By Survivor Kid 909
I have made a few fires with bowdrill, so I thought I would show you how to make your own dow drill set.
WARNING WARNING WARNING!!!! BE CAREFUL!!! FIRE CAN BE DANGEROUS, AND SO ARE KNIVES IF USED IMPROPERLY, BE CAREFUL WHILE USING THIS TECHNEQUE!!!! WE DO NOT ACCEPT ANY LIABILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS!!!!
In this tutorial I am going to go step by step through how to make and use a fire bow. If I have forgotten anything, please feel free to ask, and I will then try to get you an answer.
Here is a picture of my completed Firebow set
First go out and buy a 2 X 2 ½ or any similar seized piece of cedar from the lumber yard/Menards/Lowes, ect ect. You only need 3 feet or so. There are other woods that work just as well, I just have personally had the most success with cedar.
Now after this you will need to get a few tools. They are
-Hacksaw
-Knife
-Rope
-Powerdrill (Optional) along with drill bit shown later.
Now we get to making the set for your firebow. The first thing to do is to go get a slightly curved piece of wood. You want a slight curve, not much. My bow is about 30 inches long, try to find a suitable bow that’s 28-34 inches long. Next step is to remove all of the bark from the wood, and then carve in your notches.
Here is your notch on the one end.
On this end of your bow you tie one end of your rope, make sure its tied tight, or will stay on well
On the other end you need to loop the rope around the end, this way you can easily adjust tension. I will go over how to get your string tension right later.
This is how you wrap it around the 2nd end.
Next we will make your spindle. Take a 12 inch piece of your cedar, and then start to whittle it into a round shape. The spindle needs to be from 8-12 inches long. After it gets shorter than that, it is much harder to use properly.
Cedar for spindle.
Some progress whittling
Here it is all rounded outNext step is to sharpen one end to a point
And then make the other end rounded 
Next item we will get is your tinder catcher, this can be a leaf, a piece of paper, or bark. Here I am using Birch Bark
Next item on our list is the bearing block. You can make a simple bearing block by taking a piece of wood, and then digging a small hole into the middle. The other method is to make a more permanent bearing block. Find a piece of rock that fits well in the palm of your hand. Next get out the drill, and the drill bit.
Then press down in the middle until you get your hole, you may have to work at it a bit.
You will then end up with this
Next we’ll make the baseboard. Get another of your foot long pieces of cedar, then start a hole in the middle of one edge like so.
Further along
Now it’s time to put it all together and burn your hole.
First thing to do is to get your spindle tensioned right.
Start by pointing your sharp end up, and laying the spindle on top of the string. Make sure to hold the string while doing this with your same hand.
Then hold the bottom half of the spindle and hold the rope with your hand, and pull the top end under the rope like so. Then bring the spindle around so the rope is looped around the spindle.
You then need to wrap the remaining amount of your rope around the one end of your bow in the manner shown earlier. Make sure you keep the string TIGHT while doing so.
While using the fire bow make sure to hold the spindle down onto your notch with the hand that has the bearing block in it. With the other hand hold the end of the bow, and tension the string with your thumb like so.
Keep your foot on the baseboard, the foot that you are doing this with will be the same (Right or left) as you are holding the bearing block in. Make sure to press your hand up against your shin to keep it steady.
To burn it in, you want to take your one hand that’s holding the bow, and make long smooth, slow strokes.
You will then get smoke, keep going for a bit then let up.
Here is the hole burned in
Also here is the sharp end of your spindle, the one that was pressed into hole.
After burning in the hole, you have to cut a side notch with either your knife, or a hacksaw. Be careful! 
After this make your tinder bundle, I used jute. Make it the size of a small birds nest, mine is too small here.
Now, put the leaf under your hole in the bearing block, and use the same method used to burn in the hole to get your coal. The only difference is after you see smoke for a few seconds, push harder on the bearing block, and go faster.
Form
http://img531.imageshack.us/flvplayer.swf?f=Tfirebowdemo037xj3
Smoke
http://img531.imageshack.us/flvplayer.swf?f=Tfirebowdemo042ey4
