Bow Drill Tips?

[Aloha]

Freaking AWESOME.  You have got me wanting to try this very soon.  Congrats again. 

[zoidberg]

"Yes! Smurfing finally."



Great job WiseDuck.

+1      Excellent post mate.      

[Spork, Lord of Lime Jello!]

Egyptian wrap

[JP]

Sweet setup. Can these tools be used for another purpose? What aisle at Cabela's would have then been down 60,000 years ago?

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[Spork, Lord of Lime Jello!]

...Can these tools be used for another purpose?...

You can make a spindle with a bit and use it for boring holes

[zoidberg]

I risked a US$1000 fine for this pic so you'd better like it.

[Gareth]

Well done mate.   I bet that feels satisfying.

I've got to admit I've been a bit lazy about trying this recently.

[Syph007]

Being that arms are not as strong as legs... Im trying to envision some way of doing a spindle friction fire but having ones legs do the hard work.  I googled and didnt find anything, I know it sounds silly, but it 'could' be possible.

[zoidberg]

Well done mate.   I bet that feels satisfying.

I've got to admit I've been a bit lazy about trying this recently.

It has a good quality to it.
A bit like watching a magic trick.
I'm not quite sure what happened but it worked.
So yeah some satisfaction, surprise, further interest in the skill set.
You should try again, it's your thread that got me working at it, can't blame kirky for this one.

[zoidberg]

Being that arms are not as strong as legs... Im trying to envision some way of doing a spindle friction fire but having ones legs do the hard work.  I googled and didnt find anything, I know it sounds silly, but it 'could' be possible.

Only being a few fires in I hesitate to answer this...
It has to be possible, someone is bound to have done it already, just need to find the info.
However for me so far it's been about the technique, might not apply to all situations sure, but light, fast, smooth etc is working good.

[Spork, Lord of Lime Jello!]

One big tip I received was to remember to breathe...it may sound silly but I didn't realize that I had been holding my breath when drilling. Remembering to do so was a big help and I didn't tire as quickly.

[JP]

Being that arms are not as strong as legs... Im trying to envision some way of doing a spindle friction fire but having ones legs do the hard work.  I googled and didnt find anything, I know it sounds silly, but it 'could' be possible.

Google a manpowered lathe. Should give you some tips. Or even those treadle sowing machines.

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[Gareth]

One big tip I received was to remember to breathe...it may sound silly but I didn't realize that I had been holding my breath when drilling. Remembering to do so was a big help and I didn't tire as quickly.

That sounds like a very good point.

[TazzieRob]

Being that arms are not as strong as legs... Im trying to envision some way of doing a spindle friction fire but having ones legs do the hard work.  I googled and didnt find anything, I know it sounds silly, but it 'could' be possible.

Google a manpowered lathe. Should give you some tips. Or even those treadle sowing machines.

The man powered lathe was what I thought too

[Aloha]

Ok so,

I had a go at bow drill fire mostly looking to work on my technique.  I had a bow that I made last time in the mountains ( don't know the wood ).  I also used a piece of hard wood also from the mountains as my bearing block.  I cheated and used store bought pine I had on hand for my drill and hearth board. 

As you can see I had several attempts which alway seem to produce dust and smoke yet no ember  .  It can be very frustrating to not know why this was happening.

I decided to shorten my drill.  I carved down the one I was using from about 8/9 inches to about 6 inches.  This allowed me to put more pressure downward as I bowed. 

The pine hearth is soft and lots of smoke is always produced.  I worked on it for about an hour then it hit me.

I get the drill spinning then put pressure while maintain short fast strokes.  Within less than a few seconds an ember formed.  I didn't have a nest to blow into flames as I was just working on my form.

Pretty fircken stocked non the less.  I'll now source some soft wood for the drill and hearth then take the step further. 

 

[Gareth]

Bloody well done mate, that's a cracking looking embar.