how much for a bow drill set?

[kb31]

hi if you were going buy a bow drill set how much would you be willing to pay?
i put one on ebay and it went for £11.70-if you looked yeah it was me
it dos'it take me long to make one it's finding the wood that will work
so how much is a fair price?

 

[jon r]

Depends on how much you get with the kit. Do you get tinder, information, more than one drill and hearth board? Do you have a link?

i used to sell sets like this on ebay, i could get £30 sometimes. My kits were top quality and tested before sold to see if they could make embers with ease. I also included instructions etc

 

[Matt Weir]

I would probably buy one from you as I want to master the bow drill but have never seen a working set in the flesh so think it would be a good idea to buy a premade kit initially to know what the craic is. Dunno about £11.70 though Karl. Was that inc P&P ?

 

[andyn]

have you tried selling "bottled fresh woodland air"? You can buy off me if you like - £5?

Matt-W you have PM.

 

[Matt Weir]

have you tried selling "bottled fresh woodland air"? You can buy off me if you like - £5?

Matt-W you have PM.

Thanks Andy

 

[RAPPLEBY2000]

the whole kit is free!!!!!

the point of bushcraft is that this stuff is available to everyone!

part of learning the bowdrill is finding and making the stuff, it took me a good few attemps before i'd made a decent set, but now i can tell clients about those problems and why i choose diferently now..

My boss used to sell kits for £20 which i thought was a bit steep! considering all the componants are easily obtainable!

trial and error are a fantastic learning tool!

 

[Ogri the trog]

...... it would be a good idea to buy a premade kit initially to know what the craic is.

Not sure I'd agree there Matt,
By all means get some help in making your first one, then a bit of practice. Its only by knowing how to make one when the time comes that you can say that you have used the knowledge of firemaking. Buying a set is a bit like buying a box of matches to me.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[Tadpole]

Not sure I'd agree there Matt,
By all means get some help in making your first one, then a bit of practice. Its only by knowing how to make one when the time comes that you can say that you have used the knowledge of firemaking. Buying a set is a bit like buying a box of matches to me.

ATB

Ogri the trog

I can see that having a well made (bought one) would help and not hinder a person new to firecraft.
It takes one of the “why won’t it work!!!!” variables out of the equation.
If you know that the bow, hearth, and drill works, yet you can not make an ember, you know it is your technique that is at fault, but if your drill is not right, you will never know what is wrong, you will keep adjusting your style, and in the end you will learn nothing quickly.

Buying a set, a proved working set, you keep going, knowing that if it is not working it is down to the way you are doing. When you are able to make an ember time and again Then you can move on to making your own set… if the set doesn’t work you know it is something wrong with the set, and not the way you are doing it.

I’m hoping, that at the summer moot, someone with the patients of a saint will show me how to do both, as of yet all I’ve managed to do is wear holes in my hands and a variety of woods without even smoke.

 

[bloodline]

sad world, lets commmercialise bushcraft and put a price on everything the man that taught me the art of the bow drill (and Ogri was there) did it for nothing and since then I have passed that skill on to a dozen others shame my first post on the new revamped site is a bit of a negative but ?????

 

[KevB]

It took me over a year of making mutiple bow drill kits and experimenting before I was successfull. I had no-one to show me how but a whole load of info from forums like this to wade through when things were'nt working. The thought process involved in thinking through which aspects of your technique or construction may be at fault is invaluble. The peripheral knowledge gleaned from such an excercise (tree recognition, grain patterns, knife use etc) all helps with making your next bushcraft challange a liitle easier. I feel that the satisfaction of achieving that first ember is enhanced by knowing that you've crafted the drill yourself.

Of course at the end of the day if an individual chooses to 'fastrack' a task then its their choice. They will still achieve that glow of satisfaction from their first ember and nothing can stop that however they got there!

 

[Stew]

Of course at the end of the day if an individual chooses to 'fastrack' a task then its their choice. They will still achieve that glow of satisfaction from their first ember and nothing can stop that however they got there!

Yeah but it's like using cheat codes to finish a computer game. It's not as satisfying as it could be.

 

[leon-1]

have you tried selling "bottled fresh woodland air"? You can buy off me if you like - £5?

Not a good idea, as soon as you start trying to sell the stuff the government will want its cut and then where will you be.

 

[dave k]

Thanks Andy

I actually bought some bottles 'paris' air from around the eiffle tower when I visited as a kid - little sardine tins.
Label on the side said:

"contains 92% air, 8% pollution"

 

[woodwalker]

There are definetly two sides to this argument:

1 - Buy the kit as it will cut out one potentially problematic factor in the process and also once you have mastered the technique side of things, you will have a template to then copy if you should need it.

2 - Don't buy the kit and learn both the technique and the construction at once. This is my side of the fence because I think that actually spinning the drill under your hands is only half the task, the knowledge to construct the set is of equal importance. I still have a big stack of wasted hearth boards from practising (kept for sentimental reasons... ) but in making each notch a lesson was learnt and gave me something to improve upon. By all means buy the kit, but bear in mind that it is only half the story.

But as has been rightly said, you will still undoubtedly feel triuphant after your first ember, and will singing about it for days afterwards.

woodwalker

 

[kb31]

i know it's best to make one yourself
but i also know how hard it can be and how long it takes
am not trying to sell them on here or rip anyone off
am skint so if i can use bushcraft skills to make a few bob
then why not?