First Fire by Friction

[ecgreen]

Well, I finally did it - fire by friction! I have been trying off and on for a month or so and have finally learned the skills necessary to start fire with sticks

[MKMGOBL]

That's awesome A lot of people (including myself ) have never try it. I've got the fire starter stuff in my pack & have a great idea of how to start a fire by friction but never did it. Probably something I should do & I'm sure with my oldest in the Boy Scouts....I will soon

Any tricks you care to share with us other than practice ;D

[ecgreen]

My main piece of advice is be persistent. You need to learn all of the variables that go into fire by friction and how they interact with each other. The only way to do this is by trail and error - making small adjustments along the way. This took me at little over a month of trying at least 5 times a week. OF course, this was learning on my own too.

Tips I learned through much pain:

1. Start with the correct wood. It can’t be too soft or too hard (or have too much resin). If you press a fingernail into it and it leaves a dent, it might be OK. I stress MIGHT. I found that white pine works well here in NH. Also, it should be dry…go figure. I wasted a lot of time trying to produce an ember with woods that either were too hard, thus wearing myself out, or to soft, and not getting the right kind of dust.

2. Take the time to make a bearing block. I made mine out of deer antler. Don’t rush making the kit. You will just frustrate yourself if you hurry. Do it right the first time.


3. Tension! Your spindle has to have just the right tension on the string. Too tight and it will fly out on you, too loose and it will slip around the spindle and not create enough friction on the hearth board. This all interacts with the softness of the wood. The softer it is the less you need to push. How fast you need to drill is also a function of how hard you are pushing and the density of the wood – and where you are in the process of making an ember. These variables all work together to produce the ember from the dust you are creating. To make matters worse, if it is damp out, that also effects how hard you should press! The list goes on…

4. How to get an ember without dying of exhaustion: start slow with the bow and don’t press too hard on the bearing block. When you get a rhythm, you can feel the spindle “mate” with the hearth board feeling almost like there is sandpaper in between them. Then I speed up and apply more or less pressure as needed. When you feel yourself tightening up in the arms, tell yourself to relax. If you relax your muscles consciously you can go longer. When the smoke starts to really come out, I speed up as fast as I can. At this point the dust should be black, not brown. When you think you have an ember, slow down a little on the bow and release pressure. Tap the board and yee haw, hopefully you have a smoking ember.

I have produced about 20 embers so far. Once I get it all right, I can do it in about 20 seconds. Transferring to a tinder bundle and blowing the ember into a flame has proven a lot harder than I had thought. Cattail fluff and birch bark eventually worked for me.
Any other questions, I would be glad to try and answer them.