Uploaded January 2014 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Beginner's hand drill progress continues: Trying hand drill fire at -23C (-10F) with added bitter wind chill. The spindle is a stem of Yucca, a gift from TheENIGMA301- thanks man! Check out his website - he is one of the masters of friction fire youtube.com/user/TheENIGMA301/videos
Yucca is one of the planet's best spindles, and I am way north of the species range here in northern Ontario, so getting to use it is a real treat. Hearth board is my best go-to species, Eastern White Cedar. Three attempts, two fails losing it in the tinder bundle. The 3rd attempt I got serious and used coal extenders of amadou and chaga, and they made the difference.
Lessons learned:
(1) Blowing into a tinder bundle with condensing foggy breath at these cold temperatures probably wetted the tinder. Next time I will try waving the bundle through the dry air.
(2) Use coal extenders in deep cold. The fingers are cold and shaky, and its just harder to finesse the tinder bundle ignition. Dried amadou and chaga work really great. I am thinking Paleo man must have always carried coal extenders in winter.
(3) Although I tried for a longer efficient stroke, the cuffs on my jacket kept catching, preventing the longer stroke. Next time I will take my jacket off and keep my sleeve cuffs away from my lower wrists.
Beginner's hand drill progress continues: Trying hand drill fire at -23C (-10F) with added bitter wind chill. The spindle is a stem of Yucca, a gift from TheENIGMA301- thanks man! Check out his website - he is one of the masters of friction fire youtube.com/user/TheENIGMA301/videos
Yucca is one of the planet's best spindles, and I am way north of the species range here in northern Ontario, so getting to use it is a real treat. Hearth board is my best go-to species, Eastern White Cedar. Three attempts, two fails losing it in the tinder bundle. The 3rd attempt I got serious and used coal extenders of amadou and chaga, and they made the difference.
Lessons learned:
(1) Blowing into a tinder bundle with condensing foggy breath at these cold temperatures probably wetted the tinder. Next time I will try waving the bundle through the dry air.
(2) Use coal extenders in deep cold. The fingers are cold and shaky, and its just harder to finesse the tinder bundle ignition. Dried amadou and chaga work really great. I am thinking Paleo man must have always carried coal extenders in winter.
(3) Although I tried for a longer efficient stroke, the cuffs on my jacket kept catching, preventing the longer stroke. Next time I will take my jacket off and keep my sleeve cuffs away from my lower wrists.
