Tonight on Mythbusters, they went over several ways of making fire in survival situations including starting a fire with a gun, the chocolate bar and soda can method, and by using ice as a magnifying lens. It was pretty interesting. It airs again on the Discovery Channel at 1:00 am.

I won't spoil it for you, but I will say it was a hoot watching them try to start fires with several well known methods such as the firebow and hand drill. Watching them, it seemed to me like they didn't do their homework before these particular attempts, but it will give you an idea, if you've never tried to do this before, how frustrating it can be.

Mythbusters is usually a fun show. Sometimes they don't look beyond the old NAS Alameda runway most of their investigations take place on. An older show busted the myth of sinking ships pulling people down. Well the S.S. Minnow wasn't H.M.S. Hood and they could have interviewed it's last survivor.

After several hours of practice, I did finally manage to get a live coal with a bow-drill. It needed some awareness of finicky details in the shape of the drill and the baseplate. Also, touching the tip of the drill too much will lubricate it with oil from your skin and prevent it from generating enough friction. Who knew?

My wife managed to get the hand-drill to work, but I never did. Her advice, by the way? Wear gloves. It's rough on your hands. Even better advice? Have some matches.

Oh. And make sure that tinder's ready. Nothing worse than FINALLY getting a coal, just to have it burn out before you can fumble your tinder into place.

Should we send them email telling them how they oopsed on the bow, and how to make a better board?

LOL

If enough people email them, they might do the tests over again in one of their "Mythbusters Revisited" shows. I don't know though, the episode was geared especially for the three lesser known experiments. You know when they bust out a power drill and lock a stick in the chuck that they're not really very serious about testing the bow or hand parts of the drilling exercise. At least they did mention that the primative methods obviously would work if enough time was put into working up the skill. LOL

In scouts I learned to use the Bow, flint/steel, and such. It took awhile but I got the bow down. We put some soap in the top block to keep down the friction/heat on that end. A lot easier that way.

I enjoy that show. Like most dealings I've had with the media, if I actully know something about the subject and I see it reported the facts are frequently not same. Glad I didn't see the show a week ago or I may not have attempted my recent success with the bow drill. Just goes to show- 'Just Do it'

Scott

If you're caught out without soap, you can get the same effect by rubbing the top end of the spindle through your hair / across your forehead.

Especially if you've been out without soap for a few days.... <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I caught the show on Tivo. I always find it entertaining, but it seems that the research department gets the week off for some shows (like this one). They should have come here for answers.

Now, if Keri and I were lost in the woods, we could make a fire.... <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

I enjoyed the episode and enjoy the show in general, although the fire starting was a minor topic. The part with the gunpowder and resulting explosion certainly seems like one of those, "Don't try this at home, kiddies!" kinds of moments. Just curious, but has anyone ever tried "helping" their fire starting with gunpowder?