the bow drill is one of mankind’s oldest
ways of starting fires but sometimes it
can be difficult for you to know what
sort of supplies you need to find out in
the wild so today we’re going to show
you how you can make your own bow drill
out of supplies simply from the hardware
and craft store now this is mainly
inspired by the book caveman chemistry
it’s awesome we’re gonna use a lot of
those ideas but we’re gonna make this as
foolproof as possible it can be really
hard when you’re starting out with a bow
drill fire to keep the spindle in place
to get enough friction so we’re gonna
show you a really nice simplified way of
doing this makes it a whole easier I
think the biggest problem is that you
just don’t keep a spindle straight up
and down and this is designed to get rid
of those problems it really holds
everything in place for you so that’s
not an issue
if you don’t have the right type of wood
if the woods too wet if your supplies
aren’t right you’re not gonna get a fire
anyways and that can be really
frustrating for a beginner
so with these supplies we make it as
simple as it can possibly be and also a
lot easier to learn so that when you are
out in the wilderness if you needed to
make a bow drill in a survival situation
you could so here’s the basic idea we
are going to take a 2×4 and assemble it
into a stand to hold your spindle in the
fire board into place and make this much
easier to start your fire
we’ve got a piece of 2×4 and several
different dowels here let’s take a look
we’re gonna use them for the 2×4 is
going to be used to build the frame
itself this right here is an oak dowel
it’s very sturdy it’s got a lot of
strength to it and this is we’re gonna
use as the bow this dowel right here is
made of poplar and what it’s made of
isn’t really important the importance is
that it’s a good size fit for your palm
and then it’s wide enough that we can
fit this copper cap down inside it
that’s going to be the axle that our
spindle turns in this particular dowel
is one in one eighths of an inch
whatever fits your hand best is the size
you should get this one inch dowel is
made of base wood which is a fairly soft
wood and these are usually sold at craft
stores we then have poplar and base wood
for spindles and you can try and see
which one works best for you as an
alternative for our fire board instead
of base what we do have a piece of balsa
which is extremely soft so we’re gonna
try and see if it works but we might end
up drilling right through it before we
get any smoke so the important thing
about a bow drill when you’re building
is that the wood itself is soft and non
resinous now if you’re out in the
wilderness that can be really tough to
figure out it means it has to be off the
ground but dry and brittle enough to
break off the branch and when you press
your thumbnail into it you should be
able to indent the wood there should be
no SAP and this kind of wood it can be
difficult to learn how to find so balsa
is a very very soft wood a good example
of something that we can get a good
smoke with but probably won’t get an
ember we’ve got a couple of harder fire
board options as well let’s get started
I think the first step is to build the
frame you got it so another reason this
project is so nice is you don’t have to
be perfectly precise for some of these
measurements especially the 2×4 so the
2×4 you’re gonna want one piece of
thrilling 9 inches and then four more
pieces that will be 12 inches long
so our bow we’re gonna keep the same
size I’m not gonna worry about cutting
mat with the dowel for our handle
measure this to a size it fits your hand
comfortably I have to have a spot on the
bottom that’s where the cap is going to
go and I want to be able to put the
pressure right there so probably right
about like that
we’ll probably want to give him about an
inch on the other side let’s just put a
mark right there I mean it’s right in
the middle I guess yeah got our handle
we’re gonna cut a lot of little tiny
pieces of fire board these are going to
go into the bow drill itself so we’ll
probably just make a couple of quick
marks here this is more precise than we
need to be but just in case I have never
literally felt no resistance oh we’ve
got all of our pieces so now we just got
to put everything together so the design
is really this simple we have four
12-inch pieces of wood holding a nine
inch piece of wood in place what we’re
gonna do is we’re gonna drill a 5/8 inch
hole directly down the center of this
piece and into a one-inch hole where the
fire board is going to go so the spindle
will drop straight through the top so it
can’t be jerked out of place when we
pull the boat and then the fire board is
so this is where the fire board’s gonna
go you can see it’s gonna be a very snug
fit it’s gonna make your really easy for
that should just help me seeing I got it
lined up correctly
so there is gonna be a little bit of
problems with the frictions which is
what we saw with caveman chemistry so
