Friction Fire Using the Bowdrill

Friction fire is a skill that is a great asset to anyone who spends time in the outdoors and will help you to understand the principles involved in conventional fire starting.  The standard for friction fire making is the bowdrill method and should be the first one to master since many of the principles will be identical to other methods.  In the bowdrill method a spindle is turned into a depression in the hearthboard with the aid of a bow.  A coal is produced by heat generated from the friction of the spindle and hearthboard.  This coal is then transferred to a tinder bundle where it is blown into a larger, hotter coal which will in turn ignite the tinder.

There are several variables to consider to achieve success with this technique.  I am by no means an expert but from my research and limited experience I have found the following:

The type of wood to use for your drill and hearth.  Ideally you need to use a softwood like cedar, balsam fir or willow and should avoid hardwoods like oak and maple.  The wood should collected from a dead standing tree that has the bark removed from age.  You should make the spindle and hearthboard from the same piece of wood.  The spindle should be eight to ten inches long and carved to have a point at the end that will go into the bearing block and rounded at the hearthboard end.  The bow should be the length of your arm and not too heavy so as to produce fatigue when used.  I prefer a straight bow because I find it easier to maintain a straight back and forth motion.  A depression should be carved into the hearthboard to accept your spindle with a half an inch distance from the edge of the hearthboard to the edge of your spindle.  Push your spindle into the depression you just carved to get it started before going ahead and burning it in with your bow.  Once you have it burned in you must carve a V notch taking out no more than an eighth of the circle and going no deeper than a quarter of the way to the middle of the depression.  Part one of the videos below will illustrate this better than I can describe it.

The material you use for your bearing block.  The bearing block should be made from a material that will not eat up the spindle from friction.  You can use hardwood, bone or antler, stone or man made materials that you may have on hand.  Some knife manufacturers make a depression in one of the handle scales to use for a bearing block.

Tinder bundle material and condition.  The tinder bundle or "birds nest" should be comprised of several layers of tinder with the most highly combustible layer first.  The most combustible layer is where you are going to transfer your coal.  For the first layer you could use cedar bark, fine birch bark, cattail fluff or dried grasses.  Whatever material you choose should be ground up in your hands to produce fine fibres which will increase the surface area of the material.  The next layer can be comprised of unprocessed material used in the first layer.  The outer layer can be comprised of dried plant material like plant tops which are easily broken or bent in the hand - no larger than a couple millimetres in diameter.  This last layer will hold the fire long enough for your kindling to catch.  If you were to use just dried grasses the flames would not last very long.

Weather conditions.  It is much easier to use this method if it is a dry hot sunny day.  Humidity is the enemy of this method.  There is not much you can do to control this which is why it is important to practice in all kinds of weather.

Technique.  It's probably best to watch one of the video's below to get an idea of the proper stance you should take.  It's best to rest your wrist, on the side that you are holding the bearing block, against your shin to stabilize yourself and prevent the spindle from moving from side to side.  When you first start to work the bow there is no need to hurry or exert allot of pressure downward on the bearing block.  You want to generate a good amount of dust in your notch first  Once a sufficient amount of dust is collected the speed of the bow is increased along with an increase in downward pressure on the bearing block.  This will generate the heat needed to produce a coal from the collected dust.

Some may scoff at my choice of materials in these videos as they are not from natural sources.  I chose to use a cedar plank for my hearth and spindle, paracord and a hockey stick for my bow, jute and sisal rope as well as dead grasses and plants for the tinder bundle and initially a rock and then a piece of Teflon for the bearing block.  I feel that it is best to initially use the best materials you have available in order to master the technique so that you can put all the odds in your favour in order to be successful before graduating to foraging for more natural sources.

Here is a three part video series describing how I used the materials above to gain success at the bowdrill.  I feel confident that with these materials I can produce a fire in under five minutes with the set already made.  Now on to more natural materials...

Long Haul Trucker Update

I thought I would update my previous post on my Surly Long Haul Trucker since I've added a few components along the way to make the ride safer and more convenient. 

This stand was made from plans I found on the internet.  It makes the bicycle easier to work on and load up for a ride.

