fire by friction


alternative postures for bow drilling | Alternative bow drilling methods | bushcraft | Kent | London | south east

Alternative bow drilling methods

This post on alternative bow drilling methods was originally published in Issue 17 of The Bushcraft Journal in August 2017. In the last issue of The Bushcraft Journal I looked at bow drilling posture and technique.  What I described works for most people most of the time, but there are situations where people aren’t able […]


Bow drilling 1

I’ve written about fire by friction previously in this post in 2013 and it’s not a bad post by any means.  But I wrote this article last year for The Bushcraft Journal and started from scratch, so there are many similarities between the two but also a few differences that reflect how I’ve been continually […]

bow drilling | bushcraft | Kent | London | south east

Fire Lighting | Fire by Friction | Bow Drill

Fire by Friction Part 2 1

This is Part 2 of a 2 part article on fire by friction. Fire by Friction – Part 1 covered making a fire by friction set and what materials to use, if you haven’t had a look already, it’s probably worth a few minutes of your time.  This part covers posture and creating your ember. Fitting […]


Fire by friction on Arran

On our recent trip to the Isle of Arran we were able to try out some different materials for fire by friction.  I’ve written previously about constructing a set and bedding it in, so take a look to find out more about that. Mark, our host, had some Sitka spruce and hawthorn at his camp so we […]

Team effort using a hawthorn fire by friction set

Fire by friction | bow drill | south east | Kent

Fire by friction – the first ember! 1

Kieran really put the time and effort in during his training with us for the Institute for Outdoor Learning Foundational Bushcraft Competency certificate.  And it all paid off as he created an ember, and then a fire by friction.  Not satisfied with that, he went on to repeat it all!  Good work Kieran. If you’re interested […]