There are three (maybe 4) tricks. If you don't get them right you are going to have frustrations. If you do get them right you will have fire immediately.
A. The first is having a very round and cylindrical spindle. The more it looks like a bought dowel the better. The less lateral movement the better. Whittling the end to fit your divot well will make fire faster, but it doesn't matter that much.
B. The second is having whatever you use for your bow string having friction of its own. Shoelaces or string/rope will work, but it makes it ten times as difficult. Slick, ploy rope like paracord is the worst. If you don't have to make a turn around your spindle to get it to spin you are in the right neighborhood. Surgical tubing I've found is far and away the best, and with a very smooth and cylindrical spindle you don't even need a turn on your spindle, but can just run it directly. What you use for a bow is unimportant as long as it flexes, keeps tension, and doesn't break.
C. The third (which I see people fuck up all the time) is cutting a notch on your fireboard so you can get air into your hot divot. Cut it all the way from top to bottom so that even the bottom of the spindle gets air. Otherwise you'll generate heat and get a black spot on the board, but the wood dust you create won't have enough oxygen to actually get an ember. I've seen many people easily create enough heat and friction but can't get a good ember because no notch in the divot on their board gets no air to it and they're smothering the ember as they create it. Most people get to this point, get frustrated and quit. The notch in the board is really critical. You can overcome the others through elbow grease, but you must have the notch or no ember.
You could add fourth of wood selection. Most any will work, but a very hard spindle and a very soft board makes things go a lot faster.
If I do these three things I can generally get an ember fast. I mean three pulls of a long bow and I've got an ember. I've even gotten one this way with no bow, though it takes more time, is fatiguing, and would be much more difficult with cold hands.
Prepare everything for success before you start. Have your ball of fuel ready to take the ember right next to your board before you start, and have your fire built with a hole underneath so you can insert your ball instantly.
You can fool with all sorts of fuels and fire aids (soaked cotton, paraffin-soaked cardboard egg carton, char cloth, fuel pellets, etc. they all work), but it's not necessary. A small piece of twine frayed into a ball of okum with your fingers will readily catch a spark, and it's not wet or messy or a hassle to carry. I usually just wrap a couple feet of twine around my fire making stuff, I have enough fuel for twenty fires, and don't need an extra box of stuff.
The truth of the matter is that I have just about everything discussed, and more stuff (fire piston, blast matches, etc.) in a micro pelican. I just find it fun to mess with it when camping. If I fell through the ice or something I have small bags of magnesium shavings, and a plasma lighter. That shit burns like the sun and will light wet fuel if you use enough.
Probably all of us have a bottle of Ronson lighter fluid in our field bags to flush out dusty actions. Nothing wrong with white man fire in a pinch either! I think the key is to find good fuel while you're suffering and before you begin trying to start a fire. Trying to start a fire before everything is situated and ready to go, just because you're cold and freezing, is bad juju. Set yourself up for success.
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oh well.
