How to "Build" a Friction Fire Ember: Step by Step with Up Close Footage 

Very good advice. I do basically the same thing but did not have it down to a science as well as you. Now that I understand what is happening better, I should have even better results.

Never seen anyone explain it with such detail. I've always failed at friction fires. Now I think it was due to too much pressure and speed too soon. David West tipped me to your channel, so glad he did! Who knows, I might actually get it to work one day. That will be a check on the bucket list!

Best friction fire tutorial ever produced. Master filming, explanation y no rambling or self promoting. Your video is the standard by which others should be judged

I've studied this for 30 years....no one ever mentioned, "over-charring" or, "ignition phase". Sounds like amazing insight, dying to go try it out!!!

Great; i mean GREAT video sir! The images, sounds and written commentary makes it like we are right beside you, looking up close to the board. I now UNDERSTAND how bow drill work. Thank you very much. Also thank you to Lonnie from whom i have discovered your channel.

This has to be the best bow drill tutorial ever. Thanks heaps. David West put me on to you.

The science and finesse behind this art that I've never seen presented so well. Cheers, brother! Thanks for the share!

The best, most-detailed video so far without being draggy and simply put one of my favorite tutorial on bow and drill fire-making. Love it to dust!

You really should have more subscribers with the quality and content of your videos. I'm happily binge watching. Thanks for the inspiration. Take care.

Seriously, this has been the most usefully instructive and clear demonstration of appropriate technique I've run across. Gives an easy to understand depiction of the finer points of using a bow drill without over-complicating the whole thing to try and look clever in some way. My wife watched the video with me and immediately understood the principles without ever having done it. Not to mention that it made all the other videos etc. she had watched on the subject with me suddenly make a lot more sense to her. Nicely done!

Thanks brother I picked up some valuable tips. Ive done several friction fires but I am still learning for sure!

Got this link through Lonie below , you have just blown us all away ha ha . and a bigs thanks to Lonie for passing the information on,

Oh I forgot to add that I found your channel through David West.

This is (THE BEST) friction fire step by step guide, this help me finally understand how to get an ember going, this up my chance of getting a fire from 20% to like 85% thank you. You make so well informed information and quality content

This video, more than any other, brought me from mostly failing, to rarely failing to produce an ember.

First off I'm a newbie at FF. Just wanted to say this lines up exactly with what I've found works best. Including the change in sound and feel when the heat builds up and the dust starts building. Once it starts and hits that sweet spot it produces a lot of dust very fast. Your building an ember thread on BCUSA helped me improve my bow drill ten fold. The tip on the notch is a new one to me. I've found narrower V shaped works best for me, but you can always make it wider if it's an issue. Thanks for pointing that out.

Every time I make a bow drill fire I hear this relaxing music in my head . I love it .

By far the best demonstration that I've seen so far and I even like the lotm music. Thank you very much. Cheers Walt.

Very,very, well done, Sir. The best I've seen on this method. Smart, simple,clear. Thanks.

Very good demonstration of the STAGES of building an ember. Very important if you don't want to wear yourself out in the early stages. Also one of my favorite sound tracks in the beginning. Last of the Mohigans.

Without a doubt the very best explanation and example of bow drill fire making ever. Even if you've done it before yourself the subtleties shown here give such a clear explanation of the process going on.

I found your channel via FarNorthBushcraft. This video is a must see by everyone that attempts a bow drill. You deserve a lot more than 1.3K subscribers. Hats off to you NW Primate.

Without having someone come here and walk me through it, I’d have to ay this was the next best thing and a lot quicker! Thanks for a great demo.

I've watched a lot of friction fire videos and have only been moderately successful because no one talks about what you highlight here. Great job hope to learn more from you.

This has got to be the BEST friction fire video I've ever seen. Thanks!

Perfect explanation! Thank you very much! Keep on going! Your videos are the best on youtube in my opinion!!

Everything makes more sense now. Thanks!

Thank you for making this video!! This has been EXTREMELY helpful!!!

Just as you had mentioned NWPrimate, at some point the ember builds itself. Today, for the first time, the ember magically appeared at the outside edge of the dust pile, just as yours does. Up till now it had formed on the edge of the divot. So to make sure I wasn't dreaming, I fired up the drill a 2nd time and again that cherry showed it's beautiful color near the outside edge of the dust, and I was surprised once again, as I hadn't even begun to drill fast, I'm pretty stoked. Thanks NWPrimate, I think I have it. There's talk on BCUSA of a book coming out, I hope it happens. You can add this ardent fan to the book list:)

This video explains this part of the process in more detail better than and other I have seen.

