Crack Willow Bow Drill in New Zealand

Whilst travelling in New Zealand I've been experimenting with different woods, some of which I know and others I don’t, to effect a friction fire.

We explored the Blue Lakes in the Mackenzie area of the South Island, a high remote basin over two thousand feet above sea level where it’s possible to see Mount Cook within the Southern Alps.

During a walk with my family around lake Benmore I noticed the dominant tree growing at the lake edge was the Crack Willow - Salix fragilis.

The Crack Willow is a very useful resource, aside from bow drill sets the stems are very flexible and are used in basket making, the fresh bark of all members of this genus contains salicin, which probably decomposes into salicylic acid (closely related to aspirin) in the human body.

The bark of this species is used interchangeably with S. alba. A poultice of the bark has been applied to sores as a styptic and healing agent.

Although I was able to recognise the Crack Willow I haven't used it before to effect a friction fire. It didn’t take me very long to find a couple of suitable pieces of dry wood to make a hearth board and spindle.

So with the help of my young daughters we made this short 3 min video showing the preparation of the bow drill set and then my first attempt at making an ember.