Practice Hand drill (pics added)

[Outbackbob48]

   Wind was blowing pretty good and snow flying every direction, then rain and then sun would shine for 15 minutes then repeat, Needed to get a fire going so I was up for a practice challenge. I got out a horseweed spindle and whitepine hearth board. Got a coal pretty quick and had a nice tulip poplar inner bark tinder bundle and the wind made it easy to get a flame, a little birch bark and no problem nice fire. Having a little trouble with pics on this one ,Computers are way more difficult than primitve fire. UGH Bob

[BrianS]

Bob,
Have had limited success with a bow drill but I never was able to use a hand drill to get a coal. My hats off to you.
Recently I learned the fire roll method. Never saw it before until Dino showed me. Works very well. I have used both wood ash and believe it or not Rust
brian

[Deerhunter21]

i got smoke with the, get a soft stick, dull a side and rub it against a plank trick. learned it from a Polynesian friend who then fire danced with his fire knives at our scout camp. set his tongue on fire, along with his hand. scared a counselor half to death (he was kinda a jerk to us anyway), and then let me try! good times.

[Hawkdancer]

Haven't tried it yet, but if you got smoke, fire ain't far behind!  Got to make a hearth board and spindle, got a neat antler hand piece in the Christmas trade a while back.  Soft wood for the hearth board and stiff wood for the spindle?, and a bit of tinder at hand!  Maybe magnesium shavings! . Must have been a neat scout camp!  All of our staff were a bit crazy, but that was "Dragons and Dundeons" era!  We even built a running deer target on my rifle range for black powder shoot night!  The scouts loved it!
Hawkdancer

[GlisGlis]

Haven't tried it yet, but if you got smoke, fire ain't far behind!

I used to believe that until I tried 
hand drill is so simple concept and so hard to learn 

[Outbackbob48]

Hawkdancer, I like soft for both hearth and spindle. Pithy weeds seem to work well for spindles, Horseweed ,mugwort, giant goldenrod, yucca, mullien, cattail sometimes can be iffy. Brian if I get back to Hawkeye we will work on your handrill, the first time I saw a friend of mine do the cotton roll ash coal totally amazed me, still is mind boggling. Bob

[BrianS]

Bob,
Thanks. I think of all the various methods of starting a fire, the hand drill is the skill to learn.
The fire roll absolutely amazed me when I first saw it at Dino's Fur Shed. Back in the Winter, We had a informal contest amongst some guys where regardless of the weather, you needed to start a fire outside every day for a week  using a different method each day. Most of the Guys did very well but Dino and Kevin were the only two to make fire all seven days.
Back to the fire roll, I was thinking of trying chaga instead of ash or rust. I may get a break from taking care of my mom for a few hours. If I do, I have some chaga and will give the fire roll a try using it.
Take care,
brian

[Deerhunter21]

When there's smoke, there's false hope!! gawsh my arms hurt the next day!!

[BrianS]

Bob,
Trail tarp setup looks good.
I tried the fire roll using chaga. Here is a short video with the results I got.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbgcnFlDxXI
Take care,
brian

[Hawkdancer]

I am still trying to learn to do flint and steel! . But I think a bow drill on the spindle is easier to get a spark going.  I do salute anyone who can use those very primitive methods!
Hawkdancer

[wstanley]

With the right material (and lots of practice) the spindle and hearth method is the absolute easiest IMO (especially in survival situations). The bow method requires you to have 4 items and the technique requires more energy as you are doing many different things at once (pushing down on the spindle, foots resting on the hearth, sawing motion back and forth with the bow, not to mention you gotta make sure your spindle doesn't come off the string). Too many steps for me, hahah.

One way to help with the spindle/hearth method is to add one more item. First cut a notch in the top end of the spindle, just like an arrow. Then take about a 1.5' of cordage/rope with loops on each end. Put your thumbs in each loop and the midpoint of the string in the nock of the spindle. This allows you to apply downward pressure while keeping your hands in place as you spin the drill.

I use elderberry spindle against a buckeye hearth and can have a coal in 30 seconds. Lots of practice and blistered palms to get there. Its not about brut strength. Focus, breathe, and yes you need to put a little elbow grease into it. If your not getting jet black dust, don't even waist your time you will never get a coal no matter how much smoke you create. 

[Outbackbob48]

Brian, who would have ever thunk that fireroll would work so well. The tarp set up is my summer camp, I have spent probably a dozens nights in there so far, It has been a cold spring so far.

Wstanley, I used to use a notch and string to get more down pressure when I first started, then graduated to pinepitch on my spindle to get down pressure. This worked very well but would blister hands even better. I was at an event and saw a guy put on demo and he was using sifted hardwood ash on his hands to help with down pressure, I tried this and is now my favorite helper. When I first started handrills I thought it was that I needed more strength and power and my age was against me. I am 72 yrs old so strength and power are becoming harder to come by , Finally seen the right fire demo where the man stressed finesse and technique over brute force and my success with handrill fire greatly improved from that day. Like you said, if you don't have black dust and enough of it your not going to get a coal. Bob

[BowEd]

I like it Bob.
Good demo too Brian.
Slick.

[GlisGlis]

I used to use a notch and string to get more down pressure when I first started

i never fell in love with notch and string even if apparently it's a great method
i found it limit my hands strokes and when the string is rolled up on the spindle it make harder to grip it
I may do it incorrectly tough

[Outbackbob48]

Glis, not sure how your using string, put thumbs in loops and palms never touch string, I like wood ashes the best. Bob