EARTH SKILLS NEWS www.earthskills.com © Jim Lowery August 2015 THE LEARNING CIRCLE: NOTES, THOUGHTS & PROJECTS

I. Improve your bow drill firemaking

Have you struggled with getting a bow drill fire consistently? Do you wonder what’s wrong with your apparatus or technique? Would you like to be able to try some more advanced tricks that will make firemaking easier for you?

The bow drill is, in my view, the most practical of all the primitive firemaking techniques. You can get fire with many kinds of woods in many habitats, without bringing anything with you—even cordage or a knife. The hand drill is simpler, but in most locations only two or three woods at most can be used for the hand drill and hearth, and that only using very well practiced technique and strength. However I have made bow drill fires with 28 woods in my area.

When we teach bow drill firemaking in our classes, we stress that mastering the technique is the most important factor. Many students, both men and women, need practice and especially the wrist and arm strength that goes with it, but if the technique is correct, success will come with time and practice.

On the other hand, bad habits die slowly and so in this article I want to offer some trouble-shooting, a few reminders based on the mistakes we see most commonly with students, and some more advanced tips. (A review of the bow drill apparatus and technique can be found in your notes from our Wilderness Skills class, in Tom Brown, Jr.’s Field Guide to Wilderness Survival, and Larry Dean Olson’s Outdoor Survival Skills. There are also many YouTube videos demonstrating the bow drill, one of the better ones by Alderleaf College; see https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=L5vWqdo3Yw4.)

Technique is everything

Well, not everything, but a lot. Only when your technique is perfect can you begin to make compromises with the wood you select and with each part of the firemaking apparatus. In other words, you can get by with marginal equipment. You don’t need to search as far for materials Good technique allows you to get fire from many woods, and you will be able to get a fire going where others couldn’t. The bow even with a funky apparatus. drill technique is a lot like learning a musical instrument; the more comfortable you are with it, the easier it is to create something beautiful out of a crude and funky instrument.

How is your technique? If you have a smooth, rhythmical stroke and get smoke without your apparatus squeaking, your technique and apparatus are probably pretty good. On the other hand, if you feel you are struggling, check the chart on the next page and work on correcting the problem. Practice until things are smooth.

Tricks and tips with technique

If your technique is pretty good, consider some additions or modifications to make your bow drill firemaking more consistent.

Controlling the bow and handhold is a good place to improve. Often, just as you’re getting a lot of smoke from your bow drill strokes, the cord starts to slip on the spindle and you just can’t maintain the same amount of downward pressure and still get the rotations—and therefore the heat you need—for the final push. There are two ways to handle this problem. One is to manually increase the tension on the bowstring with a couple of fingers from your bowing hand. Just pull in on the bowstring and often the tension will improve enough to finish the job.

Another is to move the cord to a different place on the spindle. Usually the rope slickens the surface of the spindle in the middle where it’s first looped around it. You can move the rope down on the spindle by pushing the bow down a little on the forward stroke and down again on the next back-stroke, then keeping it level there for the duration. Move the rope up on the spindle by pushing up a little and pulling up on the backstroke. Often the rope will grab better in one of these places. Either or both of these techniques together can give you another five or ten strokes which may be enough to get a coal.

1113 Cougar Ct., Frazier Park, CA 93225 • 661-245-0318 • [email protected] Troubleshooting with the Bow Drill Fire: Common Mistakes and Failures

From teaching the bow drill fire to many students, we have noticed these most common obstacles.

1. Inadequate wrist and arm strength.

You don’t need to be a bodybuilder to get a bow drill fire going. Most people who practice the technique are able to get a fire at least with the easier woods, such as willow or cottonwood. But the stronger your wrists and arms, the easier it is. Even many men who are otherwise in good shape need to work on wrist strength. For women, wrist strength is most often the biggest area to work on. Inability to get smoke consistently, or a wobbly spindle usually means you need to work on wrist and arm strength. A spindle that often pops out means you are tilting the handhold, and can also suggest the need to improve here.

Develop strength in two ways: do push-ups at least a couple of times a week, and practice the bow drill fire. Try the firemaking twenty times, making a new apparatus each time. Then do it another twenty times. Many students think that trying a bow drill fire a few times should allow you to perfect the technique. It doesn’t.

