Friction Fire

[stickbender]

     Have any of you tried the Egyptian bow drill?  It is a short bow, with the string tied to the spindle, and there is excess string, so that it can be wrapped around the spindle, by twisting the spindle, and you use like a regular bow drill, with a sawing motion, but the string is not being rubbed back and forth on the spindle, so not much friction wear on the string.

                                     Wayne

[Stringman]

I've seen it, but yet to duplicate it on my own.

[Forest_Farmer]

Never seen the Egyptian set up, if someone makes one please post a pic.

I have been working on the hand drill technique, and trying to figure out how to be more consistent.  Here are a couple of tips that I discovered, or found while watching youtube videos.

1) if your spindle starts to get burnished on the fiction face, add a very small amount of sand, or ground stone to the divot on the hearth board.  This will help you to generate dust much faster, and save your strength.  This was a big discovery!! it really helps, especially when damp, or using less than ideal materials. Just don't use too much or you will quickly drill through your hearth board.

2) A good alternative to using pine pitch on the spindle to make it less slippery, is bees wax, or bow makers string wax.  I figure most people on this site have some laying around.

These two tips have greatly improved my success rate on making embers with a hand drill.  In fact, I have not failed using these tips, even tried them this AM which was very moist out. 

Hope this helps,
Ed

[Forest_Farmer]

Outback Bob,
On your post below, you mentioned that you saved chaga for tea.  Can you explain how you made the tea, and are there any risks with this.  Oh, and does it taste good?

I'm always looking for new type of foods that are foraged,  hence the name "Forest Farmer"..
Thx,
Ed


Re: Friction Fire
« Reply #30 on: September 17, 2015, 12:18:24 pm »
Quote
Dakota Kid, true tinder fungus or Chaga which grows on the birchs will catch a spark like char cloth or can be used to extend your coal from friction fires, it will not burst to flame by itself needs to be in a tinder bundle, other coal extenders are cap cracked polypores which grow on locust, there are many things used to extend coals but very few things which can catch low temp flint and steel sparks, the only ones that i know of other than char cloth are true tinder fungus and milkweed ovums, I don't build many flint and steel fires so I save my Chaga for teas and build my fires with coals created from bow drill or hand drills, I have been gathering a few plants as fall approachs, horseweed, mugwort and mullien, like to find a few yucca also. Later Bob

[Outbackbob48]

Forest, You can take a pc of chaga and simmer for an hr in say a qt of water or so, strain and drink with a little honey for sweetner. Can also be ground and just pour water over grounds and steep, I f you use the chunks you can resimmer until tea gets to weak, save chuncks redry and use for flint and steel. Chaga tea is very mild to drink, The only side effect for me is sometimes makes me dream Look up benfits  on search. Hope this helps Forest. Oh some make ice tea after brewing Bob

[nclonghunter]

I have heard that you should not use the blackened outside edges of chaga for tea. I however use a wood rasp and run it across the chaga (red core and black outside) and make a small amount of powdered tea. Put in a coffee cup and pour hot boiled water on it. Add a little local honey and let it sit for a while. I really like the flavor and the natural health bennefits. Wish it would grow near me.

Never tried drying it after using as tea. Good idea Bob, will give it a go.

[Forest_Farmer]

Thx Bob and NC,  I'll do some research and give the chaga tea a try.

[stickbender]

     To me it tastes like a mix of tea, and coffee.

                                     Wayne

[Forest_Farmer]

Hey Guys, I was doing some quick research on chaga and polypore fungus.  It turns out that there are many types of polypore fungus, Chaga is just one type. 

The image I posted in this earlier in this thread is a type of polypore, but not true chaga.  So I don't know if it's safe to make tea from.  I attached a pic of a true chaga fungus that grows on birch trees.

It sounds like the true chaga grows up North on birch, and i'm not sure if it actually grows here in TN.  If anyone has more info, please share.  At this point I not going to try making tea out of the polypores that I collected, but they are still great ember extenders.

Sorry for the confusion.

BTW,
There is a ton of info on the benefits of chaga tea, so I will seek some out and try it.  Just need to make sure I collect the right stuff

[Outbackbob48]

Forest, I don't believe you will find it in Tenn. I have found a few on yellow birch but have seen more on our black birchs here in NW Penna.  I work with a surveyor and spend alot of time looking at empty yellow birchs, I have to travel 50 miles or so to get into the hilly black birchs country. Have fun and let us know how it goes. Bob

[Forest_Farmer]

Bob,
I wanted to let you know, that i collected several horse weed spindles and after trying them they are my new favorite!!  They grow everywhere in middle TN, and if you get a nice straight piece about 5/16" dia. you can twist out a ember really fast.

Thanks for the tips!!
Ed

[Outbackbob48]

Forest, I have found horseweed growing in the Round-up ready soy beans, Farmers here tell me they have built a tolerance to round up doesn,t kill them, Seem to be real abundant, Mugwort is real common here and supposed to be excellent I need to harvest some before we get covered in snow Forest if you need some Chaga let me know and I'll drag some to the Classic or send ya some. I sat down yesterday with a pc of horseweed and red cedar and made 3 coals in row, Some days just can't  quite get  one. Drives me crazy with inconsistsy, I seem to be getting better though , less failures. What type material are using for hearth boards?

[nclonghunter]

Does the red and white of cedar work equally as well?
I would think the outer white wood is best. Also can you break a dead limb off and use it or is the stuff on the ground and aged better?

[Forest_Farmer]

Bob & NC,
I'm mainly using white cedar, it seems softer than red cedar.  I agree with NC on using the outer white wood of red cedar, because it does seem softer than the red heart wood.

The main thing that i recently found to help with my consistency is the dressing of the spindle tip after using it (remove the burnt portion), and using a little bit of grit, or sand in the divot of the hearth board (if the hearth board starts to glaze over). That little bit of grit, helps to make dust faster.  Also, when warming up the spindle, I really try to stay relaxed and not to go too fast, that helps save my strength.

 As soon as I get the notch about 3/4 full of dust, then I start applying more speed and pressure. I usually get a ember within about 20 seconds, after the notch is 3/4 full. 

The more I play with this, I keep finding that a calm relaxed technique is just as important as  having good materials.  I quickly knocked out an ember yesterday and it was wet rainy and very high humidity, but the spindle and hearth board were dry.

Bob,
I would love to try some of your chaga.  If you send some here that would be great, or you could bring some to the classic.  I will definitely be brewing up a nice ale for the classic and the chaga may help to counter the i'll effect of the ale. 

[nclonghunter]

Went to a Rendezvous the other day and a guy had Buffalo bones on the trade blanket.(from a buffalo farm in Virginia) I spotted a rib bone and scored it. I have been rubbing mineral oil into it to give it some natural flexing ability. So far it has worked great and I really like it. The cord is a brain tanned deer hide that has been dyed in walnut. The socket is an elk antler base from an antler I found in Colorado.

I carry the rib bone in my otter hide arrow quiver.