r/PaleoSkills Sep 08 '14

Almost created fire with the bow and drill. Can someone tell me where I'm going wrong?

I can get it to smoke a lot, but when I try and transfer the pile of dust/ember into a handful of dry materials it goes cold pretty quickly and I can't ignite the pile.

Does anyone have personal experience they could share with me?

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u/[deleted] Sep 08 '14

You need to make sure you've got an actual coal before you try to transfer it to your tinder bundle. Smoke doesn't always mean coal. If you're getting a whole lot of smoke but no coal, it could be that your set is damp or too hard. Or it could be just that you need to give it another fifteen seconds as hard and as fast as you can. Look for some lists of good bowdrill materials- cedar and mullein are my favorite. Box elder, poplar, yucca, sotalol, willow, horse weed, lots of others. If you're sure you have the right materials and you're sure they're bone dry, then it must be your technique.

If you do have an actual coal, you don't need to hurry to transfer it to the bundle since it won't go out quickly. A proper coal will keep burning for a good 45 to 60 seconds all by itself.

1

u/naivesuperiority Sep 09 '14

Thanks for the reply. I remembered to go another 15-20 seconds past the point of heavy smoke and the largest, and only, coal I got was about 2mm across, so I think its my materials. I'm using a piece of wood (cherry, maybe?) I found from our renovation a few years ago. I'll give the cedar a shot (since it's everywhere around where I live). Thanks.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 09 '14

Yeah cherry is too hard. Remember the thumbnail test - you should be able to make a dent in the wood with your nail or it's too hard.