Sunday, September 28, 2008

Rubbing sticks together to make fire


There's a primal satisfaction to starting a fire with stone-age equipment. There are plenty of videos and how-to articles about bow drills available on line, but I'll throw out these few tips: Technique is critical. Kneel, step on the hearth board, brace your spindle arm against your leg for stability, and concentrate in long, level strokes with your bow hand. Start slowly to warm things up and develop a smooth rythm. Don't bear down hard until you've already filled the cut-out with dust. Sometimes the bearing surfaces polish each other and they stop producing dust. A pinch of dry sand will help. Once you get a coal (you'll know you have one if your little pile of dust keeps smoking after you've stopped drilling), don't be in a hurry to transfer it to your tinder bundle and start blowing. Giving it thirty seconds or so to coalesce will be beneficial.


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Knew it. So now how do I get a hold of you these days? Are you coming out to Utah anytime soon?

guy

Anonymous said...

Knew it. So now how do I get a hold of you these days? Are you coming out to Utah anytime soon?

guy

Oblio13 said...

Hello Guy,

glad you stumbled across my silly blog. I got kicked off Arfcom, so I had to find another way to annoy people. I am going to try to get to Utah for some spring skiing with my old college roommate. And if you come to this part of the world, let me know and I'll have a tent pitched, firewood cut and a canoe pulled up on the shore for you. Email me at Oblio13@gmail.com

Brad