Bens Backwoods

How to choose a bush axe

2012-01-01T13:37:00.007-05:00

Now that you realized you are a woodsman you are going to have to get yourself an axe.

Choosing an axe can be a little difficult if you have not used many axes or axes in different sizes before. Here are some points to consider when choosing an axe.

Point 1 ..The bigger the axe the more work it will do, this may seem overly simple but bigger is better when you are trying to "do work". Two axes with the same head weight will perform similar if sharpened about the same, but now if one axe has a longer handle this axe will have more leverage and do more work. This would also be true if two axes have the same length handle, the axe with the heavier head will do more work.

Point 2 ....You need to be realistic on what type of camping you do. Depending on how you travel will decide a lot on what size axe you can comfortably carry with you. It will be no use to own a axe that is too large to carry in a rucksack and then you end up leaving it at home, or owning a small 19" axe and expecting it to do heavy chopping and splitting.

So the basic advice again is to choose the biggest axe you can comfortably carry with you.

For myself I use the 19" axes a lot in a day pack or for a lightweight hiking pack.The 19" axes are perfect for this type of travel.

I use the 26" axes for most of my other travel, in cold weather where I need to harvest a lot of firewood I combine the axe with a 24" swede saw and I also may choose a larger 31" axe when it is appropriate.

Here is a youtube video covering some of these thoughts as well...hope it helps...

Naturally Sharp By Jim Dillard

2010-11-11T13:43:00.001-05:00

I think that I would be more comfortable traveling nude in an Alaskan blizzard than walking into the woods without my trusty diamond sharpener tucked safely in the side pocket of my pants. I never thought I would have the occasion to do either until I recently committed myself to a week long trip without taking any manufactured sharpening gear. My intent was to learn to use only what I found in the wild for my honing needs, and to add another item to my list of bushcraft and survival skills.
     While reading the 1891 journal of famed Alaska explorer Frederick Schwatka, I ran across a passage where his group had shot a moose to supplement their dwindling rations. Before butchering the moose, his Indian guide spent over an hour looking for a “proper stone” to sharpen his knife. In another old journal, Eskimo carvers were having a good laugh at white traders who had carried whetstones from New York to western Alaska by train, then steamship, then dory to use as trade items. The carvers quickly proved that the stones they had found in nature were far superior to the ones offered as trade. This convinced me that staying naturally sharp was a viable idea. Soon I was off on a foray in the Bush (gulp) with no commercial sharpening gear whatsoever.
     We arrived in camp on the southern tip of Kodiak Island. As is the usual case, someone borrowed my knife and then someone else, and soon it was time to dress the edge. As I began my search, it was apparent that natural stones rarely provide a flat surface, and that most are so rough that they just make matters worse. However, the smooth stones found in riverbeds, on ocean beaches and in glacial till provided a solution. By holding the blade still and making circular motions with the smooth stones, a decent edge was achieved. It was a slow process compared with modern diamond sharpeners, but I was pleasantly surprised with the results. I learned that almost any somewhat smooth stone would in time produce a suitable edge, even on high-tech stainless steels.
     By using a succession of three stones of differing coarseness and my belt for a strop, I was eventually able to shave a patch of hair off of my arm. The slowness of the process was due in part to the softness of the finish stones, but was also likely due to their rounded shape, which allowed only a small portion of the stone to touch the blade at any one time. This has a clear parallel in manufactured products, as a flat, diamond bench hone works much faster than a round diamond stick of the same grit.
     The most aggressive stones were made up of different varieties of quartz. Quartz would be somewhere in the 70’s on the Rockwell scale, so it easily cuts blade steel. The quartz stones glazed over with metal particles in a short while, and no amount of water would slow the glazing, but there were plenty of the rocks available to replace the glazed ones.   The softer shale put on the finest edge, but it was the quickest to glaze over.

In later travels to the Continental US, I followed the advice of an Oklahoma elder who told me that common sandstone would not glaze over, especially when water is used for a lubricant. She had sharpened her kitchen knives on her sandstone back steps for over a half century. I have now sharpened my own kitchen knives on sandstone for the past few months and find that although the process is labor intensive, the edge produced is approximately equivalent to that of a 600 grit diamond hone. The glazing is avoided because, as with Japanese water stones and soft Arkansas stones, the surface wears down, continually exposing fresh abrasive material.
To achieve the best possible edge, stropping is a must. Without the strop an otherwise sharp knife can perform the same as a really dull one. The purpose of the strop in this case is simply to remove the wire edge that forms while working on the stone. There are many options that will serve well as a strop. Of course the back of a leather belt works fine. Choices also include canvas (I use the leg of my work pants) dry cardboard, boot tops, nylon strapping and so on. The formal woodcraft schools in Europe have even taught stropping on the palm of the hand to attain the finest edge. (Do not try this at home without adult supervision.)
A dependable, modern sharpening system should always be a part of every outdoor kit; however, a basic premise of bushcraft is to learn to use what nature provides. It is good to know that, with practice, there are alternatives to manufactured products.

Goodwillie Voyager Birch Bark Canoe build part 2

2010-10-01T18:03:00.000-04:00

Here are a few more pictures of the North Star Voyager Canoe Build.

Gores stitched up.

Here is a Picture of Kevin and Patrick bending the cedar ribs in front of a class of 5th graders. The ribs were steamed and become very easy to bend. Once dried to shape they can be removed and cut to size for the final fitting.

Inserting ribs.

Many ribs inserted into canoe at this point. Notice the braces across the gunwales. Kevin said that there is so much force created by the ribs while they are taking shape that it would split the canoe apart if the gunwales are not braced.

I missed out on the next part of the build which was pulling out the now shaped ribs, trimming them to size, inserting the thin cedar sheathing under the ribs and pitching up the seams....When your done this is what it looks like completed!

This was the launching of the North Star Spring of 2010. I think this picture has 3 adults and about 14 kids riding in the canoe and there is still plenty of freeboard! These boats were designed to haul lots of gear!

Here is a picture of my son Matt and I in the canoe at the launch. I would like to thank Kevin, Patrick and Mr. G. at the Goodwillie School for letting us hang out and help out with the build.

Nature's Garden book and New Foragers Harvest dvd

2010-09-02T20:34:00.000-04:00

"Nature's Garden" is Sam Thayer's newest book and follows the same format as his first book "The Foragers Harvest". This is another top quality go to book on wild edibles. This book covers 41 new edibles with the same no nonsense, hands on, I really eat this stuff manner. Both of Sam's books have quickly become favorites of experienced and novice foragers alike. This book will be a valuable asset to any foragers library.

New Foragers Harvest DVD set. Im really excited to check out this dvd set to go with the book the foragers harvest. If it is anything like his books then it should be one of the best plant videos around..cant wait to get em...This is the info from his site and a link to the video trailer ....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snpAZybSkn4

DVD case cover

The Forager’s Harvest DVD Set includes two discs covering all the plants discussed in my first book. The footage was shot by Brian Pierce over the course of three years as he accompanied me on foraging adventures. Through hundreds of hours of editing, organizing, re-shooting, and planning in order to optimize the usefulness of the video to viewers, Brian created excellent DVDs that are both informative and fun. The entire production is narrated by me (Samuel Thayer) and provides ample ammunition for those who wish to make fun of my mannerisms, hairstyle, and especially, my attire choices. It also contains real-life footage of gathering and eating from the wild. In it, we interrupt normal foraging antics to cover the bases regarding each plant: identification, where to find it, what stage to harvest it in, what parts to collect, how to get them, and how to use them.
If you are a forager who prefers watching film to reading, or if you just want to augment the descriptions and explanation offered in The Forager’s Harvest, this video is for you. If you want to see what tangled clumps of hopniss vines and Siberian elms loaded with green seeds look like in real live action, they’re here. If you want to see the process of harvesting wild rice from a ripe bed, then parching, dancing, and winnowing it, it’s on film here. This footage captures the abundance, surprise, bounty, beauty, blind luck, mosquitoes, wood ticks, and occasional frustrations of wild food gathering in all kinds of settings around the Midwest, from wilderness lakes and hardwood forests to backyards and empty lots.

