Bow Drill, What The Experts Hide (Read Description) 

You are so honest about the technique. I'd like to know where in the woods you found the bearing you used in your left hand.

You are very correct. That's one of the many reasons I tell my students not to get a false sense of security from survival t.v. shows. Another thing that gets neglected is the sheer amount of time it can take to gather all the items for you fire kit and tinder bundle (especially if you are in a strange environment). Then you have to make the kit on top of that. I like your honesty. Thank you.

I've taught the bow drill I tell my students that in real life carry a lighter because in the wild friction fire is never a sure thing no matter how good you are.

It's very educational, even eye-opening, to see the difficulty actually involved in some bushcraft skills. Thanks for being real and genuine! The value of this video and especially your perspective is huge!

“I could have stopped at 40 but I thought I’d go to 80 strokes…just to make sure.” That’s what I have been doing wrong!

I want to Thank You so much, I have watched those experts and I have tried it off and on for two years now and never got anything very little smoke, and a lot of getting mad at myself, but never any ember, or fire, I have learned a lot here. Thank You again. You are very honest.

Thanks for your honesty and helping us new to all of this!

Another school of thought - When I teach friction fire, I use the easiest materials for my students for two reasons - First, I want them to perfect their technique (body position and such), Second, I want them to be successful as I feel they will be more encouraged to go forward with more challenging woods/ conditions if they know they can actually do it. I am very clear that most conditions will be more challenging than the beginning combination of wood they are starting with. I supply then with more difficult sets as they progress. I have seen people that get so discouraged, using a tough set at first, and not getting an ember that they have no desire to go on. --- I have not tried your "drying cycle" technique but am now encouraged to give it a try. Great videos - Thanks for making them!

I agree, David. When I teach this stuff, I always tell my students that it took me a long time to get it right and I would get so upset with myself and feel so defeated but I never gave up. In fact, I started a journal and I used it to better my skills. I have seen special forces soldiers get so angry with it and that actually made me feel better - lol. They are elite at what they do, so it was nice to know I had struggled along with them, too - lol. Good video!

I don't think any of my favorite survivalist RU-vidrs that I follow have made it look easy? I have always struggled to make fire on my primitive challenges and have shown my own shortcomings. That's part of the challenge. These are great videos David. Please keep them coming.

Thanks for helping me out with this! This cleared up a lot of mud for me!

Another great demo. Thanks! I know what you mean about knowing what works in your area. I have bushes/trees in my yard that make great bow drills, though I have no idea what kind of bush/tree it is. I cut several limbs off of it and take the bark off, then let them dry a few days. Once dry they work great. Cedar is another wood I like and I know what it is. Thanks again.

I love your honesty..you are without a doubt the fire whisperer. I have never heard of privot wood but I'm going to find out a little more about it now.

I agree. I made my first bow drill fire with old cedar fence posts in the backyard. Making one in the woods was a lot harder. It was tough to fine a straight piece for the drill. The wind has also caused me grief, blowing my ember across the patio and forest floor. I still want to experiment with different combos of woods like sage, aspen and cottonwood.

Thank you for the details that encourage me to try to work through the complete process myself, some lazy, dry summer day.

,,, thank you David ,,i like a person that will tell the truth, its not as easy as we are lead to believe,, thanks for sharing the truth,

Your honestsy is refreshing and you learn me new skills . Best Wishes from Lars-Erik from Stockholm Sweden.

in ancient times people would have an EDC, an everyday carry. inluding fire starter. if you had bow drill kit you would carry it with you or flint along with material for catching fire.

Awesome man,ur right u don't know how many times I was quite discouraged over the hand drill,I watch videos where ppl could get an ember in like a few seconds so that's what I expected,until I watched ur videos,they helped me a lot now all I do is experiment with different types cause I know what to expect,if it wasn't for the help of u and Lonnie I would have given up,thanks again and ur awesome

Thanks David. Great video.

Well done, well said and thanks...

Thank you Mr. West for the great video of interest and information. I have never experienced the Bow Drill activity but I think I will give it a try or two, three or whatever it takes. I am a retired carpenter and know if you don't try you never will know-

Great info David! Thanks.

Spreading knowledge. Good on you!