what we’re gonna probably do is add a
little bit of oil into this channel make
it a little bit easier for that spindle
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
frame gourd this piece never needs to
move again the only pieces that need to
be able to come out the fire board and
dowel bit over-engineered but that’s
what we want it’s solid it’s not gonna
go anywhere if you’ve tried making the
bow drill the other method you probably
had your spindle go flying like a
thousand times
cracked into your knuckles made you say
a lot of bad words this one can’t
because the whole thing would have to
move and you stand on it so it’s even
more sturdy now we just need a handle in
a bow this is a 5/8 inch copper cap and
the 5/8 inch is the inside diameter of
it so we need is a drill bit that’s the
same diameter as the outside of the cap
because we’re going to recess this cap
down into the bezel wood now the reason
that we’re doing this if you’ve seen the
previous video with us using a primitive
bow drill style we were using what’s
called a palm Rock now the palm Rock
puts friction down onto the spindle
itself well we’re using a piece of wood
because it’s a lot easier to find
drilling a hole into a rock is a pain in
the butt
it really is so what we’re doing instead
is we’re going to be using a copper cap
so that we can’t burn through our
spindle in the wood this fits perfectly
hmm there we go
that cap is in there we’re not even
using any glue or anything it’s being
held in place by friction you just
breathe it’s not gonna go anyway so this
is such a simple design you don’t even
need to worry about finding a curved
piece of wood this is just a straight
dowel and some paracord
that’s all you don’t really need this
much we’re gonna use about six feet
extra paracord but then if it starts to
get worn off in one spot you can just
adjust the cord how having a pedal for
anyone so the knot on one end doesn’t
really matter so long as it’s not going
to give but then not on the other end
just as you would with a normal bow Joe
will be a clove hitch which is a knot
so now we just need to stand the spindle
down a little bit we need a pointy end
on one side that’s going to go into the
fire board while I’m doing that Nate if
you will take some of our fire board
pieces we need some little cuts drilled
into them so that air can actually get
to the fire board itself and free that
[Applause]
[Music]
so even our kindling is just gonna be
household lint really easy to find in
any dryers that way none of these
supplies have to be found or gathered
out in the wilderness this is all
Hardware craft store and your house
supplies it’s really easy to make quick
finishing touches this spindle is so
smooth because it was originally a dowel
that is just gonna flip right off of my
paracord so what I’m gonna do is just
knock up the wood a little bit so it’s
got something to catch on well we want
to be careful of is we don’t want to
create too much friction down here at
the bottom that part wants to stay
smooth this part can be rough let’s take
this outside and see if we can make a
fire actually putting just a little bit
of oil onto our spindle here because we
want a lot of friction up here but we
don’t want friction where it’s being
held make sure it doesn’t hit the don’t
want oil down here because then it won’t
have friction and the friction is what
makes the fire start also trying not to
get oil on the paracord but you can
already see once you put that down that
spindles not going anywhere this isn’t
gonna fly off and knock into your
fingers like the last one will don’t
it made me good maybe good let up up you
just kill it I think you got one think
he’s died
alright trying this with balsa wood how
is that surviving this crack needs it to
be wider probably but it’s still smoking
that’s such a good sign that’s usually
how you can tell if you have a number is
if it continues to smoke after you stop
pulling you can usually how do you
[Music]
so let yourself on fire
[Music]
yeah homemade fire overall I would say
that this is really good for practice
it holds the spindle in place keeps it
from firing off which is probably the
biggest problem when you’re trying to do
it with a regular bow drill on a palm
Rock but it has its own share of
difficulties there’s a lot of added
friction in the wood that’s holding your
spindle in place and so well this might
be really good for practice for teaching
kids who are just trying this for the
first time or even for getting smoke for
actually starting a fire I would say
it’s worth just putting in the practice
to make it work with the standard type
of bow drill guys you’ve probably
noticed that since we introduced to Cali
in our Captain America shield video
every new video has had secret codes
graphic glitches and other secret
elements hidden into it keep track of
what you see and the timestamp of when
you see it we’ve got some big prizes to
give away and finding the codes might make you our next winner
