Revealing the Secrets of the Hand Drill FRICTION FIRE! 

Clay that was so funny making a primitive fire and your cell phone goes off 😂😂😂

"Why are your hands bleeding?" "Forgot my boot laces." "What?"

Excellent instructional video. You explained the really important steps that too many friction fire videos leave out (produce dark brown. Don't go too hard or fast at the beginning, etc.). 👍👍

Two things I appreciate most about this video: 1. Explaining about the dust color - I don't recall having ever heard that, before. 2. The big ass knife. I generally prefer larger knives and, within reason, can do small knife tasks with a big knife better than I can do big knife tasks with a small knife. Even in the kitchen, I am not a professional cook but I can peel potatoes with a large chef knife a lot easier than slice up a large roast or mince a pile of garlic with a small paring knife. It was nice to see someone do some sort of fine 'bushcraft' tasks with a big knife. That is very different than a lot of bushcraft/woodscraft/survival channels. Subbed. Oh, and bonus thing I appreciated - the look on your dog's face. It was like, "I'd die for this human if need be but he sure does some weird things, sometimes."

a man who makes a friction fire on a wet sand river bank is a man who knows he can make a friction fire just about anywhere

EXCELLENT your the only one who has said anything about the colour of the dust great tip

Another awesome video my man. Thank you and please don’t stop teaching.

I watched your video on Bow Making a few months ago and Subbed. I noticed you said you won season 8 of Alone... I quit watching TV back in 2007, never heard of Alone; so my son recently purchased Hulu and after my surgery last Monday I had to stay down and decided to see what was on Hulu - found the Alone series and watched Season 1, 2, and then skipped to 8😄 to see you - great job brother! Thanks for sharing this vid!

Another excellent video and great tips. I always learn something new from your videos.

I like that you're doing all of this in crocs!

… and I especially appreciated your explaining that THAT was a “Barn Owl”. Before your comment, I wondered how many viewers were thinking, “Boy, he really needs to work on his Humpback Whale call.” (seriously, your call was so spot-on, I was surprised that you weren’t attacked by crows.) Again… Most entertaining.

Muito obrigado por dividir o seu conhecimento vou aplicá-los na próxima vez que praticar fogo por fricção. Um grande abraço do Brasil estado do Rio Grande do Sul.

Great video. I’m in the southwest I find cottonwood or willow are great for friction fires. Keep up with the bush videos.

I live in northwest florida myself .horseweed stalk for spindle and eastern red cedar bark for tender is a great pair .I'm amazed u where able to get an ember sitting down I'm gonna try the adams needle next .awesome video !!!!

Friction Fire in winter West Coast New Zealand, Recipe Below 1.Bic Lighter 2. 1 litre 91 octane Petrol 3. 2 Litres diesel fuel- mix items 2&3 together and apply to Tinder bundle gathereted previously. 4. One vaseline soaked cotton bud- ignite this first with lighter - chuck this at tuinder bundle once alight. 5. Friction is achieved by running away from the "O" for Awesome fire you just maid. Cheers from the actual deep South.

Right on! Thanks for the quality.

Nice explanations! About brown dust etc... 👏👏👏

absolutely the best explanations of what to do and why. you are the best!

I think it’s cool that you’re doing instructional stuff on youtube. Spreading knowledge to us average people. When i watched you win a season of alone…I was so happy for you. The fact that you didn’t play the starvation game. You really worked for it. I’d say out of all the seasons…you and Roland were/ are my favorites. There was always work involved to stay and thrive and it’s being passed on. I’m a huge fan.

Mr. Hayes, I appreciate your taking the time to produce these videos as your presentation is on a superior level, far above the VAST majority. I enjoyed the intermission between hand-drill efforts. Your pup’s peripheral vision made it known to him that he was being video recorded, and he wisely put on a face of nonchalantly gazing across the lake while thinking “I need to teach this idiot how to properly play with a stick“. (exceptionally well trained Pup.) The call coming in as you were feverishly trying to close up after brain surgery… I thought that only happened to me. You handled the interruption exceptionally well Sir.( I hope your device landed on a cell phone friendly surface.) Most entertaining as well as informative. Thank you, Clay.

Clay, I wish you had your own survival/bushcraft classes . I would pay in a freakin heart beat brother. But also would like to say thank so much for showing all of your skills!!

Awesome as usual. Perhaps placing abit of sand in the notch might help with friction- and building a pile of tinder ontop of it might help building the heat faster?

Nice video. You have a really good owl call. You should make some videos about how to make clay pots.