Fantastic job as usual David, thanks mate for all the great tips!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great video! Firstly, it's great that you identified that tree which I always found and cut down as a kid: privet! It's incredibly common, but I never knew what to call it and no-one seems to talk about it. Secondly, I've tried friction fires on many occasions; all smoke, no ember! I was getting rather discouraged. I guess there's something to be said for "crawling before you walk" -- I'll try stacking the odds more in my favor until I get good at it, before thinking that I can just make do with whatever I happen to find.

Good job...now I want to try it

Thnx Dave...I always felt most teachers of these skills want others to feel they are particularly gifted..skills + experience = proficiency.. 👍

Thanks David, was a pleasure to watch, and very informative.

Excellent information and demonstration! Thank you sir!

Awesome, thanks for the tips!

Thanks David. It was my only New Years resolutions in 2020 . I failed. 2021 is the year 👍 . Weekend warriors!

Good video, good skills and great point. I've seen firsthand the dangerous, hands-off mindset that "experts" create in people when those people sit at home and watch "survival shows" on TV, but never actually practice the skills or try it themselves. I was practicing hand drill the other day when my in-laws came by and started watching me. After I had tweaked my hearthboard and spindle for several minutes, produced a coal, and blew it into a flame using prepared cattail down and dry grasses/branches around me, my mother-in-law said something that made me both laugh to myself and shake my head at her mindset. Without asking anything about what materials I used, how to practice, what is good vs. bad technique, etc, she said "thanks for showing us! Now we know how, in case we ever have to make a fire like that." It totally took my off-guard how confident she was that she was fully capable of producing a flame using fire by friction in a less-than-ideal survival situation, even though she's never even tried it. I just thought it was funny that I was out there sweating and practicing to do it and still struggling sometimes, and she figured she could just knock it out on her first try. :D Hopefully she'll never have to.

Well done for being straight up, nice to see :-)

Great video

Well said David. I'm in Australia and have tried many combinations of timbers here, an failed more times than succeded. My go too is grasstree flower spike and palm frond. Thanks for being you.

This is fantastic I've never seen a detailed video on this.

Excellent instruction...thank you.

Btw I loved your down to earth approach and the good vid you made

Hi Mr. West. The scout troop we belong to, 478, made expo on primitive fire making techniques. One percent can do this. It takes patience. It was at centennial event of BSA north America at Avondale site. Seven of our scouts and leaders had ton of fun teaching and the expression on the faces of the successful scouts made our day!!

Awesome! Thanks for keeping it real!

finally an honest bow fire vid awesom stuff sir

Appreciate your honesty and wisdom.

Either it will or it won’t. Poetic. Love ur channel.

Love the pocket knife ( I got one after seeing your video on it ) it make for an excellent budget carving knife too. As for the bow drill friction fire I am going to be attempting my first this weekend and have started putting the pieces together, I am certain I will fail to begin with so I will use the library of knowledge on your channel to help me put the odds back in my favour. Kind regards.

Thanks for the video Dave. I must say that I am no expert in making a bow drill fire. When I first started learning how to make a bow drill fire, on my own, I had only observed a guy make a bow drill fire using sage wood, and he struggled at it. I know absolutely that back then, I would have agreed with you. I attempted to make a bow drill fire 5-10, maybe even 15, times before I actually made my first fire. I did get lots of smoke in those first attempts. My arms were exhausted and I was sweating profusely...but no fire. However, I kept watching a variety of video's on RU-vid (Thank you RU-vid and all the contributors). There is a definite science to the bow drill fire. Giving gratitude for the fire in advance worked for me, which is when I actually made my first fire. Several years later now, I know that I can go out into the woods and build a fire from scratch...because I have done it several times over a span of about 5 years, summer and winter, rain and shine. I've also failed a whole lot of times in the process. That's how I learned what worked, and what didn't. Finding dry wood and tinder, even after the rain, is possible. You're right...humidity and rain DEFINITELY complicate things, but not impossible. What I look for now is cedar and/or cottonwood. I find thick, dry cedar branches, even attached to the base of the tree, to make my hearth board, and carve down the sides to the center wood. And similarly, find straight branches from the same tree. Or, I've sometimes found cottonwood in some areas close by for the spindle. Cedar has worked the most constantly, for me anyway. For dry tinder in wet conditions, I've used thin, inner shavings from the larger branch, and the tree sap from spruce or pine. Bark from the cedars, when dry, works very well. I learned from my Navajo brother-in-law, the natives call the cedar bark by a word I can maybe translate pronounced agii, or ah-jeh. I have no clue how they actually spell the word, but the bark works. Many factors, like the shape...width...& depth of the V cut, the right amount of pressure to make brown dust instead of black dust, or no dust. Start slow and steady to allow the wood and friction to do all the hard work of creating enough heat, so I don't exhaust myself. Full strokes of the length of the bow. Many minute factors go into it, but can make a huge difference in my results. That said...I have gone into the woods with a machete and a length of 550 paracord, gathered my raw materials, and made fire using the bow drill...several times over a span of several years now...just to see if I could do it. I do now carry in my pack, those materials, like you say the experts do. Maybe I am an expert, but I don't claim to be, because I still learn new things from time to time to improve. Thanks again Dave. All the best!

