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#169413 - 03/15/09 10:34 PM Re: Managed to make fire with a bow drill! [Re: Meadowlark]
Arney Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 09/15/05
Posts: 2485
Loc: California
Originally Posted By: Meadowlark
I never learned to do this properly, as it was impressed upon me at a young age that this method was overly time consuming and used up too much valuable energy in an emergency situation.

Another potential drawback is that it can make you sweat. That would create different hazards depending on whether you're stuck in a hot, dry environment with no drinking water or a cold environment where hypothermia is a risk. Unlike a lot of physical activities you might perform in a survival situation, you can't really pace yourself when trying to use any sort of friction to start a fire. You just go like heck until you can produce an ember or you end up with nothing.

Blisters and other injuries are also a possibility when using this technique. Under normal circumstances, these would just be annoyances, but any injury could turn into a much bigger problem out in the bush.

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#169422 - 03/15/09 11:37 PM Re: Managed to make fire with a bow drill! [Re: Tom_L]
aloha Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 11/16/05
Posts: 1059
Loc: Hawaii, USA
Good job Tom!
_________________________
---------
http://hanzosoutdoors.blogspot.com/

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#169454 - 03/16/09 11:00 AM Re: Managed to make fire with a bow drill! [Re: aloha]
Tom_L Offline
Addict

Registered: 03/19/07
Posts: 690
Quote:
I never learned to do this properly, as it was impressed upon me at a young age that this method was overly time consuming and used up too much valuable energy in an emergency situation.


I was told the same over and over again so after a while I guess I became conditioned to assume I couldn't possibly make it work. Now I'm surprised how much easier it is than I thought.

I'd still take my fire steel over the bow drill any time but the bottom line is, if I can make the bow drill work, pretty much anyone can. There's nothing mystical about it. And what effort I spent yesterday is negligible compared to having a fire in a survival situation IMHO.

Now I just have to practice it some more until I can do it blindfolded in the middle of a storm. LOL

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#169464 - 03/16/09 01:52 PM Re: Managed to make fire with a bow drill! [Re: Tom_L]
Blast Offline
INTERCEPTOR
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 07/15/02
Posts: 3760
Loc: TX
Clap clap clap clap!!!!

Very well done, sir.

-Blast
_________________________
Foraging Texas
Medicine Man Plant Co.
DrMerriwether on YouTube
Radio Call Sign: KI5BOG
*As an Amazon Influencer, I may earn a sales commission on Amazon links in my posts.

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#169465 - 03/16/09 01:54 PM Re: Managed to make fire with a bow drill! [Re: Tom_L]
DesertFox Offline
Enthusiast

Registered: 01/04/07
Posts: 339
Loc: New York, NY
Good job. One thing I learned from my attempts at making fire with a bow drill. Carry matches.

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#169510 - 03/16/09 08:37 PM Re: Managed to make fire with a bow drill! [Re: ]
BruceZed Offline
Enthusiast

Registered: 01/06/08
Posts: 319
Loc: Canada
Good Job, its hard and requires alot of patients and skill
_________________________
Bruce Zawalsky
Chief Instructor
Boreal Wilderness Institute
boreal.net

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#169607 - 03/17/09 11:14 PM Re: Managed to make fire with a bow drill! [Re: ]
DannyL Offline
Member

Registered: 02/22/08
Posts: 103
Loc: SE Alaska
congrats and kudo's to you. never been able to do it.
but then, I am a road flare fan myself when conditions are really ugly.

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#169625 - 03/18/09 02:18 AM Re: Managed to make fire with a bow drill! [Re: DannyL]
Art_in_FL Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 09/01/07
Posts: 2432
Congratulation. Good job.

Your understanding and appreciation of fire and what it takes to produce it has grown.

Way back I took a series of courses as a machinist. Everyone was itching to jump on the many large, expensive and impressive machines in the shop. there were several million dollars in machinery in that shop.

So after the first two days of safety basics it was something of a surprise to have the instructor walk in with a wooden box filed with chisels, hammers and files.

For the next week, four hours a day our job was to take a 2' long piece of mild steel rod-stock and using nothing but machinist vice, chisel, hammer and file to produce a one inch cube of steel accurate in all measurement to one one-thousandth of an inch. If you under-cut or gouged it you started over. It was a week of sore arms and hands. Of bloody blisters, frustration and sweat. Many bad words were heard. About a fifth of the class quit before the end of the week.

The point here, driven home by being surrounded by machines that could do the job in a few minutes, was to get a feel and appreciation for cutting steel and what the machinery does.

Learning to light a fire with a fire bow really gives you a feel for friction, heat, the production of a coal and how to delicately feed it with tiny bits of dry fuel and puffs of air.

Now you can stuff a couple of Bic lighters into your kit and when you use them you can contemplate how much time and trouble such simple, cheap and reliable devices save you. Should the situation present itself you can also take the kids out into the woods and amaze them by using your fire bow. It always goes over big.

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