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Tim McWelch, Earth Connection -- This article is being written during an unusual cold snap here in Virginia. It's 17 degrees F right now. I know you folks way up north would laugh at that temperature and think that is a mild spring day, but that's pretty cold for this area. I'd also like to dedicate this article to a very nice young man who has a great interest in friction fire making, Dirk - this article is for you buddy! Hope you like it!

The Arctic Mouth Drill technique and accompanying fire kit are remarkable adaptations in extreme cold weather Friction Fire Making. They are also testaments to the creativity, toughness and artistry of our northernmost brothers and sisters. The Arctic fire kits in the Smithsonian Institute collection range from raw and elegantly simple utilitarian fire kits - to beautiful and yet functional pieces of art. These kits were often made from a very limited supply of materials, like bone, leather and driftwood. Sometimes that driftwood was even Oak! A brutal wood for drills and boards! Some would say an impossible wood for friction fire.

The kit in the drawing above was collected in the 1800's near the Anderson River in British Columbia by C.P. Gaudet, then added to the Smithsonian collection in Washington DC. The kit was later examined, drawn, described and possibly tested by Walter Hough.

Mr. Hough then wrote a document called "Fire-Making Apparatus in the U.S. National Museum" which was published in a Smithsonian internal document in 1888. This rare document yields jewels of information like the sketch and description of this kit.

The Mouth Drill is different from other fire making methods in the way that the drill is held in place, and the way that downward pressure is applied. A wood block, a stone or a bone is held in the fire maker's mouth, clamped between their teeth. The fire maker bends over - or lies down on their belly - holding their mouth piece in their mouth, which holds the drill in place on the board. Then a bow or just a plain piece of string wrapped around the drill is used to spin the drill back and forth. This generates the same result as other fire kits - heat, dust, and for the lucky, FIRE.

But this is a very unique way to use these seemingly familiar components.

The curved piece resembling a boat is the mouth piece, which was held between the teeth and provided a socket to receive the top of the drill. The actual receptacle in the mouth piece is a square piece of black stone with a hole in it. This is carved and imbedded into the wooden mouth piece, which is thought to resemble walrus tusks when held in the fire maker's mouth. The stone insert is smooth and eliminates friction at the top of the drill.

The bow is the leg bone of a deer, with a leather string. A typical trick of the northern fire makers is to wrap the string around the drill several times for more traction on the drill, and the loose string of this kit seems to support this tradition. This double or triple wrapped string is a great technique for anyone to use if they have chronic trouble with their string slipping on the drill.

The fire board shows the very ancient style of a notch-less fireboard. Holes are drilled next to each other - and slightly overlapping - so that the dust pours into the opening next to the hole that is being drilled. This keeps the coal on top of the board, which is very practical when doing this on snow or more likely on furs. This notch-less technique is not as efficient as a dust collecting notch cut into the side of the board, like the majority of known fire kits, but the notch-less style certainly suits the environment. It may also keep the wood warmer around the site of drilling, which would help to reach the ignition temperature of the dust, while working in the very cold air.

The three most significant things about this kit give us techniques that can help any prospective fire maker in their personal "Quest For Fire".

1. Try a solid stone handhold piece, or a wooden piece with a stone insert to eliminate counterproductive friction at the top of your bow drill (or mouth drill) kit.
2. Try wrapping the string around your drill twice or even three times instead of the typical "once around the drill".
3. Try the overlapping holes on top of the fire board, instead of a notch carved in the side. You'll probably find that a notch in the side of your kit makes a coal faster, and more consistently than overlapping holes. However, it's a nice option to learn this style in case you don't have a knife or stone to carve the notch someday.

The Arctic Mouth Drill by Tim MacWelch, Copyright © 2008 in Earth Connection Handout Series 2, Used here with permission

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