Bow Drill Friction Fire

A few years ago I had a go at making a bow drill, I spent a weekend with Paul de Fitter making smoke, lots and lots of smoke.
Over the next year I watched more videos and tried again and again, with no success.
I then did some training with the Bushcraft Company and with the training provided managed to be the first on the camp to get it working.
At the time i was taught to use the same peice of wood for the hearth and the spindle, the spindle should be as big as the span of my fingers and as wide as my thumb, the hearth should be as deep as two fingers, and the bow should be straight, and the bow should be angled down slightly to prevent the string rising up the spindle.
Although I was told that it was a perishable skill I did not practice much and lost the knack.
It was another 18 months before I properly tried again, and the skill was gone.
I met with Craig who had been taught a different way on how to do it thinning out the hearth board and spindle are only one finger width also the spindle is much longer as long as my shin,  and the bow much more curved, the clue is in the name, the bowing action is steady and level, like a snooker player.
The kit he had was amazing, sourced by Dave Watson, seasoned Lime hearth and Hazel spindle.
Craig has also spent a goodly amount of time practicing with other woods and helped me with correcting my technique.
Over the last few weeks whenever I have had a day off I have been practicing with various kits, getting an ember about half the time.
I have found the Hazel is the best for a spindle it makes a nice fine powder and does not polish as easily as other woods.
Lime and Alder make the best hearths,  Sweet Chestnut has not worked yet.
I've heard Sycamore works well but not tested it yet, it's on my list.

Melbourne Derbyshire Meet 14-17/11/14

Well this is a meet that's been on the cards for a while, I believe it was organised by Squiffy.
Craig has been freinds with some of these folks for a while others he has met through Facebook a couple of things had been organised for the Saturday other than that it was a chance to meet up an hang out with some like minded people.
The address for the camp had changed to a woodland owned by Dave Watson, this was great for Craig and I as it was 45 mins closer, we left early and we arrived at the woodland at 14.30, said hello to a the guys that had arrived unpacked the event shelter and set up hammocks.
Craig showed me around the woodland after, mainly made up of birch it's a stunning well managed woodland with a large craft area by a huge roundhouse,  his n hers composting toilet and an outside urinal reminiscent of the old fashioned french toilets, a second fire are with spacd enough for several large tents and debris shelters dotted around the place, some 10 years old.
Night came in quote quickly and everyone settled into the big roundhouse,  obviously lots of politically correct banter interspersed with a few grown up conversations were had.
During this time people ate dinner, with most folks cooking for themselves,  and folks started turning in from 21.00 although some of us stayed up 'really late'.
For some the Saturday started at stupid o'clock,  not me though 07.00ish was about right,  I had been warm and comfy in my hammock,  I checked with some of the other folks and it had been a mixed bag of sleep, some folks had been cold but almost everyone stayed dry except one fella who's hammock material appeared not to be breathable and woke rather damp.
After a coffee and breakfast Dave Watson went over the camp rules, and then had a wander around with a couple of guys he was mentoring he went over some of the fungi that he knew about in his woodland, I was lucky enough to tag along for some of this,  when everyone was collected back together we were given an excellent demo  of skinning a Muntjac Deer by David Mccrae, after this myself and a few other guys prepped the stew for the evening adding a variety of colourful veg.
Craig did a demonstration on friction fire lighting, that appeared to be very successful with everyone who tried actually getting a decent ember/coal.
I then spent the rest of the evening flitting between carving with Carl who was generous enough to have brought some willow for anyone who wanted some and Zarla who had also brought along some rabbits that had also gone into the stew and eggs, and I also kept dinner going.
About 2 hours after everyone started asking how long food would take it was ready, and I am pleased to say there was enough to go around all 20+ people (although it would have been a bonus if seconds had been available).
Again the evening was spent around the fire chatting.
On the Sunday morning coffee and a huge cooked breakfast were in order, then we had a look a some knives that were made by Hackett of Sherwood they were of excellent quality. 
It was then time to break camp and say goodbye to some of these fine folks.
Craig and I were amongst the last to leave.
On the way home we chatted about some of the things we had taken away with us other than some new friends,  we also had an invite to Scotland with David and another back to Dave's for some helping out work and had some new ideas for future Black Wolf courses.
All in all a cracking weekend.

