Friction Fire. This clip shows use of the firebow on a Heartleaf Sida (Sida cordifolia) board with a Heartleaf Sida spindle. The firebow is a limb from an Australian Pine. The cord is a leather shoestring. The cord method used is the tension method. The socket is a Scrub Oak limb section lubed with Bay Tree leaf. The coal catch is a Bay Tree leaf. The tinder bundle is bark and wood shavings from an old Baccharis (some call it Seep Willow in Western US) limb.

Sida cordifolia is a local variety of the Mallow (Malvaceae) family here. The USDA lists it as only in the States of FL, AL, TX, HI, and also PR, and VI. There are many of the Mallow family that work equally well including the common Hibiscus. The Mallows have the lowest ignition temperature of any friction wood I have come across including Yucca. It usually does not take long for coal formation. I probably spun the spindle much longer than needed but I want to make sure I see smoke rising from the dust pile separate from the spindle. Conditions were cool and dry after a rainy cold front so there may have been some moisture in the wood. It is difficult to find a straight Heartleaf Sida spindle so I often prefer to use a Pine Barren Goldenrod (Solidago fistulosa) spindle that works very well on the Sida. The Goldenrod/Heartleaf Sida combination is my favorite firebow set.

I should probably mention that the Heartleaf Sida bark can serve as reasonably strong cordage if taken when the plant just begins to go woody.

My problem with the tinder bundle was that I was trying something new to me. A tinder bundle made from one stick using the bark and wood shavings. Probably should have made the bundle much larger and secured it better as the expanding heat basically burned the bundle up before it caught fire. So better tinder bundle preparation both inside and out. So not only can failures happen trying to get a coal but failures also can happen in tinder bundle preparation.

So as not to mislead anyone, failures do happen. Even though a lot can be learned from the failures, the goal is the coal so that is what I show rather than including a lot of extra footage and reducing retention time. Some folks might want to stroke their ego but that is not me and that is not why I exclude the failures. Friction fire is a humbling experience and I always want to be honest about that whether I exclude failures or not. Friction fire is not easy and fire is never guaranteed.

https://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=SICO

https://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=SOFI