ways of starting fires but sometimes it
can be difficult for you to know what
sort of supplies you need to find out in
the wild so today we’re going to show
you how you can make your own bow drill
out of supplies simply from the hardware
and craft store now this is mainly
inspired by the book caveman chemistry
it’s awesome we’re gonna use a lot of
those ideas but we’re gonna make this as
foolproof as possible it can be really
hard when you’re starting out with a bow
drill fire to keep the spindle in place
to get enough friction so we’re gonna
show you a really nice simplified way of
doing this makes it a whole easier I
think the biggest problem is that you
just don’t keep a spindle straight up
and down and this is designed to get rid
of those problems it really holds
everything in place for you so that’s
not an issue
if you don’t have the right type of wood
if the woods too wet if your supplies
aren’t right you’re not gonna get a fire
anyways and that can be really
frustrating for a beginner
so with these supplies we make it as
simple as it can possibly be and also a
lot easier to learn so that when you are
out in the wilderness if you needed to
make a bow drill in a survival situation
you could so here’s the basic idea we
are going to take a 2×4 and assemble it
into a stand to hold your spindle in the
fire board into place and make this much
easier to start your fire
we’ve got a piece of 2×4 and several
different dowels here let’s take a look
we’re gonna use them for the 2×4 is
going to be used to build the frame
itself this right here is an oak dowel
it’s very sturdy it’s got a lot of
strength to it and this is we’re gonna
use as the bow this dowel right here is
made of poplar and what it’s made of
isn’t really important the importance is
that it’s a good size fit for your palm
and then it’s wide enough that we can
fit this copper cap down inside it
that’s going to be the axle that our
spindle turns in this particular dowel
is one in one eighths of an inch
whatever fits your hand best is the size
you should get this one inch dowel is
made of base wood which is a fairly soft
wood and these are usually sold at craft
stores we then have poplar and base wood
for spindles and you can try and see
which one works best for you as an
alternative for our fire board instead
of base what we do have a piece of balsa
which is extremely soft so we’re gonna
try and see if it works but we might end
up drilling right through it before we
get any smoke so the important thing
about a bow drill when you’re building
is that the wood itself is soft and non
resinous now if you’re out in the
wilderness that can be really tough to
figure out it means it has to be off the
ground but dry and brittle enough to
break off the branch and when you press
your thumbnail into it you should be
able to indent the wood there should be
no SAP and this kind of wood it can be
difficult to learn how to find so balsa
is a very very soft wood a good example
of something that we can get a good
smoke with but probably won’t get an
ember we’ve got a couple of harder fire
board options as well let’s get started
I think the first step is to build the
frame you got it so another reason this
project is so nice is you don’t have to
be perfectly precise for some of these
measurements especially the 2×4 so the
2×4 you’re gonna want one piece of
thrilling 9 inches and then four more
pieces that will be 12 inches long
so our bow we’re gonna keep the same
size I’m not gonna worry about cutting
mat with the dowel for our handle
measure this to a size it fits your hand
comfortably I have to have a spot on the
bottom that’s where the cap is going to
go and I want to be able to put the
pressure right there so probably right
about like that
we’ll probably want to give him about an
inch on the other side let’s just put a
mark right there I mean it’s right in
the middle I guess yeah got our handle
we’re gonna cut a lot of little tiny
pieces of fire board these are going to
go into the bow drill itself so we’ll
probably just make a couple of quick
marks here this is more precise than we
need to be but just in case I have never
literally felt no resistance oh we’ve
got all of our pieces so now we just got
to put everything together so the design
is really this simple we have four
12-inch pieces of wood holding a nine
inch piece of wood in place what we’re
gonna do is we’re gonna drill a 5/8 inch
hole directly down the center of this
piece and into a one-inch hole where the
fire board is going to go so the spindle
will drop straight through the top so it
can’t be jerked out of place when we
pull the boat and then the fire board is
so this is where the fire board’s gonna
go you can see it’s gonna be a very snug
fit it’s gonna make your really easy for
that should just help me seeing I got it
lined up correctly
so there is gonna be a little bit of
problems with the frictions which is
what we saw with caveman chemistry so
what we’re gonna probably do is add a
