I discovered that it was a sunny day, with a slight breeze, when I came out of my lodge this morning. However, the breeze was not enough to keep the zagame/mosquitoes at bay, for there was quite a number of them sheltering in the arbor where my clan mates and I cook and eat.
There was a need for fire, so I got out my One Notch Bow Drill Kit, and set about making fire. The first step was to do some fine tuning on the fire board and spinner to ensure proper function. I then knelt on my right knee and placed my shoeless left foot on the fire board to hold it in place. I then twisted the spinner into the bow string and placed the business end of the spinner into the hole in the fire board. With my stone hand hold positioned on top of the spinner, I began to pump the bow back and forth. I moved slowly at first, then faster and faster. Then, with thick smoke curling around the whirling spinner, I could see that enough dust had filled the receptacle and heat had built enough to turn the dust black. The little wisps of smoke told me that the coal was quickly forming. I set the bow and spinner aside and gently waved life-giving air onto the baby coal. The wisps grew thicker and the speck of a coal began to glow.
I touch my knife to either side of the ember to loosen it and then very gently tip it into a cedar tinder bundle. And with a delicate breath and a gentle squeeze, the speck becomes a dot. The dot of yellow spreads, and a couple more breaths, a flame bursts forth.
A strip of birch bark is ignited and added to a small pile of sticks, and soon we have a blazing fire to cook some breakfast.
The One Notch Fire Board works great. there is no need to cut a new notch for every coal-making event; it’s already there. However, there is a need to carve down the tiny ridge between the new and old sites.
When the dust has to go over the ridge, it cooks enough so that no coal will form. When the dust just moves straight into the bowl-shaped depression, it retains heat and a coal quickly develops, sometimes in a matter of seconds. And sometimes it’s a teaching moment, which means, “keep trying”.
As for the “shoeless foot”, some traditions say that one gets better fire when one takes off their shoe. I suspect the dampness or dirt on the shoe could prevent a coal formation, or maybe the laces could get in the way. Whatever the reason, I prefer to take my shoe off.
Coyote 3 Feathers
Wow, I’ve never heard of a One Notch Fire Board. Unfortunately, I cannot picture how to make one from your description. Could you describe how to make the notch in more detail or post a picture?
I heard that there was a comment, but it has taken me some time to get a chance to reply. To start with, you make a fire board the same as you would normally make one. That would be the ‘one notch’ and the spinner hole that forms in the process of making an ember. When that hole gets used up, instead of making a new hole with a new notch, you start the next spinner hole right next to the first one. Essentially turning the first hole into a “notch.” The dust will go into the basin of the hole, and stay in the fire board, instead of out of the fire board and on to a piece of bark.
When you have two holes right next to one another, a little ridge forms. This should be carved down so that the hot dust does not have to travel over it. It is better if the dust moved horizontally or down, rather than up and over a bump. I also discovered something interesting while using this method. I lost several coals in the process. What happened is this; I would pump out a coal, there would be smoke curling up from the spindle hole and some from the dust, then it would just cool off and not become an ember. What to do? Then I thought, what if I gentility push the dust into the spinner hole? So I did, and it worked. Even brown dust became a coal in just moments. It must be done right away, because the heat dissipated very fast. I hope this is helpful. I suppose someone could post a picture at a later date.