(I'm aware I probably missed lots that happened and did not mention everyone who attended or even everyone I spoke too, it's not personal)

Bushcraft Club with Black Wolf Sept/Oct

I've had a great 4 weeks with Black Wolf.
Craig and I arranged a program for the school's intermediate bushcraft club.
We had arranged to take the lessons in two groups, year 7 and 8 on Thursday's and year 5 and 6 on Friday's.

Week 1 first lesson Thursday 11 September, after some discussion Craig finalised and emailed me an outline for the lesson, Tarpology with detailed knot work.
I arrived at Ashford train station and rang Darren to pick me up.
He then drove us to tbe school, the lesson went well although it was busy I felt I covered everything.
Darren dropped me back to the station after.
Second lesson Friday 12, Craig led this lesson I was surprised to see all the little bits that although I had covered were that much smoother.

Week 2 again I  ran the Thursday with Darrens support and Craig the Friday with me supporting,  we had arranged to do a more serious cutting tools lesson, again Craig had written a lesson plan.
I had brought a few extra bits in case I finished what looked like a lesson that I would complete in just over an hour, I did not get to use them as the lesson ran a few mins over.
To start with we went over how important it was to listen and follow instructions for safety, both days managed this really well, with one girl on the Thursday being particularly good with the axe.
And no injuries.

Week 3 FIRE, fire is awesome again this is a lesson we ran in the basic course, but this time we went into more detail, talking about how fire works, why we use it.
And then let them make fire in a variety of ways,  we finished with friction fire.

Week 4 was advanced knife skills, we took the kids through a thorough safety brief and once the kids started to use the knives Craig and I continued to talk about safety.
The kids made a tent peg, rounding off the top, pointing the end, creating a notch then putting in a split to take some cordage  that we then adapted to make a candle holder for the garden.
And another win, everyone still have all fingers.

Camp out
Craig and I left early with a shopping list for food and supplies.
As ever things took longer than expected we had planned on arriving at the school by 15.00 to give us time to set up and have a smooth evening.
We actually arrived at 15.30 (bloody trafic) still plenty of time but as ever with new kit it took us longer to set up than expected.
Craig went to collect the kids whilst I finished the last bits,  food prep etc.
The kids arrived with Craig and we went over the rules, stay within camp unless you need the toilet then ask permission and go in pairs,  no running in camp etc.
The kids settled in unpacking and playing games whilst I prepared dinner, burgers, hot dogs, onions and beans with cake for afters.
After dinner we cleared away, played some games, sang some songs and generally had fun, then we had hot chocolate and snacks.
By now it was getting late so we suggested that the kids settle themselves down for the evening, they found it difficult to settle and it was late/early before they did (this is not unusual for a first night).
The next day I got up early and started breakfast, of bacon and bannock (tasty tasty bannock),
After breakfast they packed away and we said goodbye with Craig walking them up to the car park,  when he got back we re tidied the camp and set off to get ourselves sorted for the next group.
When we arrived back a few hours later we had plenty of time to prep for the next group,  Craig finished sorting the camp, I prepped food for dinner and breakfast.
The kids unpacked when they arrived with their teachers.
We had a similar activity night with the kids, we settled the kids down and within an hour they were asleep, not long after so was I.
The next morning ran smoothly,  breakfast and the kids packing away, we then packed the camp down on good order, as I had my regular job to get to so obviously leaving took longer than expected.
The teachers got us a bottle of wine each as a gift for a nice camp.
Craig and I chatted on the way home,  all in the camp was a great success, with some lessons learned and some great experience.
The future for Black Wolf is all a learning experience, with plans then adaptations being made after each course to ensure smoother running and better lessons for the future.

