You’ve all seen it on television, survival shows where the host fashions a bow/drill/fire board and within a few minutes has a nice raging fire to sleep next to. If it were only that easy. If you take one thing away from this article it should be this: There is a reason you should have primary and backup lighters, matches, flints and other fire making materials and that’s because you want to avoid having to complete this task if at all possible. That being said knowing how to create fire using the bow drill method certainly should be a skill in your tool kit, here are a few considerations which I thought to share.
Before moving on, we first must examine the components.
Bow: The most obvious piece to the puzzle, should be a sturdy branch with a diameter of around an inch.
Drill: This is the piece that spins on fire board and creates the ember you are looking for, it should also have an diameter of around an inch and be between 8 – 10 inches in length.
Fire Board: This is what the drill is spun against and where the ember is created within the hot dust that results from the friction.
Hand Hold: The piece of wood that you hold which secures the top part of the drill as it is spun by the bow.
The purpose of this post is not to go in depth on how to set up and utilize a bow drill in order to create fire, I’ll post a good YouTube video which covers all of that. What I would like to share are some tips based on personal experience which might help save you some time or frustration.
Tip # 1: Not all wood will work! Don’t think that you can simply hack off any tree branch and by spinning it against another piece of wood you’ll create an ember. Some wood is too dense (Hickory, Oak) and are examples of trees to avoid while Maple, Red Cedar, Poplar and Willow are trees which suit this task just fine.
Tip # 2: Don’t forget the lube. You don’t want to create an ember in your hand hold so make sure to “lube” the top portion of your drill, this can be done using grease or green leaves off of local plants.
Tip # 3: That paracord might not work: If you have a paracord bracelet it certainly would make a great string for your bow, but be aware that you might have to double loop it around your drill in order to create more friction so that it will grab. Otherwise when attempting to spin the drill at higher speed the cord could just slip.
Tip # 4: It’s all about body position. Personally I have found that using a compact position directly over the fire board is the best method, remember you could be spinning that drill for a couple minutes which can become very exhausting. You want to minimize all slop, or unnecessary movement. I take a knee and place the fire board directly under the instep of my foot, locking my arm against my shin in order to keep it steady as I drill away. This can be hard work, if you think a few lazy spins against a fire board will produce an ember you are in for a shock.
Tip # 5: Bundle up! All of your hard work will amount to nothing if you create an ember and place it in a wet pile of leaves. Try to make a little “bird’s nest” bundle out of the best (dry) material possible. The goal being to place the ember inside and slowly bring it to life via blowing on it.
I hope some of those tips help in your quest to create fire, here is the YouTube video as promised. Keep in mind many techniques are personalized but the concept should remain the same.
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