I learned the bow drill technique on my first survival course with Extra Survival in 2001 in Drenthe, The Netherlands. It’s not easy and took me almost a week of practicing every day before I was successful.
Of all the friction fire lighting techniques however, the bow drill is probably one of the easier ones. It’s definitely easier than the hand drill.
This is an old Dutch video of me, from 2004, shot by my sister Iris in my parents’ backyard in Lelystad (The Netherlands) with English subtitles.
Other fire-related posts
- How to make a campfire (21 Oct 2025)
- How to suspend your pot over a campfire (23 Dec 2015)
- Sami long log fire (28 Jul 2011)