3 BOW-DRILL BEARING-BLOCK HACKS

There are many factors to consider when building and successfully using a bow-drill friction fire set. From available wood types to cordage resources, there are many variables that you must control. You can greatly increase the chances of a fast ember by maximizing friction between the bottom portion of the spindle and hearth board and minimizing it at the top between the spindle and the bearing block. Three low-friction bearing-block hacks you can try include a skateboard wheel (the bearing in the middle provides nearly frictionless spinning), a shot glass, and a penny that has been pounded into a concave shape using a ball-peen hammer or metal punch (glue this into a depression carved into a wooden handhold).

9-VOLT RAZOR HACK

Batteries, as I said before, can be used in all kinds of different ways to make fire. For instance, you can use a 9-volt battery and grade #0000 steel wool. Steel wool will ignite when it’s connected to the positive and negative terminals of a 9-volt battery. Similarly, you can use the very thin blades from a disposable razor to short-circuit a 9-volt battery. A tiny spark will fly when a blade touching the positive terminal is crossed with a blade touching the negative terminal. The correct tinder at this intersection, such as char cloth or thin shreds of tinder fungus, can be ignited with little effort. The metal or wire used to short-circuit a low-voltage battery such as the one you’re using for this hack must be extremely thin in order to deliver positive results. Note: Keep in mind that repeated attempts can drain the charge from your battery source.

ANTENNA BELLOWS

A bellows is any device used to blow oxygen into a fire to increase the rate of combustion. The more oxygen a fire gets, the stronger and hotter it will burn. This is why blowing on a fire helps keep it going. The ability to concentrate this stream of oxygen into the heart of a fire can grow it exponentially.

One great bellows hack is a car or radio antenna—or rather the metal housing that protects the antenna wire. Whether retractable or of a fixed length, these metal casings are hollow and make an excellent fire-resistant, lightweight bellows. Simply place one end of the antenna into the heart of a struggling fire and blow through the other end to inject much-needed oxygen. The retractable antenna from an old radio makes a great compact addition to any fire kit!

GIVE YOUR BOW DRILL MORE ENERGY

As I said earlier, when building a bow-drill kit, you want to reduce the amount of friction in the handhold portion of the spindle and increase it at the hearth board. I’ve seen many different attempts to reduce friction at the bearing block that sits on top of the spindle, including oil, green leaves, and even a mechanical bearing. In a pinch, you can hack a mini energy drink bottle into a low-friction bearing block. Cut the bottom from the bottle. Place it over a spindle, holding it hammer-grip style to apply pressure. The top of the spindle must be carved larger than normal and more rounded on top so that it does not drive into the cap portion of the bottle. A round, bulbous top on the spindle will allow it to spin with incredibly low friction while nested within the top walls of the bottle.

SOLAR FIRE HACKS

LIGHT YOUR FIRE WITH A LIGHT BULB

A traditional incandescent household light bulb filled with water makes an incredible solar fire-starting lens (modern compact fluorescent energy-efficient bulbs will not work). It is the perfect spherical shape. However, there are some hacks to make it work! First, wrap the bulb in an old rag or T-shirt and gently tap the very bottom electrical contact point with a hammer or knife handle. After a few solid hits it will loosen and you can pull it out. Then gently break out the stem and filament, work it out through the hole, and discard it. The inside of most light bulbs are coated with silica. Rinse this out with water because you want to use a clear bulb. Now, turn the bulb upside down, fill it with clear water, and use it as an incredible solar lens. This is one of the most effective fire starters I’ve ever used.

POM PYRO

Trash water bottles can be found in every urban location and even in the most remote wilderness locations. With a little knowledge, these trash bottles can be filled with water and used as a solar magnifier to start a fire. My favorite bottle to use is the double-sphere POM juice bottle. When that bottle is filled with water I can smolder tinder in less than 3 seconds on a sunny day. Many bottles are effective fire starters. Place the bottle 1" from the tinder and then slowly pull back the bottle toward the sun until you see a wisp of smoke. My 6 favorite solar tinders are chaga (tinder fungus), char cloth, milkweed ovum, charcoal, rabbit/deer poop, and punky wood (soft, rotting wood usually from the center of a tree or log—see the Rotten Wood = Fire Gold hack later in this chapter for more on punky wood).

FIRE FROM ICE

If you can use water to make fire, then can you use ice? Of course you can. The trick is carving a chunk of ice into a perfect sphere for magnifying the sun’s rays. This is where the hack comes into play. Start by sawing a rough globe from a chunk of ice. I’ve found this is much easier with a saw than carving it with a knife. Then use the mouth of your water bottle as a shaving tool (metal bottles work best). If you press the mouth of the bottle against the roughly shaped ice ball and begin to work it round and round, it will eventually turn the ice into a perfect circle. The circular shape of the bottle mouth makes the ice ball into a sphere. Use this clear sphere to focus the sun’s rays on tinder.

A MYLAR EMERGENCY SURVIVAL BLANKET LENS

You can start a solar fire with the sun's rays using a Mylar blanket, a container with a plastic snap-on lip, and a hollow tube or ink pen. First, trim out the inside of the plastic lid so that it is just the rim that snaps onto the container. This circular rim will tightly hold a piece of Mylar placed over the top. Pierce a hole in the side of the container and insert a hollow tube or ink pen. This allows you to suck the sealed Mylar into a convex parabolic shape that can create a solar ember in direct sunlight on suitable tinders such as punky wood, agave pith, deer poo, char cloth, and tinder fungus (chaga).

MAKE A FIRE PIPE

Many small snack cups and coffee containers are sealed with a Mylar covering. Although you may be tempted to gobble down these snacks in a survival scenario, before you break the Mylar seal use a package like this as a solar fire-starting tool. By inserting a hollow tube, section of bamboo, or ink pen through the side of the snack cup, you can suck and draw the reflective Mylar seal inward to form a parabolic lens. A parabolic, or convex, lens works to converge the sun’s rays to a focal point that can be used to generate a smoldering ember. Rubber grip pens work very well because they create a better seal when inserted through the plastic wall of the container. Great solar ember tinders are chaga, char cloth, deer or rabbit poop, punky wood, the tea from inside tea bags, and dried ground coffee.