This bicycle is mainly used for commuting to work and around town so I usually use a single panier bag that holds just about everything I need.  The bag is made by Ortlieb and is waterproof in case I get caught in a downpour.

Here's a view of the "cockpit" which consists of a Garmin 60csx GPS that I use as a speedometer and a route recorder.  It also has the usual GPS capabilities like finding places of interest nearby or turn by turn directions.  I also have a Lezyne Superdrive LED light that puts out 450 lumens on high, 300 lumens on medium, 150 lumens on low and a blinking mode.  It has a rechargable battery that recharges via a USB port.  

The bell is a Portland Design Works "King of Ding".  Watch the video to see it in action.

The fenders are SKS Longboards which are designed to extend almost to the ground so as to catch the majority of the water that would otherwise be thrown up on the rider and the bicycle components.

The pump is a Topeak Turbomorph which I like because it is like a mini floor pump with a fold down footrest and a foldaway pressure gauge.  The waterbottle is a Camelback Podium bottle with a jet valve.  The stainless bottle to the front is a Thermos Vacuum Insulated Commuter Bottle which keeps your coffee or tea hot for hours, I love this bottle and take it everywhere.

The seat is a Brooks Flyer leather saddle that is made in England and even though it uses technology that has been around since the 1920's, it is the industry standard for touring bicycles.  It is the most comfortable seat I've tried yet.  The lock is a cable lock made in Canada by Damco.  The saddle bag was made by yours truly and contains all my tools.

The rear light made by Surfas is super bright and really gets your attention, especially in flash mode. The Ontario MTO website has a great section on safe bicycle riding and somewhere in there I saw a reference to the Highway Trafic Act that requires you to have reflective tape on your front and rear spokes.  Sarnia Bicycle Shop on Front Street sells if for a buck a foot.

I did have a Topeak handlebar bag on the front but found it to interfere with the view of the front tire on the road.  I have an idea how to install it a different way using a second stem mount but that's still in the works.

Some More Homemade Pouches for My Kifaru Packs

I've made a few pouches for my packs and talked about them in a previous post.  Since then I've made a few more.  Here's a carrier for my Thermos flask that goes with me pretty much everywhere.  It's made from nylon webbing and Cordura nylon with a Molle attaching system on the back. 

Presently I have this mounted on my Kifaru Scout pack that I use as my everyday pack for going to work.  The flask is in it's carrier on the right. 

A loop of bungee cord keeps the flask firmly in place.

I've also sewn a mesh pocket to the underside of the top lid on the Scout.

These three internal pouches were made to mount to the Molle webbing inside my Kifaru Marauder pack.  Kifaru makes these pockets and calls them Lock'n Load pockets.  These really help to organize all my gear so I know where it is so I don't need to search for it.  The mesh fronts allow me to see what's stored inside without having to open the pouch.

Here you can see the attachment system that consists of nylon webbing with three bar sliders that catch on the Molle webbing.

The larger pack mounted to the inside of the back of the pack.

And finally here's a little pouch mounted onto the belt of the pack.

Flint and Steel Made From an Old File

After watching some YouTube videos of guys lighting fires using the flint and steel method I thought I would try to make my own firestriker (not to be confused with a ferrocerium rod) from some old files I had lying around.  The first thing you need to do is to anneal the file to make it soft otherwise it will be too hard to work on.  To anneal the file I placed a batch of them in the heat treat oven and turned it on to 850 degrees Celsius.  Once they reached that temperature the oven was turned off and allowed to cool slowly in the oven overnight.  I then cut a section from the annealed file and ground down the edges before heat treating it to make it hard again.  To heat treat it the section of file was placed into the heat treat oven again and taken to 850C.  The file section was then tested on a magnet to make sure it was non magnetic.  This is a critical step to ensure that the heat treat will work properly.  Once that was done it was quenched in water to make it hard.  Here is a short video showing the finished product throwing sparks.  What is happening is small pieces of the steel are being shaved from the firestriker by the flint and the heat generated from the force of the flint striking the firesteel.

