Hand drill is definitely not easier than bow drill, but it is comparable if you're proficeint at it and living in a dry, arid environment, i.e. the desert south west. On the east coast it's next to impossible to make a working hand drill kit on the fly. Believe me, I've tried it a thousand times and it's not easy. Whereas bow drill is a sure bet any time of the year, and would be my go-to friction method in an emergency. Bow drill is easier in the eastern woodlands.
@crunksknunk Amen. For me, bowdrilling is always going to be more reliable and easier than the hand drill. That's just the way it is in the Southeast. I practice the hand drill because I can. It's wonderfully humbling yet confidence building at the same time. It takes discipline to learn it and patience to be proficient. I compare it to practicing an art form. Put me in a situation where I need fire and I'll produce my lighter. :)
You get Kudos for your grit , Hatch but why in the heck would anyone use a hand drill when they could just as easily use a bow drill ???? And only use 1/3rd the effort and 1/10th the pain ?? But seriously , I would be delighted to have you on my tribe on Survivor but you're better looking and much less annoying than me , so I'd probably get voted to Redemption Island before you anyway.Come to think about it that way , I hate you. :~) PM51
@pestleman1951 this may sounds crazy but once you're proficient at hand drill like IHatchetJack, it's much easier than bow drill. Has alot to do with the fact that you're drilling through less wood & creating a smaller ember. Furthermore proper cordage is not always at hand for the bowdrill technique.
@pestleman1951 ahh yes, but you're up shit creek without a paddle if you go and break your shoelaces. Functioning shoes are important, unless you're Cody... Hand drill spindles are much thinner than bow drill because you need smaller surface area in order to get the appropriate downward pressure. A thinner hearth board is also recommended for hand drill as opposed to bowdrill.
@kitsurubami -Circular logic.The business end of both drills obey the exact same laws of physics.Hand drill spindles need to be longer to maintain continuous downward pressure.If you are clever enough to assemble the necessary parts of a hand drill, the cordage and cupped rock for the top are easy additions. I converted my hand drill to a bow drill easily.My leather like hands from 25 years of carpentry were oddly unprepared for hand drilling and soon resemble hamburger after a short time of it.
@pestleman1951 if your hand drill spindle can be converted to a bow drill spindle, then it's way too thick. Yes bowdrill offers the mechanical advantage of a bow, but hand drill is easier given the proper set. The pain you mention is a temporary thing for untrained hands.
@kitsurubami Being called " too thick "is not new for me, for a variety of reasons, my spindle is a 1st. Of the dozen or so good friends, I have known who trained themselves to use hand drills,none maintained the skill over a few years.Yet all can use bow drills without their hands bleeding. How many females have you ever known to operate hand drills. Bow drills are the only primitive fire tech my 2 daughters could master besides strike-a-lites.Basketmaking and abbo-archery they did very well.
@pestleman1951 I use drills all the time that most people would consider "too thick" but they work just as well. It's just a matter of experience and knowing which thickness works best with a particular combination. There's a lot of inaccurate info floating around the internet regarding friction fire.
@crunksknunk Nailed it. My favorite bit of erroneous information is how you can't make an ember in wet or humid environments! Welcome to Georgia; Home of the sub-tropical humidity so thick that our birds swim through the air!
@IHatchetJack Didn't intend to start a war , but a mischief cloud seems to follow me around. I enjoy your site immensely , and don't care one bit if you make using hand drills look ridiculously easy when you do it.But to quote Tommy Smothers , " D d d d d damn sh sh sh sh SHOW o o o OFF !!!
@pestleman1951 No war started. It's good to talk about this stuff without ego and just hear what everyone has to say. I look at like like a book being constantly revised so new information and viewpoints are always welcomed and considered. As far as showing off goes...well....I mean you do have the biggest private pestle collection of anyone I know...show off... :)
@pestleman1951 ahhh ok that's cool. anyways you asked "why in the heck would anyone use a hand drill when they could just as easily use a bow drill ???" Hand drill is easier / faster for me. Not an argument, only personal preference.
