It worked first time!!

[waynerck]

Took my good lady for a stroll today around my secret outdoor location which i have been going to since i was a wee nipper and also a great area to practice bushcraft (if your local pm me and i might tell you where lol) , well i showed her round then took her down to the lake and cracked open a couple of alcohol free becks as you do on a sunny day and i thought what the hell ill try and make my first bow drill, so i found a dry dead branch took out my trusty swiss champ and got to work .
As you can imagine she was looking at me like i had three heads but within 15 min i had a hearth ,drill and bearing block made all from the same bit of wood (dont even know what type of wood it was ) got myself a bit of wood for the bow and used the pull cord from my bag as the bow string.
so there i am woking away with the bow and my lady is laughing her head off at me as the only time she has seen this is in some caveman movie, then smoke i see smoke she shouts "yes i know dear thats the point" i said ,needless to say she never laughed after that and i think she was actually impressed because the small fire i lit was quite welcomed as the sun started to go down.

 

[Greg]

Well done that man! Its always good when a none believer sees you do it.Their expressions are usually worth their weight in gold

 

[Mike Ameling]

Kudos!

They call it the Magic of Fire, but few really realize just how MAGIC it is to create it without modern items. Even more so when you create it from things in your current "environment".

A memorable moment - for yourself and for the lass. May there be many more.

Mike Ameling

 

[8thsinner]

After my winter course I made fire with what was around me, possibly by fluke possibly not, but to do it there and then in front of some one who thinks your mad for trying just has to be such a good feeling.
WELL DONE.

Not to mention the small time frame too.
Even better would be to dig up some cordage from around you too.
WOuld the ever handy spruce roots be up for such a job?

 

[geo_chris]

Making fire is the making of man in my opinion. It is a skill we have sadly lost with the advent of lighters and matches.

I make a point of showing my 8 year old daughter how to start a fire, much to the disgust of her mother, using a fire steel.

Whenever we go out we search out materials that are suitable, we experiment with different materials today we tried with dried moss shreaded into fine particles but found success with downy feathers we found.

On a recent outing to mark the birthday of my mother my two daughters had a competition who could make a fire, my 15 year old daugther who is in rangers failed to start a fire despite me giving her the fire steel -- she collected plenty of twigs and dried grass, she ended up insisted on a lighter to get the fire going. My 8 year old took a different approach she ignored her older sister and started looking at the plants in the area, she spotted old dried thistles, despite being pricked she persevered and broke up the thistles, gathering quite a handful within a couple of stikes on the firesteel she had a fire going. Needless to say my 8 year old won the competition.

My regret is that I didn't learn the skills of bushcraft earlier to pass them to my older daughter at an age where she was susectible. I supose there is time!

It has got to the point that whenever I go to start a fire my 8 year old daughter is there eager to show her skills and create the fire -- which is now becoming her party piece.

 

[waynerck]

I have a three year old son and he loves the woods, I will be educating him in the art of bushcraft I'm sure he will thank me for it some day

 

[nobby]

I have a three year old son and he loves the woods, I will be educating him in the art of bushcraft I'm sure he will thank me for it some day

Be careful what you teach him.
I discovered fire when I was about eleven. I used to throw lighted matches into pigbins on street corners and leave the lids half on to get a good draught.
One day, one of them didn't catch and I went back and lifted the lid. The resulting gust of flame took every hair off the front of my head.
When I got home, very red faced, my mum realised that I was the phantom pigbin arsonist who'd made the front of the local paper. I got a right paling and another when my dad got home. (No child protection in those far off, but happy(?) days.)

I blame the Scouts for encouraging me to get a blaze going with only one match!
I do feel better now that I have confessed so publicly.

 

[snerper]

Took my good lady for a stroll today around my secret outdoor location which i have been going to since i was a wee nipper and also a great area to practice bushcraft (if your local pm me and i might tell you where lol) , well i showed her round then took her down to the lake and cracked open a couple of alcohol free becks as you do on a sunny day and i thought what the hell ill try and make my first bow drill, so i found a dry dead branch took out my trusty swiss champ and got to work .
As you can imagine she was looking at me like i had three heads but within 15 min i had a hearth ,drill and bearing block made all from the same bit of wood (dont even know what type of wood it was ) got myself a bit of wood for the bow and used the pull cord from my bag as the bow string.
so there i am woking away with the bow and my lady is laughing her head off at me as the only time she has seen this is in some caveman movie, then smoke i see smoke she shouts "yes i know dear thats the point" i said ,needless to say she never laughed after that and i think she was actually impressed because the small fire i lit was quite welcomed as the sun started to go down.

Watch she doesn't start hanging curtains from the trees and scattering a few cushions around, oh, or is that just sexist?