How to Make a Bow-Drill for Starting a Fire

By eHow Sports & Fitness Editor

Make a Bow-Drill for Starting a Fire

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Make an apparatus for starting a primitive fire without the aid of a lighter or matches.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

14-function Pocketknives

Step1

Understand that a bow-drill; consists of four parts: the bow, the hand-hold, the spindle or drill and the fireboard. The hand-hold and the fireboard are held on either side of the spindle, which is spun by the bow to generate friction, heat and, finally, fire. Rub your hand together back and forth to understand the concept of generating heat through friction.

Step2

Make your bow from a light sturdy sapling, slightly longer than your arm from shoulder to fingertip.

Step3

Tie a piece of nylon cord from one end of the bow to the other, like a bow for archery. If you don't have a nylon cord, you can use string, a shoelace, a strip of cloth or whatever is available.

Step4

Use a dry, soft wood such as cottonwood, willow, larch, cedar, sassafras, alder, aspen, poplar, box alder or basswood to make the other parts of the drill.

Step5

Make sure the hold piece fits into your hand snugly and firmly. Carve a small depression in one side of the hand-hold for the spindle to ride in.

Step6

Cut your spindle from a branch 3/4-inch wide and 6 inches long. It should be round and straight. Carve both ends of the spindle to a dull point.

Step7

Make you fireboard about a 1/2-inch thick and flat on both sides. Make a depression in it, like the hand-hold, for the other side of the spindle to ride in.

Step8

"Burn in" (see eHow "How to Start a Fire Using a Bow-drill") your apparatus before using it to start a fire.

Tips & Warnings

Once you have a good apparatus, keep the pieces with you to use over and over.
Always be careful around fire.
Fire in the wilderness can easily get out of control. Keep your fire well contained in a fire-pit.

Comments

Anonymous said

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on 11/22/2005 Just a few things that might help one make a fire if one is really serious about it. First of all, the bow part is looped around the spindle part, so you won't want to make the rope too tight. Too loose on the other hand is just as bad, as the spindle will sort of travel up and down the bow.

The fireboard should be three or four inches across, I think (it's been a while). The idea is basically to create a coal from the very hot bits of the fireboard and spindle that are displaced by quickly working the bow back and forth, when the cord is wrapped around the spindle, definitely not to set fire to the fireboard itself. This can be a very tiresome pursuit. I've seen teams of grown men fail at it. Also, it helps to cut a notch in the fireboard for the coal to form in once a bit of a divot has been established, otherwise the hot matter just builds up around the hole, and quickly cools because it's not piled together to prevent the dissipation of heat.

I've also found that using a sedimentary rock is preferable to using wood for the hand-hold or top bit, but these may or may not be available depending upon one's locale. The rock erodes, and the particulate matter from the rock helps to lubricate the spindle as it turns.

The most important part of this whole experiment is some kind of kindling. You'll want to make something that almost resembles a bird's nest from the inner bark of a tree or extremely beat up pine needles, preferably with something very soft and flammable in the very middle of the nest.

Place the nest underneath the notch in the fireboard, and saw away. Then, when a sizable coal has formed, remove the fireboard and gently cup the nest around the coal, careful not to smother or disturb it. Exhale on the coal until the nest catches fire, and then place the whole thing into the middle of your pre-prepared camp fire.

This is definitely a lot of work. But well worth it. I don't think one should be discouraged if this doesn't work on the first, second or twelfth try. Primitive technology can often be much more difficult than it might at first appear.

Anonymous said

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on 11/22/2005 Find a curved branch in a field or under a tree. Kick a piece of dried bark off of a tree. Punk online $6.00 per pound. 4 foot piece nylon rope, you handle it. Nine inch hard wood dowel. One foot x 5/8 inch by 2.5 inch redwood. Total $6.00 online, total $31.00 you save 25 bucks. Scrape the bark off inside to make tinder bundle. Redwood is very soft, use a punch and a hammer to notch redwood fire board. Use a small hand saw to notch into center of punch mark, 1x1x3 inch piece of pine works well for spindle support. Make coal, drop in bark bundle, fan with newspaper and add tinder. Have fun with the kids and teach them without having to spend a lot of money.