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This is *the* fire starting method to master since it requires nothing but your knife and the materials that you find around you.
It may save your life one day.
For a detailed how to guide on how to make your own Bow Drill set and to learn the correct technique to ensure success, come over to our site and we'll show you.
It seemed irresponsible not to cover this and in reality there is a good chance that you will end up using these to make fires with at some point, even in a survival situation, certainly in Bushcraft, definitely while camping.
Tips - Use the same type of wood for the drill and hearth (the base board). It helps to use the same piece of wood, eg, split a log, make the drill out of one half and the hearth from the other. Not sure why but it really helps. I think it is because the grain is the same and that might help increase friction.
There are many types of wood that you can use, the best ones are
*Sycamore
*Willow
*Birch
*Chestnut
*Lime
*Hazel
The bearing block that you use to apply downward pressure needs to be a harder material that the drill. If it's not then you'll get too much friction at the top. You can use a harder type of wood, in this video i used a sycamore drill and a hornbeam bearing block. You could use a stone with a depression in it or a bit of antler or something.
It makes it a lot easier if you lubricate the bearing block with some mashed up vegetation. Much easier
Use good cordage to begin with, very good quality 550 para cord, not the cheap stuff or climbing cord that is resistant to abrasion will get you going nicely. As your technique improves you can experiment with different types of cordage that you have made or found.
Look at my body position closely, notice that i have a strong posture and stance, everything is supported including my hand on my leg to stop the drill wobbling around.
My head is directly over the drill, this makes it easy for me to use my body weight to apply downward pressure.
Music by Marina Raye, © 1999, Liquid Silk, www.marinaraye.com
