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I saw a coyote trotting across a field on the way home from work today. It was big and moved with confidence.

I went into Wells State Forest in Massachusetts, a place I hadn’t been before, with just a knife and some cordage and got a fire from scratch.

I was in a forest of mixed red and white pine, oaks and red maple ( sorry no pictures, left the camera back home). I searched around for some dry materials, it had been damp recently, and found plenty of oak leaves still on the trees. Everything on the ground was damp. I then broke a dead maple branch in half lengthwise and came out with a ready formed depression for the handhold on the inside of a knot.

I then went to the top of a high rock ledge for the spindle and hand hold. As I thought everything was dryer up there and I broke some dead branches from the white pines.

I carved up the set and got the tinder bundle ready. I had picked up a bow stick and got that ready too. I used some pitch from the red pines to lubricate the handhold and started to burn in the hearthboard.

I struggled for a while with all the little things that can go wrong with a bowdrill. It seemed this set had every problem that any set I’ve ever used had, the spindle was tapered, my first notch was too wide and it burned out that side, causing the spindle to fly out most annoyingly, among others.

Finally after much cursing, on what would have been the last try, I got a coal and blew it to flame. It was a great feeling to be able to make fire outside of the comfort of the familiar.

Andy

I have been working on a couple whitetail hides using the wet scrape method. One of them was given to me already bucked and scraped by a friend and ready to brain. With all the hard work done I still screwed it up by putting it in the brains (eggs) to wet.

It stiffened right up during final stretching so I have dampened it and put it back in the brains.

On my next try softening I still didn’t get it very soft. I really beat on it which hurt my hands, I couldn’t do this all the time, its to rough on my developing carpel tunnel syndrome. I don’t know if this hide was not bucked enough or my braining or softening is not good enough. In the spring I will try frame softening.

Andy

The holidays slowed me down a little but now I’m back at it.

I did some firemaking yesterday with mullin and basswood. I harvested some cattail stalks the other day and made a bowdrill string out of basswood bark I harvested last summer, a three strand braided one. Haven’t tried it yet.

Can’t wait for the snow. I didn’t get in much tracking last winter and look forward to doing a lot this year.

Andy

Got a coal with white pine on white pine with bowdrill today. It took a fair amount of speed and the coal took a long time to coalesce. I had three coals go out in 3 or 4 seconds before I got one that would stay burning. The white pine’s dust pile burst into flame after sitting in the wind for five minutes or so.

I intend to experiment further with the dust pile turned tinderbundle. It may be useful if tinder materials are rare.

Also got a coal with sumac.

I was generously given a mullein and a cattail stalk today by my buddy Kevin to try for handdrill. The cattail was to damp so I put that up to dry and used the mullein.

I got good coals on a damp day with both white cedar and basswood as a hearthboard. It took a lot of speed on the cedar and both speed and pressure on the basswood. The mullein made a lot of smoke before I got a coal and was a lot of work. Not as easy as goldenrod if you ask me.

Also gave red cedar bowdrill another try and failed. Any moisture in the air and it becomes exponentally more difficult.

I tried goldenrod on a red cedar hearthboard and a sassafras hearthboard today. I got a lot of smoke and dark char with both, but no coal. I used a lot of speed and not much pressure. Wicked blisters.

Got aspen spindle and hearth with bow drill the other night. Got it on first try which made me feel good ’cause I’ve heard it is tough. I used a fair amount of speed and moderate pressure. Made a big coal.

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

I got a coal with red cedar spindle and hearth bowdrill a couple days ago. I struggle with the harder woods like red cedar. They require greater speed and less downward pressure which requires more control and better form. I am a bit klutzy and have trouble maintaining speed without the spindle spitting out and sending my precious dust everywhere.

The dust from harder woods is usually fibrous, causing the dust to not form a dense enough pile. Its like putting a match to the average game of pick-up-sticks, they’re just to far apart to allow the heat to transfer from one to another.

So less pressure makes finer dust, and more speed makes up the heat lost to lower pressure.

I have not done scientific research on this, someone else could probably give a better explanation to what is going on, physics wise, but I think this explanation as useful as any.

So I will keep practicing. You never know when a harder wood is all you got.

Andy

Went to Maine Primitive Gathering. It was at the Delta institute in Bowdon. Much better weather than last year, even had a beutiful full moon, though I was a wimp and slept in the Delta institute classroom. No time to build a shelter and it was cold at night.

Made a fire by firesaw with Mal Steven’s bamboo. Hard work, takes a lot of shoulder muscle endurance but gave a good coal. Always generous, he sent me home with some sotol, cottonwood root for me to work with and a ton of white ceder for my students.

Mal and Nick inspired me to work even harder at my bowdrill technique by getting a coal in one try each from the Eastern Red Ceder I struggle so hard with. Harder woods are tough for me because with the lighter pressure and increased speed it takes to get the coal I usually lose control of my spindle to sloppy form and it goes flying out.

I also tried evening primrose for handdrill on white ceder with no success. Nick said he doesn’t like it for handdrill ether.

Arther Haines did a plant walk and showed us wild raisin and a creeping evergreen vine in the raspberry family that I see around home all the time, among other plants. He said goldenrod is good for keeping the nasal passages from creating an abundance of mucus as when sick. I will have to check my notes on the other plants he talked about and post on it later.

I learned a lot and am still assimilating so more on the Gathering will surely pop up in future journaling.

Wild Raisin.