Here is a secret, especially with cedar: Drilling does NOT get you an ember; it gets you hot, smoky black char. Pick up the char into your tinder bundle and BLOW it into an ember, then into flame.
Because the pile of hot char will burn a hole through dry brown stuff, and your pile of char will fall to the dirt below and disintegrate. This will cause you to expend quite a few choice expletives, which, IN A SURVIVAL SITUATION, you should conserve until you really need them. 2-4 green leaves will survive long enough for you to drill a nice pile of char and transfer it to your tinder bundle.
Cottonwood and alder are two I have had the best luck with in the PNW. Cedar has been hit and miss for me........................... Tip, if you find Cottonwood you can make a whole kit from it. Spindle ,Hearth, inner bark for Tinder bundle and the inside of the thick bark makes one of the best sockets I have ever used. It has a waxy surface that will help you spin a fire. Luck.
Great info. I am very new at hand drill. I will definitely give that a spin next time out. I had to google the cottonwood tree. According to the Google mastermind it is the fastest growing native tree in my state. I will have to start looking for one. Will post up some results when I find one in the wild and am able to build a kit. Thanks for the tips.
Here is a Pic of a complete Cottonwood kit I made a while back. It was all made with Rocks, no tools. Only man made item was my Bootlace. My Bootlaces are Para cord. It was harder than I thought, bout 2-3 hours. Shows the Cottonwood Socket that works so well.
I used a dead cedar limb for a hearth. The spindle was intended to be a traditional arrow and was of willow. It was dry as it had been cut last month. I used a heel hold on the hearth, as JG teaches for bow drill. Cut a fresh notch and trimmed the end of spindle fresh so there was no gathered moisture from the air. I got smoke within a minute, but continued until I could not make another pass down the spindle. My energy was spent. So, key take aways for me were: Dry material Drill well past the smoke Don't quit Don't quit!
Tried hand drill again a night or so ago. Got some char but no smoke. My spindle is too big. I keep trying anyway as i wont have time to hit the woods for a bit.
Why do we shape the whole spindle? Been thinking on this for awhile. Once you have your Bowing skills down, and the cord isn't going up and down the spindle, who cares what the top third is shaped like. Here is one I tried up in the Cascades last night, and one that would be considered standard. No difference. Hand Socket was Leg Knuckle from a elk. Also, Bee's wax in the 5 socket. It just mushes out and can be reused. When I used candle wax, it would pop out and be gone. Made 6 fires with the same Bee's wax..........
Ok firebugs, this is my attempt at friction fire. The longer board is oak, the shorter hickory. Both are very dry. The spindle is hickory as well. I can get smoke, plenty of char dust, but no ember, nothing that I can blow into an ember. Why? What am I missing or doing wrong? On one attempt I kept going still the burn nearly went out the bottom of the board, a dime sized pile of char but it's just dust, never forms a coal. I'm really trying to master this and though you guys might have a hint....
Black. If I use a pinch and dust it over a flame (lighter) it burns away in the air like charcoal dust. I thought the oak might be too dense so I tried hickory. It does seem to burn in better but still no ember. PS: I did try the trick of lubing the bearing block end of the spindle by jabbing it a few times into my pj cotton ball bottle. That worked like a charm, so much so that there's almost no burn in the bearing block itself.
Hmmm. Id say you need more velocity but again ive not had luck on oak. Might try a thinner spindle and hit it fast once it starts to smoke or try some of the easier woods.
Cedar is what i have the best luck with but i think some folks like poplar. Maybe they will chime in. We have tons of cedar and it works so thats all i use around here.
