Fire Bow
Everyone has seen a cartoon where the fellow with the bow rubs back and forth creating a flame. This isn't exactly how it works but since you are probably more familiar with this ancient method we will begin here.
For the Fire Drill method you will need the following items.
-Enough rocks to form a ring and 1 rock of a courser texture for sanding your drill stick
-An 8 inch stick of soft dry wood as wide as your thumb for the drill. Pushing a fingernail into the wood should leave a mark if the wood is soft enough
-An 8x4 inch wide by one inch deep piece of soft dry wood wood for your hearthboard
-A slightly curved piece of wood for bow
-A thicker piece to hold the top of the drill
-Length of cord, shoelace or twisted bark for bow string
-Sharpened rock for cutting notch in base board.
-A large leaf
1.Begin collecting wood. Branches off a dead tree work better than branches off the ground since ground-laying wood will most likely be wetter and harder to light. Harder wood burns hotter. Softer wood is easier to light. Collecting all your wood for the night is important but you should do it in two shifts so you do not tire yourself out too much at once. Also this will help keep you dryer by not sweating as much.
2.Construct your fire. Begin by making a “teepee” shape with small twigs and scraping out a shallow channel underneath that you will use later for lighting and airflow. Begin adding increasingly thicker and longer sticks as you build out. As the fire burns it will become unstable, so leaning your sticks into this “teepee” shape will cause the fire to break down into itself and stay put in the fire ring.
3.Prepare your tinder bundle. This item is extremely dependent upon your surroundings and bellongings. Basically you are looking for something that is going to burst into flames fairly quickly and sustain itself long enough to transfer to your teepee frame. The bark stripped off of hanging dead vines is good and usually enough but keep your eyes open for almost any plant based fibrous material. These will typically burn as long as dry. Sock lint is excellent but try not to breath in to much of the smoke as cotton releases harmful toxins when burned. In the bush you can find many different tinder bundle elements nearby, just look around and use your imagination.
4.Slightly sharpen the ends of your drill stick to allow for a more balanced spin. Do not over sharpen! Remember that if this is your first time starting a fire this way you will probably miss a few times. Impalement is not the intention here so keep it dull.
5.Scrape a small circle shape into the center of your thicker stick This will be how you push down on the top drill to keep pressure
6.Carve your hearth board. This step will probably take the longest. Using a sharp rock, scrape out a key hole shape where you will be inserting the drill head. This will allow for the carbon flakes to collect and form, eventually leading to your ember
7.Tie your bow string making sure it is tight enough to spin your drill stick into it twice. Keep it on the outside of the bow shape. Keep in mind that with the built up pressure of the string the stick will fly out forcefully if let go of at this point, so once you get to this stage you should probably commit to starting your fire and keep steady pressure with your top hand.
8.Put your nondominant foot onto the hearth board as near to the keyhole shape as possible with the large leaf on the ground ready to catch the ember Make sure its feels solid. The bowing will be more difficult if not. Scrape the back of it with a rock if you need to make it flush with the ground.
9.Insert your drill head into the hole and hold it in place with the indented thicker stick
10.Start slowly bowing. At this stage you are getting used to the process and testing your materials so don't ramp up to full speed yet
11.Begin building up pressure on your top hand and bowing with long strokes to building up carbon flakes.
12.Go faster. Once you have a nice pile of carbon (black flakes) speed up your bowing and shorten your strokes. At this point you will hear a squeaking noise and after a few moments depending upon bowing speed and downward pressure, you should begin to see smoke.
13.Don't stop. Keep on going until the stream of smoke is continuous without you bowing.
14.Put down the bow and look at the keyhole shape. You should see a glowing ember.
15.Tip the ember onto the leaf and transfer it to the tinder bundle. Grabbing the bundle with both hands begin gently blowing into it. Blow harder as it begins to catch. Typically when you do this you want the wind at your back so you can see into the bundle and you dont choke and drop the ember.