Awsome! I had a guy teach me this and I made it happen my first try but my arms were jello for awhile🙂 people dont comprehend how hard this is to do.

Thanks for the information. That's a neat way to start a fire without fuel or matches.

Very cool, ty

THANKYOU ! ...exactly ... materials materials materials.......

Great video! Thank you.

Thank for you hard work making these videos have learnt a lot from watching them

Very honest and informative. Thanks for posting, could be a lifesaver in the right (wrong?) conditions. I think I will try this a couple of times just to have it in my "toolkit".

Thanks for sharing. Primitive man cared for and carried their fire kits. They didn't rely on luck or good weather. People who don't carry multiple items in their fire kits haven't relied on fire to live.

Thanks boss, and Godspeed . Just subscribed to see your future and past videos.

Thank-you.

Thank you.

I appreciated your hard work sir, and for sharing with us the real deal, I have an mc2 compass and tried for an hour straight , and was seeing a white dot for a day lol ... sunglasses next time, after seeing your other video.. and patience and hard work . Great videos , really helps a green horn like myself.. thank you for all your time

Perfect and on point my friend 👍👍👍👍

Excellent. Thanks!

Well Done The truth is always the best way Thanks Yours Frank

Thanks for cluing me in on the moisture factor. I know not to try the friction technique in humid conditions and wasting time and precious energy in a survival situation.

Thank you sir. It's appreciative to hear these things., I have been watching your videos a long time. I really enjoy them, you have to be the friction fire king! I still can't get a cotton ball fire going

Hi Ian here from UK,,, with your help I have created fire via bow drill and fire roll ,,, first success was June 2022 with Ivy wood ,,, its great to know i could do this in the wild if i ever needed to 👍 I've subbed btw 👍

Thank you for sharing it. I usually am able to collect some good pine needles by the side of the road when cars run them over and smash it.

Thanks great video !

EVERY ONE of my favorite RU-vid survivalists exuded tremendous difficulty in pretty much all fires they created. NONE of them made it look easy.

Best video on this by far

Nice one.Cheers.

Wow Mr. West! Your skills and technique are impressive to see, thanks for sharing this knowledge with us, fun to watch as well!

Thank you so much Dave I've learned so much from your videos and when I tried what I've seen in other folks videos it never quite worked out for me but every single thing I've tried from your videos has absolutely worked like a charm ❤❤❤ please by absolutely all means never stop making these extremely helpful and legit working videos for us

Great info. will have to try c\some time Thanks.

Had issue with out the notch explains every thing thx

David, The more you know and practice - the easier it is.

God Bless you. Thank you

Years ago I astounded my instructors at the US Air Force survival school by making fire with a bow drill. They had only seen it in training films. THAT SAID, I used a tried and true fire kit that I brought with me from home. I don't know that I could have done it using local materials (Spokane Washington area).

Hooray.!! the voice of reason.

Agree 110% . Its not easy . I make sets to dry and carry them with me (as indigenous people did) for that reason . There's a reason your sets are already made at some of these survival schools. Thank you for your honesty sir. That's why I don't subscribe to most of these "big" channels. They're only promoting themselves and the free products that they get.

I grew up camping,Backpacking and hiking. I would make my own bow fire starter when I would go camping and start fires right out in nature. As long as you know how to do it and what you're looking for it can be done.

