friction fires suck!

[recurve shooter]

  tried for a few hours the other day with the bow drill meathod. pine hand block, both a pine and sweet gum board, privet, cedar, river cane, and oak spindals. we could get a nice little pile of dust, and lots of smoke, but no fire!!!! quite annoying sence the guys on youtube take like 5 seconds to get an ember. 

[n2everythg]

Use SOFT wood.
Pine has too much resin.
Oak and hardwoods too hard.
forgot where you are but use something like

Cedar, Juniper, Yucca, poplar. If you are out west cottonwood works good.
Goldenrod, horsetail weed.

lots of choices out there But make sure it is soft wood.

Also forgot to mention.. the first time really, really sucks. I failed a bunch... but once you figure out how to do it it gets a lot easier..
one thing to try.. go slow and steady with out too much pressure until you build up a pile of dust and it starts smoking then go like crazy with more pressure to get the actual coal.

Luck and keep at it.
N2

[recurve shooter]

thanks man! im in south louisiana, and im sure i can find something soft out there. eastern red cedar is fairly comon, i'll try to get some of that. 

[jamie]

recurve get an erc sapwood board and look for a yucca flower stem in somebodies landscape. i use this to teach first timers who are frustrated. its basically a primitive match it works so easy. after working with some of the stuff you tried you'll get a coal lickety split. one other thing dont try so hard, just be smooth with the bow and it will happen. i was teaching a class and had an eighty year old women with us. i was worried how i was gonna get her to do it. she was the second person to get a coal. later she told me she played violin her whole life.

[aaron]

as jamie said- find yucca, one that has been dead since last year. keep trying- you'll get it! pics of your set ?

[ricktrojanowski]

Man, that subject line sure caught my attention.
 Friction fire is my favorite of the primitive skills.  Your wood combo is the most important part of your quest for fire.  I like ERC for a board as Jamie suggested.  Also had very good luck with Paw Paw and Poplar.  I like to use a Northern White Cedar spindle, but the board and spindle can be of the same material with great results.  Just keep all material nice and dry
 A proper notch is also very important.  Too big, and the dust cools to fast, too small and it doesn't collect and build up well.  Make sure the point of the notch meets the center of your hole that the spindle creates.  I like to also enlarge the bottom side of the notch, so that it is larger on the bottom than the top.  This shelters the dust and allows it to heat up better. 
Make sure you are using some type of lubricant between your handhold (made of a hardwood, or stone) and the spindle top.  I usually just crush up a leaf and stick it in the socket. 
Start off slow with good long trows of the bow.  Slow and Steady at first, then gradually pick up speed.  When you start seeing fair amounts of smoke, add pressure and more speed.  Keep going even if you think you have it, and don't stop until you are completely exhausted.  Most importantly BREATHE.  I see when I teach people, that often they hold their breath.  This is an aerobic effort, you will need to keep breathing.
Another thought, start with the hand drill.  Same principles, but far simpler.  Horseweed on ERC is my favorite combo for that.

[Buckeye Guy]

I like Yucca on Yucca  very easy to use and find as its planted in almost every cemetery across the nation or so it seems !!

[richardzane]

all good suggestions here.
my first choice will always be using materials that are all around me.
if i have to get in a vehicle and drive to harvest something for a primitive ANYTHING ... i think i'm probably
missing some ancient knowledge of whats right under my nose.
boxelder grows along the creek here is Okl. and is perfect for a spindle. dries as light as a stick of yucca, and will start smoking on the board in less than 20 seconds.
a piece of light driftwood , half rotten sycamore makes a good board. if its as light as balsa wood .
I just tested one out a few minutes ago and it produced a coal in less than a minute.
if a spindle or board squeaks like a dying rabbit forget it..its a sure sign of resin...might attract unwelcome attention as well.
my stone handhold was a gift, an ancient one from our Wyandot homelands...grease or crushed leaves keeps the spindle turning smooth.heard even earwax works,
but the idea of a group of people saving or donating their earwax to the pile isn't appealing.

[stickbender]

    Eeeewwwww! Earwax donations!   You can use your own natural oils, by either applying the end of the spindle to the sides of your nose, or rubbing your finger on the sides, and then applying the oil to the socket tool.  My cousin found a little earwax spoon on an old wreck down here in Florida.  So that is what it was for, saving it up for spindles and sockets for fire making!
Now to find the little earwax depository box...... !

                                                                     Wayne

[jpayne]

I had my first success with friction fire today . I've been trying this off and on for years now. It's so simple when you do everything right and don't rush or panic.
.

[Dazv]

use ceder and move your bow slow

[outback118]

I had my first luck with willow. try to make the board and drill out of the same piece of wood.

I made a stone hand block for a kit started by pecking but was taking forever and the dremal tool was sitting there so i polished it up and put a dab of tallow on to lube.It works really nice.

[cutfinger]

In north Minnesota we use basswood for the board and spindle, you should have a coal and flame in about 60 to 90 sec. Antler,stone or ironwood for the thunderbird.practice alot and do it in the rain for the test.

[Adam]

I'll second what everyone else said.  I took a survival skills class a few years ago, and one tip that really helped me is that if you're trying different woods, try to get one that you can fairly easily dent with your fingernail.  If you can't, the wood is probably too hard.  I'm sure there are some people out there than could make nearly any wood work, but I'm certainly not one of them.  Another thing that helps if your bowstring is slipping on the spindle is to rough it up a little bit.  Just scratching a couple times along the spindle's length with a sawblade from a Swiss army knife can have a dramatic effect.  Hope that helps a little.

[swamp monkey]

I have used cypress, read cedar sapwood and cottonwood for fire board.  I use the yucca for the spindle and that works good to.

when I first began learning I used a shot glass for the bearing block.  not real historically accurate but i would argue it is primitive.  I have since made a hickory bearing block. 

I use leather for the bow and have used a bison rib and willow for the bow.  what do you all use for those items?