Almost Naked into the Bush Hand Drill Failure

[desduddy]

Hi there Dave. What a great video. Your honesty and openess is really refreshing. Respect. D

[cyclops5276]

I have used a bow drill to start a fire , but not like that video posted by Trevor. I think he was joking around and just trying to give someone an idea of an alternate method. You my friend are to be congratulated on attempting the technique that requires skill and patience.

[PACER2320]

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[scarz1951]

Learning the hand drill is a real bugger ain't it? Yesterday I sliced my paw open. I could see the vein in the bottom of the cut. That was a close one. I'm at the point where I'm getting smoke but no coal so far. I set myself back at least two weeks thru my carelessness yesterday. Shoot fire dern it.

[BushcraftOnFire]

@scarz1951

The very 1st handdrill coal I made was in my LR in Attala AL. I was getting REALLY good smoke... and decided I was GOING to get the coal. I spun about 20 times down the drill... harder and harder.. Until finslly I saw a whisp in the coal pile! I had my coal. I just looked unbelieveably for about 30 secs.. but my hands were still wrapped around the drill tingling. I looked down and saw blood dripping down the spindle! I was out of commission for 2 weeks.. but I had made fire!

[scarz1951]

@BushcraftOnFire Now THAT was as my company commander used to say "intestinal fortitude".

[CrickTroutMaster]

i made a hand drill but could only get a little smoke. i think im doing it right, but i think my spindle may be too hard. should the spindle be softer or harder then the block. also, does it matter how long the wood has been dead for? when i use it, i dont end up with black dust, but just white colored wood dust. i got two or three fine wisps of smoke in about twenty minutes of trying. i kept cutting the bottom of my spindle flat for maximum friction. what do you think the problem is?

[BushcraftOnFire]

@CrickTroutMaster

You want the spindle to be a bit harder than the fireboard. If your dust isn't dark.. you aren't pressing downward hard enough. Try tilting your fingers a bit downward to put more pressure on the drill. But work slowly.. or you will tear up your hands.

[MrVoiceofreason123]

how would you make a water container to boil water if you don't have a metal pot?

[BushcraftOnFire]

@MrVoiceofreason123

The easiest way it to coal burn a container and use hot rocks to boil with.. we did that in another video...

[MrVoiceofreason123]

@BushcraftOnFire Thanks for the tip, I will watch that one soon. I would always carry a metal pot anyway, I'm not a bush purist by any means when it comes to my life haha. Sorry if my comment sounded like those typical "unless everything you use comes from the wild you're not authentic" ones. I was just curious because I never knew how people in old purified water. Though I imagine water sources were less contaminated back then by bacteria. I wonder if the immune systems were stronger too then..

[BushcraftOnFire]

@MrVoiceofreason123

Your comments are fine! I didn't take it like that at all.. In the old.. people didn't purify.. they just drank it. Of course.. some died if there was poison in the water.. of course there weren't near as many impurities as there are today.. and they built antibodies by drinking it all the time. So you are right on all accounts! Thanks for the great comments

[DesertRatArmory]

I suspect that your fireboard or hearth may have been one of the factors. You just picked it up, assuming what it was, but not knowing for sure! Most good combos will produce a coal when you get it smoking and as black you did.

[ke6gwf]

Things to try...

Straighter the spindle the better!

Long strokes, use as much of the length of your hand as possible (start with the spindle on the heel of your hand with your fingertips of the other hand on it, repeat! This gets the max time of rotation per stroke)

Notch towards you.

Adjust the angle of your spindle or fireboard to get the hole to drill where you need it to go (closer/further from the edge. You can sometimes save a blown notch this way).

Look up "Floating Hand Drill" ;)

[scarz1951]

How do you get the downward pressure? Do you press inward real hard with your hands while bearing down with your arms or am I missing something? Thanks.

[BushcraftOnFire]

Yes Scarz..

It's easier to do than to explain.. but basically you press your hands together around the drill.. and push downwards at the same time. Caution: This WILL cause blisters.. go slowly until you have callouses.

[scarz1951]

Thank you kindly for your prompt answer. I enjoy your vids. How did Doo come to be called that?

[BushcraftOnFire]

"Doo" was "Doodlebug" when he was small... When he began to grow up and mature.. Doodlebug just didn't seem to fit anymore.. LOL! So he became "Doo" and it has stuck.

