Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Two-Stick Fireboard


I had been thinking about trying this technic with a mullein today. When I came home the first thing I came across was an 3-foot long yucca stalk. Worms had infested it, but had since burrowed out, and departed. I scored it and snapped it into three sections. The straightest became my drill. The other two sections I simply tied together with some buckskin thongs. This is the two-stick fireboard method. You need to brace the drill against your foot when you start, so it won't travel up and down the groove. After a few strokes it will burn into the two stalks and settle in...you can move your foot a little to the side now. It only took about 10 seconds and I had two smoldering hot coals, one on each side of the drill. The groove formed by the two ajoining sticks forms a notch for the powder to accumulate, till it is hot enough to form an ember. Simply drop the coals into a tinder and blow to flame. Another cool thing about this technic is that you can untie the pieces, rotate the stalks, re-tie, and have a new area to work with.



5 comments:

Iowa Woodsman said...

Nice setup buddy. Thats pretty fast for a coal. Practice while the weather is nice sounds like winter is knocking on the door.

Mark said...

Don't remind me...I'm still riding a bike to work in a t-shirt this morning. Beautiful morning at 4 am.

Anonymous said...

I love your use of the rib! Brilliant

Mark said...

I try to stay humble...lol

Fenlander said...

Really good, clear description. Thanks.