New Discovery Channel series Dual Survival premieres Friday 6/11

2010-06-11T17:19:00.008-04:00

I received this email and thought I would pass on the news.

This show should be interesting to watch as both these guys have been around survival for quite some time.Ive never met either one of them but I know who they are and have read Codys Book.(98.6 deg the art of keeping your ass alive).From what Im picking up on in the trailers and from what I have read in Codys book my guess is that Cody is a bit more bushcraft minded and Dave a bit more military survival minded. Im sure our friend the Mora will make a few appearances.I hope there is not too much flash bang t.v. stuff and more actual outdoor living skills..well see...thanks Ben

Ben,
My name is David Tra, and I am a publicist for Discovery Communications. With your blog's interest in survival skills and the wilderness, I wanted to make sure to share this upcoming Discovery Channel premiere with you and your readers.

Experts agree there are some very basic - and universal - rules for surviving in the wild. Find shelter, find water, find food, find help. Beyond that, there's not much they agree on. Meet the military-trained Dave Canterbury and naturalist Cody Lundin - the odd couple of survival experts featured in Discovery Channel's all-new series Dual Survival, premiering Friday, June 11, at 10pm ET/PT. Together, Canterbury and Lundin take on some of the planet's most unforgiving terrain to demonstrate - in their own way - how the right skills and some creative thinking can keep you alive.

Dual Survival: "Bush Hippie Logic"

Dual Survival: "A Run in the Dark"

Goodwillie Voyager Birch Bark Canoe Build part 1

2010-06-06T15:26:00.007-04:00

I had learned of the Goodwillie School a few years ago as I supplied some knives to them for projects. This is a school for 5th and 6th graders and a part of the public school system.The kids take regular classes as well as many hands on projects for learning.

Two years ago they built a 12' birch bark canoe and last year they built a 16' boat.

12' hunter and 16' ricer

Etching on 16' canoe done with winter harvested bark

Here also are pictures of a birch/cedar bark conical home and a round elm bark home.

Really cool stuff going on at this school.

This past year they decided to build a 24' French Canadian Voyager canoe from the fur trade era. They were looking for people to help and I couldnt wait to get a look at it and help with construction. I really wanted to get a good idea on how these things went together.

The first we got to look at the canoe, the main bark was sewn together and the thwarts and inwales and outwales attached.

Next step was to fit the stem piece and man board in the bow and stern.

Here Kevin shapes the stem with a crooked knife.

Man board and stem attached in the bow

Me stitching the gunwales with split spruce root.

Stem stitched up as well as the inwales an outwales.
More to come...

Sugar Bush 2010

2010-06-06T14:20:00.009-04:00

Im posting this late as things have been real busy...but better late than never.

We live on a small woodlot with a good portion of maple, we have wanted to tap the trees for several years and got around to trying it out in 2009. The first year we experimented with an open fire and large stock pots. It worked and we made sugar and syrup, but I had to feed the open fire for 3 windy days and because of the constant wind and smoke it felt like I started smoking about 2 packs a cigarettes a day! not fun.

So 2010 we found a shallow stainless pan to fit on top of my two dog stove and set it up inside a tepee.

The shallow stainless pan has more surface area than a pot and boils off faster.

We used plastic spiles and tubing with 5 gallon buckets for collection. We only tapped about 6 trees with 2 spiles a piece. This gave us more than enough sap to make what we could process with this mini system.

This system was very comfortable on cold windy days.This is a very small stove and the pan would hold 2-3 gallons of sap at a time. The size of this is just big enough to play around with but not good for high production.

Improvised saw horse,axe, and bucksaw fed the stove.

I built a 24" bucksaw out of green saplings and wanted to see how well it would hold up with no nails in the construction...just notches...anyways after a little fitting it worked great and cut lots of wood for the little stove.

I would boil the sap until it started turning dark and getting sweet and then moved it inside on the stove to finish it. Everything I have read on making syrup says it needs to reach 219 deg. to be done which is 7 deg. above boiling. Well in my area I had it boiling at 210 and thought my thermometer must be bad. Then I realized we are at 1100ft. elevation and water boils 1 deg. less for every 550ft in elevation. So finished syrup is done at 217deg.

This was a fun experiment with the kids and a good learning experiance. In the future I will be keeping my eye out for a larger set up to process more sap and maybe someday meet my families sugar needs with this cool resource.

Developing knife skills:

2009-11-06T11:03:00.005-05:00

Developing Knife Skills: A Scandinavian Approach to Competence with the Blade by Jim Dillard.

When bushcraft students show up to class or camp, they are always anxious to begin to work with their knife. They want to make the things they have seen in books and magazines, and by the end of the week, they hope to have a fair level of expertise in knife craft.
Too often these are folks who do not have a solid foundation in the most basic knife handling skills. They may own a respectable collection of blades, but there is a better than even chance that they have never spent the hours of work with a knife that would give them the capability they need. And through no fault of their own, most of them don’t know how to go about gaining the experience that will make them the experts they want to be.
The answer to this is simple. With a little instruction and lots of pleasurable practice, anyone can develop a solid level of competence with the knife, and it can be done right at home. Once the time is invested, an individual can enter the bush with the knowledge that they will be proficient, quick and safe with their most important tool.

The Scandinavian Solution

For a great many years the Scandinavian governments and peoples have taken great pride in their knives and their ability to use them. Most of those governments maintain federal departments charged with encouraging traditional crafts, and although now a thing of a past, their public schools at one time offered manual arts courses centered around the use of the knife. The projects and techniques used in these courses can help turn most willing beginners into top-notch bushcrafters in a relatively short time. This article will take you through one of those projects.

The Tools

First, an admonition – there are all kinds of gadgets on the market that can keep you from learning the use of basic tools. Don’t use them. The only way to acquire the know-how you need is to work with nothing but the tools you carry with you in the woods. The chain saw and the angle grinder may speed up the completion of your project, but they will only get in the way of what you want to learn.
The basic tools you will need are ax, knife and crooked knife.
The ax should be one of a high quality such as those made by Wetterlings or Gransfors Bruks. These have a hardness of about Rc 57 as opposed to discount store axes, which usually have Rockwell ratings in the 40’s. Although most folks here in the Alaskan Bush tend to use axes with handles of about 30” because of their versatility, carving with handles of 17-19” or so is easier and a bit safer.
Since the main job of the crooked knife (sometimes called a bent knife) will be to hollow, you need one with a short, deeply curved blade. If you are going to hollow small items, the crooked knife blade needs to be no wider than 1/2 “ at the base and should taper to a sharp point. The narrow part of the blade near the point will let you reach into small places such as the bowl of an eating size spoon.
Although the above tools are essential, your knife will do 90% of the work, so choose it well. Look for knives with a spear, clip or drop point. The point shouldn’t be much above the middle of the blade. Blades with a big bellies and high points are difficult to carve with. A knife for an experienced user should be between 3 and 4” long. If you aren’t sure what length you need, go with the shorter blade until you know you’re ready for the long one.
Since most bushcraft work is done with wood, a full Scandinavian bevel is a must. Beginning carvers can get quite frustrated with convex or short secondary bevels. The reason is that with these bevels it is difficult to tell the exact angle that the edge will engage the wood. One cut may be too deep and the next too shallow. With the Scandi bevel, however, all you need to do is to lay the bevel flat against the wood, raise it a few degrees and cut. It doesn’t take long to learn to quickly judge the exact angle needed to make consistent, paper-thin shavings.
For beginning carvers it is hard to beat the standard Mora model 120 carving knife. It has a laminated steel blade with a hard core that will retain an edge, and its 2 3/8” blade is safe and easy to control. Even though I carry sheath knives with longer blades, I always have a Mora 120 with me for small carving projects. Most carving schools both in this country and in Europe require the 120 for beginning students. As you become competent with the 120, you might want to also use your regular sheath knife for part of your projects so that you can learn its full potential.