I thought I would give it another go and make a firesteel that could fit in the hand a bit better.  I also thought that if you could make the area of the face of the firestriker larger it would be more likely to throw a larger number of sparks.  Here is another more detailed video showing some of the process of making the firesteel along with a demonstration at the end. 

The tinderbox is basically a steel "Altoids" container that is used to store the firesteel, the flint, the charcloth and some tinder which in this case is some jute or sisal twine.  The tinderbox is also used to make the charcloth by placing some cotton cloth within it and placing the box into the coals of a fire.  The material will smolder without burning completely since there isn't sufficient oxygen in the box to complete the combustion process.  A small hole in the top of the tinderbox allows the gasses to escape.  Once the gasses cease to flow from the hole you know it is time to remove the tinderbox from the coals and allow the whole thing to cool before obtaining your charcloth. 

In the video the "birdsnest" was made from teasing some sisal rope into it's individual fibres which provides a large surface area for the smoldering charcloth to ignite.  In the field you could use dried grasses, dried bark like cedar or whatever dried plant material you can find.  I have made several fires using the flint and steel method and have found that it is very important to have all your materials at hand and ready to go so that the fire will not go out before it has a chance to catch and sustain itself.

February Bike Ride

It was such a nice day last Tuesday that I thought I would take a ride around town.  If you have Google Earth installed you can view a 3D video of the route below.




And here is a little video as well.  I would have continued down the Sarnia waterfront but the camera batteries died.  If you're wondering what is pictured around the 2:24 mark, it's a scale model of the Great Lakes.  In the summertime it is filled with water and even has a mini Niagara Falls.

Steam Whistle Brewery

During a recent trip to Toronto I was fortunate enough to take a tour of the Steam Whistle Brewery located downtown beneath the CN Tower in what is known as the John Street Roundhouse, a National Historic Site of Canada.

This is a picture taken from the CN Tower when we visited in January.  The brewery is located in the first fourteen bays on the left.  The other bays are home to the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre and Leons Furniture.

There are several different tour packages offered for the tour when I visited.  I chose the souvenir version for $10 which gives you the choice of a retro bottle opener or a tasting glass.  For $15 you could opt for a six pack or for $26, a twelve pack.  While waiting for the tour to start, visitors are presented with a sample of their beer which is the only one they brew.  Their motto is "Do One Thing Really, Really Well."   They were very generous with the refills throughout the visit.

The tour starts in the lobby with an explanation of how the brewery was started by three former employees of Upper Canada Brewing Company who were let go after it was purchased by Sleemans.  The original proposed name was going to be "Three Fired Guys" before it was changed to Steam Whistle.  In fact, the bottom of their bottles are stamped with 3FG in reference to this.

Steam Whistle, I learned, is a premium Pilsner beer which was first brewed in Pilsen, Czech Republic.  It consists of only four ingredients - malted barley, spring water, hops and yeast.

Here one of the brewers is overlooking one of the batches being brewed that day.  Reminds me of my job running the water treatment plant at work.  Hmm, perhaps I could someday work here.

The beer is aged in these tanks. 

Space is at a premium in the roundhouse as evidenced by this picture where the kegs are being filled above a storage area.

The packaging area.  The bottles are made with thirty percent more glass than other beer bottles which enables them to be used up to forty five times, wich is three times more than the conventional brown bottle used by other breweries.  The cap is a non twist off type as well. 

The tour was thoroughly enjoyable and I highly recommend it if you visit the area.

Here's a corny video I found on Youtube that gives a pretty good idea of the process.

Fallkniven F1

Fallkniven is a knife manufacturer based in Sweden known for their laminated steel knives.  The Fallkniven F1 is their pilot survival knife with a blade that is laminated with a hard VG-10 steel centre with softer sides for toughness.

A while ago I ordered a sheath from Eric at On Scene Tactical for another knife that didn't quite fit as tightly as I wanted. So Eric sent me another one that was perfect. Well..., I found a use for the loose sheath. The sheath that comes with the F1 is less than wonderful. So I got out the heat gun and some foam and modified the old sheath to fit it. I added the ferro rod holder and some red para cord and this was the result.

I found out this past deer season that the blade will chip if it comes in contact with bone due to it's high hardness.  Here is a video showing how I refurbished it.