I tried goldenrod on sassafras hearthboard today and got lots of smoke. I burned through the board and had to stop because my blisters from yesterdays success with basswood hearthboard hurt to much. Sassafras is my nemesis with bow drill due to an early success that I have only repeated once out of maybe 30 or 40 tries so I am really hoping to get a coal out of it one way or another.
I seem to do as well with the hand drill as with the bow drill but so far have not really challenged myself with bad weather with the hand drill. I still often fail with bow drill with the more difficult woods or bad weather.
I have been re-watching the Survivorman show, granted one must take the things Les does with a grain of salt, he is making TV, but he seems to skimp on the shelters a lot and makes great use of fire. Fire is a tool to make many other things including safe drinking water so I have decided to put as much effort into my fire skills as into my shelterbuilding.
They both need a lot of work…
Andy