2. Stubborn attachment to a poor apparatus.

Once you’ve gone to the trouble to make a bow drill apparatus, it’s a pain to make an entirely new one. So, many people struggle for hours with their apparatus, even though the spindle has become way too short, the cord keeps slipping, and the apparatus begins to bind and squeak. Months later, they will pick up this sorry set and struggle with it again until they give up entirely and buy three cases of matches.

The fact is, the first attempt you make with a spindle and fireboard is the easiest one. From the second attempt on, it gets harder and harder for a whole number of reasons I won’t bother to list, but take my word for it. Look for any of these signs: your apparatus is squeaking; you notice it’s harder to stroke the bow; the cord is slipping; you’re having a hard time bracing your wrist against your shin. For some of these you may be able to make some quick adjustments (see main article), but mainly it’s time to burn a new hole or begin with a whole new apparatus.

The more bow drill apparatuses you make, the easier it gets, and besides, you will learn far better technique from a good appa- ratus then you will from a poor one.

3. Incorrect foot placement.

The left foot which stabilizes the fireboard (assuming you are right handed) must be directly on top of the fireboard, i.e. the arch must be over the center of the fireboard and the foot should almost touch the spindle—maybe a quarter of an inch away. Correct foot placement affects everything else—the pressure you apply to the handhold and the smoothness and power of your bow strokes. Many bow drill students persist in putting the foot back farther so that the ball of the foot, not the arch, is on top of the fireboard, or the foot is a couple of inches away from the spindle. If you correct this problem, you will discover you have a smoother, more powerful rhythm — and it is much easier to control the apparatus when you need to make subtle adjustments for marginal equipment.

Another useful technique is to vary the downward pressure of the handhold and the speed of your bow stroke. If you learned firemaking on cedar or another challenging wood, you probably pushed as hard as you could and stroked as fast as you could. With more strength and especially easier woods, you may have to vary speed and pressure. In fact some woods have a very delicate “friction point”; that is, they require a very exact downward pressure and speed. Pushing just a little too hard or stroking a little too fast takes off dark, flaky particles that won’t form a coal, and pushing too lightly or stroking too slowly forms dust without quite enough heat. As you stroke, look at the texture and color of the dust after you’ve gotten good smoke, then adjust the pressure and speed accordingly. The dust should be dark chocolate brown. If it’s a medium or light brown, push harder, and if it’s black and flaky, let up. For some woods, you may have to lighten the pressure but increase the speed.

Tips with the bow drill apparatus

Usually you’ll be selecting standing dead wood, of course of medium hardness. An ideal size spindle in my experience is about 5/8 inch to 7/8 inch in diameter, because that surface area grinds down a good amount of hot dust, the corresponding fireboard notch is large enough to hold heat in a good sized coal, and you can get adequate rotations of the spindle without tiring your arm out too much. Of course the

1113 Cougar Ct., Frazier Park, CA 93225 • 661-245-0318 • [email protected] fireboard must be bigger than the spindle to allow for space between the hole you are drilling and both edges. Drilling too close to the edge can cause the spindle to fly off, the fireboard to crack and the notch to be too small. By the time you have split the fireboard branch, flattened the top side for starting the hole, and flattened the vertical edge where the notch will be, you realize you need about a 1-3/4 inch diameter branch for a 3/4 inch spindle. In some areas — an aspen or incense cedar stand, for example — you’ll be able to find wood that large, but in many other areas you’ll be hard pressed to find a dead willow, mulefat or laurel sumac branch that large. So, I always look first for the largest fireboard I can find, then look for a spindle that will work with it.

A dead standing branch can be cut, then split down its middle to form two semicircular cross sections. One will become the fireboard. (See photo at left.) Rest the now-flat center of the cross section on the ground, and carve away just enough of the top so that it is flat and has enough room for the spindle and 3/16 inch space on each side. The reason you begin drilling from this outside surface of the branch is that the softest part of the wood is here. The farther down you drill, the harder it gets. Use the other semicircular cross section for a handhold.

After you have started the holes in both the handhold and fireboard, lubricate the handhold. You can use oil from your face or hair, or from an acorn. We’ve also found that pine pitch works pretty will as a lubricant. The clearest new sap, though sticky, will “glass up” with friction and lubricate the handhold for about one hole burning or coal before you need to put more on. However, older, yellowish pitch seems to lubricate a handhold for a longer time before needing to add more.

