How To Start A Fire With A Fire Bow Drill

In the wilderness, there are several ways to start a fire. Using a match or lighter is the easiest way, but this article presents how to start a fire with a fire bow drill.

How to start a fire with a fire bow drill.As discussed below, you will need to find fuel to burn, a two-foot stick and string to make the fire bow drill, a straight one-foot stick to make a “drill”, a “fireboard” at least two feet long, and a hand-sized stone with a natural hollow in it (or a hand-sized block of wood with a one-inch wide half-inch deep hole in it.

The First Step To Build A Fire Bow Drill

The first step for creating a fire using any method is to gather some dry tinder … dry grass, leaves, pine needles, tiny twigs, cotton fluff, anything that will catch fire very easily. Also, gather some progressively larger twigs, sticks, and logs if you can find them. These are the material that will yield a long-lasting fire.

To build your fire bow drill, you will need to find a strong stick about two feet long. It needs to either be strong and yet bendable or naturally bowed. A green sapling about a half inch in diameter is best. Thin bamboo also works.

Next, you will need a string, cord, twine, boot lace, or even a very durable flexible vine at least two feet long. Cut a notch at both ends of your two-foot stick, and tie the string to one end. Then tie a small loop (just big enough to slip the stick through) at the other end of the string; the distance between the loop and the tied end must be shorter than the stick and yet long enough that the stick can bend and fit inside the loop. NOTE: With the string attached to both ends of the stick, the stick still needs to be capable of bending a little bit more.

Now, slip the loop over the other end of the stick to finish the fire bow.

Next, you will need a hard, dry stick to make the fire bow drill … as straight as possible, about an inch in diameter and a foot long. Cut a sharp point at one end, and round or flatten the other end.

Make A Fireboard For The Fire Bow Drill

To make your “fireboard”, you need a flat piece of dry wood … preferably an inch thick, two feet long, and several inches wide. Cut a V-shaped one-inch deep notch in one end of the board, and put some of your tinder in the notch. Make a half-inch deep hole (about the same width as your drill) in the board right next to the point of your “V” notch.

With a hand-sized stone with a natural hollow in it nearby, loop the bow string around the drill one time. Put the pointed end of the drill in the fireboard hole, and hold it down with the stone on the blunt end of the drill. If you have a few grains of sand, add them to the hole under the fire bow drill to increase friction. Don’t fill the hole; just add two or three grains.

Using The Fire Bow Drill To Start A Fire

With your foot or knee on the un-notched end of the fireboard, push down lightly on the drill as you pull the fire bow back and forth spinning the drill. If you keep a steady pace, you will generate heat from the friction between the drill and the fireboard which will eventually get hot and create smoke and wood dust. When you see smoke, run the fire bow faster, and press down a bit harder on the drill. Ignited wood dust will fall into the tender, and start it burning.

When you see smoke coming from the tinder, gently blow on it to give it oxygen and to produce a flame. Once the tinder ignites, be ready to add small twigs to the fire followed by progressively larger fuel.