29th Aug to 2nd Sept 2014

Away with work again, back in a cottage on the edge of Snowdonia National Park, I've been here quite regularly and all I can say is WOW the scenery is always amazing at any time of year.
Went for a walk to collect some wood for some carving,  but whilst out we decided to see what was up a mountain we were walking past, it was extremely steep through some extremely thick undergrowth, I knew that just over the ridge was a pathway,  about half way I thought we would be turning back, but decided it would be more difficult to go back than continue, we then had a long looping pathway back.
I decided that after such a strenuous walk we would not be carving as it requires a lot of physical and mental control and we were knackered, so,we collected some tinder,  and made a fire in the garden back at the cottage with the plan to make a cake in my dutch oven, after the fire had been burning for about an hour I took the coals and put them on the dutchy, but the ground was still so wet it drew all the heat out, somwe ended up finishing the cake in the oven.
And sat down for a warm pineapple upside down cake whils stargazing.

August 2014

Summer holidays this  month so not had any work with school bushcraft clubs.
Had 2 days at the woods with young people, one who was experiencing their first foray into the woods, they seemed shocked that people would eat food that was actually growing, they also used a sling and had some food cooked.
The other was with a young person who has done been out a few times, we are working towards her being able to expand their CV with outdoor experience that they could take into furure work, we worked on natural navigation and making cordage.
I aslo had an afternoon carving with 2 other young people, starting on a project to carve an animal, both managing knife techniques that had previously eluded them, ie using the chest lever cut.

26.07.14 Carving Continues

Today I had a few hours spare so thought I would continue with my carving projects.

First I wiped down the oiled kitchen utensils that I had started to make the other week, I spent about an hour sanding them (basically till I got bored) wiped them clean again, sanded some more the lightly reoiled them and put them into a plastic bag.

I then carved down a crook from from a branch, stripped the bark and carved it down a little to make a slingshot, got to order some elastic and lead shot now to give it a try.
I've been meaning to make one of these for the last two years now, and always got sidetracked, but with all the Lime wood I had collected recently from a pollarded tree, I chose a piece with this in mind, I'm just left hoping that once dry it will be strong enough.
Gave this a light coating of oil and added it to the utensils.

I then returned to the figure I've been carving recently, and spent about an hour tidying up some cuts, shaving bits here and there and have now got to a stage that I'm happy with.
So I added him to the bag (I have a feeling I will go back to him though).

I completed all the carving using the TBS Boar folding knife, no blisters this time although the carving was not so heavy, since doing the heavy carving with the knife I have gave it a strop and it redonculously sharp again.

19.07.14 Thornden/Blean Woods

 I had arranged to take a young person to the woods for a Bushcraft activity, we had spoken about this upon occasion through the week.
When we left the house to go we stopped off and purchased some bits for the activity, we shopped to a budget for lunch, on the trip there we spoke about the plans and what particular activities she would like to do.
We arrived and went in a different direction than usual finding a place to stop after walking for a while, I showed the young person several navigational methods as we walked and explored the new area, when we stopped we made a drink and I showed them how to make a bracelet out of grass, they struggled to get the hang of it put persevered for about an hour before I suggested that we try this again some other time, and gave them the one I had made, we had some lunch of Noodles, Pancetta and Onion, before packing up and attempting to find out way back to the car we followed the track most of the way using a reverse of the story we had created whilst walking in but then lost direction as we did not start the story until we were quite a way in to start with so I explained some other natural navigation techniques we could use, pointing out were the sound of the road was this meant that we knew roughly which way to travel and we also knew that at some point we would come across a larger track that would lead us back to the car, I cut a walking stick for the young person and we followed this method taking us back in short order.
 Once back we went to a part of the woodland that we thought we knew and found it had recently been changed to a sensory walk with carvings and things in the woodland so we followed these stopping for another drink, I taught the young person how to make a fire using flint and steel, again they found this difficult but managed it eventually blowing a bundle of dry grass into flame, that we put out immediately as it has been so dry, we were using a Trangia to cook with rather than an open fire.
On the way home we spoke about what we had leant that day, covering natural navigation, tree identification and some uses for them, cooking, how to budget for shopping etc, planning for different eventualities, and even finishing the day with clearing away and the next plan in mind, with all this being covered in how we had planned the day and may even be able to help their future.