Stopping during a friction fire to check your smartphone takes bush crafting to a whole new level 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

A guy from UK kicked ass like in February 4 to 5 inches of snow with a hand drill method in dead of winter . He used Burdock as spindle and heart board was cotton wood , burdock stalk is a natural waterproof material but you have to use free floating hand because you can not get a long piece but you can add a extension to it . He warmed the set 4 to 5 times before he started a coal and after he demonstrated he took the set and tromped into the snow gave it a little time pulled the set out blowed the set free fom snow and did the same thing before and Wala !!!... this guy is so confident there's not if he is going to get a coal it's going to happen . I used his technique and it works I live in Montana and the winters can be nasty , what I have learned from a hand drill is for beginners is to use a catail stalk for all beginners so they will know from NO pressure to warm the set and to apply enough pressure to make a coal . So the moral to hand drill is NO pressure to pressure but just enough pressure to make a coal that will break off into the duff . But any technique that starts a fire is good one to keep on practicing in any type of weather so you will have your confident that's theres NO dought it's going to happen . One more note your goal is to make the coal on the first run because the more you fail the more chances you won't succeed because your hand will receive a beating , so good LUCK your LUCK will turn into success everytime where you own the FIRE 🔥.

Up in the North, down South, your skills are really surprisingly universal and thorough. That bamboo bow and pressure cooker the other day and now the subtropical friction fire, you really always deliver solid content. Always a joy watching. Take care and keep enjoying your holidays!

Thanks for explaining, I knew the hand-drill was possible but not details of the technique. I'll try again soon.

Respect man, I’ve tried hand drill over and over, have yet to get one going. Bow drill on my adventures or ash / board friction are my goto.

Another technique I’ve tried is a rope, cord or even a boot string to do a bow drill. Use a rock to push down on the drill. Saves on the hands, and I think you get a little more speed. Works for me.

Great video Clay...This is one of the hardest skill sets I've ever had to teach and very frustrating for many beginners. Something I started to do years ago to "help" students with this method and to build their rhythm is employing a "thong pull" which is a traditional rod drill method in several indigenous cultures. I like to teach this first for several reasons. One, success comes a wee bit faster without the blisters (or not so bad of ones), and two, it teaches the..." moon style"...of performing this method (don't ask me why "moon" as I've never gotten a definitive reply.) The moon method does not have you moving your hands down the rod (where most blisters come from!!!) but rather a rotational "half moon" motion only mostly at the top of the friction rod. With the addition of the thongs, you get more downward thrust and also the feel of having your hands in one spot on the rod rather than moving them downward. Additional insights you may like to explore is to use a "bit style" rod common with some cultures. This is a much larger spindle rod (puts physics to work for faster friction in rotational axial "D1N1/D2=N2") that allows for a better "feel" in the hand, with a smaller rod socketed into the base. The main rod can be any species of plant and even be padded with leather. This becomes part of a "fire kit" for this style of friction fire. The "bit" is any species known to produce good dust that carries and incubates the coal. Priming the coal pit/nest in your fire board is also very helpful to students. This is any fine flammable dust that can be collected like grinding the birch bark in your hands with a few pebbles to act as grinding mortars. Love the videos as always...KILL...the cell phone Brother...I still don't have or carry those bloody things around with me and certainly not in the bush...LMAO!!!...just because they have a habit of going off like that at the worst times...To each their own addiction to tech, I suppose...As always,, looking forward to the next one and the day you call to build a timber frame...

Absolutely loving everything you are showing us.

Great job. I used to live down that way… Gulf Breeze. Humidity and heat can be oppressive… the shirt has to come off once that sun pops out.

Been looking forward to this 1 for a long time! I thought hand drill might possibly be the only outdoor skill you didn't possess but sure enough you got it too! Keep up the great videos!

Xin chào mình đến từ Việt Nam

Incredible. You taught me something new, We have an Elderberry tree in our frontyard so I might try this soon.

You just added another to my bucket list! Thanks!!

A couple of things to remember Hayes has been doing this for awhile and he's damn good at it don't wait until you need this knowledge practice any time you possibly can on the back porch back yard practice don't get discouraged if you fail first few times this does work also if you don't have experience with knifes use a small belt knife or a pocket knife cutting your hand or finger just makes things worse don't be cockey be safe

Omg the bend and snap! Works every time!

Your videos are back in my feed!

Nice one mate! Thanks heaps for the tips, cant wait to get into it. I finally found decent wood down here and got a bow drill to work. The chocolate dust is key, that's for sure! cheers, Clay.

Very good job ..living in the forest of BC 55 latitude in your CONTRY always that big noise from the highway do you ear it may be not Thank you for the good teaching

Awesome owl call!

Thank you, thank you, thank you Clay.... you are a true treasure.

Great video, Ive been eyeing materials for this and thinking its about time to give it a go, thanks for the instructional!

Nothing worse than the phone ringing while on your way to starting a friction fire 😂..Awesome video thanks.

Learned how to do this a few weeks ago, I was very proud of myself.