Fantastic video, I've watched it about ten times

I’ve watched so many bow drill fires by people very proficient at that and all forms of fire making. Far north Lonnie, David West, etc. I love them all and they are great guys. I’m sure as successful as they are, they’re naturally doing what you are SHOWING UP CLOSE. I have been failing in my several attempts but armed with this extra information, I feel confident I can succeed. Did you mention the woods you like or are using? I know that can make it harder or easier depending on spindle and board combinations. It looks so easy when you guys do it, I’m going to succeed or die trying, LoL

Great video. I have just begun with friction fire and have been successful but not consistently. After watching this I can see where I was over charring with too much pressure and speed to early on. I thought I should get black dust when in fact I should be going for very dark brown dust. Great info! Thanks Edit: I went out and applied your knowledge with stunning success. Two attempts that were not only successful but easy. I was not even breathing hard after getting beautiful embers. Before I was panting afterwards. Also, before I was burning way into the hearth board. This time I was not much beyond the burn in depth. You sure know when you hit that sweet spot. Your description of the perfect dust color was a game changer, Thanks a million.

Thank you, managed to start a fire today with the help of this video. Amazing how the sound gives cues to doing it correctly.

STOP! Ember time! *spinning intensifies* +1 Sub Out of all the bow drill vids I've seen, this is among the top three. Didn't learn how to build it, but understanding how it works and how to do it it is just a valuable to me. Never seen anyone stop right before getting an ember. That was a hell of a plot twist. Blew my mind when it took a few seconds more to light it. BRILLIANT!

Best bow drill tutorial ever! Thank you!

Stop making it look so easy. Your 5 minute video gave me more insight and info than all the hours of watching other videos on the subject.

This is great! Now I have a better understanding of what I was doing wrong. I was just bearing down on the spindle and giving it hell thinking I just wasn't getting enough heat or the humidity was too high. Sent to your channel by Lonnie. Subscribed!

Best info on primitive fire on the internet. God bless u and thank u

THanks! Wish I had seen this years ago so I could have learned the lesson without all the hard work and failures.

Holy Cow Batman!, this advice was just what I needed!!! Glad I found this video while watching your past ones, it helped me obtain 3 embers in a row! From your technical information I see that I was bearing down far too hard and also drilling too fast. I believe this created the burned out dust that would not ignite that you mention. Also used the air channel that was unknown to me. The true test will be today when I skip it. This is an awesome, I mean AWESOME!, video for beginners:) Thank you NW Primate for breaking down the technique needed to make the bow drill a fantastic survival tool for any who venture to learn it. P.S. I've been trying to get consistent embers for 2+ years and you broke the spell, thank you!

Great tutorial ! I am going to add these tips/steps into my friction fire efforts, as I have yet to get an ember on any of my attempts so far, but I will not be denied ! Thanks for posting.

Excellent. I’ve made lots of coals but never understood it analytically to this level of detail. Outstanding!

Beautiful. Thanks for the close up tutorial. Of course, now it would be good to see it from farther away to see the action of the bow and the spindle (I'm just getting started trying to learn this.) You probably have another video about this, but for now, I want to focus on this info. Thanks for doing this.

Man I’ve never heard of overheating the dust before. Thats super interesting. Makes sense. I automatically adjust for that without even knowing. Thanks for the detail and effort brother! 👊🏻🤙🏻

Still the best explanation on RU-vid there is

Best video on the subject Ive seen, thank you!

man i have learned so much about friction fire from you.thanks so much:-)

I’ve made several bow drill fires but I’ve struggled with the hand drill. I think this explanation will help. Thanks!

Best tutorial on this method hands down

Now this is how an educational video is done!

Best video I have seen on the subject. Very helpful. Thanks.

I like they way you had total control over that. So many times I watch guys just crank away and fail because of something like too thick a board and not a dust build up. Then on their second try they succeed because it's all timed right and the dust builds up to touches the spindle. Where's as the first try failed because of timing

Great music, I want to watch the movie Last of the Mohicans again. Thank you

This is the best bow drill video ever

I like that Lonnie gives credit where credit is due.