I saw the coal on that second one and with that camera angle, really saw why the drill pumping works, pumps air right into the coal pile, Cool!. Got a new hat I see, the construction on it is different, I like it.
@Woodenarrows I've actually had this hat for a few years. It's a bomb proof Kavu I traded a friend out of. Excellent hat once it's broken in. I highly recommend them!
@IHatchetJack of course my Go Kid friend : ) after watching the movie on the weekend I thought it all makes sense now. Im sure Dusty could build a lap top get an internet connection and have a 3 course meal in the woods in 1 hour : ) Awesome vids Dusty aka Cody : ) take care bro !
@MrDamnugly heh..I just got to this comment. I think some folks, including myself at first, though you were calling me Cody Lundin the barefoot viking from dual survival. Only you and I know what you were really referring to! Donkagen! Man, what a great movie!
@IHatchetJack Wait what ? He wasn't calling you Hippie Cody ??? I thought it was an excellent jest. Guess we'll never know what movie you two are talking about.........Oh , bye the bye , I boxed up your soapstone today. Should get it early next week. Want me to throw in some of my nicer 3/4 finished mixed flint generic blade blanks I made years ago and never got around to finishing , for you to play with and finish ?? We can call them collaboration points.It's OK if you break them.No problem.
@pestleman1951 Soapstone and blade blanks sound great. I'd love to play around with them and see what happens! ...the movie reference was from a film I grew up watching and is largely responsible for charging my adventurous and curious spirit. It was called "The Quest" here in america, "The Go Kids" in the U.K. and "Frog Dreaming" in Australia. It's an excellent movie and is pretty unknown these days. No official DVD exists.
@IHatchetJack Sounds fun , I'll watch for it.I picked out a few of my blades to send you. One is really colorful made of whorehouse chert. If it didn't want to be called whorehouse chert, it should have not let them locate a whorehouse at the base of the hill of the quarry [in the middle of absolute nowhere Nevada ]. I answered you before you could ask. If it has another name , no one told me.
Went straight to kitchen, spent a few minutes rubbing my hands together with a spindle and board and ... I am now much hotter, sweating a bit and out of breath. Everything but a coal. FFT ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
@EconoChallenge I almost hate putting up hand drill videos because it's so frustratingly impossible when you're trying to learn. It can be discouraging to see people get easy embers I try and take my time and just make an ember. I don't go for speed and I try to keep from getting too winded. I can also usually cut an entire pass out by using the spindle as a piston to puff the dust into an ember. I like shortcuts.
man you make that look so easy lol
robertmccallum1 3 weeks ago
A never fail friction fire. Your demo's have been helping me learn. Thanks for sharing...
69Grunden 3 weeks ago
Great stuff, Dusty.
Hand drill is definitely not easier than bow drill, but it is comparable if you're proficeint at it and living in a dry, arid environment, i.e. the desert south west. On the east coast it's next to impossible to make a working hand drill kit on the fly. Believe me, I've tried it a thousand times and it's not easy. Whereas bow drill is a sure bet any time of the year, and would be my go-to friction method in an emergency. Bow drill is easier in the eastern woodlands.
crunksknunk 3 weeks ago
@crunksknunk Amen. For me, bowdrilling is always going to be more reliable and easier than the hand drill. That's just the way it is in the Southeast. I practice the hand drill because I can. It's wonderfully humbling yet confidence building at the same time. It takes discipline to learn it and patience to be proficient. I compare it to practicing an art form. Put me in a situation where I need fire and I'll produce my lighter. :)
IHatchetJack 3 weeks ago
Hi Dusty, again a strong performance.
Always amazing how quickly you do it. unbelievable
All the best to you.
Greetings Tito
Naturliebe 3 weeks ago
Very good job, my friend, ...wow! Have a great Day, Sepp
Waldhandwerk 3 weeks ago
Hay Dusty! good job as always
regards,
Pink
forestgnome55 3 weeks ago
Christmas list: pair of shoes and a bic lighter....
