Matches?? We don't need 'em!

[Backwoods Savage]

Nice work Scott.

 

[Mr A]

I saw a vid somewhere, YouTube probably, guy starts a fire with a stick and an orange(the fruit). The oils in the peel seem to light easily enough to get some tinder going.

 

[ScotO]

I saw a vid somewhere, YouTube probably, guy starts a fire with a stick and an orange(the fruit). The oils in the peel seem to light easily enough to get some tinder going.

There's some really cool ways to start a fire out there. I really like the fire thong, and the fire piston.......check them out on the 'tube sometime.

 

[jharkin]

Nice video Scotty! I remember having to start fires without matches in the scouts, I could never make the friction bow work. Magnifying glass and paper didn't either. Real flint and steel would work if you really went at it but was touchy. Usually we would cheat and use one of those army surplus magnesium emergency firestarter- the sparking flint with the magnesium block that you could shave off and it would go off like a firecracker. Or reallly cheat and use steel wool and a 9 volt battery.

Klondike derby brings back memories as well. I remember our patrols spending weeks and months building and painting our sleds beforehand. Really sucked years that we got no snow and had to pull that thing around the course dragging it through mud. I used to love winter camping, even did ookpik in Maine once, not sure I could stand to sleep outside at 20 below now!

 

[red oak]

That's some nice work Scotty for sure! I've been meaning to try this when I get a chance and now I can refer to your video to see how it's done!

 

[Ashful]

Awesome vid, Scotty!

 

[Mitch Newton]

As WellSeasoned said that was the fastest fire start I've ever seen. You Da Man

 

[ScotO]

Thanks for the kind words, guys. Honestly, once you figure out the dynamics of it, the proper wood to use for the drill and board, and some little tricks to make it work better (the penny in the bearing block is a really good trick), its not that hard to do. And its very satisfying once you get a fire........I'll be learning the fire thong next. No, it isn't some kind of kinky undergarment, either!

 

[Trilifter7]

Great vid Scotty!! I've never thought of trying that but as easy as you made it look I'm curious now.

 

[teutonicking]

Well it's been a long time and I never did get around to putting a post up about how to start a fire with friction (bow drill), well I was tinkering around in the shop this afternoon and wifey said to build a fire to do some burgers and dogs this evening......so I did.

No matches needed!

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Nice job!! I'm impressed.

 

[Craby]

I tried this method for the first time last night w/ a poplar fire board & birch drill.

Do you think the poplar fire board & birch drill is an ok combination to use?
I used what was on hand in our millwork shop. Don't have access to ash & elm but I could try to find some.
The birch drill I made from a 7/8" dowel because I do not have a lathe.
Did you choose ash fire board & elm drill for any particular characteristics like soft fire board & hard drill?

The first attempt smoked up pretty good, but no ember, just black dust & lots of squealing.
Then I took out my cordless drill & made some varying sized shallow pilot holes in the fire board to see if I could cut down on the work required to start the hole and it seemed to not work as well. Guess the birch drill & pilot holes were not mated up properly & so not as much surface friction.

I accidentally touched the dimpled penny & man does it get hot! Making the dimpled penny was kinda fun. The guy that runs our millwork shop came up w/ putting the penny between a ball bearing and 3/8" nut, then pressing it in a vise. Then I made a small block of mahogany, hand size, and drilled a 3/4" hole for the penny which I pushed right into the hole & didn't need any glue to hold it in place. The penny works like a champ as far as I can tell. Just haven't started a fire with it yet.

 

[ScotO]

I tried this method for the first time last night w/ a poplar fire board & birch drill.

Do you think the poplar fire board & birch drill is an ok combination to use?
I used what was on hand in our millwork shop. Don't have access to ash & elm but I could try to find some.
The birch drill I made from a 7/8" dowel because I do not have a lathe.
Did you choose ash fire board & elm drill for any particular characteristics like soft fire board & hard drill?

The first attempt smoked up pretty good, but no ember, just black dust & lots of squealing.
Then I took out my cordless drill & made some varying sized shallow pilot holes in the fire board to see if I could cut down on the work required to start the hole and it seemed to not work as well. Guess the birch drill & pilot holes were not mated up properly & so not as much surface friction.

I accidentally touched the dimpled penny & man does it get hot! Making the dimpled penny was kinda fun. The guy that runs our millwork shop came up w/ putting the penny between a ball bearing and 3/8" nut, then pressing it in a vise. Then I made a small block of mahogany, hand size, and drilled a 3/4" hole for the penny which I pushed right into the hole & didn't need any glue to hold it in place. The penny works like a champ as far as I can tell. Just haven't started a fire with it yet.