Thank you for sharing your skills- I (as does everyone else) really learnt a lot- thank you mate, cheers

This might be the best video on the subject. Thx mate. Have a nice day

I have seen a lot videos! That is until now the best. Pretty educative👏👊

I think I'm up to about 20 of your videos now

I think you could make fire with an icicle drilling a snowball lol, you and David West have great videos.

BETTER be in EXCELLENT HEALTH for this activity! I couldn't do it. HOW-EVER, this VID is excellent for showing the stages of using the bow drill to start a fire!!

Subscribed. Never have made an ember and relying too much on ferro rods. Got to keep trying for that ember!!

Best one I've seen yet. Extremely informative.

You deserve every view. And much more. Please make more videos.

Great explanation that has been left out of so many other instructions. Thank you for showing the scale at the end. Your spindle seems to be about the size of your finger. Be Well and Good Journey. Richie

This is definitely the view and explanation I needed 👍

really awesome explanation. very easy to follow and understand.... Great job.. and Thank you

great video very educational its so good the way you show step by step I'm going to be watching the rest over the next week happy new year

Out of all the teachings and demos I have seen this one really explains the concept and process. Can't wait to try it. I would love to know what type of woods you are using.

Greetings from the Coast Range of Oregon! I learned how to make bow drill friction fire by watching Far North Bushcraft And Survival, Feral Woodcraft and Dave Canterberry. Now I'm picking up excellent tips from you and David West. Your video is very well done and I appreciate all the hard work that must have gone into it's production. Usually, I can get a friction fire going with ideal materials (black cottonwood or western red cedar for the hearth board and big leaf maple for the spindle) in ideal conditions (dry with a light breeze) without too much effort. Gradually, I've challenged myself in damp conditions but my success rate has been low. I'm sure your advice is going to help me advance tremendously. BTW, is that a 5" Varasteleka (sp?) knife? Recently, I got one in SS from their web site but have yet to try it in the field. It is like a budget-minded version of a BRKT Bravo 1.25 LT and I'm looking forward to using it. Thanks!

Hello! Thank you so much for this video it has really improved my success with the bow drill and I just subscribed. This information is awesome, I mentioned it on my blog I just started about Bushcraft. Love the videos, thanks again!

I like and appreciate very much how you basically demonstrated the hard wood technique here (first coal). A tip I'd share with you is with hard hard wood use a very narrow notch. It works great with sage brush. Soft wood is my challenge though. Love your channel. My RD 7 and RD 9 get here next week! Happy 4th of July to you my friend🤗👍

Holy shit! That was a coal in like four seconds! My time is nine from beginning to end. Damn that was amazing! I have got to send you a sage brush set. You’d like it a lot

Definitely a good video on friction fire.

Thanks. Good to know there is more to it than generating friction heat.

Awesome close up! Great demonstration!!

Great tutorial!Thanks 👍👍👍

This is friction fire gold! The little dust looks like some furry animal is being born.

Thank you for this video, it is really detailed! I think the best I see. I am successful at starting fire, but still more fails than success. I suspected from what I saw in your video that the powder could be overcharred. once I was unsuccessful I actually tried lighting it with a lighter. And really doesn't even work with fire. Now I see these is possible.

Awesome technical advice, thanks will give it a try!

Thank you sooooo much. This is going to help me now that I know what I was doing wrong.

Great closeup views, thank you!

Very well explained

Explaination at its best

Great demonstration! 👍

Thank you for this great demonstration. You answered several questions for me. I have not been able to start a fire using hardwood because the dust looks like jet black short little hairs and wouldn’t even start with the match. Do you have any videos on using hardwood i.e. Oak because that’s almost all the wood that’s around me. Be blessed my friend. John

This is such a helpful video, thank you NWP. Keep it up, man! Your vids are top tier stuff, cheers

Absolutely love this video man. Thank you.

excellent video my friend :)

That was awesome thankyou ill be sure to let you know when I make it happen

You may call me "weed hopper " Master !

Excellent vid , great tips

Great video

Wow! Great video! Any recommendations of woods to use?I am just starting to learn how to make a bow drill. Maybe recommendations for woods to avoid?

Thanks for the hints. I'll give this a try sometime. I think it's not working for me b/c I'm hitting it hard right off the bat, no dust pile built up.

Re-watching, again, before another attempt. Re-liked too. :D

Awesome tutorial 🔥🔥

Really an excellent video on this topic. Probably the best video and to the point .LIKE COMMENT SUBBED

A great how to!! thank you for showing me!!