16. After a few moments the fire should appear. At this stage transfer it to the twigs and timber in teepee via the channel underneath, continue fanning and you have created fire.
For the Fire Drill method you will need the following items.
-Enough rocks to form a ring and 1 rock of a courser texture for sanding your drill stick
-An 8 inch stick of soft dry wood as wide as your thumb for the drill. Pushing a fingernail into the wood should leave a mark if the wood is soft enough
-An 8x4 inch wide by one inch deep piece of soft dry wood wood for your hearthboard
-A slightly curved piece of wood for bow
-A thicker piece to hold the top of the drill
-Length of cord, shoelace or twisted bark for bow string
-Sharpened rock for cutting notch in base board.
-A large leaf
1.Begin collecting wood. Branches off a dead tree work better than branches off the ground since ground-laying wood will most likely be wetter and harder to light. Harder wood burns hotter. Softer wood is easier to light. Collecting all your wood for the night is important but you should do it in two shifts so you do not tire yourself out too much at once. Also this will help keep you dryer by not sweating as much.
2.Construct your fire. Begin by making a “teepee” shape with small twigs and scraping out a shallow channel underneath that you will use later for lighting and airflow. Begin adding increasingly thicker and longer sticks as you build out. As the fire burns it will become unstable, so leaning your sticks into this “teepee” shape will cause the fire to break down into itself and stay put in the fire ring.
3.Prepare your tinder bundle. This item is extremely dependent upon your surroundings and bellongings. Basically you are looking for something that is going to burst into flames fairly quickly and sustain itself long enough to transfer to your teepee frame. The bark stripped off of hanging dead vines is good and usually enough but keep your eyes open for almost any plant based fibrous material. These will typically burn as long as dry. Sock lint is excellent but try not to breath in to much of the smoke as cotton releases harmful toxins when burned. In the bush you can find many different tinder bundle elements nearby, just look around and use your imagination.
4.Slightly sharpen the ends of your drill stick to allow for a more balanced spin. Do not over sharpen! Remember that if this is your first time starting a fire this way you will probably miss a few times. Impalement is not the intention here so keep it dull.
5.Scrape a small circle shape into the center of your thicker stick This will be how you push down on the top drill to keep pressure
6.Carve your hearth board. This step will probably take the longest. Using a sharp rock, scrape out a key hole shape where you will be inserting the drill head. This will allow for the carbon flakes to collect and form, eventually leading to your ember
7.Tie your bow string making sure it is tight enough to spin your drill stick into it twice. Keep it on the outside of the bow shape. Keep in mind that with the built up pressure of the string the stick will fly out forcefully if let go of at this point, so once you get to this stage you should probably commit to starting your fire and keep steady pressure with your top hand.
8.Put your nondominant foot onto the hearth board as near to the keyhole shape as possible with the large leaf on the ground ready to catch the ember Make sure its feels solid. The bowing will be more difficult if not. Scrape the back of it with a rock if you need to make it flush with the ground.
9.Insert your drill head into the hole and hold it in place with the indented thicker stick
10.Start slowly bowing. At this stage you are getting used to the process and testing your materials so don't ramp up to full speed yet
11.Begin building up pressure on your top hand and bowing with long strokes to building up carbon flakes.
12.Go faster. Once you have a nice pile of carbon (black flakes) speed up your bowing and shorten your strokes. At this point you will hear a squeaking noise and after a few moments depending upon bowing speed and downward pressure, you should begin to see smoke.
13.Don't stop. Keep on going until the stream of smoke is continuous without you bowing.
14.Put down the bow and look at the keyhole shape. You should see a glowing ember.
15.Tip the ember onto the leaf and transfer it to the tinder bundle. Grabbing the bundle with both hands begin gently blowing into it. Blow harder as it begins to catch. Typically when you do this you want the wind at your back so you can see into the bundle and you dont choke and drop the ember.
16. After a few moments the fire should appear. At this stage transfer it to the twigs and timber in teepee via the channel underneath, continue fanning and you have created fire.
