How did ancient man start a fire?

Fire making the ancient way

Before there were matches, lighters and other modern fire inventions, how do humans start fire? Probably wait for natural fire (lightning, bushfire) to start and then ‘borrow’ some from Mother Nature I suppose. In recent months, I have befriended a bushman by the name of Pak Abu. He prefers to be anonymous but agreed that I can call him Pak Abu on my blog.
Here is a guy who has probably seen more things wild and adventurous than I could have imagined. He is a bushcraft enthusiast and his interest lays in discovering, learning and preserving traditional (primitive even) tools, crafts and skills. Initially it sounded to me like a field trip back to the museum but it turns out to be a real eye opener (for me at least).
I managed a few trips with Pak Abu and on a few occasions he has mesmerized me with some of these ‘ancient’ skills. One of the most intriguing skills is making or starting fire the old ‘school’ way. Without the aid of lighters, magnesium rods or any other more ‘modern’ tool, Pak Abu’s way of starting fire by rubbing two pieces of wood together is really awesome. I was privileged to see firsthand how this was done on two separate occasions.

I am no expert in this, but from my observation this is what is required. To be precise, one needs several pieces of (some specifically chosen) wood. The pieces once put together forms a tool called a bow drill. The whole setup looks very simple but something tells me it will be quite a skill to master.

The pieces of wood that makes up the bow drill

Pak Abu starts off by putting the pieces together. Note the red handled knife near him? That’s a Mora knife from Sweden. Thanks to him as well now I myself own a similar knife (really simple but very sharp).

Need to know what wood to choose as well

Getting into position (I found out later that how who position yourself makes a whole lot of difference). The right position enable you to ‘bow’ drill longer and more comfortably. It also helps to reduce the amount of energy required by maximizing your body weight and posture.

Pak Abu working on the bow drill

After some strokes on the bow drill, one can see smoke coming from the base piece (on the ground). The smoke is emitted from the heat produced by friction of the pieces of wood. It will then produce a hot, blacken ash that is red with amber. It is collected and transferred into a pile of tinder.

Smoke becoming very visible

Carefully blowing into the tinder pile, the red amber from the bow drill starts to spread it’s ‘heat’.

The dust amber once transfered into a tinder bundle creates more fire

Finally, Pak Abu has started fire by simply using pieces of wood.

Fire by friction!

I missed several photo shots of the whole process. Can’t help it, my eyes were glued on to what Pak Abu was doing. While Pak Abu got it at his first try, he advised those present at the demonstration that like every other skill, it takes practice and practice… and more practice.
Anyway…I am impressed and I was really determined to try my hands on the bow drill. With Pak Abu’s guidance, I gave it a go. Trust me, it is not as easy as it seems. At the end of the demonstration, I went back home with a set of bow drill (from Pak Abu) and I will definitely try them one of these days.