The Mora model 120 and a crooked knife with a point are two of the most versatile tools a carver can own.

Getting Started

You will be working mostly with green wood. Green wood needs special care so projects do not split as a result of drying too quickly, but it carves easily and is a pleasure to use. The special care will be covered later. For eating utensils a fine-grained wood works best. Here on Kodiak Island, the only woods we have that fit that description are alder and black birch, both excellent carving woods. If you aren’t sure which wood in your area to use, contact your local woodcarvers’ club. They will be glad to help.
For a first project try a simple spoon. Using safe ax practices, cut a piece of straight, green wood about 14” long and 3” in diameter. With baton and ax, split the piece end to end just slightly off center. Removing the center of green wood lessens the chance of checking (cracking) as the wood dries, so use the smaller side for the spoon. After drawing a spoon on the wood, use the ax to begin shaping the bowl of the spoon by rounding the end of the wood and notching at the rear of the bowl. Once the drawn handle line is reached with the notch, split off all excess wood parallel to the handle. Watch the wood carefully as you work. If at any time the wood begins to check (most likely on the ends) simply dip it in water.

After notching behind the bowl, split off the excess wood with axe and baton.

Once the roughing with the ax is complete, the fun begins. Use your knife for final shaping and finishing. In tight corners such as where the bowl joins the handle, choke up on the back of the blade and use only the tip. Force yourself to learn to use every inch of the blade to its fullest potential. You will eventually be amazed at the versatility of a well-designed blade.

When carving in tight corners, use only the tip of the blade.

Contrary to what your mother once told you, almost all carving of smaller projects should be toward you. With the edge pointed toward your body, use your thumb to pull the knife through the wood, keeping the thumb to the side of the path of the edge. This way the blade will only travel a few inches instead of the wide and dangerous sweeps associated with carving away from you.

Cutting toward yourself by pulling with your thumb is safe because the blade will only travel a few controlled inches per cut.

While carving your first project, work slowly and observe the edge as it enters the wood. You will find that cutting at a slight angle to the grain direction will make chips that are smooth and easy to pare off. A standard rule is that if the wood begins to split or the blade gets stuck, cut from another angle.

By carving at a slight angle to the grain, chips will come off smooth and clean. Carving parallel to the grain (shown by arrow) the knife will get stuck or will split the wood.

Once the outside of the spoon has been completely carved, you are ready to hollow. If you must leave it over night before hollowing, take precautions to prevent checking (cracking) by dipping the piece in water and storing it in a plastic bag. If you are in the woods, use the old Alaska Native technique of packing it in wet moss or wet grass until the hollowing begins.
Draw a line just inside the outer rim of the spoon bowl. Make it about 3/16 of an inch from the edge. Then using the crooked knife palm up (with the blade closest to your little finger) hollow all around the bowl moving from the rim to the center. By hollowing toward the center, there will be no chance of chipping the edge of the bowl. Once you have carved a half-inch deep or so, you can hollow in any direction without damage to the spoon’s rim.

Always hollow toward the center until the cavity is at least a half-inch deep. This will insure that the knife doesn’t slip and cut the edge of the spoon bowl.

Once hollowed, the inside of the spoon bowl should be sanded, but sanding is best done with dry wood, so the spoon needs to cure first. Slow drying can be achieved by placing the spoon in a plastic bag. Overnight, moisture will leave the wood and condense on the inside of the bag. Each day turn the bag inside out and place the spoon back inside. This lets the moisture evaporate from the wood a little at a time. If the bag is not turned on a regular basis the moisture will cause the wood to mold.
Once moisture no longer forms on the inside of the bag, the spoon is ready to be air dried for a week or so at room temperature. A more traditional drying method is to wrap the spoon in wet moss and let the entire bundle dry slowly in the shade. When the wood is dry, sand the bowl of the spoon, oil with cooking oil or a hardening food-safe oil and use.

The Next Project

After completing the first project, challenge yourself with more complicated designs of spoons, bowls and other utensils. Patterns for projects can be found in an excellent book titled Swedish Carving Techniques by Willie Sundqvist. Although this book is currently not in print, it can be found in most libraries. Examples can also be found by searching the internet with the words “Scandinavian crafts.”
With each project you will become more competent and more at ease with your tools. I have never known a bushcrafter or woodsman who, after completing several dozen such projects, wasn’t totally competent with the knife. Because no job in the woods is more complicated than making a fine ladle, skill gained doing traditional Scandinavian woodcraft will enhance every aspect of outdoor knife use.

After completing several dozen traditional Scandinavian wooden ware projects with hand tools, the average bushcrafter will have the skills needed to do just about any knife job the wilderness requires.

Once a high level of knife skill has been achieved, projects such as this camp-made leister will be a breeze. Although an axe and a gimlet were used in making this effective fish getter, the knife did 90% of the work.

The bushcrafter’s reward. Food gathered with devices you made cooks in a wooden boil box and will be served with a newly carved ladle. All items made in camp with simple tools.

Need a Sheath? Make Your Own! by Jim Dillard

2009-09-16T12:27:00.005-04:00

A hand made sheath will last for years, and by making your own you will have an unlimited choice of options.

I wear a sheath knife all but a few days each year, and that presents a problem. Even though a good knife may last a lifetime, most factory sheaths have only a few years of daily use in them at best, and it is difficult to find a replacement that is a good fit for a particular knife.
True, there are some excellent custom sheath makers out there, but often their work will set you back more than the cost of a good working knife. The answer – make your own.
Another reason to learn to make your own sheath is the project knife. A large number of knife fans enjoy purchasing a kit or blade and putting together a knife that suits their own needs. But again, once the project is finished, it is often impossible to find a safe, durable sheath that is a good fit and actually looks good with your new knife. With a little practice, you can produce a quality sheath that will be equal to or better than one that comes with even a high-end factory knife.

The Project

My most recent project started with an Enzo blade from Ben’s Backwoods. The Finnish made Enzo is a high-quality blade that comes in O1 or D2. It is available either in a kit or as a blade only. I opted for the D2 because it is one of my favorite blade steels and has a hardness of Rc 61. And because my home area provides a wealth of natural handle materials, I decided on the blade only.
The blade was handled with reindeer antler that came from a feral herd that roams the south end of Kodiak Island, and it was finished with an inlay design that appears on ancient petroglyphs found in my home area.

Getting Started – The Sheath Liner

A hard sheath liner not only makes the sheath last longer, it adds a clear element of safety. Some makers prefer to carve sheath liners from soft wood such as pine or basswood. Making a sheath liner from hardwood only takes a little longer and will be much more durable.
Be sure to use wood that is not prone to splitting. For instance, although all varieties of oak are hard, most tend to split. My favorite liner wood is hard maple. It holds up well and the fine, consistent grain makes it easy to carve. Since a liner only requires small pieces, all the wood you need can usually be had for free from the scrap bin of your local cabinet shop.
The process is an easy one. Clamp the liner wood to a table or workbench and trace around the outline of the blade. Next, follow the outline with the tip of a small knife pushing straight down into the wood. This is known as a stop cut and will keep you from cutting past the drawn outline.

Carve deep enough to fit the blade and a little extra. A depth of the thickness of the blade plus 20% more is about right. Try the blade frequently as you carve to insure a good fit.

The next steps must be followed in sequence. Draw a line about 1/8” outside the carved area and cut along this line with band saw or coping saw (the line is shown in red ink in the photo). Then using wood glue, glue this piece to another board and clamp overnight. Saw out the shape of the liner using the carved piece for an outline. At this time the thickness of the liner should also be sawed to about 1/8” to 3/16” on both sides of the blade.

Now chamfer the opening of the sheath with the tip of your knife. This is an essential step. When the knife is put into the sheath, the chamfered opening will funnel the tip of the knife down into the liner. If this is not done, the blade may either catch on the top of the liner, or it may cut through the side of the sheath leather.

