Dave Watson Friction Firelighting 1-2-1

If you are a hobbyist bushcrafter (or anything similar to that) then there's a good chance that you'll know that Dave Watson (Woodland Survival Crafts) is synonymous with traditional fire lighting methods, a view that was heavily reinforced in me when flicking through his many articles in some of the early Bushcraft and Survival Skills magazine issues. That's not to say Dave is all about fire because he did many non-fire articles, he runs a series of different courses and is an established IOL trainer and assessor. 

Pic from The Bushcraft show 2016.

 I've become reasonably competent with a bowdrill and regularly update and tweek this labour of love blog page. In early 2014 I arranged a bowdrill 1-2-1 with Jason Ingamells at the World of Bushcraft to talk through all aspects of bowdrilling and to critique how I was doing it.

I did realise that whilst I can source materials, bring them home and make a set to use I've never done so whilst in a wood all in one go. Anyone who has read any of my most recent blogs will have seen me droning on about my sabbatical, well unlucky, here I go again. I attended my first Wilderness Gathering this year and approached Dave about a) Purchasing a hand drill and b) Sorting out a 1-2-1 with him.

Dave sends out clear directions to join him in the woods, the entrance is something you may well overlook in isolation, but it is very near a prominent road sign (which is mentioned) and this Woodland Survival Crafts sign really helped too.

The first impression is good as you head down a track through thick forest. As I was here to bother wood with friction I decided to try and take in what tree species I could see. The base camp is very spacious with an impressive yurt style hub. 

A smiling Dave strode over to meet me and we had a brew in the yurt whilst I gave him a potted history of where I was at with my friction fire lighting. In compiling different wood combinations for my afore mentioned bowdrill blog page I have used fair weather and Limpet shells for a bearing block to ensure continuity, so it would be interesting to get to grips with a wooden one again. We then took our brew outside where Dave had placed a large amount of bow drill kit. He then proceeded to burn in a depression with arguably the slowest, most laid back bowing action I've ever seen.

But no time to sit back and admire, it was my turn. Again this wasn't a session to pop an ember but a chance for Dave to see me bowing and to analyse my stance and style. Apart from moving my foot a microsmidge closer to the drill I got a tick (as in on a chart, not one giving me Lymes disease). 

We then went out for a bimble through the woods with Dave talking through the various woods with their uses in various parts of a bow drill kit. In this shot we are looking at a Laurel for the bearing block. If you ever meet up with Dave ask him to tell you his Laurel joke...

 

Dave also explained about actually making a bow from fresh wood with a view to using it a few weeks later, but also to use it here and now. This is a length of Hazel the he, and then I, shaped. He also showed me a useful variation on the notches for the cordage too.

It was at this stage that I revealed I had  an unopened bag of survival ration Jellybabies but Dave declined any, so as I started on a slow sugar rush we went off to talk about drills, looking at various lengths, sizes and indeed colour analysis of the inner would which can tell you a lot about possible water content, age etc. 

I usually go for a drill that is elbow to wrist in length but the one I was going to use is around 5cms longer so again, that was going to be interesting. I'm not the worlds best at shaping drills so I often stopped and took it over to Dave just to assess it using the you can cut more off but can't stick it back rule.

 

Two bases were to be made; one Lime and one Sycamore and a Froe, saw and axe were used. The Sycamore was a rather tricky attempt and although my splitting resulted in a slightly tapered end, Dave was pleased with the effort and said it had come out as well as expected. It does reinforce the point that a baseboard doesn't have to be  geometrically perfect via a circular saws attentions to work. Two bearing blocks from the Laurel were then completed I was shown a nice precision cutting technique that I was, to be fair, a bit ham fisted at but it works well with a board depression too and will be worth mastering. And that was the set pretty much ready.

 

We checked the bow and it had adopted a narrow curve so it had a bow sting added and now was the moment to test it out. Mindful of seeing how slowly Dave bowed at the beginning I tried to emulate it...But was told to slow down. When I first taught myself I used to go from nought to nutter in the blink of an eye, only learning it wasn't necessary much later on. When you've got a natural rhythm worked out changing it is something you have to think about but sure enough the smell, smoke and dust duly arrived at laid back miles per hour.

Whilst the ember coalesced I made up a  tinder bundle with a little Reedmace seed at it's centre and decided to show Dave how I'd prepared it (y'know whilst I was here and all that). when I offered the coal up to the bundle I had a bit off an issue because it had adhered to the ember pan and broke up a little but was still viable enough to produce flame.

