Just as a small point of interest, while on hols in Canada, I had a little competition with my host...he being a bit of a backwoodsman, we had a friendly game of make a bowdrill set and first to ember and flame. We used the same materials (cedar for spindle and hearth) and both had good results...Thumb thickness for spindle and Inch thick hearth. He beat me to it by a matter of a couple of minutes...
This is all very interesting (I hear you say) but get to the point....Okay my point is this...For all those that find the expenditure of energy a little tiresome, I say, choose Cedar. In the past i have used many woods, some with better success than others, but with Cedar I found I needed little energy and less downward pressure in order to get a good, smoking ember...so much so, that I look back and think, why did i bother with all those other woods...
Just a thought, for what its worth...
This is all very interesting (I hear you say) but get to the point....Okay my point is this...For all those that find the expenditure of energy a little tiresome, I say, choose Cedar. In the past i have used many woods, some with better success than others, but with Cedar I found I needed little energy and less downward pressure in order to get a good, smoking ember...so much so, that I look back and think, why did i bother with all those other woods...
Just a thought, for what its worth...