Southeast fire-drill wood?

[Homesteader]

Hope I picked the right forum for this...

I've been introducing my nephews to old skills little by little. At least one of them is now pretty competent with flint & steel, cooking up char-cloth, and building good usable fires. The others are coming along. (I've given each of them little strike-a-light kits with steels made by Mike Ameling. They may never know what great pieces they've got.)

Anyway, I'd now like to introduce them to using the bow & drill. I've still got an old set and tried it out the other day. My skills are still there. But as I wandered the woods nearby looking for the right woods to teach them to make their own, I realized my knowledge is pretty poor in picking out the right trees in these parts. (I grew up in Ohio.)

So... I believe I've located some southern / eastern Red Cedar. The sapwood should make good fire sets, right? I know the pine trees are no good because of all the pitch, and the oaks are too hard. Magnolia is something of a softwood. Do you think it'd work?

I'm in the South Carolina coastal plains. I know I could take the kids to Lowe's and buy the right wood, but I want to teach them more self-reliance than that. Any advice or suggestions about the right woods in this area would be very much appreciated. (I'm leaning to the cedar at this point, although I might not be able to take a full trunk.)

Thanks guys.

 

[skunkskinner]

Eastern Red Cedar works best for me for the board, Green ash for the spindle. I have bound two 3/4 inch Cedar branches together for use as a board, but a solid board works much better for me.

Don't know much a bought Magnolia, try it. Then let us know :wink:

 

[jbtusa]

Use any wood that is soft and resin free. Not pine. I use river cottonwood here in SW Idaho.

 

[J.D.]

Any medium soft wood will work. Cottonwood has been mentioned. Willow is good, as is Yucca, cedar, sassafras, sycamore, and poplar. Dried mullein and burdock stalks make good spindles.

God bless

 

[Homesteader]

Well, I thought y'all might like to know how things are progressing.

Magnolia doesn't seem to work very well. Maybe if I'd let it season a bit more or something, but not as we cut and used it.

I showed two of my nephews the trees they wanted to harvest their fire kits from, which are Eastern Red Cedar (really a form of Juniper). It was the best I could figure given the area.

After working up the spindles, boards, and bows, we got to work. Used oyster shells for the bearing blocks, btw, and they were pretty good. I cheated and had boot strings on hand. (I figure cordage is a topic for another day.)

One of the boys told me it smelled like the inside of his closet, which I got a kick out of. (Cedar, y'know.)

Eventually, one of 'em got a good coal going and we transferred it to the bundle on a piece of wood. It was a good way to teach them the fundamentals of fire building. I hope it stuck.

I'm still not sure the ERC / juniper was my best choice, though. I noticed that the heartwood barely did a thing, and only the sapwood ground off to make the coal. Worked this time, but I wonder if it'd burn through too soon for a really good bow & drill kit.

Anyway, that's the experience. Took a long time to make it all happen. Any tips or suggestions are always welcome. Thanks.

(PS: Why don't they teach this stuff in the Boy Scouts anymore?)

 

[Scott_C]

This is a listing of suitable woods from Ellsworth Jaeger's Wildwood Wisdom pg 136 (©1945, mine is 14th ed, 1966; it is being reprinted currently ppbk)-

"Friction Firewoods: There are certain woods that make fire by friction more easily than others. These woods, in the order of their preference, are: yucca, balsam fir, red cedar, cypress, tamarack, basswood, cottonwood, American elm, slippery elm and willow."

Where I live the cottonwood,elm and willow do work, and cottonwood is the quickest for me.