After a quick break for some tuck we were on to the next part of the fire journey, namely the handdrill. I brought along the set that I'd purchased  at the Gathering and had a basic run through whilst there. I was doing a little and often at home and had made some smoke and even got an 'ember' on the end of the drill but was finding that my hands were getting a bit sore rather quickly and I'd hit something of a wall. 

Dave wanted to test the set to check it was OK (it was of course), I'd set my camera up in time lapse mode and I rather like the one above as Dave is testing the set I'm meaning business by peeling off my hoodie.

As with the bowdrill earlier Dave asked my to start so he could see how I shaped up position and technique wise. He gave me some drill speed to pressure guidelines and also suggested that I needed to get my body over the set more and involved.

I give a good go but felt spent and frustratingly Dave reckoned 10% more umph would have seen an ember. Well I say frustrating but equally I was also buoyed that I had come so close. A rest was needed and that rest came in the shape of a play with a pump drill, so no rest at all! I'd made one at home that didn't gather enough momentum so it was handy to not only see one close up but to get some usage muscle memory. I did however think 'Damn, another project to add to the list'.

But there was no escaping the hand drill, so by the power of more consumed Jelly Babies I had another crack. Remember the slow and smooth drilling mentioned earlier? Well by the end of this attempt I was grunting and gritting teeth but when you've got a master fire maker issuing encouragement and telling you that you are close you just do.

I'm glad he did too as he suddenly exclaimed 'You've got an ember'. Seeing it whisked me back to September 28th 2008 because that was the date that I made fire using a bowdrill on attempt number five. I arrived at this ember along a different route (a purchased set and help) but that matters not one bit.  

When I practice bowdrill I often don't blow the coals to flame but as this was the first hand drill coal it needed closure. Again I had a minor wobble when blowing it into a flaming mass but I got there in the end.

I'm glad I brought along a smaller second camera as Dave grabbed it and captured the moment for me which was peachy. What a way to finish the half day! I packed up my stuff and bid Dave farewell. 

This experience reminds me of Andy "Bravo Two Zero" McNab's autobiography when he said during weapons training after passing an officer asked why they were doing it as they already used them. He got kicked off the training because you can always learn something new however small. I've had really useful nuggets about shaping bows, dimensions, knotting bowstrings, caring for a new ember, loading  a drill, cutting bow notches, tinder bundles, speed, positioning, cutting depressions, wood analysis and probably loads more besides.

 

On the drive home I could occasionally smell the smoke on my hands (friction smoke smells different to smoke from a fire somehow) and it was a constant reminder of a successful and enjoyable experience. I also checked my hands when I returned home to see what state they were in after my hand drill exertions and I'm pleased to say that there were signs of wear and tear but importantly, no blisters. Dave doesn't go on social media and gets a lot of clients by word of mouth and reputation and I'm no different. 

World of Bushcraft Bowdrill 1-2-1

Of all the things bushcrafty I've taught myself it has to be mastering a bowdrill. I didn't rush out and try but I read watched asked and re-checked, I settled on trying with a willow set and I got the pieces of kit as and when I could in a controlled manner, rather than dashing out and trying to source them asap. When I got started I managed copious smoke and brown cool dust on attempts 1-3, and ember on attempt 4 which I managed to blow out of my tinder bundle (crestfallen doesn't begin to cover it), and an ember and a flaming tinder bundle on go 5 in late September 2008. I've saved the charred depression which I used to conquer it, along with the bow I used which is so large I wonder how I managed, but manage I did to the point where it developed a crack and I inserted a screw to hold it!

For a while I became quite proficient and branched out (no pun intended) to use other woods which included poplar, ivy, lime,  hazel and sycamore and could do multiple coals one after another. So far so good you might think, so fast forwarding to now, why am I looking at a bowdrill 1-2-1 session at the World Of Bushcraft?

Earlier I used the word mastering, perhaps this suggests I'm skilled enough to be almost infallible. I'm not of course. I don't practice enough and equally don't rotate the different woods that can be used (I'm currently a hazel and lime man, the best combo I have used in my humble opinion).

I've also tried demonstrating twice (outside of my immediate household) and both were less than successful. The first was at Cubs when I was in the groove but I found out very quickly that bow drilling straight after tea isn't good due to the cramped drilling stance and I got close but it was hurting too much! For the second I was cajoled on a slightly damp day against my better judgement and again, despite making lots of smoke  I couldn't quite manage an ember.

