Bow drill

Bow drill with a hand piece, being used to light a fire.

A bow drill is a fire making technique that uses the same principle as the hand drill (friction by rotation of wood on wood) but instead the spindle is shorter, wider (about the size of a human thumb) and driven by a bow, which allows longer, easier strokes and protects the palms. Additional downward pressure is generated by the handhold.

Materials needed

For the fireboard

Wood of medium hardness, like cottonwood, willow, aspen, tamarack, cedar, sassafras, sycamore, or poplar. The wood should be as dry as possible. Most sizes will do, but thickness should generally be limited to 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch (1.25 - 2 cm) for convenience.

For the spindle

Wood of medium hardness or harder. The wood should be as dry as possible. This piece should be about 3/4 in. (2 cm) thick, 6-12 in. (15-30 cm)long, and as straight as possible.

For the handhold

A piece of wood that fits comfortably in your hand.

For the bow

A strong but flexible stick of about arms length and about the same length of cordage.

Crafting instructions

1. Carve one end of the spindle to a taper.
2. Carve a indentation in the fireboard such that the tapered end of the spindle fits well.
3. Carve a small indentation in the handhold such that the spindle is secure when pressure is applied from above. some lubricant, such as from fresh leaves may be useful
4. Tie the cordage to each side of the bow. It should be slack enough to twist around your spindle, but tight enough not to slip.

Operation

On one knee, hold the fireboard down with your foot. Twist the cordage around the spindle such that the loop is on the outside of the bow and the pointed end of the spindle faces down. While pressing down from above with the handhold, pulling the bow back and forth will spin the spindle. Use this to deepen the indentation in the fireboard. From this indentation, carve out a eighth (1/8) of the circle to the edge as a channel for embers. Place your tinder beneath this notch so that it can catch an ember.

Dependencies

• Friction
• Stick
• Wood
  • Bow drill
    • Fire

See also

• Hand drill
• Pump drill

References

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Fire_making, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).

External links

• Cord drill and Pump drill - primitivetechnology.wordpress.com, 22 January 2016
• Primitive Technology: Cord drill and Pump drill - Primitive Technology, 22 January 2016, YouTube
• How to use a Prehistoric Bow Drill - ancient1580, 11 March 2015, YouTube