Got myfirst friction fire going in a non sterile environment the other day. But only after getting to know that piece of land for a few weeks was I able to get the right materials and conditions. Even then it was still tricky. But man what a great feeling

Hand Drill, Bow Drill... It's dishonest for some of our favorite experts to let us think that they are JUST THAT GOOD! That they are really finding "on the spot"/ "freshly found materials "/ "straight from nature" that they've never seen before... No, I think they already know where all the materials that they're going to use are at and how dry they are...They know where all the dead standing is located, and where all the tinder, cordage material, and rocks that they're going to use are at beforehand. They also know their state of decay, how long it's been since it has rained, and how favorable the humidity is supposed to be that particular day. Is it right to make people think you can just walk out into any woods in any weather conditions and be able to just whip up a friction fire? In today's video, I explain how forthcoming we all should be. Think of how discouraging it must be for a beginner! Please SUBSCRIBE at the end of the video. Thanks! OTHER VIDEOS YOU WILL ENJOY: The Bundled Spindle Technique... Using 4 Old Horseweed Spindles ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0aRSlLVWAkc.html Using a Paperback Book for a Bow Drill Fire Board ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SMWVJvLQnjs.html

Glad I caught it tho so I never miss new videos

Thanks david ..for your tips and trick im from indonesia

rất hay, cảm ơn

Like most any skill, it takes some time to master it. And so if success doesn't come just keep at it. Those who get experienced can make it look easy without half trying.

Decided to stop by following Far North Bushcraft And Survival suggestion. No regrets! Very informative.I guess what you said often applies to many subjects - who has never tried a recipe later to realise the outcome is miles from what what you tasted before. Anyway, thank you for sharing.

Thank you David... I've been trying to get my 1st ember on a Bow Drill but haven't fount the right wood but I have figured out several Hard Woods that do not work...lol I'm going to try Poplar and Birch next... I've gotten lots of smoke and black dust from Cedar and Pine and even Ash but no ember... I'm encouraged by your video, I'll keep trying... God Bless you in Jesus's name, Amen...😊😊😊 I've also been using one of my kids Fidget Spinners

Really enjoying your Channel Dave .. thanks for sharing your knowledge. Can I ask .. can you reuse the same notched hole in the fire board multiple times? Thanks again 😀

Thanks for the tips. EVERYTHING is important! Reducing the top friction is a BIG plus of 50% of the energy required~~.Knowing the environment and materials is a must. Give me the details, TKS

glad you're doing a reality check. I think most youtube instructors are not thinking so much about people getting false ideas about how "easy" it is to start a fire...but rather just showing how. I agree a serious problem with that is many many people take it literally. It doesn't occur to them, even when TOLD that they need to practice a LOT, much more than they may want or have time for. Some people, probably more urban aren't used to any kind of fire, including woodstove heating and don't realize the importance of dry and fine tinder etc and the perfect conditions used for a demonstration vs the reality of needing a survival fire under adverse conditions. Thanks for bringing it up and hopefully people won't be so likely to go unprepared thinking they can just whip up a fire because they remember how "the guy" did it. When I was in a hospital a while back, I watched that show "Naked and Afraid" for the first time. A repeating theme was failure to make a fire after several days. Green and wet wood, inexperience. They had 6 weeks of "study" and apparently didn't study the corresponding fire methods for the area they were placed in..... imagine if there was no TV crew to rescue them.

You made me laugh so hard I almost peed my pants. You said everything I was thinking but much nicer. The other thing is they always have such nice tools with them. Let some one drop them off in an area they don't know with nothing but the clothes on their back and survive . That might impress me.

cheers mate

I notice you kits are smaller than alot of folks. I like your procedure.

enlightening, ty o/

Excellent Video! It was very informative and enjoyable as usual. I must say though, that I searched all day for a ball bearing tree and couldn't find one here in Virginia. I suppose I need to find something else for a bearing block 🙂

Good video. I just made a video of failed attempts at bow drill fire in the Everglades. I wanted to get an ember, but just couldn't....wet material, wet everything. With experience it is easy with great material and optimal conditions.....but that won't always be the circumstances we are in when needing to make fire. Maybe I should have brought some dried material from home like some other channels! :-)

David you are the Best teacher ! I hope to have fire soon thanks.

100%, I did a video last week where I show me trying to do something simple like feather sticks for first time as a complete beginner to that technique and I failed. Its harder than it looks on RU-vid, you have to practice these skills.

thanks for that i have learnt another peice of the puzzle maybe now i will be succesful with a bowdrill

best fireboards I've used were dried driftwood, kinda punky and you could easily dig into it with a fingernail.