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This one was just for fun - using my arm as the bow ! I don't take credit for first trying this, qute a few people have tried it and @wur_thaz_smoke had previously cracked it. It's not as easy as it looks here and takes a bit of experimentation to get it right and to get the co-ordination :) A longer spindle helps - this came just below my knee; and it was quite thin so less pressure needed; multiple wraps of the cord were also needed and I found it easier if the end of cord in my hand came off the top of the wraps rather than the bottom. I can't think of any situation where I would need to use this technique - as there is usually a bow of some sort available!
 Today I was playing with the #firebrace to experiment with uni-directional friction fire - to see a clip on IG click here Checkout #crookedstickfrictionfire on IG to see @wur_thaz_smoke nail it! (Photo 1 below) All kudos to Rich as it's not easy! @phyredojo also posted an excerpt from Charles Darwin yesterday (photo 2) where apparently according to Darwin the Gaucho’s deployed a method similar to the fire brace (as I am terming it!) - all credit to phyredojo for finding and posting that fascinating #fireancestry snippet (I must read that book.) The advantage with one-directional is that the spindle rotates continuously without stopping - the disadvantage - how do you get the speed!? It is easier to spin spindles fast with cord or hands but not so without! You need to apply a lot more pressure to make up for lack of speed. I’ve tried before and my experiments today failed which I knew they would. My first stick was too thin and snapped as you need to apply a lot more pressure. The 2nd one using my dad’s old woodworking brace failed as I couldn’t go fast enough - the handle too wide so taking too long to turn. Like I say checkout Rich’s #crookedstickfrictionfire as he nailed it - a good sturdy crooked stick with the correct crookedness 😀 and applying enough pressure by putting bearing under his armpit. As I discovered it’s actually not as easy to find the right crooked stick when you want a crooked stick! This is another one on my to do list 😀 Sir James Fraser (19th c anthropologist) mentions another uni-directional method by using a cart wheel for neid fire - the spindle goes thru middle - it is stood upright and spun via the wheel by a few good strong people apparently. You’d probably need a fire churn apparatus but instead of the rope you use the wheel to turn the spindle. This is another on my to do list 😀
Following my successful attempt yesterday, to coax an ember using the "Inuit" mouth drill strap drill method I have been asking myself "did the Inuit’s actually use the mouth drill for fire making ?" Yes using the mouth drill to coax an ember is possible , it isn't very pleasant though as you have smoke in your face which you can easily breathe, and it's not comfortable applying the pressure, you could damage your teeth and I nearly burnt my lips ! All of the pics I have seen have been Inuits using the mouth drill for decorating ivory. I can see the reason for using a mouth hold to decorate ivory as it frees up a hand to manipulate the ivory so to carve designs. I have seen a few similar pictures of mouth drill fire sets in museums but I’ve not seen a picture of Inuits actually using mouth drill to make fire. So it intrigued me – was this technique actually used to make fire… did they use traditional bearing block for making fire (I have seen a picture of 2 Inuit's using the strap drill - see below) or because they were so skilled at using mouth hold did they also use for fire making? Or have us westerners assumed that; and are the sets in museums assumed replicas ?😀 I may do more digging – I do find the Inuits fascinating. Anyway the mouth drill does work for fire making if you wish to use it 😀 1 - Eskimo school boy drilling ivory with primitive bow drill. Little Diomede Island, 3/1942. https://vilda.alaska.edu/digital/collection/cdmg21/id/952 Pic 2- Man using a bow drill. King Island, circa 1920 by Edward S. Curtis, courtesy of the Library of Congress, 3a16199. https://alaska.si.edu/media.asp?id=643&object_id=670 3 and 4 – Inuit bow drill set. Penn museum https://www.penn.museum/blog/museum/arctic-bow-drill/ 5 Three sides of a ivory drill bow, 1880s. Lowie Museum https://edblogs.columbia.edu 6 - icodemus, an Inuit man sits on a wooden sledge. He holds the two ends of a piece of string which is wound round a pole. Gusdiana, an Inuit woman, bends over and holds the top of the pole at knee height to steady it. 1930 https://www.freezeframe.ac.uk/collection/photos-british-arctic-air-route-expedition-1930-31/p48-16-79 7 –a Inuit fire drill thong with mouth hold – I have seen a few of these but no one actually using one to make fire . Science museum.