Both these episodes knocked my confidence somewhat and I found myself using the technique in splendid isolation and with longer gaps between embers...I was managing one and resting on my laurels which is something I'm still doing to a certain extent...This is where Mr Jason Ingamells comes in...





I was lucky enough to get a 'Willy Wonka' golden ticket to the World of Bushcraft opening and I recall Jason's smooth bowdrilling action when he gave a demo and this, coupled with the all weather nature of the premises (and what I've just typed previously) made me decide to get in contact.

The 1-2-1 was sorted for the morning of January 13th and normally when you are looking forward to something it seems to take ages to arrive, but the time seemed to fly and actually I found myself rushing round to get some stuff sorted to take! I'd actually said that I'd have paid a small fee just to talk about fire by friction as my family usually give me a Mrs Brown 'That's nice' when I go into detail about anything bushcrafty.

As Sunday night arrived I had a bit of trepidation about the next day. This was exacerbated somewhat by the fact that , as stated, I tend to rest on my laurels and the extended period of rainy weather had meant that the only chance to practice before the session was the afternoon before. It was dry but with a damp feel in the air and with a bit of huff and puff I managed to knock out a quite decent ember (which as I'd bothered I blew to flame). I was pleased with this but decided to leave it at that because I needed to save my muscles for the two hour stint that awaited...Or did I?

It was a beautiful day to drive up to Bedford and having arrived in good time I decided to have a quick look at the Priory lake which is behind the centre (but accessed through a different road).

A quick look it was as I was itching to get into the World of Bushcraft centre. I grabbed my bowdrilling stuff and headed in to be greeted initially on the stairs by Quercus, and then Kevan Palmer who was there helping out  with a stocktake, having said hello to him and the radiant looking Joanne *with child*, Jason made his way out of the office to see me and got on my right side by making me a cup of tea!

I had a quick stooge around the retail part, a sort of pre shopping browse, and then headed to the display/ demo area to set myself up before Jason came over with the beverage. We sat down and started having a chat about Woodland Ways' success in the Best in Bushcraft awards and this and that and then we started.

Apart from an email I sent Jason about some areas that I would like to look at I was quite open to seeing how the session progressed and hearing anything he wanted to add. As I'd dragged along my sets and various paraphernalia Jason decided to start by looking at my sets and critiquing them, some dimensions were due to preference/ size but some were perhaps issues that I'd built into my game and compensated as I was self taught. He was very honest but not once did I feel like I was being told off. And we went on from there until we had a mix of my stuff and the centres demo stuff together (we also used my knife which I'm pleased to say past muster on the sharpness front).

I then had my bowdrilling 'weighed', my stance and speed tweaked, the powder pulled apart (like an owl pellet) to be shown the contradictory nature of the different coloured powders' size. The temperature of my bowdrilling and resulting ember, discussions on cordage and with lots of digressions and asides about fire, bushcrafting, and the world in general.

I  said to Jason that I likened the tweaking of my kit and stance to a passage I read in a book about the Supermarine Spitfire which listed lots of minor modifications like a smooth wax and a whip aerial which added about 40mph to the plane's speed, regardless of what engine was 'under the bonnet'.

Once I'd put all the things that Jason had pointed out together I turned the hot dust I was making under his watchful eye into a viable, self sustaining ember in literally seconds and I actually commented on the amount of smoke those few seconds issued...it made me cough which has never happened before! To finish with Jason suggested that I have a look through the centre's box of baseboards and drills and marry them up for a final practice. My random selections yielded results but on the first depression I was talking and overdid the v shaped notch, the second I did a bit too close to the edge of the board. This was still a win as I was taught how to drill at a slight angle on the second, and managed to 'nipple' an ember on the first.

  

With a professional bushcrafter instructor who could talk himself hoarse about fire, tutoring a hobbyist bushcrafter who was willing to listen and interact until hoarse the two hours just flew by and my plan to take loads of pictures and notes didn't realty materialise as I was so absorbed.

I've realised that my style was all turn and burn...fighting the bowdrill set to rip fire from it whereas I'll now cajoule the bowdrill set to give me fire from it. Without getting too higher self it's almost strikes me as being similar to showing nature (ie the trees that have provided the wood) respect for what it gives up. As I look at the picture of the ember I knocked out the day before for practice I now think wasted energy instead of good amount of powder. I bid Jason farewell as he was heading for a meeting but I had just enough time to stash my kit before coming back in to have a spend. Have a look at my later bowdrill technique and combinations page here to see my 'journey'.