Hand Drill Friction Fire - From Agony to Ember (A Beginners Perspective)
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Date: 2021-05-17
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Comments and reviews: 10
gundog5
Congrats, TWB! It seems it's almost a necessary evil to endure the struggle to get that first success. It's all downhill from here. It gets easier with more practice & experience. And, you'll be able to comfortably do it without, honey, sap, water, saliva, ash, etc. or any other stuff for added grip on the hands.
If the hands are sore, I sometimes hold a couple frozen water bottles wrapped in paper towels in each hand. Also, I periodically use 2 different grits of sandpaper to smooth down the callouses on the hands. The wife will likely thank you for it, ha ha.
One thing to ponder, if you really wanna be able to do hand drill at any time, you wanna maintain some level of keeping the hands conditioned for it on a regular basis, I'd say, about once a week, no longer than once every 2 weeks. It's not one of those skill you get good at then not do for months or years thinking you can pick up where you left off (unless you're using really ideal sets.
Also, being a good hand driller will make you a better bow driller as you're more exposed to the nuances of friction fire-making. Especially, if you challenge yourself with less than ideal tools & materials. With either method, you'll be able to improve your success rate depending on the resources available.
If you really wanna burn some calories then the fire plow is for you, ha ha.
reply
Congrats, TWB! It seems it's almost a necessary evil to endure the struggle to get that first success. It's all downhill from here. It gets easier with more practice & experience. And, you'll be able to comfortably do it without, honey, sap, water, saliva, ash, etc. or any other stuff for added grip on the hands.
If the hands are sore, I sometimes hold a couple frozen water bottles wrapped in paper towels in each hand. Also, I periodically use 2 different grits of sandpaper to smooth down the callouses on the hands. The wife will likely thank you for it, ha ha.
One thing to ponder, if you really wanna be able to do hand drill at any time, you wanna maintain some level of keeping the hands conditioned for it on a regular basis, I'd say, about once a week, no longer than once every 2 weeks. It's not one of those skill you get good at then not do for months or years thinking you can pick up where you left off (unless you're using really ideal sets.
Also, being a good hand driller will make you a better bow driller as you're more exposed to the nuances of friction fire-making. Especially, if you challenge yourself with less than ideal tools & materials. With either method, you'll be able to improve your success rate depending on the resources available.
If you really wanna burn some calories then the fire plow is for you, ha ha.
reply
Boreal
Try to pick a spindle that is thinner and not oblong but round (6-10mm diameter) with a more even width throughout it's length. Also mullein stalks tend to have bends that cause it to wobble in the hearth board (I think this was the main issue for you. Try to pick as straight a shaft as possible and use heat to straighten it as you would an arrow. Also maximize the surface area of your palm to get more revolutions per pass. To be honest for me mullein ranks up there with cattail for it's stubbornness to produce an ember. The best spindle I've found by far is goldenrod which I pick green after it reaches full bloom in August.
Practicing the hand drill is never a waste of time - you will only get better. The hardest part is overcoming that stage where the contact points polish - I usually scrape the surfaces rough because once you start polishing it's very difficult to grind that material off to get the necessary friction with the familiar smooth grinding sound that easily produces smoke. One way some people do this is by putting a few grains of sand in there.
Give the floating method a try as its not too difficult to learn. The hand drill is my most favorite way to start a fire and I hope this information helps some of you guys out there.
reply
Try to pick a spindle that is thinner and not oblong but round (6-10mm diameter) with a more even width throughout it's length. Also mullein stalks tend to have bends that cause it to wobble in the hearth board (I think this was the main issue for you. Try to pick as straight a shaft as possible and use heat to straighten it as you would an arrow. Also maximize the surface area of your palm to get more revolutions per pass. To be honest for me mullein ranks up there with cattail for it's stubbornness to produce an ember. The best spindle I've found by far is goldenrod which I pick green after it reaches full bloom in August.
Practicing the hand drill is never a waste of time - you will only get better. The hardest part is overcoming that stage where the contact points polish - I usually scrape the surfaces rough because once you start polishing it's very difficult to grind that material off to get the necessary friction with the familiar smooth grinding sound that easily produces smoke. One way some people do this is by putting a few grains of sand in there.
Give the floating method a try as its not too difficult to learn. The hand drill is my most favorite way to start a fire and I hope this information helps some of you guys out there.
reply
David
AMAZING job man! Mastering the hand drill is such a humbling experience. Just keep going now that you've got your first coal. The one tidbit I can add to clear up some of your confusion has to do with length of stroke and speed. You really need to stop splaying your fingers and make use of the entire hand. Relax the hand and the fingers should almost be massaging each other while drilling. Once you do this, you will be surprised how much easier this will be on your hands, how much longer your stroke can be and (more importantly) how much more speed you can get. Speed is the key to the hand drill, not pressure, and while your form is nearly perfect, your speed needs to be taken up one more level. With speed you get heat and heat allows you to drill with less pressure and creates the necessary ignition. Also, as I noted in your shorter vid, mullein is a pain in the ass because the heat is in the center of the pit rather than the outer ring. I recommend goldenrod. Good luck man!
