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I'm curious where bow drills fit into this progression? They appear easier to make because you don't need to drill a hole through a rock; you just need a dimpl

• DennisP 11y ago
  You can even use wood as the top bearing in a bow drill, as long as you lubricate it slightly. It's sufficient to rub it with leaves, or rub your thumb on the side of your nose and then on the bearing. I've gone to primitive survival classes, and gotten fire this way; my first, making all the pieces and learning the technique, took about three days, off and on. My second one with the same rig took five minutes. With practice they're fast to make. In one class we divided into groups of half a dozen, and competed to get the first bow drill fire without using any pre-made tools. No knives or axes, just whatever rocks we could find. The winners took less than an hour. Hand drills are a lot more difficult to use, and I've never gotten the hang of it. But I've seen some people get hand drill fires pretty reliably in a couple minutes.