Craby, you want the drill and the board to be of similar density.....ash and elm are similar. I would have tried an ash drill also, but I gave all the ones I had made to the scout troop for their weekend campout....I have to make more. Birch and poplar are probably fine, why not try birch on birch? I've made some tulip poplar boards and I've got lots of smoke but no ember....I think my boards weren't thick enough. Pine is not recommended to use.....it has resins in it and they will heat up, melt, and bind your drill......no dust will be formed. You'll get some smoke, and no dust or coal. I hear though that red cedar works well.....I have a small round of that, I may try to make a board and drill out of some of it.

I'm going to make a bunch out of willow (have a big willow tree to do soon), also going to give cottonwood a try, see how that goes. You don't want a really hard wood for either the drill or the board, it won't dust up as nice as ash and softer woods. So woods like locust, oak, hedge and ironwood aren't going to work as well.... I'm pretty sure soft maple (silver and red) would be a good wood to try out, especially for the drill......

Just experiment a little.....you'll get the hang of it. make certain your notch is done properly in the board....the top side of the notch should be a very small slit....when you flip the board over, it should be wider. That notch is a very important part of this whole thing working. Another one of the big game changers is the bearing block with the penny.....it makes it a lot easier to do the whole thing.....

 

[Craby]

Craby, you want the drill and the board to be of similar density.....ash and elm are similar. I would have tried an ash drill also, but I gave all the ones I had made to the scout troop for their weekend campout....I have to make more. Birch and poplar are probably fine, why not try birch on birch? I've made some tulip poplar boards and I've got lots of smoke but no ember....I think my boards weren't thick enough. Pine is not recommended to use.....it has resins in it and they will heat up, melt, and bind your drill......no dust will be formed. You'll get some smoke, and no dust or coal. I hear though that red cedar works well.....I have a small round of that, I may try to make a board and drill out of some of it.

I'm going to make a bunch out of willow (have a big willow tree to do soon), also going to give cottonwood a try, see how that goes. You don't want a really hard wood for either the drill or the board, it won't dust up as nice as ash and softer woods. So woods like locust, oak, hedge and ironwood aren't going to work as well.... I'm pretty sure soft maple (silver and red) would be a good wood to try out, especially for the drill......

Just experiment a little.....you'll get the hang of it. make certain your notch is done properly in the board....the top side of the notch should be a very small slit....when you flip the board over, it should be wider. That notch is a very important part of this whole thing working. Another one of the big game changers is the bearing block with the penny.....it makes it a lot easier to do the whole thing.....

Thanks for the advise. Makes sense. I made the notch too large on the first couple holes. Will try smaller notches from now on.

I kept having the string (boot shoelace) ride up to the bearing block & down to the fire board, so I wittled the middle third of the drill down to a slightly smaller diameter to keep it in place. Also seems to speed up the drill. More rotations/stroke.

Originally, a few days ago I wittled maple kindling into a drill & made a maple board, not sure if it was silver or sugar. Could not get it to make any dust or smoke. Pretty hard wood. Could not make an indent w/ my finger nail. Will try to find a birch fire board & give it another go.

Once I get this going, I'm going to show my son. He's 8 months old & stares in wonder when I fire up the fire pit. I think he is well on his way to following his papa in pyrolicy.
Thanks,
Luke C.

 

[Craby]

Scored a 1" thick piece of birch for a fire board. Will try it out tonight & get back w/ results. Got a good feeling this is going to work.

 

[brobrandonb]

very nice job. Primitive fire-making is a grand hobby. I got myself a fire piston which is neat also, but a devil to get going sometimes. Many of the methods really aren't as challenging as people think they are - IF you have proper tinder to catch your spark. I wonder how much effort people used to go thru just keeping proper dry materials. Not hard to do in Arizona but around here we get tons of humidity and precipitation.

When I'm cheating my favorite firemaking kit is a bic with the stupid safety thing ripped off (that dumb shim of metal over the wheel) and wrapped in tons and tons of heavy duty rubber "ranger" bands cut from old bicycle inner tube. Gives a great thick grip to hold on to and when you need to start a fire, take off one tiny rubber band and set it on fire - instant long burning flame in a very compact package!

 

[Craby]

Here is what I'm working with:

This is the first attempt w/ maple drill & fire board


Here is the poplar fire board w/ birch drill


This is the birch fire board w/ birch drill, mahogany block w/ dimpled penny, and bow