Finally, carve the outside of the liner to a round, smooth finish. Sanding is not necessary because the leather will cover up minor surface irregularities.

The Right Leather

The leather you use must be “bark tanned” or “vegetable tanned.” These leathers can be easily wet formed. Most sheaths are made of 6 or 7 ounce leather, with traditional Scandinavian sheaths made of about 3 ounce stock.
Small quantities of leather can be purchased from most knifemaking suppliers. Since I make a number of sheaths for gifts and for trade, I purchase a half hide at a time from Muir & McDonald of Dallas, Oregon. They have been tanning quality leather since 1863, and by purchasing in quantity I can save about half the usual cost. The sheath featured in this article had a total cost of about $3.00.

Choose Your Own Style

By making your own, you give yourself the choice of a sheath style that you like best. Most factory models are made with a belt loop which is an extension of the back of the sheath. The dangling Scandinavian models attached to a cord or outside belt make really good sense in winter when otherwise your knife would be under layers of clothing.

For the Enzo knife I chose a “high-ride” sheath style. I prefer this style in the summer because it keeps the knife out of the way while sitting on the ground or in boats or small planes.

Molding the Leather

At this point it is a good idea to make a paper pattern. Place the knife in the liner and form the paper around them. It makes handling easier if you tape the knife handle to the carved liner. Remember that due to the thickness of the leather, it will take a piece of leather larger than the paper. I like to leave at least 1 1/2” extra. It is better to trim off a little leather than to have to start over.
Transfer the pattern to the leather and cut. Be sure that your pattern is laid out in a manner that puts the smooth side of the leather on the outside, unless you are going for a period or rustic look such as the sheaths in the following photo, in which case you will want the rough side out.

Next, soak the leather in water or rubbing alcohol. I prefer alcohol because cuts down the molding and drying time to about half of using water. When the leather is limp, it is time to form it around the knife and liner.
If your handle material or finish is prone to staining or damage by the alcohol, be sure to wrap the knife with kitchen cling wrap before starting this step. This will keep the handle dry during the rest of the process.
If your purpose is to duplicate a typical factory sheath, simply take the leather out of the soak and holding it in your hands, form it around the knife and liner. In most cases the leather should be brought together along the edge of the blade. Since I opted for a compact hip-hugging style of sheath on this project, I put the leather on a cutting board and formed it with the back of the sheath as a flat surface.

It is important to work the leather around the handle. Keep forming the leather against the handle with your fingers until it stays on its own. A good job here will result in a snug fit that will hold the knife in place even when the sheath is upside down.

Drying Time

While the leather is drying, you will need to either clamp the two edges of the leather together or, in this case, weight them down to keep them from curling. Be absolutely certain the clamps or weights are placed only on the EXTRA leather. If anything is placed on the wet leather, it will leave a permanent impression, so clamp only the leather that is to be trimmed off.
Let dry over night at room temperature. Then remove the knife and liner and let dry another day or two. This can take longer if you used water.

Sewing

Due to the high-ride design I chose for this sheath, the belt loop on this sheath is made of a separate piece. No matter which style you choose, glue the belt loop to the back of the sheath using rubber cement. When dry, draw lines where you want the stitching to run.
There are two high wear areas where even heavy thread is likely to wear through. These are the back of the sheath and the inside in the handle area. This wear can be completely avoided by inletting the thread below the surface of the leather. The inletting can be done with a small woodcarver’s “V” tool, or since I am more used to having a knife in my hand, I use the tip of a very sharp blade to cut a groove the depth of the thread.

Once the grooves are cut, mark the stitching holes. This spacing can be marked with a ruler, or for a few dollars you can buy a stitching marker that will save time. An inexpensive stitching marker is pictured in the above photo.
Since this leather is too heavy to push a needle through, use a small drill to drill the marked holes. Although a 1/16” drill bit makes the job easier, a smaller number 58 or 60 wire gauge bit will make a hole small enough that it will grip the thread.
Using a needle with a fairly large eye such as a common embroidery needle, stitch the holes with waxed, nylon leather thread. If you have used the smaller drill bit, you may need to use pliers to pull the needle through the holes.
Once the strap is sewn on, glue the sheath liner to the inside of the sheath. Be sure to have the knife in the liner while gluing to assure good alignment.

Finishing Up

The process from here on is pretty obvious. Mark and drill holes on the outside of the sheath. Stitching can be in a simple straight line, or create geometric patterns within parallel rows or stitching as in the following photo. Be creative.

At this point, you have the option of using a leather dye or leaving the leather a natural color. Then embellish the leather with your own personal designs if desired. The ocean theme on my knife handle was carried over to the sheath by burning seaweed on the sheath using a common woodburner.
Last, sand and burnish the exposed edges of the leather and coat the sheath with a waterproof finish, either lacquer or acrylic. Then do the final stitching.

A sheath made in this manner will give you years of service, and of course for the average knife enthusiast, there are few things more satisfying as making your own.

Book Review -The Foragers Harvest by Samuel Thayer

2009-08-19T13:33:00.003-04:00

I had to do a quick review/plug of this book...

The Forager's Harvest by Samuel Thayer

I have been learning and using wild edibles for the past 10 plus years and have slowly added different field manuals and books to my collection. When starting to use wild edibles most people find themselves with a field guide of the Peterson type which is great for identification most of the time, and this type of book also has some description on uses of plants. Most of the "field guide" type books I have looked at have very similar information and the suggestions on actual use is kinda lite. Never the less the field guides are where most people start learning.

The Forager's Harvest is a different type of book and I am kicking myself for not buying one years ago. This dude is the real deal. Sam writes from a perspective of a forager who actually eats what he collects, and not only eats but cans, drys, and processes edibles for year round use to make up a good portion of his diet! One example is he says he collects 500 pounds of wild rice a year from a canoe!

I have found much useful information in this book that I have not found in any other wild food book such as info on digging sticks, berry hooks, and blickeys. Sam also busts myths about wild foods that are propagated in most other wild food books. One example is of how bitter common milkweed is, it is recommended in most books to boil it in 2-3 changes of water or not to even eat it at all. This is bogus as the common milkweed is not bitter and I have been eating several parts of it for many years by boiling it once!

I may stock this book in the future and his new book due out this fall which I cant wait to get my hands on....check out his site http://www.foragersharvest.com/

Fire Skills with Ferro rods and Firesteels part 1

2009-07-09T10:42:00.006-04:00

Fire is the most important skill and tool in the outdoors. I have read countless stories of people caught in survival situations who could not make fire and spent many miserable nights without one. Best case is your miserable and cold, worst case is you dont have a pulse anymore. Mastering fire skills to the point where you can light a fire at any moment in any weather condition will give you a great sense of self reliance and safety.

Learning to use a Ferrocerium rod or firesteel is a very good step towards mastering fire. These tools are more reliable than matches or a lighter but require a bit more skill in use. Your goal is to reach a skill level where you are as comfortable lighting a fire with a ferro rod as you are with matches or a lighter.

The first time you use a ferro rod type firestarter more than likely you will be scraping erratically throwing sparks at a big pile of tinder and because you are not stable you will knock the tinder pile out of the way while you are trying to throw sparks at it.This can be very frustrating , but with some practice and proper technique you can be successful every time. Here's How...

Controlled scraping action with a proper scraper.

For a scraper I stay away from using the cutting edge on my knives, this works well but is hard on your knife blade. In general you will need a hardened piece of steel with a squared edge on it. The spines of many knives can be squared off as in "Fine Tune Your Mora Part 1". The harder the steel the better, carbon steel blades work better but a good tempered stainless will also work. A cheap carbon steel hacksaw blade is what I would recommend for learning. Make sure it is carbon steel and break off a 3" piece and grind or file down the teeth....you are after the high tempered steel just beyond the teeth.

