First off what kind of drill spindle and hearth board are you using? You want to use dry non resinous types of wood. A good choice that is pretty easy to find is white cedar hearth and spindle. If you can't find already dry (dead but not decayed) cut your pieces and put them in the sun all day to dry out. Go with a spinde about the size of your thumb and a board about 3/8"thick. If you are getting lots of smoke and duff but no coal. You have to keep spinning. Don't stop spinning until you see actual smoke coming from your pile of dust. Then give it 5 more spins for good measure. Move the board away from the coal at that point. Let the coal get some air and congeal and start glowing a nice red. Once it is a nice fat coal place it in your tinder bundle. The bundle is also key. You need some really fine fibrous stuff to get it intitially going. Use inner bark from cedar. Bark from wild grape, cattail down, milkweed down, dry rotted punky wood etc. Keep trying you will get it. If you need more help don't hesitate to ask. Also give the hand drill a try. It is a little harder at first but once you get it you will think it is much easier.