Thanks for your support and comments!

[BushcraftOnFire]

Antidartan..

I would advise against the Maple and the Pine personally. Try this.. it works well and will give you basics...

Get a 1' 1X4 cedar board at your local hardware (HQ, etc)

Cut 1/4 of the board off lengthwise for a drill

Use the remainder for your fireboard

You should be able to get many fires with this 1' board.. and your wife will stop laughing when she sees the living rooom carpet smoking :)

[BushcraftOnFire]

I was speaking about making a bow drill fire in the above post Anti..

If you mean handdrill.. you need to try something like Horseweed, Goldenrod, Mullein or cattail for your drill. Cedar, Poplar, and Basswood make a good hearth.

HTH

[antidartan]

I think your videos are great. I have ufortunately never been able to make fire or even the coal. After what seems like for ever I can smell burnt would though. I live in NY, I have a lot of maple and pine. Should my spindle be maple and fire board be pine or visa versa, or none of the above? Thanks much for helping me get my wife to stop laughing :)

[MysteryMan159]

boy i've seen a LOT of these failures in my personal attempts, some people are so doggone good at this it's nearly sickening. i am just wondering, what do you really focus on while you are doing this? (when it works of course) i mean should i focus on "getting the coal" or just keep it up a medium pace while maintaining perpendicular friction? just wanna know what sorta things are important to make sure they do or don't happen.

[BushcraftOnFire]

Mystery...

When I am doing the drill I focus mainly on pressure and speed. Then I maintain the downward pressure on the drill when repositioning my hands.

That and not sweating on the hearth! LOL!

[chrissept21]

never failure my friend you prolly learned alot doing this and that will help for the next time!

[bindlestitch1]

Great vid. It's important ,imo, to show the failures too. I've had my fair share and I'm sure I'll have many more, it's in the overcoming and not getting discouraged that's key. You show that perfectly. I wish more instructors were this humble.

Later,

Iz

[carveawoodeneye]

naked in to the bush is great, i can't wait to see more!!!!!

thanks for making these.

[ripmyfly1972]

Great video Brother. Proof o how good a teacher you really are.

[wildernessoutfitters]

One hecka of an effort Brother-Most people dont realize how hard this really is-That knife would sur come in Handy Huh? Great Job and Great Lesson!!!!

[BushcraftOnFire]

Thanks Dave..

Yeah.. I figure that if I had a knife.. I could have had a hearth made probably would have uised Willow for a hearth) and a fire going within a few minutes.. alas.. LOL!

[cambigfoot88]

after watching i tried it your commet is 100% right!

[karlsefni01]

awesome skills David!

[rmojo23]

David I understand now. So some quick cordage time then. lol

[73mensailedoff]

Great effort and information Dave 5*

[hobbexp]

really good video, 5/5

[Aerioness]

I see smoke! A for effort.

[laneakjt]

My hat is off to David, I was out there while he was working on this in today. He would not take a shot cut and use a knife or any of the other tools I had around, it also never crossed his mind to not show this video whether he got fire today or not. Not many would do that. I cannot wait until he gets this figured out, so that I don't have such a learning curve...way to go bro!

[rmojo23]

great try.

I would use a boot lace and make a bow drill. You will burn less calories that way, that's the goal. Fire also.

[wolfbrother2501]

teah but you can also rip right through your shoe lace and make walkin awkward

[BushcraftOnFire]

Mojo..

Under normal circumstances I would as well :) And I was very tempted to do so in this video.. I was actually getting frustrated which didn't help things!

But I wanted to stay true to the concept of this series which is to use nothing that I didn't find in the wilderness.. No steel, no manmade cordage, etc.

I hope that explains why I did it the way that I did..

[BushcraftOnFire]

Thanks guys!

I have literally made hundreds (maybe 1000's) of handdrill fires.. but never with no tools before. It definitely steps up the challenge!

We wanted to be real with this video and not just cut it because it didn't work... I think true survival is about successes and failures... Although there is no real failure unless you give up. We won't!

Thanks for all the support!

[GeneralMDBK]

5/5 Star rating for effort. You still showed one of the most important survival traits, the will to go on and not stop.

[wolfbrother2501]

lol its good to see i'm not the only one who can fail at this. then again out of thirty times i've tried this i've only gotten coals four times lmao. it really tears you down but thats a good thing everynow and again reminds us how fickle mother nature can be