Mullein Hand Drill in New Zealand

The Hand Drill Friction Fire.

After collecting several dried stalks of Common Mullein -Verbascum thapsus of various sizes and thickness I returned to our campsite to prepare them.

First I selected the thickest stalk for the baseboard and then a suitable spindle. Then it’s a simple job to prepare a smooth spindle with a rounded tip. Once the socket and notch is prepared the hard work begins.

It had just rained at the campsite so I decided to use the picnic table bench seat to set myself up on and resting the phone camera on the table top. By lifting the set off the ground it won’t be exposed to ground and atmosphere dampness, which gives me a greater chance of success.

I always start by using the floating hands technique until I start to see some smoke being produced, then I start with more downward pressure which starts to produce more coals.

The spindle did pop out but I just put it back and carried on. I changed the angle a little to try to keep the spindle in the socket which seemed to work well as plenty of black hot coals were being produced.

Now it’s time to produce the ember, I applied maximum pressure with really fast spins and after 4 or 5 stabs I could see that the coals had an ember. Success.

Has anyone else used Mullein for a hand drill?