Uploaded February 2018 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
I have been able to get on-site hand drill embers during the dry summer, but winters in the Pacific Northwest are exceedingly wet, so I have had a lot of failures trying to find workable materials this time of year.
I have been able to use freshly gathered materials for the hearths all winter, but a dry pithy spindle has been hard to find.
Recently, the moisture has been falling as snow instead of rain, so I tried to seize the opportunity when I noticed some nascent growth big leaf maple suckers that were dead and dry.
I paired it up with a hearth made from a western red cedar branch. The maples suckers are very soft and cedar branches can be quite hard, so I went through sections looking for a piece that had decayed enough to be workable. There's a trade-off there, as the softer and more rotten sections hold more moisture, so the idea is to find the ideal balance.
Because this was a something of a milestone for me, I left the drilling footage unedited. (2:03 - 4:27)
I have been able to get on-site hand drill embers during the dry summer, but winters in the Pacific Northwest are exceedingly wet, so I have had a lot of failures trying to find workable materials this time of year.
I have been able to use freshly gathered materials for the hearths all winter, but a dry pithy spindle has been hard to find.
Recently, the moisture has been falling as snow instead of rain, so I tried to seize the opportunity when I noticed some nascent growth big leaf maple suckers that were dead and dry.
I paired it up with a hearth made from a western red cedar branch. The maples suckers are very soft and cedar branches can be quite hard, so I went through sections looking for a piece that had decayed enough to be workable. There's a trade-off there, as the softer and more rotten sections hold more moisture, so the idea is to find the ideal balance.
Because this was a something of a milestone for me, I left the drilling footage unedited. (2:03 - 4:27)
