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Cold weather friction fire

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Greebe:
Hey I taught my wife this afternoon how to make a fire with a bow drill.  We made everything out of cedar.  Cedar is a good wood for bow drill fire making.

Cottonwood should work well.  It is a medium hardness wood such as cedar and medium works well.

Make sure you use the full length of you bow, i.e. long strokes.  This will make life easier as well.

When making my fireboard, I only make my notch extend about a 1/4 of the way into my hole.  This seems to work better for me than half way in.  IMO it allows the spindle and fireboard to get hotter quicker which facilitates in making a coal faster.

As Rick said once it start smoking keep going.  I keep going long after it starts smoking.  This allows the coal to form better and assures that when you stop you didn't waste your time.

After you lift the fireboard away to reveal you coal, gently blow on your coal.  It won't look like anything is happening but if there is even a little smoke coming off of it you are good.  Just keep gently blowing on it until you get more smoke.  Once it starts smoking a lot and you can see the red coal form, give it some hard blows to catch you tinder on fire.  TIP:  Use lint from your dryer at first to learn with.  It will make it easier for learning.

Good luck,
Greebe

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