Also, Commiphora has got a very uniform density of fine-grained wood over the whole cross section and the fingernail-test reveals its ideal density for friction fire methods. are crooked bushes, where there are always enough dead, dry, and standing pieces suitable for immediate use as hearth-wood. Cut a fresh shoot in the afternoon and latest one day later it is dry enough for using.Ĭommiphora sp.

And density of the wood is very even over the whole cross section, it doesn’t glaze up, and it dries quickly. Its beauty is, that long, straight shoots are easily available, even in dry areas. for spindles have got quite a hard wood, which however is still suitable for the job. mollis, Velvet-leaved corkwood) for the hearth. Moving further on inland, also figs disappeared and there were only two types of suitable wood for friction fire hand drills available: Grewia sp. Wood used for fire hand drills at semi-desert areas And still a hearth of the same fig wood could be used. At an intermediate stage, Khoi-san therefore used spindles of Raisin bush ( Grewia sp.) and connected a piece of fig wood for the fire spindle tip. Plus, shoots of these trees and bushes were getting more and more scarce and crooked in dryer areas. When moved into dryer areas, Feverberries and False Marulas were not available anymore and the variety of fig- and corkwood species declined. Wood utilized for fire hand drills in scrubland areas Along drainage lines, Large-leaved Feverberry ( Croton megalobytris), Forest Feverberry ( Croton sylvaticus) and False Marula ( Lannea schweinfurthii) were available plus a variety of fig tree- and corkwood species, which all gave long straight shoots for the spindle and thick enough hearths from one species of wood. When Khoi-san still settled in moister areas, they had a variety of wood types available. Type of wood for fire hand drills in Lowveld area

And for fire lighting it meant that it was necessary over time to change from 1-type-of-wood fire sets to 2-types-of-wood fire sets. With this restriction in space, also a restriction in available materials for tools, implements, building materials, pots and so on, happened. Now they are restricted to some areas within and around the Kalahari. Type of wood for fire hand drills changed over timeįire starting by friction hand drill was traditionally common by Khoi-san (Ju/’hoansi) people in their area of distribution, which was once over whole Southern Africa, and got more and more confined by invading Bantu tribes and White colonists.

Hand drill for wood