Hand Drill with Local Materials

A friend of mine on the online forum BushcraftUSA sent me a handdrill set made from a plant called sotol.  The set worked marvellously well so it was a good starting point but sotol is not found in Southern Ontario.  So, a bushcraft goal of mine was to be able to produce a coal using the handdrill method of friction fire but with local materials. 

Yesterday I collected a number of different weed stalks and some willow to use to accomplish this goal.  Many of the thinner stalks did not work but I was finally successfull using a mullein stalk and a willow hearth board.

Here is a video showing how it all went down.  Of course I removed all the failed attempts so as to make it more interesting, I hope you enjoy it.

Bike for Bibles 2012

This past August I had the privelege to ride with some great folks on this years Bike for Bibles ride, The Canal and Capital Tour.  I have some footage to put together a little video but for now here's a picture taken at Champlain Point in the Gatineau Hills of Quebec with my Long Haul Trucker.

Hand Drill Fire

The hand drill friction fire technique is, in a way, the holy grail of friction fire methods.  I have tried several local materials including mullein, teasel and cedar without success.  After posting about my attempts on the BushcraftUSA forums a member there (RoadLessTraveled) sent me a set made from sotol, a plant that is abundant in the South Western United States.  Here is a video of my first successful hand drill fire using the set he sent.

Transit of Venus 2012

The Transit of Venus is one of the rarest predictable astronomical events that comes around twice within eight years but not again for another 105 years.  The next one will take place in 2117.  On the evening of June 5th I took the telescope down to the water treatment plant in Point Edward and was fortunate to have clear skies even though it was predicted to be cloudy.


Watching the Transit of Venus near the mouth of the St. Clair river.

A solar filter was fitted over the front of the telescope which blocked out the majority of light enabling safe viewing.  The filter can be seen in the above picture.  The telescope is a Celestron Sky Seeker refractor fitted with a computer that controls a motor driving the mount enabling it to track the object you are viewing.  

A photo of the Sun taken during the Transit of Venus on the 5th of June 2012.

The above photo was taken with my DSLR held up to the eyepiece.  I had to play with the apeture settings in order to capture the sunspots and the planet Venus as it traveled across the face of the Sun.

For some time I have wanted to make a video that may help people who are struggling to be successful with the bow drill fire.  One of the biggest reasons for failure is the improper selection of materials for the hearth board and spindle and for the tinder bundle.  Before you venture out into the woods I suggest that you first practice at home using cedar from the hardware store and jute twine for your tinder bundle.  In the video I go over some of my favorite bearing blocks or sockets and why some are better than others.  I like using a teaspoon for a bearing block because it is multifunctional and you probably have one in your kit already.

"Bearing blocks" from left to right in order of preference: teflon, teaspoon, Kabar Hobo, rock, deer antler and finally hardwood.

Here is a close up of the process where you can see the dust filling the notch as the spindle is turned.

Rondeau Provincial Park Bicycle Ride

During a recent trip to Rondeau Provincial Park I had a chance to take the Brompton on a short ride on some of the trails.  The peninsula at one time was known as Pointe au Pins du to the large number of pines that could once be found there.  After extensive logging in the nineteenth century few pine trees remain today and the majority can be found on the lake side of the park.  I had a goal to find a Basswood tree which seems to be scarce up in Sarnia and low and behold there was one right at our campsite. 

Chaga

On a recent canoe trip I was able to harvest some chaga or tinder fungus which grows on birch trees.  The Wikpedia page has a pretty good description of the stuff.

Chaga right after it was harvested.

It makes an excellent tinder that once ignited using a ferro rod or magnifying glass is nearly impossible to extinguish, hence it's nickname "tinder fungus". This piece smoldered for at least fifteen minutes and released a pleasant aroma similar to incense burning.

Burning Chaga

 It also has a history in Russia of being used to make tea which I have yet to try.