Today is a day I'll remember for as long as I live, for today was the day I made fire! 
No chemicals or petrol, no flint, just me and some wood (and a bit of string).
I've been trying on and off to make fire with a bow drill since I was in the Cub Scouts when I was about 7 years old. Today is my birthday, and I turned 41, (Birthday in profile is a day out - typo) and this eveing I decided to give it another go. This time I didn't rely on wood I'd only just picked up from the woods. I have been drying some hazel rods and some dead lime wood for my hearth. Working night shifts, I woke early this afternoon and finished the box wood "cobble" that I've made to use as a bearing block, so this evening I put them all together. At the very first attempt, after burning in the drill, I managed to split the end off the hearth whilst trying to cut the notch. I quickly made a second divot in the hearth and burned in the drill, cut the notch and started bowing. Soon I could see the char spewing gently from the notch so I inceased my bow speed and increased the pressure on the bearing until I couldn't see what I was doing for smoke. I stopped, and there it was, my first ever coal ! I dropped it into a tinder bundle I had ready "just in case... ha ha" and blew.
I think everyone within a mile must have heard me when that flame licked out. I cheered, danced around, and laughed like a man gone mad. What a feeling !
I owe many thanks to the guys here on the forum for this success. I have come to realise that the materials I have been trying with all these years were not the right ones. (Wood too damp, not keeping the heath off the cold floor, wrong wood etc etc) It was only after reading posts here, and following the advice given that I have managed to fulfill what has been an ambition for many many years, and I thank all who have helped me with it. Nothing compares to doing it right for the first time. The fire piston is a doddle, and I didn't make my own so the sense of achievement is so much less and the ferro rod is no more clever than striking a match in my eyes, but as I sit here and enjoy a good Havana cigar lit with my first ever bow drill fire I'm a happy happy man.
Sorry to have rabbitted on, but I just HAD to tell someone who understood....
No chemicals or petrol, no flint, just me and some wood (and a bit of string).I've been trying on and off to make fire with a bow drill since I was in the Cub Scouts when I was about 7 years old. Today is my birthday, and I turned 41, (Birthday in profile is a day out - typo) and this eveing I decided to give it another go. This time I didn't rely on wood I'd only just picked up from the woods. I have been drying some hazel rods and some dead lime wood for my hearth. Working night shifts, I woke early this afternoon and finished the box wood "cobble" that I've made to use as a bearing block, so this evening I put them all together. At the very first attempt, after burning in the drill, I managed to split the end off the hearth whilst trying to cut the notch. I quickly made a second divot in the hearth and burned in the drill, cut the notch and started bowing. Soon I could see the char spewing gently from the notch so I inceased my bow speed and increased the pressure on the bearing until I couldn't see what I was doing for smoke. I stopped, and there it was, my first ever coal ! I dropped it into a tinder bundle I had ready "just in case... ha ha" and blew.
I think everyone within a mile must have heard me when that flame licked out. I cheered, danced around, and laughed like a man gone mad. What a feeling !
I owe many thanks to the guys here on the forum for this success. I have come to realise that the materials I have been trying with all these years were not the right ones. (Wood too damp, not keeping the heath off the cold floor, wrong wood etc etc) It was only after reading posts here, and following the advice given that I have managed to fulfill what has been an ambition for many many years, and I thank all who have helped me with it. Nothing compares to doing it right for the first time. The fire piston is a doddle, and I didn't make my own so the sense of achievement is so much less and the ferro rod is no more clever than striking a match in my eyes, but as I sit here and enjoy a good Havana cigar lit with my first ever bow drill fire I'm a happy happy man.
Sorry to have rabbitted on, but I just HAD to tell someone who understood....
:notworthy 