Scrapers I use on a regular basis are the backs of the saws on my swiss army knives , the spine on my mora knife and a piece of a hacksaw blade.(you can also use the hacksaw blade with a hard rock to produce sparks for "flint and steel firestarting")

Now that you have a good scraper you will want to practice getting good sparks off of your rod with it. Take your scraper and set it against your ferro rod at a 90 deg. angle. You should be able to scrape this back and forth with no sparks and not much friction. Now angle the scraper away from you just a bit while scraping until it bites into that ferro rod. Keep an eye on the angle it bites best into your rod. Now you can put some pressure on the scraper with the correct angle and a slow scraping action and you should be able to scrape off some fine ferro shards without any sparks ( these shards can be added to your tinder if needed for some extra boost).

Now increase the scraping speed and pressure a bit you will produce nice controlled hot sparks.

These instructions may sound a bit overdone, but the point is to get you comfortable with producing constant hot sparks with a slow controlled action.

Good quality Tinder
Good quality tinder is a must for learning and well worth keeping on hand at all times. For the beginner I would start out with 100% cotton , cotton balls or q tips. Fluff these up a bit and throw some sparks at them, they should catch real easy. To make the cotton balls and q tips burn longer you can rub some petroleum jelly into them to act as a fuel. Magnesium bars are just about bullet proof for starting fires. They are not quite as easy to use as cotton balls, but because the magnesium will burn even if it gets wet makes it one of the best "back up" tinder's to have. Its best to have a decent pile of magnesium shavings on top of a coarser tinder pile or mixed in with a "harder to light" tinder ready to catch the flame. Or light a feather stick from the fast burning flame the magnesium puts out.

Good tinder's include cotton balls , q tips , magnesium block , Wet fire tinder and the Fire Fixins tinder kit.

Stability of your firestarting
You need to be stable in this whole operation and it is a good idea to find something solid to push against with your ferro rod. A log , stick , rock or even hard ground works. You can also hold your scraper still and pull the firesteel away from it in a quick action to throw good sparks, but this is not as controlled or accurate and is best used with "easy to light" tinder bundles. Holding your ferro rod against something solid with a slow controlled scrape will produce the most concentrated controlled sparks capable of lighting course tinder such as the small curls on a feather stick. Another trick is to hold your tinder against your scraper with a good grip and just run your scraper over the ferro rod. This takes care of the stability problem and is nice when its hard to find a dry surface to stable yourself with.This also works well with properly carved feather sticks to create a "match"

Holding your tinder behind your scraper as you throw sparks works well with certain tinder's and gives you a "match" to light your fire with.

Fluffed up cotton swab, and a fluffed up twine from the fire fixins ready to catch a spark.

Fire Fixins "match"

From this point if you are a good boy scout you will have your fine kindling, feather sticks , etc. ready to be lit with this match.

I hope this will be helpful to get started on using ferro rods for your firestarting needs. Once you get some practice doing this it will become a very reliable way of starting a fire.

In part 2 I plan on covering natural tinders and lighting feather sticks with a ferro rod.....thanks Ben

Fine Tune Your Mora Part 2 - The Two Way Sheath by Jim Dillard

2009-07-08T10:08:00.006-04:00

Although the Mora knife is one of the true bargains of bushcraft equipment, the plastic sheath does not always satisfy the needs of avid bushcrafters. Aftermarket sheaths such as the JRE are available, but of course one of the most rewarding aspects of bushcraft is to use your own self-made gear. The following is a step-by-step tutorial on a really easy sheath to make for your Mora. This particular sheath features a hard liner in the blade area, which will insure the safety of the user.
Photos 1 and 2 show the two-position use of this sheath. The handle up position is best when the sheath is worn beneath a shirt or jacket, and the handle down carry is best when the sheath is worn on the outside of the clothing. I frequently carry mine in the handle down position under my left arm. This provides a quick one-handed draw with my right hand.
Photo 3 shows the first step in the process. To use the plastic sheath that comes with your knife for a liner, cut the sheath at the same angle as the guard portion of the handle. Cut the sheath so that you have about 3/16” of free space between the tip of the knife and the inside of the sheath.
Photo 4 – bevel the inside of the plastic sheath to eliminate the possibility of the knife tip catching on the edge when the blade is inserted into the new sheath. Photo 5 – tape the knife to the sheath liner. This will prevent shifting when you are molding the leather and will make a more secure fit.

You will need a piece of thin leather about 6” x 10”. It should be 3 or 4 ounce, about 1/16” thick. This is a standard thickness for most Scandinavian style sheaths. Leather a little thicker will work, but will be harder to form. To form the sheath you can either wet the leather with water or with rubbing alcohol. I much prefer the alcohol because it evaporates quickly and therefore takes much less time to form. Soak the leather thoroughly until it becomes limp. With the alcohol this will take a half hour or so. Then wrap the leather around the knife and liner and begin to form it with your fingers. As the leather dries, it will begin to stay in place. Pay particular attention to the handle area around the guard of the knife because a snug fit in this area is what keeps the knife from falling out of the sheath.
When the leather begins to dry in the forming process, it will retain the shape of the knife and liner. When this happens you can clamp the edges and let it dry over night. Be absolutely certain that the clamps are put ONLY on parts of the leather that will be trimmed off. The clamps will leave permanent and ugly marks on the wet leather and you don’t want those on your finished sheath. When the leather has dried overnight, take out the knife and liner and let it dry another day.

After the leather is completely dry, trim off the extra, leaving it about a half inch or so larger than the size you want the finished sheath.This will give you room for adjustment if the leather shifts a little during gluing. Then take the tape off of the knife and liner and clean the liner of any tape residue. You will need a good rubber cement type glue such as Goop or E-6000. Spread glue over the entire sheath liner and where the leather comes together along the edges. It is necessary to have the knife in the sheath during gluing for good alignment, but be careful that you don’t glue the knife handle to the leather. When the glue is spread, clamp the edges, but be sure to use padding under the clamps to avoid ugly blotches on the finished sheath. Photo 9 shows the scrap trimmings being used as pads under the clamps. Have everything ready and laid out before you start to glue, because the glue will dry quickly.
When the glue is completely dry, trim off the excess about a quarter inch out from where you want the stitch line. You will need a knife with a narrow tip to cut the curves smoothly. Also notice in photo 10 that extra leather has been left in the tip area for the 3/16” hole that will allow for the handle down carry position. Once the leather has been trimmed, sand to smooth the edges. It is essential to use a sanding block under the sandpaper to do this, because sanding the edge with loose sandpaper will only enlarge irregularities on the edge of the sheath.

Before drawing the line for the stitching holes, pull the knife in and out of the glued sheath a few times to determine where the stitches should be around the guard area. Watch the guard bulge the leather as you pull it out. You want it to be snug enough that the knife can’t fall out in the handle down position, but not so snug that it is difficult to remove from the sheath. The stitching line in photo 12 is just right, but you need to make this judgment for yourself as the position of the stitch line can be influenced by differences in materials. If the knife ends up too loose in the sheath, stitching will need to be redone in the guard area, but if it is just a little too tight, a little bar soap and a few minutes working the knife in and out will usually fix the problem.
Once the stitching line is drawn, mark the stitch holes. At a cost of only about $6.00 a stitch marking wheel is worth the money. It will do an excellent job and makes quick work of marking where the holes go –also shown in photo 12. If you don’t have a stitch marker, you can use a ruler, making the stitches about 1/8” or 4 mm apart. Then use a small drill such as Dremel to drill the holes. A 1/16” but will work, but the thread will be loose in the holes. For the best job use a wire gauge drill bit size 55 to 60. This will make the thread snug in the holes.

To finish the edge of your sheath, use a commercial edge finisher such as gum tragacanth. This will eliminate the fuzzies. Apply the edge finisher to the rough part of the leather and burnish with a hard, smooth object such as a knife handle. Edge finishers along with the stitching marker and leather finishes can be purchased at leather suppliers or from knifemaker supply houses.