I can now say I have successfully used the mouth drill ! But I won't be doing it again!
The mouth drill is of Inuit ancestry, where the mouth holds the bearing block and you apply the downward pressure with your head basically! I used it as a strap drill and used a thinner spindle. I needed lots of wraps of the cordage around the spindle to get the tension. It did work very well but it wasn't very pleasant! I’ve seen photos of Inuits using a bow drill and they hold the set on their lap whilst sitting (that has been more for drilling than fire making.) I carved a bearing block so I could hold it in my mouth but I have also seen Inuit bearing blocks which fit onto the chin rather than the mouth. I think the mouth drill was used more for drilling (not fire making) - and they would use a bow so it would free up a had to do other things! There are records of friction fire in many ancient texts, one of the oldest translated texts mentioning friction fire may be the Theology of the Phoenicians (photo obviously of a modern reprint😀)
From Wikipedia: Phoenicia was an ancient Semitic-speaking thalassocratic civilization founded 2500BC that originated in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon. It was concentrated along the coast of Lebanon and included some coastal areas of modern Syria and Galilee, reaching as far north as Arwad and as far south as Acre and possibly Gaza. At its height between 1100 and 200 BC, Phoenician civilization spread across the Mediterranean, from the Levant to the Iberian Peninsula. THEOLOGY OF THE PHŒNICIANS FROM SANCHONIATHO is one of 3 lost works originally written in the Phoenician language and surviving only in partial paraphrase and summary of a Greek translation by Philo of Byblos, according to the Christian bishop Eusebius. These few fragments comprise the most extended literary source concerning Phoenician religion in either Greek or Latin: Phoenician sources, along with all of Phoenician literature, were lost with the parchment on which they were written.” Quoted from Theology of the Phoenicians (sacred-texts.com): “ Afterwards by Genus the son of Æon and Protogonus were begotten mortal children, whose names were Phôs, Pûr, and Phlox. These found out the method of producing fire by rubbing pieces of wood against each other, and taught men the use thereof.” I came across this a round about way via Pliny (79Ad) - see the blog post on Pliny Fire origin stories are common across most cultures , and friction fire rather than percussion is the one most mentioned. So far I've not found much on friction fire in Japan apart from the below picture in Walter Hough's Fire Making Apparatus book. It doesn't say much about it, other than it was used by the priest. I need to try and do a bit more digging when I have time.  placeholder\reminder - I hope to write a proper article at some point!
The fire plane - just come across this - another variation of friction method - not sure how it would work. i may experiment and post about it. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3773466?read-now=1&refreqid=excelsior%3A8bb26e60bc45e6ebff469bdc456c6eb0&seq=4#page_scan_tab_contents host spindles and socketed hand drills lost of evidence that host and socketed hand drill spindles used all throughout world - see Walter Hough - Fire Making Apparatus in the United States National Museum for some examples I may write a separate article one day Quick post - more a bookmark for myself later reading:) An article in the American Anthropologist describing in detail the Hopi New Fire Ceremony https://www.jstor.org/stable/658864?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents
Retrying the vines with the fire plough. First up was Clematis Vitalbae (Travellers Joy, Old Man’s Beard) a creeping vine. It is soft wood and favoured for the hand drill hearth. The Greek botanist Theophrastus (300BC) sang it’s praises for friction fire in his work The Enquiry Into Plants over 2000yrs ago! Anyway, Some people use it successfully for the fire plough. I can’t get on with it, I may go back and try different woods for the blade, the dust was just gritty and fine, and I prefer to save my precious stocks of Clematis for the hand drill 😀I tried Hazel and Willow blades. Next up was Ivy, you want the real thick old vines growing up trees, it can grow very thick. Again, Ivy is soft and works well with Hand and Bow drill. Again, dust very fine. I tried Hazel no good then Willow (which is softer) and after a few tries, and experimenting with speed and pressure, I managed to tease out an ember 🙏🔥 I’m learning with the plough, it’s not just about going all mad for it, sometimes a steady rhythm with steady pressure works better, but other times you need that extra umpfff! It’s all about experimenting. Great fun, I’m addicted! vines don’t have same consistency as wood- try splitting them 😀 so that may have an affect on the plough.... or not.... Anyway I’m Well chuffed with today’s experiments! If you didn’t see the earlier post, I have also been successful with Willow on Willow 🔥 Happy Ploughing 🔥🙏 WHOOP! STOKED!! EXCITED!!! Willow on Willow Fire Plough I’ve been trying Fire Plough with willow