The hand spun fire drill, the oldest method, accomplishes this through hand pressure against the drill while bearing down with the weight of the body while continuing to spin the drill as fast as possible. With practice, a strong, fairly heavy, well conditioned person can get an ember in a few seconds of hard work, under ideal conditions. Smaller or less experienced people can make fire through cooperative efforts and persistence. Mechanical advantages can be achieved through the use of a cap piece which is used to push down on the drill. To keep the drill spinning with one hand, a bowstring is wrapped around the drill and moved back and forth, spinning the drill. Another variant involves using toggles (and normally a second person) to spin the drill. These methods probably evolved where conditions made fire making difficult.
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