In ethnographic literature I’ve run across illustrations of fireboards that are two-tiered, that is they have an upper ledge on which the spindle bums the hole, and a ledge beneath it to catch the coal. Primarily found in arctic locations, this kind of fireboard would protect the coal from the wet ground. Recently I came across another variation of fireboard made of two sticks lashed together (see photo at right). There is no carving at all. The spindle is rotated in the crease where the two sticks join, and when drilled far enough, allows the dust to form a coal beneath the crease on the bottom side. I have tried this and it is an excellent solution for areas in which large fireboard branches are hard to come by. It helps to first drill a partial hole in the underside opposite where the spindle will be placed. I credit Mors Kochanski, Northern Bushcraft, for this neat idea.

Coaxing fire from the coal

Since you never know ahead of time what kind of coal you’ll get from your particular apparatus, it’s wise to overdo it on tinder. That means collecting a little more than you think you need, and collecting two or even three different materials. Tinder is fickle; sagebrush bark collected from the same area sometimes bursts into flame with hardly any air, other times it requires more coaxing or even an additive. Put the finest fibers in the center of the bundle where the coal will go, but allow for gently coaxing the coal into another material nearby if the first proves to be a dud.

Additional reading and review

The following books also include descriptions of bow drill technique:

Tom Brown, Jr., Tom Brown’s Field Guide to Wilderness Survival, New York, Berkley Books, 1983. John McPherson, Primitive Fire & Cordage, Prairie Wolf, P.O. Box 96, Randolph, KS 66554. Larry Dean Olson, Outdoor Survival Skills, Chicago, Chicago Review Press, 1990.

We have tried successfully in California:

Alder Desert willow Redwood Aspen Elderberry Sagebrush Big leaf maple Fremont cottonwood Sycamore Box Elder Juniper Tamarisk (introduced) Bush mallow Laurel sumac Telegraph weed California bay Mule fat Willow California buckeye Mullein Willow root California fan palm fruit stalk Nolina Yucca Cedar Poplar (introduced) Coyote brush Rabbit brush The Koryak people of Siberia, considering fire to be sacred, extinguished their fires several times a year, for example at reindeer calving time, and restarted it with a bow drill set like this one. The holes are connected with channels so that dust can form a coal in the adjacent hole. The fireboard is about 5-1/2 inches wide and the handhold about three inch- es wide. Drawn from an exhibit on Alaskan and Siberian artifacts.

II. Once Upon a Sit by Mary E. Brooks

It could be the combination of earth smells or it could be the warm feel of mountain air on my skin that begins the renewal. It started nonetheless, even before I sat down. It isn’t easy to explain why I chose to sit here. I thought of it as an invitation; something inside me pulled me to this very tree where I had to work my way under a manzanita bush to sit comfortably against its trunk. With pine needles covering the ground, the hot sun and and a gentle breeze to my back, quite simply ... I couldn’t have been more comfortable. As I walked up the trail to this spot, I don’t remember a conscious decision to sit here, although I was intentionally looking for a place to sit. My head turned and I just walked in the direction and as far as felt good ... and it was this place that tugged at me.

Jim and I were in the San Berdardino Mountains for a couple of days to relax and meditate ... an intentional retreat to spend some time spiritually renewing, rebalancing, purifying, centering ... whatever you want to call it that this society excels at draining from us. Jim and I take the time to do this and we have found there is no place more satisfying than being in the wilderness ... the purity brings you home.

This late-afternoon sit was my last for this trip during which I had been working on a couple of spiritual tasks. I sat down, arranged my daypack beside me, and spent a few moments in thanks for the gifts of these two days and in gratitude for the beauty and peace of this area. Then I just sat there soaking in everything my senses could absorb. It was wonderfully peaceful. Almost always smells reach me first ... how different pine needles smell sweet, others dry, but all of the earth. Then, wide- angle vision lets in the shadings, colors, the landscape I joined. That feeling you could sit here forever.