Just kidding.... that was so cool!
enjoythewildUSA 3 weeks ago
@enjoythewildUSA Ha! You sound like my brother.
IHatchetJack 3 weeks ago
YOUR VIDS ARE GREAT....
THANK YOU
DIXIECONFEDERATEDAWG 3 weeks ago
i think you have it down! great job!
twisterdude100 3 weeks ago
You get Kudos for your grit , Hatch but why in the heck would anyone use a hand drill when they could just as easily use a bow drill ???? And only use 1/3rd the effort and 1/10th the pain ?? But seriously , I would be delighted to have you on my tribe on Survivor but you're better looking and much less annoying than me , so I'd probably get voted to Redemption Island before you anyway.Come to think about it that way , I hate you. :~) PM51
pestleman1951 3 weeks ago
@pestleman1951 this may sounds crazy but once you're proficient at hand drill like IHatchetJack, it's much easier than bow drill. Has alot to do with the fact that you're drilling through less wood & creating a smaller ember. Furthermore proper cordage is not always at hand for the bowdrill technique.
kitsurubami 3 weeks ago
@kitsurubami Nope , they are called shoelaces, and use the same everything but a bow instead of your hands.
pestleman1951 3 weeks ago
@pestleman1951 ahh yes, but you're up shit creek without a paddle if you go and break your shoelaces. Functioning shoes are important, unless you're Cody... Hand drill spindles are much thinner than bow drill because you need smaller surface area in order to get the appropriate downward pressure. A thinner hearth board is also recommended for hand drill as opposed to bowdrill.
kitsurubami 3 weeks ago
@kitsurubami -Circular logic.The business end of both drills obey the exact same laws of physics.Hand drill spindles need to be longer to maintain continuous downward pressure.If you are clever enough to assemble the necessary parts of a hand drill, the cordage and cupped rock for the top are easy additions. I converted my hand drill to a bow drill easily.My leather like hands from 25 years of carpentry were oddly unprepared for hand drilling and soon resemble hamburger after a short time of it.
pestleman1951 3 weeks ago
@pestleman1951 if your hand drill spindle can be converted to a bow drill spindle, then it's way too thick. Yes bowdrill offers the mechanical advantage of a bow, but hand drill is easier given the proper set. The pain you mention is a temporary thing for untrained hands.
kitsurubami 3 weeks ago
@kitsurubami Being called " too thick "is not new for me, for a variety of reasons, my spindle is a 1st. Of the dozen or so good friends, I have known who trained themselves to use hand drills,none maintained the skill over a few years.Yet all can use bow drills without their hands bleeding. How many females have you ever known to operate hand drills. Bow drills are the only primitive fire tech my 2 daughters could master besides strike-a-lites.Basketmaking and abbo-archery they did very well.
pestleman1951 3 weeks ago
@pestleman1951 I use drills all the time that most people would consider "too thick" but they work just as well. It's just a matter of experience and knowing which thickness works best with a particular combination. There's a lot of inaccurate info floating around the internet regarding friction fire.
crunksknunk 3 weeks ago
@crunksknunk Nailed it. My favorite bit of erroneous information is how you can't make an ember in wet or humid environments! Welcome to Georgia; Home of the sub-tropical humidity so thick that our birds swim through the air!
IHatchetJack 3 weeks ago
@IHatchetJack Didn't intend to start a war , but a mischief cloud seems to follow me around. I enjoy your site immensely , and don't care one bit if you make using hand drills look ridiculously easy when you do it.But to quote Tommy Smothers , " D d d d d damn sh sh sh sh SHOW o o o OFF !!!
pestleman1951 3 weeks ago
@pestleman1951 No war started. It's good to talk about this stuff without ego and just hear what everyone has to say. I look at like like a book being constantly revised so new information and viewpoints are always welcomed and considered. As far as showing off goes...well....I mean you do have the biggest private pestle collection of anyone I know...show off... :)
IHatchetJack 3 weeks ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@pestleman1951 ahhh ok that's cool. anyways you asked "why in the heck would anyone use a hand drill when they could just as easily use a bow drill ???" Hand drill is easier / faster for me. Not an argument, only personal preference.
kitsurubami 3 weeks ago
hahahahaha, Awesome job Cody..... I sappose that's a compliment.hahahhahahah. TOO FUNNY!!!