reply
AMAZING job man! Mastering the hand drill is such a humbling experience. Just keep going now that you've got your first coal. The one tidbit I can add to clear up some of your confusion has to do with length of stroke and speed. You really need to stop splaying your fingers and make use of the entire hand. Relax the hand and the fingers should almost be massaging each other while drilling. Once you do this, you will be surprised how much easier this will be on your hands, how much longer your stroke can be and (more importantly) how much more speed you can get. Speed is the key to the hand drill, not pressure, and while your form is nearly perfect, your speed needs to be taken up one more level. With speed you get heat and heat allows you to drill with less pressure and creates the necessary ignition. Also, as I noted in your shorter vid, mullein is a pain in the ass because the heat is in the center of the pit rather than the outer ring. I recommend goldenrod. Good luck man!
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Martina
u did well. i didn't. about 2 years ago i watching 1reallybigmonkey (david pearson. he was doing this then. Muellen i had i grown 10 feet from my front door. i got some and u wouldn't believe how that tore-up my hands. i had blisters for days and i had the hand spindle very smooth. still caused massive blisters. i nev did accomplish the hand drill. i'll tell u what. for primitive fire making that hand drill makes u appreciate the heck out of flint (quartz rock) striker and charred punkwood. that hand drill is hell. would like to say i mastered it, but i sure didn't. not doing it again. those blisters killed me for 2 weeks. VG & LIKED!
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u did well. i didn't. about 2 years ago i watching 1reallybigmonkey (david pearson. he was doing this then. Muellen i had i grown 10 feet from my front door. i got some and u wouldn't believe how that tore-up my hands. i had blisters for days and i had the hand spindle very smooth. still caused massive blisters. i nev did accomplish the hand drill. i'll tell u what. for primitive fire making that hand drill makes u appreciate the heck out of flint (quartz rock) striker and charred punkwood. that hand drill is hell. would like to say i mastered it, but i sure didn't. not doing it again. those blisters killed me for 2 weeks. VG & LIKED!
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VanishingNomad
The handrill is the bane of my existence. I am actually really good with a bowdrill. I have a lot of little details to make that work though. My thought is that the handdrill has a bunch of little details as well. I just don't know what they are.
Oddly, I paid someone to teach me the bowdrill. He offered a try at a hand drill after the class, and with his coaching i got one right away. Since then though, I have gotten maybe 3 or 4 successes. I seem to get one out of every 20 or so attempts.
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The handrill is the bane of my existence. I am actually really good with a bowdrill. I have a lot of little details to make that work though. My thought is that the handdrill has a bunch of little details as well. I just don't know what they are.
Oddly, I paid someone to teach me the bowdrill. He offered a try at a hand drill after the class, and with his coaching i got one right away. Since then though, I have gotten maybe 3 or 4 successes. I seem to get one out of every 20 or so attempts.
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Martina
it's the only type of friction fire i have never been able to master. i'm not finished with messing with though, but for me next time i try it i will use mechanic's gloves. if mechanic's gloves don't work for me i won't i don't know what. i have blistered my hands terribly attempting to to do it and i'm not gonna do that to myself anymore.
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it's the only type of friction fire i have never been able to master. i'm not finished with messing with though, but for me next time i try it i will use mechanic's gloves. if mechanic's gloves don't work for me i won't i don't know what. i have blistered my hands terribly attempting to to do it and i'm not gonna do that to myself anymore.
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hansherrera
ok get ur shoe lace make hoops on each end make a notch on the top so it holds the shoe lace put the lace in the notch then put both hoops in ur thumbs and spin u get down ward pressure and u dont kill ur hans tope in 5 min u have fire
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ok get ur shoe lace make hoops on each end make a notch on the top so it holds the shoe lace put the lace in the notch then put both hoops in ur thumbs and spin u get down ward pressure and u dont kill ur hans tope in 5 min u have fire
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exdy
Idk. I think if you try to use the spindle upside down you will have more posaibilities, you have more grip, and the spindle don't drill trough the fireboard so quickly. Tell me if it works for you.
Thanks for sharing.
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Idk. I think if you try to use the spindle upside down you will have more posaibilities, you have more grip, and the spindle don't drill trough the fireboard so quickly. Tell me if it works for you.
Thanks for sharing.
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Tinman13
Congratulations man. I just made my first real attempt at a hand drill friction fire with Mullien today. After watching your epic struggle I'm having second thoughts now. Lol wow, what determination! I'm impressed.
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Congratulations man. I just made my first real attempt at a hand drill friction fire with Mullien today. After watching your epic struggle I'm having second thoughts now. Lol wow, what determination! I'm impressed.
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Boggy
One more thing Chris! A BIG PAT ON THE BACK FROM ME for making your first ember with an ALL WOOD set! After watching this I'm confident you would have gotten an ember much sooner if you had an ideal set.
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One more thing Chris! A BIG PAT ON THE BACK FROM ME for making your first ember with an ALL WOOD set! After watching this I'm confident you would have gotten an ember much sooner if you had an ideal set.
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