for a while but my set has just seemed to be on damp side. I had a theory this morning, to spend more time going slow to warm up and dry out the wood which I just had to try. This clip is shortened to 60secs tho I spent about 6mins in total working with the willow on this one groove, going slow to warm up and dry out the groove, then increasing speed. It was close, but the coal went out so I then spent another minute or so ploughing, and.... it looked promising, the coal needed coaxing and with breath the ember emerged 🙏🔥 The ember wasn’t as strong as with seasoned Poplar and needed lots of TLC to get it established 🔥🙏 I’m excited in 2 ways: 1 - I’ve only had success with hazel on Poplar so it’s another wood combination and willow is pretty much widespread (in UK) and more common opening up more people to give the plough a go (Poplar can be hard to find) I recommend dry seasoned wood for learning 😀 (dry willow should be a lot easier 😀 ) 2 - the theory still to be worked on and fully proved, but opens way for slightly damp wood to be used, tho needs a lot more experimentation on woods of different dampness (this wood only very slightly) For me, this is a breakthrough 😀🔥🙏 Blessings on the ancestral fire! I'm now regularly (for now) posting on Instagram, mostly about the fire plough (amongst other friction fire related topics!) , as I want as many people as possible to give it a go and succeed! :)
Check out my Instagram feed here: https://www.instagram.com/sacredhearthfrictionfire/ Here is a video I have recently made about the fire plough...... After many many attempts over the years at attempting the fire plough which is most likely one of the earliest friction methods attempted by our ancestors, but certainly not the easiest, I have finally managed to tempt an ember from the wood using this method favoured by the Polynesians. I still need to practice more to refine my technique as I'm still a little hit and miss. This is my 2nd successful attempt over the last two days. Some observations: This was Hazel on Poplar - the Poplar has been seasoned. Poplar is a soft hardwood. You don't want the wood too soft/or going punky as you will get dust before it gets hot and you will rip through the set too quickly. You don't want a deep channel. With the right wood combination you shouldn't end up with a too deep channel If the dust is fluffy then it will roll which is what you want to happen - I noticed this with this set The hand grip I am using works really well - I learnt this from a Samoan fire plough video. It allows you to apply pressure and use your shoulders more and put body weight behind it. So the fire plough is possible in the UK. It takes practice and finding the right combination of wood. The stick\plough is important too and you want to shave the end narrow so it is about 5mm wide . I may upload a another vide once I am more confident with the method.
I have now added a new page on the website for the Fire Plough as there seems to be very little information on the Fire Plough within the UK, so I hope this helps. See here. Over the last week, I've been reconnecting with the Hand Drill, and I've been pleasantly surprised at how easy it has been to get back into it since it has been a while, and in the past it has been a love hate relationship! Having some good dry pieces of Clematis for the hearth and some nice straight Teasel spindles helps, as well as having a few years of (on-off ) experience of the hand drill. My preferred stance is to kneel using a longer piece of wood (which I kneel on) to hold down the hearth. It's also about "feeling" the spindle in the hearth, to feel if more of less pressure is needed, and to relax into it and not get frustrated, but to just keep practicing!  It’s been a while, but I am still here and still passionate about fire. A few people have been in touch which has stirred the embers and brought a bit of life back into my inner fire! I’ve posted a few things on my Facebook page recently. This is more a project, not a business so I do go through phases and have other things on too! Anyways! Adaptability is the key to success! Yes it is, and is one reason why us Homo Sapiens have done so well! With the lockdown, I noticed a couple of people commenting that they couldn’t source materials. I thought about this, and thought “well one just has to adapt” so I looked around the house and found 2 wooden coat hangers and an egg cup and made a bow drill set! It took a little experimentation but I managed to tease an ember 😀 Slow and steady worked best for me, and once done, you can hang them up for safe keeping ! And I discovered that egg cups make excellent bearing blocks!    The Sacred Hearth Fire has been slowly smouldering this year, as my attention has been elsewhere, but the passion is still here, and was re-invigorated this weekend at the Erti Suli camp where we communally welcomed the ancestral fire using the fire churn, which was a playful yet profound and deep experience. I've also been helping my friend Tom on Nomad - A journey with Purpose integrating my approach to fire , so there a few things going on and more sparks may ignite over the next year.....
