Bow Drill Demonstration

Here is a demonstration of  making a Bow Drill from scratch in the woods, not everything goes perfectly and it takes a few attempts. The main issue here was choice of wood - Ash is not the best wood for the Hearth as it is a harder wood - I would have been better choosing Hazel first off. I did switch to Hazel as the hearth and successfully coax the ember. It's all about learning and adapting!

The following video is an overview of the bow drill components and a demo of using the bow drill.

How not to use the Bow Drill

Here is a demonstration by Bear Grylls of how not to use the bow drill - sorry Bear! But, you only learn by your mistakes, and I made many when learning (and sometimes I still do) and I'm forever learning and experimenting and practicing. Bear's position and posture is all wrong for a start - no wonder he is struggling - he has nothing to stabilize his arm holding the bearing block so it's wobbling and he's not able to provide the pressure hence the squeaking - he needs to swap arms. The  bow is a bit unwieldy , and the hearth doesn't have a notch! (hmmm not sure where that ember came from in the end....) Though I'm sure he learnt from his mistakes!