elder drill

[duffontap]

jd i'll do a step by step and post it. kegan i get that a lot. ive taken handdrill sets  that were in the rain overnight and achieved a coal. its patience and confidence any one of us can do it. peace

Looking forward to it.  I have to do this.

        J. D.

[jamie]

jd if you are gonna do this try it with just a drill made entirely of the plug. like a mullien or horseweed stalk or whathave ya. that way ya dont have to build anything but grab the materials ya need. not that the drill is difficult to attain. below are pics for reference. shows the drill in my hand for reference. how i started the hole in board . i run the drill over the hole to burn it in before cutting the notch. then cutting the notch. notice the finger . rocks are sharp . a knife can be used for all of this obviously. again though there is a certain zen type thing going on when natural materials are worked in natural methods. oh yeah i usually make the plug about an inch long. that allows enough material to be in and out of the drill. peace and have fun. one other thing make sure the fat end of stalk is on the bottom and the drill is smooth. no bark.

p.s. buy blister pads. lol

[Justin Snyder]

Jamie, isn't horsweed kind of a high fiber low strength stalk?  I guess that is why you use a drill and plug?  If the horseweed is what I think it is, you probably don't wear the hearth board much.  Justin

[jamie]

 imake arras from it so it has some strength. its a tall weed with a large plume of insignifigant white/green flowers on it this time of year. i could get 10 or 12 fires from a hole but i spend the time to build up the coal material rather than just get a small coal so it uses the board up and i get around 6-8.

[michbowguy]

hey jamie...have you found that cutting slight 'flats' in the rod so it doesnt slip in the hand
also, try putting some thinnnnnnnnn wiped on layer of pitch withOUT ash in it on the rod too.
this stays hard until you start spinning then it gets a 'ever so slight tackiness" to it and i bet you spin time decreases to about 1/2 to get a coal.
big grog.

[ its realy me jamie..a.k.a.michbowguy...i just dont want to confuse anyone when i bid goodbye with the name jamie!]

[jamie]

jamie dont want to sound cocky but i can get a coal in about 30 seconds i just prefer to let the coal build up fiirst. a lot of the fellas i know do that with the pitch. plus the roughness of the shaft keeps my hands like rawhide. ive used the flats on the bow drill when using the hardwoods like oak , ash ,hickory,  and osage. peace

[michbowguy]

thats just plain awesome jamie.
i just creat a bunch of smoke!
ill be coming across the right combo pretty soon tho.
i like the idea about using the twu dry sticks wrapped together to form hearthboard.
ill try to get some pics up.
jamie