So even if it may seem there is little going on with the website, the fire still burns, and there may be writings and posts to come this Autumn and Winter, and who knows what will unfold over the next year! I was also overjoyed this morning at receiving a lovely email thanking me for this website, I don’t get many emails from the website so it was heart warming to receive such a lovely email about how thankful they were for my research. Even if I just help one or two people, practically and even better to connect with fire on a deeper level then that makes me happy!
Personally I feel that the modern bushcraft/survival movement/industry has turned friction fire into just a practical skill/commodity where the emphasis is on the individual working against nature to make fire. My emphasis is about connecting with fire and nature on a deeper level, working with nature to welcome the ancestral fire, rather than just "making" fire. I also encourage people to work together, as indigenous peoples still do, which is why I lvoe the fire churn so much. And even with friction methods, when you are treating them as just practical methods it is still just as easy to take fire as granted (once you have become skilled with the method.) So I hope I can inspire just a few people to approach fire on a slightly different level! I hope to update the website this Autumn and Winter maybe with a little more research, and I also hope to make some time to harvest some nettles (for cordage) and Teasel (for hand drill spindles) and willow herb (for tinder) in the next couple of weeks! (and bracken in October time!) Blessings Ian p.s. There is also the facebook page www.facebook.com/SacredHearthFrictionFire/ An interesting article by Stephen Corry
www.theelephant.info/culture/2019/04/19/the-forgotten-history-of-fire-and-the-tribal-wisdom-that-changed-the-world/  Today, after quite an absence I decided to pick up the Hand Drill again. Since it has been a while (a couple of months), my hands and muscles weren't very conditioned. I decided to use thumb loops. Thumb loops are basically an aid to the hand drill to prevent your hands from moving down the spindle. I use very simple thumb loops by tying a loop in each end of a piece of cordage (this is Jute) and tying the cordage around the top of the spindle. You do want each loop to hang at least 6 inches , otherwise I find it restricts movement of your hands.
You place each thumb through a loop and then rotate the spindle between your hands, as per usual for hand drilling, applying downward pressure as you spin. The thumb loops keep your hands in the same position. It can take a bit of trial and error to get the knack of it and there have been times when I've found it easier without! It is a much under-used aid within the bushcraft community, I think a lot of people frown on it as cheating but for me it is just another aid, and you still need to learn and understand the principles of the hand drill to succeed with it. I do prefer to be able to Hand Drill without Thumb Loops but at times it can be a useful tool in the box, and can aid learning and aid in conditioning your hands\muscles (as you can usually go for longer as thumb loops are not as tiring as moving your hands up and down the spindle.)  Over the last couple of years I've tried to honour the New Year with a new fire, which is a tradition dating 1000s of years. The Aztec New Fire Ceremony was a ceremony performed once every 52 years, and (apparently) a new fire would be lit through friction by the priest performing hand drill on top of the person being sacrificed! I left that bit out this year :) So on this New Year's Day after a lovely family day out , I declared on the return trip that I was going to honour the New Year with a fire and everyone was welcome to join me. The lure of sofa's and TV was far too tempting for this tired lot (it had been a late New Years Eve), so I ventured out into the back woods feeling a tad tired and nursing a hangover and I started to attempt to tease the embryonic fire out of the wood. I started with the Fire Churn (a traditional Celtic method apparently), but after a while and lots of heavy pulling it collapsed. I was already starting to feel a tad worse for wear (cold sweats etc.) at this point but I then went onto the bow drill and after several attempts and different hearth boards, and me getting more and more tired and the dark coming in, I decided to stop. So this New Year it would be a Dark Hearth. In the Aztec culture this would mean the end of the world was nigh! But nah. For me, it's not doom and gloom, but something can be learnt from this dark hearth, lessons can be learnt from the darkness! Things aren't always easy, you don't always get what you want first time, and sometimes it's just not to be and also I was alone in the wood with my family tucked up in the house, so I thought " nah this is not the way this should be done, it should be more of a communal honouring, time to go in and rest my weary bones with the clan."
It's quite uncommon that I can't light a fire with friction methods so rather than struggle on or revert to modern methods I took it as a sign that this wasn't the right time, and I'm sure the right time for relighting the hearth fire will present itself in due course! Happy 2019! |
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