In this week's blog I'm going to describe how you can learn to effectively make an ember with a hand drill set from the very beginning.
Firstly, how is a hand drill different from a bow drill?
The hand drill is a friction fire method that produces an ember by spinning a long, thin stick (the drill) between the palms of your hands into a base board to produce heat, charred dust and eventually an ember. It's the cousin to the popular bow drill method.
However, in the bow drill method, the drill is spun with the mechanical advantage of the bow and a bearing block providing the downward pressure. With the hand drill, both these forces come from the palms and wrists, which can make it a more difficult technique to learn.
That said, all the principles are the same: burning in the set, carving a V-notch for the dust to gather in; it's just the scale, materials and techniques that change.
Where it is very easy to teach someone to produce a bow drill ember within their first session of attempts, and we regularly do on our courses, within the hour we can get complete novices producing an ember and flame after a quick demonstration and some tweaks to their techniques, with even younger children able to achieve it with good technique and teamwork.
But if someone was to pick up a hand drill set and try to make an ember on their first attempt, they are very unlikely to succeed. They are likely to blister their hands in the process and are unlikely to have the endurance to produce the ember.
It requires using hand and wrist strength that most people do not regularly use to the same level of intensity. Although some people who work with their hands, like builders, mechanics and blacksmiths, etc., or people whose hobbies include things like rock climbing or weight training, may have strong enough hands and endurance, most people who don't work with their hands may find that they have to build up to it.
But luckily, it doesn't take long for your hands to get used to it and, with regular practice, within a few days you could achieve a solo hand drill ember.
It is important to note at this point that, in most cases globally where the hand drill method was used, it was nearly never done solo. It would always be a team event where several members of the tribe would take it in turns, the second person taking over as the first person reaches the bottom, and then perhaps a third and fourth in sequence, giving each person a rest and enabling them to spin the drill harder and faster on their turn, like a relay race.
This is by far the best way to do it. Find three other people and take it in turns and you have to put in less than a quarter of the work.
But if you do want to learn how to impress your friends and make it solo, read on as I give you some top tips to get started.
Techniques
The Standard Technique
With hand drill you usually start at the top of a long spindle and you move your hands back and forward to provide the rotation and walk your hands down the length of the spindle, providing the downward pressure. When you reach the bottom, you stop and reset at the top.
Every time you reset your hands back to the top, the dust at the bottom is given a slight chance to cool, so you should be resetting your hands as quickly and accurately as possible to keep a constant required temperature. This is why a longer spindle is preferred, as you can spin for longer without having to reset.
The position your body is in is important. Sometimes you will see people sat in a kind of cross-legged position, bracing the base board under their foot and then having their arms out straight.
I personally find this quite uncomfortable as I am not flexible enough. I find a much better way is to kneel next to the base board, then take a second stick or piece of wood and place it under your leg and on the board to stop the base board from moving.
Not only does this help with the uncomfortable position, but it also, more importantly, means you can bear down with your shoulders and torso to add weight to the spindle rather than the downward pressure coming from your arm muscles.
To get maximum rotations, ensure that you focus on using the whole of your hand, from the tips of your fingers to the back of your palm.
Material Selection
The spindle wants to be between 1–3 feet (30–90 cm), with somewhere around the 2-foot (60 cm) mark being a nice Goldilocks zone. Too short and you are resetting often; too long and the top starts to whip around and become difficult to keep steady as you reach the bottom.
The thickness of the spindle should be roughly half an inch, or 10–15 mm, or thereabouts.
The spindle wants to be as straight as possible. Any bends or twists in the spindle will mean that when it is spun it will wobble more, rubbing on the side of the bearing board, meaning you have to work harder and decreasing your chance of success.
It can be challenging to find materials in the UK that naturally tick all these boxes. Things in nature will naturally have bends and twists. For this reason, sets are usually harvested green, then straightened over a fire and then dried and saved and carried with them.
To straighten a spindle, it can be steam-bent over a gentle fire, using the moisture in the green stick, and bent against the knee at any of the natural bends all the way along the length until it is as straight as it can be.
This is the same way that people have 'trained' their arrows to be straight for thousands of years.
One of the best woods for hand drill in the UK, and the one most people go to, is Elder (Sambucus nigra). New shoots grow straight up, and the wood is soft enough that it doesn't require too much force to create the hot dust. (But other species can work too.)
When selecting an Elder hand drill spindle, you want one with a small amount of the soft pith in the centre and thick wooden side walls.
If the Elder is harvested dry, the soft pith tends to grow and cover most of the diameter, and you get thin wooden walls that do not break and do not produce enough friction.
Your base board wants to be reasonably soft. You don't want to be drilling into a board that is too hard. Have a nice flat bottom so that it sits on ground level without rocking.
As a rule of thumb, just a little deeper than the thickness of the spindle, maybe ¾ inch (20 mm).
If you plan to use the board a lot, select a piece that has a reasonable length.
I find that clematis is a good wood for the base board and works well with elder.
Training Your Hands
Before you start to try and make an ember, it is important to build up the strength and endurance in your palms and wrists by practising little and often. Do not push too hard too soon or you could blister your hands.
Take a long, thin stick. This can be a piece of dowel and does not have to be your spindle at this point, and something to drill into that will not light, like a shot glass or egg cup.
Practise spinning the spindle for as long as you can: 30 seconds at first, then 1 minute, then 2, etc. Perhaps every time there is an advert on the TV, or while the kettle is boiling, or while sat at your computer.
Do this several times a day for a few days. For the first couple of days, you are trying to build up muscle memory and endurance.
By the third or fourth day you can start to use your set drill now, with a little more speed and force. Drill until you either see smoke, but if you feel any pain or hot spots on your hands, then stop.
Repeat this again several times a day over the next few days, ensuring that you're not pushing too hard and burning your hands.
Make a little smoke, stop, rest, go again and again.
Note: once you start to make smoke, it's time to find somewhere outside you can practise. Don't set fire to your living room carpet; you will not be popular.
By the end of this first week's practice, your hands should be building up the endurance and the palms should be more used to the required pressure.
Now you can try to push for an ember within a notch. You might be surprised at how easy you now find it, but don't do what I did and be tempted to push past the pain to just give a little more, thinking you're so close, as if you blister your hands it sets your hand drill practice back by a few days again.
Eventually you will get there, and you will have created fire by just rubbing sticks in your hands, which is a great feeling.
And once you've done it once, keep trying. Keep coming back to it every few weeks at first, then every few months, to make sure you don't lose that muscle endurance.
If you succeed, we would love to hear from your experience on social media.
But if you would like to learn about hand drill and other friction fire methods, check out some of our fire courses.