Uploaded October 2017 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
I recently saw David West use a handful of pine needles as a bearing block and wanted to try something similar with local materials.
Questions, comments, and suggestions are always welcome.
I went with the green fronds of western red cedar. They added quite a bit of friction up top and it took me a while to get the set running without the spindle popping out. When it was finally spinning freely, it took a lot of compression to keep the top of the spindle from making its way through the material.
If I held on really tightly it would work, but my hand fatigued and it kept creeping back through. Finally I used some cedar withies to wrap the fronds up as tight as possible and was able to squeeze out an ember.
The set was grand fir on grand fir, with a cedar bark and moss bundle.
(apologies for the poor camera angle during the final drilling)
Here's a link to David's video with the pine needle bearing block...
youtube.com/watch?v=gT23ZNXVI18
I recently saw David West use a handful of pine needles as a bearing block and wanted to try something similar with local materials.
Questions, comments, and suggestions are always welcome.
I went with the green fronds of western red cedar. They added quite a bit of friction up top and it took me a while to get the set running without the spindle popping out. When it was finally spinning freely, it took a lot of compression to keep the top of the spindle from making its way through the material.
If I held on really tightly it would work, but my hand fatigued and it kept creeping back through. Finally I used some cedar withies to wrap the fronds up as tight as possible and was able to squeeze out an ember.
The set was grand fir on grand fir, with a cedar bark and moss bundle.
(apologies for the poor camera angle during the final drilling)
Here's a link to David's video with the pine needle bearing block...
youtube.com/watch?v=gT23ZNXVI18
