Forum Challenge...1 Month...FIRE!!!

[Tartar Horde]

(2 September 2013, 18:29)bigpaul Wrote: I've got a small tin of flint in the back of the garage somewhere, I brought it back from near where OH used to live in East Devon, there is no flint around here, if I can find it i'll see what-if anything-I can do with it.

I've never made fire with flint BP, I've seen it on you tube etc but you can't beat being shown. Does anyone have experience of making fire this way as it would be excellent first hand advice.

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(2 September 2013, 14:08)Prepper1 Wrote: Does the fire bow have to be a certain size?

I mean by that, most of the videos you see featuring the fire bow are fairly largish, not really pocket size.

Has anybody on here made a smaller pocket size one?

Can you make it pocket size?

Or does the physics of the thing not work if its smaller?

By pocket size, I'm thinking of hand size, something you could hold in one hand with a small drill rod say hardwood dowel and say some sort of thimble holder for the top pushing down hard with your thumb and bowing with the other hand.

maybe there's not enough friction...

Hmm may try that...

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I ask because I dont really have a clue on that as I use a ferro rod to cheat, I have loads.
I have a tinder box with cotton wool, birch bark etc..

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Aha looks like you can make then pocket size physics aside, just found this.





I was curious because sometimes making things bigger or smaller sometimes doesn't work out too well, the fire bow in this video seems more handy that the normal huge ones, more convenient me thinks...

This vid is just showing how small a fire bow you can use and the skill of the user. Generally you carry the fire board, drill and string/cordage and find a bow in the field to use as they are very easy to find. To some extent the larger the bow the more revolutions of the drill you will get for each push/pull but a bow can be whatever length you are comfortable with, two foot is a benchmark, going up or down till you find the length that fits your bowing style. Given that most people who use a bow drill would carry well seasoned and used drills and boards, the scenario Scythe gives us is more tricky than meets the eye given that you would have to find the right wood etc and make string to even start making fire. The hardest thing would be to make the string from completely natural materials in the uk. If we are talking post SHTF then there would be plenty of string around. Are we allowed the materials from a collapsed civilisation scythe, or are you being totally ice age here.