I've seen many examples of the bow drill displayed, by many good survivalists and people of that caliber. But I have not seen many good ones diplayed on the net. So the purpose of this is to give people the CORRECT information on a bow drill. I will briefly explain the set up of a bowdrill, but it is not my goal to show you how to make a bow drill but how to use it properly.

Form

This will make or break you. If you you build a house with a weak foundation, will it function properly or give you troubles? Same goes for the bow drill, this is the foundation. Start by putting your non-dominate foot on the fireboard (I prefer the notch facing me.) Make sure that leg is a perfect 90 degree angle.

See how his leg is an upside down L. Now your other leg should be at a 90 too, a backwards L.

Now lock your non-dominate wrist around your leg, like in the picture. See how his arm wraps around nicely. It fits like it was meant to be there. The spindle at this point should be perfectly straight up and down. The bow should be perpendicular to the ground (using flat ground.) When you move the bow it should stay perpendicular to the ground if you are using manufactured cord (if natural have the tip of the bow pointing up a bit, so as the materials don't rub.) But your hand should stay at the same height off the ground at all times. Try doing this in a slow motion for 5 minutes or so, making sure your using good form. You've already got a few fires at this point, so now you need to get faster at it. This will defintely help, I still do it when I first start just to make sure I'm using good form.

The Non-Physical Side

Everyone does something different when it comes to this. Don't stop reading because you don't believe in this type of stuff, it will help, trust me I have done my research. I will tell you what I do and you can come up with your own (or use mine if you like.) I will pray as hard as I can thanking everything that is involved in this process of starting fire. From the wood, string, air, God, our ancestors for keeping the skills alive for us. I'll let you be the judge of why it helps me. Is it just the good energy I put out while praying? Or maybe God and the entities are giving me the gift for being thankful? Wait how about it keeps my mind busy so my body can be relaxed and make the fire properly? Personally I think its all of them, but if you wanna get faster at it you should at least have one of these working on your side. Thanks for your hearts, hope this helps.

Any questions, comments feel free to email me at trackin_fool@yahoo.com