At this point you may stain or decorate the sheath. The sheath shown at the beginning of this article was left its natural color and was decorated with a common child’s woodburner, about $15. at a hobby store.

After decorating or staining your sheath, coat it with a leather finish. Since I live and play in a temperate rain forest, I really like two coats of an acrylic leather finisher inside and out. It lasts a long time and is waterproof, and it can be redone if necessary.

For the stitching, use nylon thread made for sewing leather and use as small a needle as possible. A needle that is too large will stretch the holes. I prefer to use a common small needle made for sewing cloth. To get the large thread through the eye of the small needle, set the end of the thread on fire and while it is still burning, smash it against a hard surface with the side of a knife blade. Then, as in photo 14, trim the hard, burned part of the thread to a point that will go through the eye of the needle. What you see in photo 14 is a macro shot of a very small needle. The knife blade in the corner is only the bevel of the Mora knife.

Although I have never had a problem with a knife cutting the stitching in a sheath, that is a concern with some. To protect the exposed thread in the upper part of the inside of the sheath, run a bead of the same glue you used before over any thread you can see on the inside of the sheath. The glue is actually tougher than leather and will provide excellent protection.

If your project isn’t perfect, try again. It won’t be long before you will have the skill you need to do an excellent job every time. The sheath in the first photo of this article cost me about $7.00 to make, and at that cost doing a few sheaths simply for practice is certainly reasonable. I have also found that sheaths make great trade items with other bushcrafters, and of course, the more you make, the more skilled you become.

Choosing a Bushcraft / Survival Knife

2009-06-02T11:20:00.000-04:00

Deciding what type of Knife you need for your outdoor wanderings can be tough as there is so much to choose from, and so much hype.

When choosing a knife you should decide on what type of chores you will need it to accomplish. Do you need a knife that will be used in combat, puncture a car door, dig a hole, or maybe even be thrown like in the movies to fend off the boogie man?

Well for general bushcraft and survival chores you dont need any of the above, If you have succumbed to the advertising hype and gimmicks of many manufactures then you probably dont own a good working field knife.

As a general rule big knives and machetes are used in the jungle or rain forest and a knife axe combination in hardwood or boreal forest. This is a traditional way of looking at things and will help you make a decision toward a knife that cuts and carves, not hacks and whacks.....we will save the hacking and whacking for our axe.

Mora knives have been made in sweden for over a century, the design is basic and simple. They use high quality carbon or stainless steels and heat treat the blades to hold an edge. The knives are easy to sharpen as they have one wide scandinavian bevel that goes right to the cutting edge, this bevel also gives you a lot of control when carving or making feather sticks. Mora knives are thin and not overly built, this makes them lightweight and less fatiguing to use, even though they have a thin blade the knives will stand up to the use of a baton for most realistic bushcraft chores.

This is where I would start looking for a bushcraft/survival knife, this has also been the end of the search for many survival instructors, guides, and professional outdoorsman. That says alot for a 12.00 knife!!

I prefer the basic carbon steel blade models. I do keep a stainless knife in my fishing pack where I know it may get wet. The laminated blades are geared more toward carving. I like to sharpen the spine on my moras to work with a firesteel to throw sparks. The carbon steel is the best, the stainless also works, but the laminated and triflex steels are too soft on the spine to work as a scraper with a firesteel.

I really like the JRE sheath system for my bushcraft knives and is what I highly recommend for a knife system. These sheaths hold your knife and a army size firesteel in one compact package. These are important tools and its nice to have them together in one place.

Now if you are all ready familiar with the Mora type knife but want something a bit stronger built, in near the same size and weight. I would lean toward the Enzo trapper, Skookum Bush Tool , or Woodlore type knife.

Enzo Trapper o1

I guess overall I lean toward a carbon steel scandi ground knife for my all purpose Bushcraft / survival knife. This style of knife is tops for woodcraft chores and also does well with skinning game , cleaning fish and cutting food.

I hope this helps weed through the hype to find a knife you can count on!

Spoon, Cup and Bowl Patterns by Jim Dillard

2009-05-21T10:09:00.007-04:00

Spoon, Cup and Bowl Patterns

There are few things more satisfying for a bushcrafter than to sit down in the woods with a few simple tools, and without plan or pattern, make a functional spoon or other woodenware from materials at hand. There are times, however, when a special purpose utensil or a special gift requires a little prior planning, and maybe a good pattern. One good way to come up with a plan is to draw the intended piece before starting to carve. Sometimes this is essential, because it is much better to discover mistakes in design on paper than in the wood after hours of work.

Some carvers may feel that the drawing is a bit of a challenge, especially while doing their first few projects. For those folks, I have provided a few pages from my own sketchbook. Some of these patterns are standard, traditional Native American or Scandinavian in origin. Most are original, but of course are influenced by looking at the work of others, and even by examining well-designed commercial utensils.

I would encourage anyone who carves to spend time drawing. But for those who are not quite ready for that as yet, please feel free to use the following patterns as you wish. You can simply draw them from your computer screen, or an even simpler method is to print a pattern and use a copy machine to enlarge the designs to fit your need.

Keep your tools sharp, and keep carving!

Using Epoxy Inlays to Personalize Your Bushcraft Equipment by Jim Dillard

2009-04-15T09:24:00.007-04:00

Several months ago I was watching a Ray Mears video about Arctic survival (available from Ben’s). Ray had a beautiful kuksa (carved wooden cup) and I knew the second I saw it that I had to make one. I paused the DVD and grabbed my sketchbook and shamelessly started drawing a copy of Ray’s cup. I made my cup much larger than the one he had, but it has the same graceful lines and I’m quite pleased with it. As I was sanding the cup I began to think about decorating the handle. Should I carve it, or paint it? I decided to do an epoxy inlay. Paint can wear off with repeated washings, and relief carvings can gather dirt, oil, and probably germs as well. An epoxy inlay, on the other hand, is permanent, is completely washable, and can be done in just about any color. The inlays can be done in wood, bone, antler, stone or any other material soft enough to grind.

Materials needed for this project are simple. You will need a Dremel tool or some other small, high rpm drill. You will need small carbide burrs (grinding bits) – 1/16” and possibly a 1/8” size. You will need masking tape, a file, sandpaper and some slow cure epoxy. You will also need something to color the epoxy. Commercial epoxy colorant can be purchased from most knife maker supply houses, but you can also improvise. The first inlay I did was with copy machine toner. I found a toner cartridge that someone had thrown in the trash. It still had about a tablespoon of the toner in it. The toner is intensely black, and it only takes a little mixed with the epoxy to make it completely black. I have also used bone and antler dust, ground up rock, metal filings and even kitchen spices. Use your imagination and be sure you do a practice piece before trying a mixture on your favorite knife or cup.

Photo 1 shows the old cup I had been using for the last 7 or 8 years. It looks pretty crude and clunky next to the new one, but then of course part of being engaged in bushcraft is to constantly examine and refine your equipment. Photo 2 shows the pattern I drew to put on my handle. The design is from an ancient petroglyph found near my home. I have this design on many of my self-made items. It’s a part of the local culture, and was a symbol frequently used by the original bushcrafters in my area – a beautiful connection to both art and people. Choose any design you like for your inlay, just be sure that no part of the design is smaller than the carbide bits you will be using to cut the inlay cavity.

Photo 3 shows the two typical bits used for inlays. These are commonly found in hardware and discount stores. Photo 4 shows the first cut with the Dremel. The tool will tend to jump and crawl a bit, so again, it is wise to do a practice piece to learn just what you have to do to accurately follow the lines you have drawn. Photo 5 shows the left thumb being used to steady the tool. This is similar to the push-pull thumb cuts used in carving, and it adds a good measure of control that you won’t have with just one hand on the tool.

Once you have completed the cutting with the Dremel, you may find that you have some rough or ragged edges. You can smooth these out with a piece of folded sandpaper, but be absolutely certain that you keep the sandpaper COMPLETELY VERTICAL. The edges of the cut that you made with the drill must remain at a 90 degree angle to the surface. If you round the corner of the cut, the epoxy can chip out of that area and ruin your project.