1113 Cougar Ct., Frazier Park, CA 93225 • 661-245-0318 • [email protected] Off to my left, I heard a low throaty call, I took to be a quail. Slowly turning my head, I scanned the ground for what I thought would soon be a visible covey moving away from me. I saw nothing nor any motion. Not being particularly intent on observing animals, I just returned to my sitting. Then up to my left, the distinct chatter of a gray squirrel let me know I was in his/her territory. The squirrel, deciding I had failed to take sufficient notice, moved from branch to branch until it took a commanding position some ten feet up and to my left. It stared right at me, bristled, and repeated its threat. Loudly again and again. Concluding I was either too dumb to catch on or to be a challenge ... it moved back to what appeared to be a favorite tree, the floor underneath it covered by dozens of pine cones neatly stripped of their nuts. A much sharper biting chirp began off to my right and it didn’t take long to find a chipmunk protecting a manzanita bush and targeting me once again as an intruder. He/she would stiffen with each chirp in a new pose with its tail punctuating the display in an upward thrust. It moved from branch to branch to rock and back continuing to make its point. When again I didn’t move ... it resumed its activities, exploring a couple of nearby trees and then taking what had to be a familiar route along a low branch to some ripe manzanita berries. It ate and/or gathered quite a few, seemingly forgetting I was there.

I was fascinated with my intruder-turned-visitor role. The chipmunk, now absorbed with the manzanita, was nonetheless never taken off guard and constantly listened and watched a 360 degree territory. I was amazed that Jim and I had ever found chipmunk tracks given this guy only once touched the ground the entire time I watched him, and that was for a dart some five feet away from the manzanita, a turn, and dart back that didn’t last 3 seconds in all. Then came the investigation. With virtually no hesitation, he returned by the now- familiar route to within 8-10 inches of me, sat down on the pine needles and just looked at me, with its tail swishing back and forth in a rhythmical hypnotic motion parallel to the ground. I didn’t move a hair. As carefully as I think a chipmunk can move ... he inched toward me and investigated my day pack for nearly 5 minutes. Not the inside though it was wide open ... but the straps. Concluding whatever he concluded, he moved to a rock outcropping behind me and sunned himself.

After another hour or so devoted to my tasks, a movement caught my left eye. The gray squirrel had returned with an acorn in its mouth, apparently ignoring me completely. It gracefully shinnied up a pine tree and sat on a small branch not five feet away. It was a beautiful large gray squirrel with its profiled tail swirling in a classic question-mark. It busied turning the nut with its front paws and nibbling away at its tasty interior. I did nothing but blink an eye and it turned to face me full view. We eyed each other for several minutes. Never letting go of dinner ... it stiffened, turned toward the trunk of the tree, upright on its hind feet, it placed both front feet against the trunk and pattered on it alternating right and left, just like one would do with drum sticks ... making quite a racket. Having made its point ... it returned to its favorite tree.

Gray squirrel was a messenger for me some years before, connecting me to the force that moves through all things. I have never forgotten it. But I made no attempt this day to attach a meaning to these fun encounters. I knew they were gifts ... I was humbled to receive them and to know that nothing was expected in return. I was taken so outside of myself, the renewal took place while I was gone. I knew it was time to get up and walk back. Earth Skills News Archives at www.earthskills.com/ESNarchives.html

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March 2015: Walking with the Animal, Fire and Earth: Caretaking the Land September 2014: Black Bear Biology for Trackers I: Growth & Development, Hand Drill Firemaking in California and the Southwest May 2014: Bolas design & function; Ski with the animals: track patterns in powder; Bounding marten, slinking lyns: picturing animals from patterns in the snow February 2014: Practical Tobacco (Gathering, growing & using ceremonial tobacco), Beyond the Wall: Nature Connection Techniques from Recent Classes September 2013: An Aboriginal tracker story (Australian), Medicinal plant preparation: dandelion and plantain May 2013: What's in a stride (track ID and animals' personalities), Quick camouflage February 2013: Juvenile animals' tracks, Traditional duck decoys October 2012: Ringtail tracking; Cordage and other uses of narrow-leaf milkweed April 2012: Primitive Stone Tool Kit, Uncommon Felid Tracks I, A Bobcat Prey Drag December 2011: Tracking a Little Bighorn; Cooking on a Green Willow Grill September 2011: A coyote urination story; Making bone tools June 2011: Constructing a Longmatch; Looking for Cottontail Nests March/April 2011: Nuances of the Trot; The Dance of Purpose February 2011: The Yupik Owl Dance; How Not To Look For Tracks January 2011: Walking the Labyrinth; Tracking Bats December 2010: Elk Tracking; Arrow Straightening May 2010: Learning from the Hand Drill; Personal Medicine December 2009: Deer, Deer; Human Tracking July 2009: The Moving Foot (4D tracking); Archeology Tour April 2009: Mountain Lion Thoughts; Wild Edible Plant Recipes Books & Monographs at www.earthskills.com/store.html

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