Starting a fire with a bow drill


Starting a fire with a bow drill is probably the single most iconic skill within bushcraft.  I haven’t practiced for a little while and so yesterday I decided to change that.  And then I decided that I might as well make a video showing the process.  So for the video I used a lime hearth board and hazel spindle to create an ember, which then went into a hay tinder bundle lined with rosebay willowherb and thistle heads.  Once blown into a flame, I popped the  tinder bundle onto a ‘V’ Lay and added my first and second stage kindling.

Whilst it’s easy to iocus on the ember creation stage, it’s worth practicing the whole process, from ember generation to sustainable fire.

We teach starting a fire with a bow drill on our IOL Bushcraft Competency Training course.

You can see plenty of photos from all of these courses on our Facebook page.

starting a fire with a bow drill | bow drilling | bushcraft | Kent | London | south east


About Gary

Lead Instructor at Jack Raven Bushcraft, teaching bushcraft, wilderness and survival skills to groups and individuals.

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