Thanks, guys! My girlfriend thinks I'm nuts playing with this stuff and she wasn't impressed by my little feat one bit. So it's nice to hear some words of encouragement.
Congrats! So, were you using whatever random materials you could find right there when you decided to try it?
I planned to give the bow drill a try this weekend so I made some preparations beforehand. But I deliberately didn't want to be too picky as far as the materials are concerned. I wanted to make it a challenge - knowing the basic theory behind the method, could I actually make it work with whatever is at hand in my environment?
I picked up some dry hazel on the trek yesterday for the bow and drill. Back home, I took a quick look around my workshop and found an old pine board and a small piece of ash (leftovers from a previous woodworking project). All those species are abundant around here so I'm sure I could easily find the same material (possibly better quality, too) out in the woods.
I knew hazel would make a good bow. It wasn't the best choice for the drill, though. It did produce a lot of smoke on the first attempt but I think the diameter was too big. Then I whittled a small piece of ash into a roughly shaped dowel about 1/2" dia. and it worked perfectly.
At a second thought, I suspect the choice of wood does not make such a dramatic difference - at least as long as the drill is harder than the board.
Was the V notch central to your success, or was a simple notch adequate?
I'm not sure whether the shape of the notch matters much. I did cut a neat V with a pocket saw. But once I switched the drill, the smaller ash stick wandered off so the hole actually ended up quite a bit off center from the notch. But it still worked.
In hindsight, I guess there are only two critical points. First, you have to keep drilling until you get plenty of smoke. In fact, there was so much smoke I kept inhaling way too much of it (leaning directly over the drill). It wasn't a pleasant experience.
Second, you have to be super careful catching all the fine coal from the hole/notch and placing it on the tinder. I learned something really helpful watching Survivorman - you don't need to rush that step, there's enough time to do a neat job. If you rush it you're very likely to screw up!
I just used a cotton ball for tinder, taking it apart and separating it into nice fluffy fibers. I carry cotton balls in my firestarting kit so it was a logical choice. I'm pretty sure any other fine, dry natural fibers would work.