You make it look too damn easy Dusty. Have a great day brother.
flyfishscm 3 weeks ago
cool camera angle you have on the last ember,
sweet
fredde
hobbexp 3 weeks ago
I saw the coal on that second one and with that camera angle, really saw why the drill pumping works, pumps air right into the coal pile, Cool!. Got a new hat I see, the construction on it is different, I like it.
Woodenarrows 3 weeks ago
@Woodenarrows I've actually had this hat for a few years. It's a bomb proof Kavu I traded a friend out of. Excellent hat once it's broken in. I highly recommend them!
IHatchetJack 3 weeks ago
Awesome Job Cody : )
MrDamnugly 3 weeks ago
@MrDamnugly I suppose that's a compliment. Thanks!
IHatchetJack 3 weeks ago
@IHatchetJack of course my Go Kid friend : ) after watching the movie on the weekend I thought it all makes sense now. Im sure Dusty could build a lap top get an internet connection and have a 3 course meal in the woods in 1 hour : ) Awesome vids Dusty aka Cody : ) take care bro !
MrDamnugly 3 weeks ago
@MrDamnugly heh..I just got to this comment. I think some folks, including myself at first, though you were calling me Cody Lundin the barefoot viking from dual survival. Only you and I know what you were really referring to! Donkagen! Man, what a great movie!
IHatchetJack 3 weeks ago
@IHatchetJack sorry dude i had a few cans of red stripe that night : ) have a good week and thanks for the quality vids..
MrDamnugly 3 weeks ago
@IHatchetJack Wait what ? He wasn't calling you Hippie Cody ??? I thought it was an excellent jest. Guess we'll never know what movie you two are talking about.........Oh , bye the bye , I boxed up your soapstone today. Should get it early next week. Want me to throw in some of my nicer 3/4 finished mixed flint generic blade blanks I made years ago and never got around to finishing , for you to play with and finish ?? We can call them collaboration points.It's OK if you break them.No problem.
pestleman1951 3 weeks ago
@pestleman1951 Soapstone and blade blanks sound great. I'd love to play around with them and see what happens! ...the movie reference was from a film I grew up watching and is largely responsible for charging my adventurous and curious spirit. It was called "The Quest" here in america, "The Go Kids" in the U.K. and "Frog Dreaming" in Australia. It's an excellent movie and is pretty unknown these days. No official DVD exists.
IHatchetJack 3 weeks ago
@IHatchetJack Sounds fun , I'll watch for it.I picked out a few of my blades to send you. One is really colorful made of whorehouse chert. If it didn't want to be called whorehouse chert, it should have not let them locate a whorehouse at the base of the hill of the quarry [in the middle of absolute nowhere Nevada ]. I answered you before you could ask. If it has another name , no one told me.
pestleman1951 3 weeks ago
@MrDamnugly I'm betting Dusty does wear shoes..... sometimes :-))
Woodenarrows 3 weeks ago
Went straight to kitchen, spent a few minutes rubbing my hands together with a spindle and board and ... I am now much hotter, sweating a bit and out of breath. Everything but a coal. FFT ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
EconoChallenge 3 weeks ago
@EconoChallenge I almost hate putting up hand drill videos because it's so frustratingly impossible when you're trying to learn. It can be discouraging to see people get easy embers I try and take my time and just make an ember. I don't go for speed and I try to keep from getting too winded. I can also usually cut an entire pass out by using the spindle as a piston to puff the dust into an ember. I like shortcuts.
IHatchetJack 3 weeks ago
Loved the last shot, you can just see it coming out, thanks for the vid!
chaulsin 3 weeks ago
@chaulsin Glad you liked it!
IHatchetJack 3 weeks ago
Dusty makes a new video "stop everything!"
max465t 3 weeks ago
@max465t ...you may continue about your business now.
IHatchetJack 3 weeks ago