The look on your dog's face when you did that owl call. 😆😆 I need to learn to do this. My family stopped at a BLM visitor center in Utah a couple years ago. We were the only people there, and when I asked the guy if I could examine the Paiute bow on display, he kind of perked up. We started talking bow making and primitive tech, and before long he pulled out a yucca fireboard and drill, showed us how to do it, and let us give it a try, right there on a piece of cardboard he laid down on the carpet of the visitor center. He actually got a coal going very quickly when demonstrating it to us; my daughter and I were both able to get it smoking, but by then the guy's coworker was giving him dirty looks and he decided maybe he should knock it off.

I've never been able to get the hand drill fire. I gave up and blamed it on the Florida humidity. I'm confident in the bow drill fire. But always seemed like my shoulders would catch fire right at the end for the hand drill fire. Maybe I should give the hand drill fire another try. Sense you went and made the video in FL. I don't have that excuse anymore.

Good life lessons in this video haha, Many thanks!! :D

Cedar has grown up into such a good dog ❤

Clay Awesome video, love how you point out everything… may Father peace & blessings be on you & yours always, Peace ❤️‍🔥✝️🌈🕊️🇮🇱🙏🙏🙏

(Ring, Ring) "Hey, this is Dominos delivery. We can't seem to find your location? "

Love the content Clay. Have made hundreds and hundreds of hand drill coals but alas I don’t have the calluses or the stamina anymore… I always found yucca hearth and spindle to be too soft even though the native peoples used it !

back when I was still a kid we made bow string from Yaka leave fibers, we`d smack the leaves with a stick over a log bruising and crushing the soft tissue and then leave it in some water for a bit so it would sort of decay off, then we`d take out the strands and make rope - the last bow I made with that string broke, the bow not the rope.

Good thing to learn. Do you use a firebow, too?

Very impressive. I glad no gators went after the lab

Stillness in the air. Nature stares you down. Resist or conform. Fire burns. Water pours. Life beco ! RING RING ! Are we ever truly free?

Kudos, almost 60yr old "hillbilly" here grew up in the Ozarks. We used to hand toss fish from the shallows, gut, place them between clay patties, and cook them in fires we'd start like this to avoid having to go home to eat!

very good video clay 👋

Great video. It's nice that you put your bundle within arms reach.

Great video, thank you!! I would like to add something: I've done a lot of hand drill friction fires in Austria and one thing that improved my outcome by a lot was by using a kneeling position, similar to the bow drill. You can fix the hearth board with your foot and still work the spindle. The main advantage over a sitting position is that you can use your body weight to easily get pressure onto the hearthboard and that without using and axhausing your arms! Feel free to try it out and thank me later =))

Very cool Clay

Great video. For some reason, false assumptions on my part, I always thought the spindle and board had to be different woods. Thanks for clearing that up

Really cool I need to try

I'm sure you've explained another videos, but this is my first time finding you. Where did you obtain this knowledge originally grandparents? Father? Trial and error? I had to guess, it would be all the above huh?

What bag is that you have on your waste in this video I need it!!!❤

Brilliant!

That’s perfect timing.😂 Thanks for the video.

Blackwater River is a nice place to go!

Can you please explain the principle with the notches and what kind of shapes you're making there for the contact points? Thanks

Clay is the best bushcrafter on RU-vid!

❤ lol I think I said some stuff very similar. Cool bro. Nice camera work

Awesome 👌, great job,love your videos.

Awesome ❤

The barn owl call was most impressive 😂

2nd the comment on using a finger thong for beginners. This is one of those 100 practice runs skills. If you don't get some confidence built with early success, most folks give up and quit. I still use a thong if it's been a while and my hands are out of shape. It also makes a good training aid to learn the floating hands technique.

let this be a lesson to all of the self proclaimed survival experts out there. Yes, you can do bushcraft and survival tasks with a large Bowie knife.

What a beast! Hand drill friction fires are not fun

Saved water filtration and fire starting With Backup!

If you fail, that is fine because it means you have room for improvement. There's nothing quite as fine as having room for improvement.

Nice!

I've done this. Let me tell you, it's thrilling to finally see some smoke but you will be 100% out of breath lol!

In the PNW you have to wait until about August before trying friction fire.

damn this man could get it

👌

How do you keep wooden arrows from warping?

Have you ever been in a place where you couldn't find natural fibres to make some sort of bow string from?

I made my first bow drill fire a couple years back and thought it was great i could tick it off my bucket list to create a friction fire. I think hand drills are behind my ability though, they look too difficult

"Well thats poor timing " 😂😂

12:53 Cedar’s slobber makes it look like he ate a jellyfish.

Almost at 500k !!!

lol primitive man interrupted by phone call. Perfect.

It would have ben so epic if you had answered the call 12:00 and said " I HAVE MADE FIRE" (Tom Hanks)

Black dust is fine, work well.

Im originally from Northwest Florida and recognize those river banks😂

I remember watching your channel many years ago back when you could afford shirts 😂

You'll find yucca everywhere.

🤙🏼 🔥 🇺🇸

I clicked to watch the video it said it was posted 12 seconds ago 😂

What knife are you using?