Friction Fire

[Outbackbob48]

Dakota Kid, true tinder fungus or Chaga which grows on the birchs will catch a spark like char cloth or can be used to extend your coal from friction fires, it will not burst to flame by itself needs to be in a tinder bundle, other coal extenders are cap cracked polypores which grow on locust, there are many things used to extend coals but very few things which can catch low temp flint and steel sparks, the only ones that i know of other than char cloth are true tinder fungus and milkweed ovums, I don't build many flint and steel fires so I save my Chaga for teas and build my fires with coals created from bow drill or hand drills, I have been gathering a few plants as fall approachs, horseweed, mugwort and mullien, like to find a few yucca also. Later Bob

[riverrat]

thats great! its a great thing to learn. today, in need of a new bearing block for a bow drill set ,i gathered and made in the last few weeks, i found the perfect stone that fit my hand. almost next to it was a hard stone with kind of a pointy tip. so i began pecking. i did this for about a hour. got into a rhythm and i enjoyed it. soon it was perfect. took it home. this evening i tried it out. just to try it out. within about 30 seconds, a ember im gonna tell ya somethin. that feeling. that never ceases to amaze me. its a good feeling. like knapping a arrow point, making some cordage, maybe some clay vessels that fire nicely without cracks in your fire pit, that kind of nice. i call it the ugabooga feeling. like your alive.congrats on your skills. that is definately something to be very proud of! Tony

[Jodocus]

UGABOOGA!

[PEARL DRUMS]

My good buddy Josh sent me a few pieces of yucca to try for spindles. I think there might be gas and a lighter hiding in that stuff! I couldn't believe how quickly I made a big, hot ember that burned for a minute. It was under 10 seconds I'd guess.

[Dances with squirrels]

Leave it to you guys. Good timing.

I used to mess around with friction fires, but hadn't done it in years. Well in a few weeks I'm going up to the mountains and staying back in as long as I can, up to 4 weeks, bowhunting, foraging, and trapping. I would like to get by with nothing but friction fires, but we'll see how it goes. I'm taking flint and steel as a backup and just came in from making fire in less than 15 seconds with it... using some jute rope I stoll from my wife's craft table. It went up so quick... she ain't getting it back 

Then I got to looking around and found a willow hearth board and bow drill spindle, bearing block, and a nice bundle of mullein for hand drills. I'd like to stay here and chat, but I've got practicing to do.

I just found a nice standing dead lilac bush. Have any of you guys tried it?

[riverrat]

talk about finding stuff { twine} i found this.... at first i thought hey look a rock with a divit in it already i might be able to use this, then on closer inspection hey this was made a long long time ago. a real "abo" bearing block.i tried it out. but the spindles i use must be a little skinnier than this one was designed for . and besides id rather put this one on a shelf with my collection.so i made my own, the 3rd picture picture. it works. then i found out i was just holding the first one wrong. it works too. lol theres pecking on the opposite side of the one i found as well. the second picture.3 small pecks. you can tell the person making it thought about pecking the other side. the inside of the divit is smooth like glass. however the outside is a grainy texture. my new one fits my hand nice. but now i like that first one.
 Tony

[Outbackbob48]

Pearly, if ya look closely on the side of yucca's It says HIGHLY FLAMMABLE, I just twisted out a coal from Mullien drill and cedar hearth, never tried Lilac, but Rose of Sharon hearth worked great. Bob

[stickbender]

     Thanks for posting this thread.  As with the cedar bark, down in Florida, and wherever cypress trees grow, you can use that bark, just as you did with cedar.  Mullet, do you mean the hot water "element", or thermostat?  The element is what heats up the water, and that is what you replace to get hot water again.  Which issue of Backwoods was that in? I have plenty of mullein.  Too damn much of it!  Most of it got weed whacked, but there are still some growing.  Thanks again.

                                    Wayne

[Forest_Farmer]

Hey guys,
I just returned from a nice 90 mile backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail.  While there, I had a goal of collecting materials during the hike to make a friction fire.  I was able to collect decent, but damp materials, and was very close to getting and ember. I made some key mistakes that kept me from being successful, and i've listed them below.

1) I got lazy and used the same soft popular wood that I made the hearth board and spindle from, for my bearing block. This caused high friction on the top of the spindle, just as the hearth board was smoking good. This would ultimately make the spindle "seize up" before getting and ember.

2) I made a short bow, about a 12 in working stroke length.  This might had been ok, if I didn't have the bearing block problem, but it does require more effort.  I've found that with bows with about a 18" stroke length or more, it so much easier to build up heat with less effort.

I hope this is helpful.
Ed

[Forest_Farmer]

After reading about Pearlies success, I had to give the hand drill another go.

So I collected some new Mullien spindles here in TN and sat down this morning and tried to twist one out.  Much to my surprise I was able to get an ember in about a minute.  Not quite as impressive as Chris's 10 seconds, but I'll take it.  This was the first time I had solo success with a hand drill, so I tried it again, and was able to twist our another one in about 45 second.  I was using a white cedar hearth board, and white cedar bark for a tinder bundle.

I also collected some tinder fungus while on the Appalachian Trial, and tried to see how long I could keep an ember going.  This stuff is magic!!  It will keep an ember going for hours with a little attention, pretty cool.

Here is a pic of my hand drill set up from this mornings success.
Enjoy,
Ed

[Zuma]

Great thread guys- You- all may make
a firemaker out of me.
Thanks for shareing.
Zuma

[Outbackbob48]

Zuma, Just came from the garage and got 2 seperate coals this evening, one with my favorite horseweed on cedar and the other from mullien on cedar, weather has changed and is pretty damp with high humidity so I was skeptical of getting coals, Somedays I can't build a coal to save myself next day is like burn'em up Chuck, very frustating to not be consist. I tried one tonight more as a matience thing, need to keep hands tuff and arms strong and need to work on wind. I have learned to be patient and not to try for a coal on first  attempt but when I get tired I leave spindle in hole so as to keep as much heat as possible and catch my breath, sometimes have to repeat an catch breath again and third time hit really hard an get a coal. This stopping and starting also produces lots of sawdust for a hearth that is a little thick or just starting new hole and needs lots of build up.  Get ya some materials an give  it a try, When ya get your first coal it is a very very powerful moving feeling and when I fail it is very humbleing, Good Luck Bob

[Forest_Farmer]

Bob, I know where you are coming from.  I'm very new to making friction fires, but have embraced learning all I can.

   I made my fire hand drill fire a few days ago and it  felt great, but I tried yesterday and couldn't do it,,,,very frustrating.

I made up for it tonight, by coaching a neighbor into making his first friction fire with my bow drill set.  He was successful the first time, and was pretty stoked about it.

I don't know if it feels better to acquire to knowledge, or to pass it on???
Ed

[PEARL DRUMS]

I think that up and down humidity is what made people of the past so intent on keeping the fire burning once it was going.

[Outbackbob48]

I am sure they learned to carry a coal without it going out also, or spent some cold damp nites. Bob