I am trying to get a bow drill kit together.
What do you all use?
buck

You need a really soft fire board, like cedar. My bow strings wear out real fast too, so make some spares.

Buck you in Colorado? Cache La Poudre?

Yucca flower stems work great, for borad and drill.Grease up your cup for the drill to spin in. Keep even downward pressure with your body over it.

Try this site:http://www.natureskills.com/bow_drill_fire_making.html

thanks bufflerrub
that sight is just the key

i have found a bunch of yucca plants, I just need to go harvest some pieces.

What do you use for a cup?

I read somewhere that antler makes a ood cup and it also polish's nice wich results in needing less "grease". any thoughts?

I also saw a guy grease his cup real good by digging in his nose and pulling out a stringer. It seemed to work ok and I will never forget the visual

buck

Buck- Yes, a good palm cap (cup) can be on of the trickiest components to procure.

If you wander enough creek-beds and lake shores, you will occasionally find a nice size rock with a naturally formed depression or pocket. This, with a little bear grease, will work pretty well. I have found basalt to be the optimum in this material type.

My personal favorite is to use the astragalus bone from a white-tail deer. This bone is located between the tibia and fused metatarsals of the hind leg, the lowest leg joint you generally cut off when dressing the animal. The bone is of a "blocky" shape, being roughly rectangular from a "top" view, and rather figure-8 shaped from a side view. About 1.75" x 1.25" in the "rectangular" dimensions, depending on the size of the specimen. Skin out that lower "leg" (actually the equivalent of your foot bones), and you'll find it.

The "bottom" of the astragalus has a pocket that is nicely sized. Can be enlarged with a bit of carving if needed.

This bone is compact, light and relatively low friction. Again, a bit of bear grease will further reduce friction, just don't get any down the drill shaft!

For drill shaft and board, I've found aspen and basswood to work well. Dry,dry dry!

that deer bone sounds like it would work great. i think i managed to find a rock that had a round depression in it that worked ok.
ive heard that the wood that you want for the board or drill shouldnt be a sappy wood.
heres a website.
http://www.primitivefire.com/

johnnyboy76-

Was unsure of your meaning in using the term "sappy".
If you're using it in the sense of "green" or damp, then yes , it should be avoided with a passion, as should resinous woods (primarily conifers), though, as Pichou noted, good, dry cedar will work.

If your using the term in regards to the differentiation between sapwood and heartwood, than it is not such a critical factor. I actually prefer the sapwood, as it tends to be less dense ("softer") than heartwood, though in the afore-mentioned species such as aspen and basswood there is not as great a difference in density as say, oak or maple.

The two primary keys are soft hardwoods and DRY!
Standing dead timber is always my first pick. Knock down, split, carve to shape. Not perfectly round. Leave some narrow "flats" as the bow-string will grab better.

For those east of the area where yucca is available, dried mullein stalks can serve a similar function.

I frequently make my bow-strings of braided brain-tan strips. They stand up pretty well.

I waxed the bowstring and found that also helps to grip the 'spindle.'

Leaving some rough edges on the spindle, as mentioned earlier, also helps.

Cottonwood/poplar is also a good wood. I have used a poplar spindle and a sagebrush hearth to make fire, but I do prefer yucca.

The notch in the hearth is also critical, but that can be adjusted once you have a good start on the hole. If you don't have the notch placed so the embers can drop out of the hole, you make lots of smoke but then grind the embers out.

Done correctly you end up with a nice coal to put in your bird nest. Putting a bit of tinder under the hearth to catch the embers is also effective.


Sparks

Some of the dimensions you read about are just guidelines...the fire makers choice.

Unless you get your sticks from the sawmill, they vary. My yucca fire spindles might go as large as 3/4 inch, but just over 3/8 inch is more what I can get. The larger the diameter of spindle (within reason) the more friction. You do need the spindle to be straight.

For hearth thickness...once you split a couple rounded faces of a yucca stick to make a flat-sided hearth it is likely to not be an inch thick. You have a bit more opportunity to get thicker hearths with poplar, cottonwood, sagebrush, etc. But I don't have problems starting fires because my hearths are too thin. Granted, there isn't enough wood in one hole to start two fires.

By the way, cutting a gnarly piece of sagebrush trunk into a flat hearth is a challenge. It should be considered a sport in itself.

Sparks