From time to time I feel the urge to be a little primal. An urge that creates a desire to go back to the times when each day pivoted around survival. Where the strong and skilled thrived, and the weak perished. Success of early humans greatly depended on the discovery of fire. Fire is a key part of our history and without it, would not function as we do today. The discovery of fire led to the ability to cook meat after hunts, create warmth in the cold and forge tools to improve living standards. When we look back into human history, there has always been an allure to fire for humans. Is it the warmth and comfort attracting us or the blues and oranges of the flame that hypnotize our minds as we watch them flicker and spark. Regardless of what it is that captivates us, there is no doubt that without fire, our species would simply not exist.
Today, we are spoiled with items like lighter fluid and the Bic lighter that make the art of fire-making a lost skill. No longer are the days of rubbing two sticks together vigorously. However, remove that lighter and truly ask yourself - can I make a fire? For most, the answer is probably “no”. Knowledge of making a fire without modern equipment is not a skill most people need or even care to have. However, as someone who appreciates primitive skills and a challenge, I pushed myself to learn fire-making the "old way".
I remember several years ago I had just had my wisdom teeth taken out and while recovering I spent a lot of time watching the survival shows. My favorite at the time was Dual Survival. One of the hosts of the show is a survival and primitive skills expert who teaches desert survival in Arizona. In the episode I was watching he made a fire using a hand drill (more on hand drills in a bit) and made it look so easy. From then on I was hooked and wanted to know more. I initially thought - how hard can it be? It’s just rubbing two sticks together! Boy, was I wrong in so many ways. There’s a plethora of factors that go into primitive fires that can cause success and failure. I have had many failures and a handful of successes, but what I have learned through the process is invaluable and makes me better in the end. There is always a lesson to learn.
So let’s take ourselves back to several hundred thousand years. There you are, sitting at your camp in clothing fashioned from furs and hide. You're cold and hungry. Snow begins to fall as grey skies roll in overhead. Hunters from the tribe are out on the search for wild game. You were tasked with starting the fire to cook the day's harvest. Tonight’s feast depends solely on you. No pressure, right? You’ve gathered your kindling and larger pieces of firewood but unfortunately that Bic lighter won’t be invented for a while. Lucky for you, the hand drill only requires two items; a spindle and a hearth board. The spindle is a pinky finger thick piece of wood that ranges in length from 16 to 24 inches. I prefer a longer spindle as it allows for a few more twists when turning the spindle thus creating heat quicker. The spindle should be as straight as possible. The hearth board is the base that the spindle will rotate on. There are several wood types that can be used. Soft, non-resinous wood with a low ignition points is ideal. In my neck of the woods I have found willow, cedar, and yucca work the best. Cottonwood and basswood are other woods that can be used. If you can get your hands on yucca, it is the best one out there hands down. Keep in mind, if you harvest green wood you’ll want to allow it to dry so there is little to no moisture content within it.
Constructing The Kit
So now that we have our hand drill pieces in order, it's time to get them prepped. Remove the bark from the spindle as best as you can to make it smoother. Your hands will thank you later. I also like to shape up the tips just to smooth them out too. Do not sharpen the tips though. The smaller end will be the bottom of the spindle that will come into contact with the hearth board. A good hearth board is made from splitting in half a piece of wood, forming two pieces or two hearth boards. After splitting, you’ll notice the pith in the center of some woods. This is the oldest and softest part of the wood. Make sure to shave the bottom side (bark side) until it is somewhat flat. This will aid it in keeping the hearth board stable when drilling. I like to start by taking my knife point and carving out a small indentation into the hearth board. You’ll want the depression to be about an 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch from the hearth boards edge, in the pithy part. Once you have the depression created, take the spindle and place it into the depression and twist it to make it similar in diameter as the spindle. I typically sit on my butt with one foot supporting the heart board. Using a little down pressure will allow the spindle to create the circular groove needed on the hearth board. Keep spinning the spindle until you see smoke. Once you see smoke, the indentation will be large enough to fit the entire spindle end in it. Now you are ready to establish the "pie cut" into the hearth board.
The pie cut or notch is just what it sounds like. You will take your knife and cut a pie slice out of the circle indentation that was just made. This part is quite technical as you don’t want to make the cut too deep into the circle. Take your time here and make sure it is right. Oftentimes this is where people mess up. Try to divide your circle into thirds. You’ll want to cut your notch about 1/3 of the way into the circle. The cut will also be the full depth of the hearth board. The angle of your notch will be about 45 degrees to 60 degrees. The point of the notch is to allow dust to collect in a concentrated area and the friction of the spindle on the hearth board will generate heat that heats up the dust. The goal is to build up enough heat to ignite the dust into an ember. The last item you’ll want to make is the tinder bundle for when the coal is created. Picture making a bird's nest consisting of dry twigs, grass, etc. that you can form into a bird nest shape with a slight depression in the center.
Creating A Coal
Now that the hand drill pieces have been made, it is time to put it to use. There are several positions a person can be in when working a hand drill. You can sit on your butt as previously mentioned or rest on one or both knees. A heavy item such as a rock can even be placed on the edges of the hearth board to hold it in place. Make sure to place something thin under your hearth board to catch the coal. A thin piece of bark works great. Once you figure out a position that is comfortable and works for you, take your spindle and place it in the created depression on the hearth board. Hand drilling is a physical activity. It will wear you out quickly so take your time and don't rush. It’s also important to prepare your hands first to avoid blisters. Take it slow and steady. Before starting, spit or grease your palms and rub down the spindle. This helps lubricate the spindle to prevent blisters forming on your hands. Begin by spinning the spindle between your hands at a decent pace, not too slow, not too fast. Just a nice comfortable pace. Keep spinning the spindle for a while. You shouldn’t be applying any downward pressure yet. What you are doing is building up a little heat and creating small amounts of dust.
After a minute or so of spinning the spindle at a comfortable pace, start to apply some downward pressure and pick up the pace a tad. This is the part where your efforts matter most. You will find that your hands will work down the spindle and you will need to stop and reset back to the top. That is normal. Those that have a lot of practice and experience learn to “float” their hands where they stay towards the top of the spindle. They’ll keep the spindle going without having to reset. You’ll want to keep the spindle rotating with downward pressure until you start to see smoke. After you first see smoke, keep going for another 30 to 45 seconds to a minute. After that time has passed, stop to see if a little cherry is burning. Hopefully, your efforts result in a hot coal. If a coal is created, bring your tinder bundle over to the coal, not the other way around. Think of your coal as the most fragile creation in the world. Once you have your tinder bundle close to your coal, take your hearth board away and place the coal into the tinder bundle. The coal is the egg in the bird nest. Begin to slowly blow on the coal. Be very gentle with your breaths as you do not want to blow the coal out. As you blow, the coal will start to smoke the tinder bundle. As more smoke is generated, more air is needed. Keep blowing until the tinder bundle flames. Once flames are created, place the tinder bundle down and start placing kindling on the flames. Continue adding kindling as needed.
There you have it; fire with sticks. By rubbing two sticks together you can spark life and every time someone sees this, it’s just pure magic. I can promise you that once you go through this process, you will never look at a campfire in the same way. There are few things that satisfy the human spirit as much as not being dependent on modern materials. I realize that primitive living is not everyone's idea of luxury but it does teach us to reflect on our history and immerse ourselves back in our roots as people. I do believe that we all have a wild soul in all of us....sometimes it just takes feeding the fire to let it out.
Questions or comments are always welcomed. Until next time, stay wild.
Brock
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