Pump-drill experiment

While out the other day I decided to try and make a pump-drill with items I could find in the wood and then make fire. Firstly I collected some pieces of dead hazel by breaking them from coppice stools.

Using a piece of flint I cut them to the required lengths


I found a plastic bread bag and filled with soil to use as the weight for the pump-drill and lashed at the top and bottom to secure it in place.


I used Wych Elm bark to lash the parts of the drill together.

Here is the completed pump-drill.

Unfortunately when I started to use the pump-drill to try and make fire, the spinning momentum of the drill shaft split the plastic bag open and the soil fell onto the coal that was starting to form!.....oh well, maybe next time.

Pump-drill

I have just made a pump-drill for friction firelighting, made from items I found in a neighbours skip.


The drill is a length of wooden curtain rail, with a hole drilled in one end to allow the insertion of various wood-tips for firelighting. The flywheel is a round 2kg weight (the type used in weight lifting). It takes about 2 minutes to produce an ember but there is virtually no effort involved.

Now I am experimenting with making one from materials found "in the field".

Rib bone netting needle

I found this old rib bone while out walking and it occurred to me that it might make a very good netting needle for.

As I abraded the edges with a piece of flint I noticed the bone possessed two laminated layers.

I battened my knife between the layers to split the bone in half.

I used a piece of flint to abrade the edges of the bone to produce the basic needle shape. I made a prototype pump drill with a flint tip, to drill a series of holes through the bone. Using a piece of flint to connect the holes, I formed the tongue of the needle. I completed the needle by using a combination of an abrasive stone and a piece of file, to smooth the edges of the needle. The completed needle is 220mm long and 22mm wide.

Here are the tools I used to make the needle.

and here you can see some of the netting I have made with it.