, it would be a swine to try and get a tinder to go from if it worked, but is it possible.

I suppose the same principle could be applied to an iron tip on the drill on a peice of flint for the hearth.

 

[storm]

it's been my experience (from using my quartz crystal-tipped hand drills) that quartz crystals shatter and chip easily, especially when used on rock. i'm sure there's no way they'd hold up using them on quartz or any hard rock or mineral.

as soon as i locate some nice desert wood (or rattan/bamboo), i'm going to take some photos and post a fire thong article.

 

[Stuart]

as soon as i locate some nice desert wood (or rattan/bamboo), i'm going to take some photos and post a fire thong article

I would be very intrested to see that, the fire thong seems to be the least covered of all the fire by friction methods.

 

[rich59]

A friend once described making fire rubbing a stick inside a sleeve of softer material. Not seen him do it though.

any more info on this mate.. i really cant picture it or what the other material would be!?

I won't be seeing him for a while. But I have before explored the idea without success. I like to explore new innovative ways of making fire.

The idea is that rubbing up and down a stick within another insulating outer material will produce heat by friction that will build up inside rather than radiate away. You can control the amount of friction by squeezing the setup with one hand while moving the stick up and down with the other. Now, the idea does work. I tried this with some hollow stemmed plant and another stick some time back. Got quite hot. What I could not do was get it to smoke or ignite an ember. Problems (apart from lack of stength) include the fragility of the outer sleeve so that it can start to disintegrate before you have finished. When I see my mate again I will certainly quiz him more.

Anyone else want to explore this concept and report smoke or ember if success?

 

[Jeff Wagner]

The idea is that rubbing up and down a stick within another insulating outer material will produce heat by friction that will build up inside rather than radiate away.

Perhaps lack of oxygen within the tube creates a problem for ignition?

You can control the amount of friction by squeezing the setup with one hand while moving the stick up and down with the other.

Indeed! Excessive practice may lead to blindness....

 

[rich59]

Indeed! Excessive practice may lead to blindness....

I did not like to mention that. Friction fires do have some interesting parallels. This could easily apply to bow drilling as well you know. Slow, steady rhythmic movement backwards and forwards, moving ever quicker up to a final vigorous effort, , a warm glow of satisfaction over success while the breathing and pulse begin to return to normal. Comes with the added advantage that the cigarette can be lit as well.

 

[rich59]

I've tried using fomes fomentarius (fresh and dried) for a hearth for hand drilling, with a mullein shaft - however the fungus didn't offer enough resistance and just powdered quickly, creating a smooth hole.

Rapidly trying to get this thread back on track....

I tried the same thing a while back with the razor strop fungus (piptoporus betulinus) with the same neat hole you got, and that is supposed to be quite a tough material. I suspect it could be done with a larger diameter drill so that there would be less pressure.