Uploaded December 2011 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Using mostly store-bought materials. The main objective was to see if a wooden dowel would work well for a spindle. Initially, I thought it would work, but soon learned it wasn't the case. The dowel is relatively soft (passes thumbnail test) and seems like a nice dry piece of wood. But, for some reason it doesn't work (at least in this instance). The dust particles were too flaky, grainy, crumb-like, chunky, etc...; Looking more like coffee grounds than a nice fine powder.
I used a 5/8" wooden dowel spindle (not sure what type of wood it is) with a 1x2 Cedar fireboard.
Interesting result. Something that looks ideal for friction fire making, but was not. Can be deceptive, especially to someone new to using the bow drill friction fire method.
Using mostly store-bought materials. The main objective was to see if a wooden dowel would work well for a spindle. Initially, I thought it would work, but soon learned it wasn't the case. The dowel is relatively soft (passes thumbnail test) and seems like a nice dry piece of wood. But, for some reason it doesn't work (at least in this instance). The dust particles were too flaky, grainy, crumb-like, chunky, etc...; Looking more like coffee grounds than a nice fine powder.
I used a 5/8" wooden dowel spindle (not sure what type of wood it is) with a 1x2 Cedar fireboard.
Interesting result. Something that looks ideal for friction fire making, but was not. Can be deceptive, especially to someone new to using the bow drill friction fire method.
