Morphy wrote on Oct 1
st, 2019 at 8:12am:
The other thing that comes to mind is did you notch the hearth board deeply enough so the punk can fall out and build up your coal?
That's the thing, I'm not even at the stage where I can notch it. There's no punk being formed at all it's just spinning and polishing the spindle, not even darkening. The other end however is burning up against the antler hand hold. I've tried going slower, going faster, more pressure, less pressure but it's the same every time with all the woods I've tried. It could be that they aren't dry enough but the other end of the spindle is burning so.... Yeah. No clue.
Yucca is a little hard to find in Finland...
I'm starting to see why friction fire (at least as far as I've understood) wasn't used much in the Nordic countries. I think I might have to buy some better wood if I really want it to work.
I have flint and steel which I don't think of as reliable (needs very dry tinder and my technique sucks) but is currently far outpacing the bow drill in effectiveness
The surest fire (heh) way I've found to start a fire without matches or a lighter, is punk wood and a magnifying glass. Works amazingly well.