Bow Drill Workshop

BOW DRILL WORKSHOP

For thousands of years, people of almost every culture have sought to create and control fire. No matter where you are from in the world, your ancestors used fire to cook food, provide warmth, and survive. Whether your ancestors were buckskin wearing Europeans, Norse, Maori, Asian, African, or any other area of the world, fire is a connection to your primal self, and family lineage. You are alive today because somewhere in the far distant past, your ancestors started a fire with a bow drill.

“Making fire is a form of prayer. With your hands together you bow over and over hoping that fire will come and visit you. With the smoke rising, you send prayers and thanks to the sky. This is how the oldest Gods were worshipped. Gods of bone, and wood, and rock, and blood.” ~Luke McLaughlin (Holistic Survival School)

Creating fire by friction is a connection to your past, and your ancestral family history, no matter where you are from.

This is a forest-to-fire workshop that is designed to upgrade your traditional survival skills found worldwide by helping you create and learn to use your own bowdrill kit.

You will forage for the necessary raw materials to build your kit, as your instructor will help you pay attention to species and level of decomposition, always through a lens of respect for the land and leave no trace ethics. Then, we will employ some of the basic principles of knife and axe work to take a piece fo wood and create your bow drill from the raw materials you collect. Our instructors will demonstrate the method for using the bow drill to start a fire using friction, and help you acquire the skills.

Each participant will…

create their own bowdrill kit to take home with them
learn and practice the technique used to create a coal using a bowdrill kit
create a tinder bundle and learn how to use it to generate a flame from a bowdrill coal
learn to feed and maintain a fire started from a bowdrill coal
learn to identify the trees and materials needed to harvest and create a bowdrill kit straight from a forest in the Niagara Region

**THIS IS AN ADVANCED LEVEL WORKSHOP**

This workshop is not suitable with those who cannot perform basic bushcraft tasks such as batoning wood, creating shavings, using natural tinder, etc. Your instructor will perform a 1hr skills evaluation at the start of the workshop.

Workshop Layout:

Bowdrill demo
ID materials and harvest bows
Gather tinder, kindling and firewood
Blade safety and maintenance
Blade skills – batoning and carving
Build bowdrill kits
Learn bowdrill technique
Practice!!

You may bring your own knives, axes, and tools however everything will be provided to you.

Cost: $120.00/pp Class Size 1 – 10 students maximum Location: Niagara Region, Ontario Canada Duration: 6 – 8 Hours Materials: All equipment and materials are provided Setting: You will be outdoors for your entire workshop Temperature: We only operate when the temperature is +35C to -10C If the temperature is outside this range, we may need to reschedule. Availability: 7 Days A Week. Book Below.

*subject to availability*

*prices subject to change without notice*

Our Service Area in Ontario: Dunnville, Fort Erie, Grimsby, Hamilton, Lincoln, Merriton, Niagara Region, Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Pelham, Port Colborne, St. Catharines, Stony Creek, Stromness, Thorold, Wainfleet Welland, West Lincoln

Bow Drill Workshop

BOW DRILL WORKSHOP

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