Ember From a Live Tree? – Green Wood Bow Drill

After a couple of people asked whether the stump hearth I used the other day was still a bit green, it got me wondering if I might be able to pull off an ember from a living tree.

I have done this with maple before in the summer, but that set had the benefit of drying in the sun for hours before I attempted an ember with it. This time of year, there’s no opportunity for drying, so I started drilling as soon as the set was built.

Being a live tree, there was obviously a lot of moisture content to the wood and I did my best to dry it out utilizing the drying cycles illustrated so well by Lonnie of Far North Bushcraft & Survival in this video…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IR_CvF3-8U

This tree was a grand fir sapling harvested on private land.