Next (photo 6) you should use masking tape to cover any part of the piece that may get epoxy on it. If you are using a close-grained wood such as birch, the epoxy can be sanded off, but it will save work to protect the area with tape. Be sure that the tape does not overlap the edge of the cut. It’s best to leave a space of 1/16” or so between the tape and the edge of the cavity to insure good adhesion.

The next step is an absolutely essential step that is sometimes skipped by beginners to this craft. A tiny dam MUST be built all around the cavity (photo 7). Since most items receiving this kind of inlay are curved, the epoxy must be poured deep enough to eventually be sanded down to the original curvature of the item being inlayed. If there is no dam to hold back the liquid epoxy, it will run off of the curvature, and the design will have an ugly depression in it. Even though the cup handle has a only a slight curve, the dam is still necessary. In the acutely curved knife handles you see at the end of this article, the inlay follows the original curvature of the knife handle, making a smooth, seamless finished product. I make the dam by rolling bits of masking tape with the sticky side out. Any gaps between the rolls are filled with more tape. Just make sure that there are no spaces for the epoxy to run out. It is a fairly thick liquid so it isn’t difficult to keep it from leaking out if you close all gaps with the tape.

When the cavity and taping are complete, it is time to pour the epoxy. Be sure that you use ONLY slow cure epoxy. The five minute variety may set up before you are finished pouring. I use Devcon “Two Ton” epoxy with a 30 minute cure time, but any brand with a 30 minute setup time should be fine. Epoxy has a consistency similar to honey – and the warmer it is, the better it flows. To be sure that it flows to all parts of the carved cavity, it must be warmed before you mix it. A temperature of around 90 - 100 degrees is good. I usually warm it near the wood stove, or it could be set in the sun on hot summer days. Once the epoxy is warm, get everything ready and mix part A and part B on a piece of unpainted plastic. When the two parts are thoroughly mixed, add the color. Mix only enough color to reach the shade you want – no more. Then drool a thin line of it into the smallest parts of the cavity (photo 8). When the cavity has been filled to about 1/8” above its highest point, take a very thin sharpened stick and GENTLY AND SLOWLY push the epoxy into the narrowest parts of the cavity (photo 9). This is necessary because even when it is warm, it may not flow into narrow areas on its own. DO NOT use quick jabbing motions to do this – that will cause bubbles that will still remain in the completed inlay.

At this point make sure that the piece you have just filled is as level as possible while the curing takes place. Once you have set the piece down and leveled it, do not handle it while the epoxy is curing. In 24 hours you should be able to begin the final step.

After a full cure, take off as much tape as you can. Then using a smooth rasp, coarse file or coarse sandpaper, grind off the excess until you can see the outline of your design. When using sandpaper it is essential to back it up with something flat and rigid such as a file (photo 10). If you simply use your fingers behind the sandpaper, whichever material is softer will dish out as you sand, making your final inlay uneven and wavy. Once your figure has appeared, use progressively finer sandpaper to finish your project. I like to go through 600 or 800 grit sandpaper and then use a polish cloth. Another option is to keep sanding with grits to about 2000. If your inlay is done in bone or antler, a good hand rubbed polish is all you need to finish the job. If your inlay is in wood, use a hardening oil on the entire project, including the inlay. Be sure to use food safe oils if you are inlaying wooden eating ware.

Photos 11 and 12 show views of the inlay on my finished cup. Photo 13 shows two home made knives inlaid with the same process. The whale on the bushcraft knife was colored with copy machine toner, and the footprints on the hunting knife were inlaid with pieces of ground up shale found on a beach near my house.

Final photo: Last year I purchased a fine Enzo blade from Ben’s Backwoods. I used some local reindeer antler as handles, made a hardwood lined sheath and of course inlaid the handle with an epoxy inlay. The knife was then donated to a charity scholarship auction. The knife brought more action at the auction than any other item presented for sale that evening and it finally sold for $700. A bit of well-planned embellishment can add a great deal of personal value to your own bushcraft gear as well.

Traditional Winter Camping

2009-03-08T11:15:00.011-04:00

Winter in northern Michigan can be long and cold and for many it is a time to stay indoors. Staying indoors for the outdoors man during these months will give you a good case of cabin fever! Learning to enjoy winter activities such as xc skiing, snowshoeing, ice fishing and winter camping will get you out during this season and you may even look forward to it!

I have done some winter camping in the past with a nylon tent and sleeping bags doubled up and it was fun but cold. Ever since I read Calvin Rutstrums "Paradise Below Zero" and then the Conovers "Snow Walkers Companion" I knew I wanted to camp in the winter with traditional canvas tents and heat them with a wood stove.

Well this past fall I bought a tent and a wood stove from Don Kevilus at the Four Dog Stove Company. I went with a 12x12 shackleton tent and a Two dog stove, Don said that stove would heat that size tent at -30 F . I was not interested in super light weight tents and stoves as I was not going to be doing any serious expeditions, I wanted something that would fit my whole family and would be somewhat portable. The tent sleeps 4-6 and weighs 45lbs. and the stove weighs about 40lbs. I really like the wood stove design as it is pretty much airtight and has a baffle in it to make it more efficient and to give you a hot spot on the top for cooking.

I have had this tent set up on my property all winter and have slept out in it with my son, but really wanted to head out to the woods for a real test run.

Well winter was getting near its end and I wanted get out before it warmed up. Luckily I have a friend that has a few of the same screws loose as I do and the bonus was that he brought sourdough bread and Texas beans!

The first picture is of the sled with the tent, stove, rucksack, axe and saw loaded on. All together this weighed 100lbs + , but we were hauling the gear most of the way on a packed snowmobile trail and it was pretty easy to pull.
This type of camping requires a certain amount of "bushcraft" skill to be comfortable and safe, but after those skills are learned this quickly crosses over into wilderness living. People can live in camps like this for months at a time if not more with the right resources.

This is basically a pyramid tent with 2' 6" walls, a 6' front entrance and a 9' center pole.Camped in the woods near a river gave us "running water" and plenty of wood for heat.

("Cougar" Rob enjoying the heat from the stove)

A few candles gave us enough light to read by as it reflects off of the walls and the snow to light the place up.

Running water, lights and heat. What more do you need?

Axe and saw were the tools used to pay the heat bill. Turns out it was -16 F in town that night. We made it through the night just fine, but also learned a few valuable lessons that we will take on the next trip. Overall I really enjoyed this type of camping and hope to have more time for it in the future...till next time...Ben

Making Traditional Scandinavian Cutting Boards by Jim Dillard

2009-03-08T10:36:00.004-04:00

Making Traditional Scandinavian Cutting Boards

This is not necessarily a bushcraft project, but bushcraft folks are generally of an earthy nature and appreciate hand made woodenware. Besides, any project that enhances knife skills will enhance bushcraft skills.

The idea for this project came from a book on traditional Scandinavian woodenware titled Carving and Whittling: The Swedish Style by Gert and Inger Ljunberg. The book is now out of print, but might be found at your local library. It is a valuable resource for patterns of cups, spoons, ladles, bowls, scoops and other traditional wooden housewares.

The nice thing about this particular project is that the tools required are simple. Photo #1 shows nearly everything needed to complete the project. One other item needed is a tool to cut out the shape of the boards. This could be a bandsaw, jig saw or deep throated coping saw. I even did one board using only an ax to rough out the board. The coping saw would require no electricity, can be had for a small sum and would leave a cut that would be easy to sand. By the way, the finished cutting board in this photo is one that we have used in our kitchen daily for the past five years. It has held up well and has many years of use left in it.