little bit of oil into this channel make
it a little bit easier for that spindle
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
frame gourd this piece never needs to
move again the only pieces that need to
be able to come out the fire board and
dowel bit over-engineered but that’s
what we want it’s solid it’s not gonna
go anywhere if you’ve tried making the
bow drill the other method you probably
had your spindle go flying like a
thousand times
cracked into your knuckles made you say
a lot of bad words this one can’t
because the whole thing would have to
move and you stand on it so it’s even
more sturdy now we just need a handle in
a bow this is a 5/8 inch copper cap and
the 5/8 inch is the inside diameter of
it so we need is a drill bit that’s the
same diameter as the outside of the cap
because we’re going to recess this cap
down into the bezel wood now the reason
that we’re doing this if you’ve seen the
previous video with us using a primitive
bow drill style we were using what’s
called a palm Rock now the palm Rock
puts friction down onto the spindle
itself well we’re using a piece of wood
because it’s a lot easier to find
drilling a hole into a rock is a pain in
the butt
it really is so what we’re doing instead
is we’re going to be using a copper cap
so that we can’t burn through our
spindle in the wood this fits perfectly
hmm there we go
that cap is in there we’re not even
using any glue or anything it’s being
held in place by friction you just
breathe it’s not gonna go anyway so this
is such a simple design you don’t even
need to worry about finding a curved
piece of wood this is just a straight
dowel and some paracord
that’s all you don’t really need this
much we’re gonna use about six feet
extra paracord but then if it starts to
get worn off in one spot you can just
adjust the cord how having a pedal for
anyone so the knot on one end doesn’t
really matter so long as it’s not going
to give but then not on the other end
just as you would with a normal bow Joe
will be a clove hitch which is a knot
so now we just need to stand the spindle
down a little bit we need a pointy end
on one side that’s going to go into the
fire board while I’m doing that Nate if
you will take some of our fire board
pieces we need some little cuts drilled
into them so that air can actually get
to the fire board itself and free that
[Applause]
[Music]
so even our kindling is just gonna be
household lint really easy to find in
any dryers that way none of these
supplies have to be found or gathered
out in the wilderness this is all
Hardware craft store and your house
supplies it’s really easy to make quick
finishing touches this spindle is so
smooth because it was originally a dowel
that is just gonna flip right off of my
paracord so what I’m gonna do is just
knock up the wood a little bit so it’s
got something to catch on well we want
to be careful of is we don’t want to
create too much friction down here at
the bottom that part wants to stay
smooth this part can be rough let’s take
this outside and see if we can make a
fire actually putting just a little bit
of oil onto our spindle here because we
want a lot of friction up here but we
don’t want friction where it’s being
held make sure it doesn’t hit the don’t
want oil down here because then it won’t
have friction and the friction is what
makes the fire start also trying not to
get oil on the paracord but you can
already see once you put that down that
spindles not going anywhere this isn’t
gonna fly off and knock into your
fingers like the last one will don’t
it made me good maybe good let up up you
just kill it I think you got one think
he’s died
alright trying this with balsa wood how
is that surviving this crack needs it to
be wider probably but it’s still smoking
that’s such a good sign that’s usually
how you can tell if you have a number is
if it continues to smoke after you stop
pulling you can usually how do you
[Music]
so let yourself on fire
[Music]
yeah homemade fire overall I would say
that this is really good for practice
it holds the spindle in place keeps it
from firing off which is probably the
biggest problem when you’re trying to do
it with a regular bow drill on a palm
Rock but it has its own share of
difficulties there’s a lot of added
friction in the wood that’s holding your
spindle in place and so well this might
be really good for practice for teaching
kids who are just trying this for the
first time or even for getting smoke for
actually starting a fire I would say
it’s worth just putting in the practice
to make it work with the standard type
of bow drill guys you’ve probably
noticed that since we introduced to Cali
in our Captain America shield video
every new video has had secret codes
graphic glitches and other secret
elements hidden into it keep track of
what you see and the timestamp of when
you see it we’ve got some big prizes to
give away and finding the codes might make you our next winner
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