Wood

The most difficult part of this project is finding suitable wood. The boards can be made of any number of woods as long as the board is free of knots and isn’t so soft that it will sustain damage in use. The classic cutting board wood is maple. Maple can be had in wide clear pieces and is very durable. The wood used in my cutting boards is fine-grained fir. Because it has an alternating hard / soft grain structure, fir is quite difficult to carve, but here in the far north, that is the only clear wood I could find in the widths I needed. I like to use local woods if at all possible. Ask around and experiment to find the best woods in your area.

Patterns

Instead of copying a pattern straight from the book, I drew a half dozen or so and then picked the one I liked best. Photo #2 shows my patterns for both the large cutting board and for the bread board. You can draw your own, or feel free to print my patterns and enlarge on a copy machine to fit the size cutting board you intend to make. The traditional Scandinavian star pattern was made with compass and ruler. The curved designs cut into the boards were made by using part of the curve of the outline of the board. One of the basic elements of good design is that a piece must have repeated shapes. Using the same curve for the shape of the board and for the shape of the carved design makes for an attractive and pleasing piece of art.

The Knife

The main tool for this project is a Mora Model 120 carving knife. I have taught a few hundred carving students over the years, and I have always insisted that all my students start with this knife. It is also my favorite for my own personal carving projects – an excellent tool for any level carver. The knife being used in photo #3 is one that has worn down and pretty thin at the tip. If I were starting with a new Mora 120, I would probably sharpen off some of the soft side material from a half inch or so on the tip of the blade. The thinner profile will let the blade slide through the wood much easier than the thicker profile of a new blade. In this kind of carving there is no sawing action with the blade, so a “toothy” edge will just result in torn wood fibers and frustration for the carver. Make sure your blade is finely sharpened. I sharpen mine to a 4000 or 5000 grit and then I strop frequently with a strop charged with aluminum oxide.

Getting Started

After all lines are drawn on the board, hold the knife with the tip down as in photo #3. The heel of your hand should rest on the board for control, and the blade should enter the wood at about a 45 degree angle to make a “V” shaped cut. Make the cuts shallow where they are narrow; the wider the cut, the deeper it should be. On the narrow / shallow end of the designs you can cut to the bottom of the V in one pass, but on the deep end you will have to make several passes to get to full depth. Of course the number of passes required will depend on the hardness of the wood and the sharpness of your knife.

Photo #4 shows a standard woodcarver’s “push cut.” This is a handy technique for short sections that need precise control. The cut in the photo goes from the deepest cut to the shallowest in only a half inch. This is one of those places where extra control is absolutely necessary. If this is your first time doing this kind of carving, try this cut on a scrap piece before starting on your cutting board.

Finishing

When all carving is done, it is time to sand the cuts. (Photo #5) Although I like a chipped finish on many types of carving, pieces that will be in contact with food must be easy to clean, therefore sanding is necessary. You will need to fold small pieces of sandpaper to get in the bottom of your cuts. The sandpaper will wear quickly so refold frequently to keep sharp grit working against the wood. This will save a great deal of time. I started with 120 grit, then went to 220 and 320. It isn’t necessary to go finer than that because you will be putting a heavy coat of paint on the sanded area.

When you have finished sanding, it is time to paint. Use acrylic paint from a tube and do not thin it. The color paint I used is called Hooker’s Green. Choose a color that will go with your kitchen. Using a stiff, cheap craft brush, paint and dab and push the paint into every corner of the cuts. Be sure to overlap the edges so all of the carved area is covered. Let the paint dry over night. It may feel dry in an hour or so, but if it is not thoroughly cured, it will ball up in the final sanding rather than sand off cleanly.

When the paint is thoroughly dry, use a sanding block to sand off the excess. (Photo #6) The block is absolutely necessary. Without the block, the sandpaper will round the edges of the cuts that you worked so hard to get right. The block will insure that only excess paint on the surface of the board is removed.

When sanding is done, coat the board with oil to waterproof it and to keep it from staining. Although any cooking oil will do, there are a few products on the market that will last longer. Walnut oil is much better than regular cooking oil. It will harden in about a week if left in a warm place. There are also several food safe waxes on the market. When applied warm, these will penetrate the wood and last a long time. My favorites are Orange Wax and Bamboo Goo, both available on the internet and in kitchen shops.

Your finished boards (Photo #7) will be a source of pride and with a little care should last you for years to come. Good carving!

Gransfors buys Wetterlings?

2009-02-20T09:06:00.004-05:00

I have heard rumors that Gransfors Bruks bought Wetterlings. This article posted on Knifeforums explains what happened.

My Thoughts...

I am very happy with the result of this move as the quality of the Wetterlings axes has improved greatly in my eyes. The handles are a better quality and are ready to be finished with a few coats of linseed oil by the owner. The forging looks cleaner and they have a more uniform head shape. The heads are forged a bit thinner and are easyer to sharpen for real use. The head alighnment is pretty much dead on. The price went up a bit, but I would gladly pay the price for the improvements and it is a joy to sell this quality of a tool.

Here is the Article...

Quote:

Does Gransfors Bruks own Werrerlings Axe Forge? No – but they are owned by the same fanatic Axe-man. The two companies are, and will remain, independent.

Iron, forging and sharp tools have been a fundamental part of Swedish history the last 1500 years. The Swedish axe – in the Viking age a weapon and symbol of power – is today an admired and functional tool. Axe forging and working with axes isstill part of the Swedish culture.

S. A. Wetterlings Axe Forge was founded in 1880 and Gransfors Bruks in 1902. Both forges are still operating. Nobody can really own the knowledge, memories and artifacts built in to these antique forges – they belong to the Swedish heritage and the small-scale industrial history of Sweden. Someone, though, has to make the critical decisions, protect values built up by previous generations and pay the interests to the bank. These are the obligations that give me the right to write axe-man and owner on my business card.

In cooperation with the blacksmiths, I have been able to run Gransfors Bruks since 1985. Now, it is indeed interesting to learn from and work with the Jungefors family, the previous owners, and still active and in charge at Wetterlings. They harbor three generations of axe knowledge in the family. An intense and passionate interest in axe production and axe culture is what actually brought these two old companies to start cooperating; all the time focusing not to destroy the unique and distinctive character of each company. The people in two old Swedish Axe Companies have decided to “take the responsibility for the axe culture in the world”, to keep and to pass on to the future generations the knowledge of axe manufacturing and how to use axes.

Of course we are proud of the companies' old history – but age is in reality not very important. However, for us it is important to learn from the past and how we can use the understanding to make high quality axes. We all have a responsibility to take care of and preserve the inheritance given by hard working people in the past – and create - and act. The companies' power to attract and keep skilled and professional blacksmiths has always been and will always be a key factor for the companies' future. Knowledge, culture and respect for ethical values will be our guidelines.

Sweden in August 2008

Gabriel Branby, Axe-Man

www.wetterlings.com www.gransfors.com

Ghillie Kettle Review

2009-02-18T10:08:00.011-05:00

Last year I borrowed a Kelly Kettle from a friend to give a test run. It was one of those things that I wanted to try but really didn't want to buy at the time... Well we tested it out and used it quite a few times and really really liked it. We used it in areas where we didn't want to start a camp fire and most of the time we had our kids with us and the kettle was quick and easy...it was also really cool.

I decided I wanted to stock some type of kettle and finally got around to doing some research on them. I ran across the Ghillie Kettles that I have never heard of, they looked identical to the Kelly Kettles but had a cap with a whistle instead of a cork. This made a lot of sense to me so I emailed them for some info.

It turned out that these were made in the same factory that makes the other British kettles on the market, and that the Ghillie was the only kettle to have a cap with a whistle.

The Kelly Kettle I had borrowed was the large model and I really wanted to try the small one to see how it does..

These are the three models Ghillie makes.

As of right now I have only used the small model several times and really like it! Its a little larger than a 2 liter bottle and light enough to carry in a day pack easily ...here is how they work..

Add water to the spout on the side and put the cap on with the whistle...

Add tinder and small size fuel to the base..

Start fire in base and set kettle on top.

The chimney effect will start working and the fire will flare up, you can then add larger fuel from the top.

I had to add a few floats under the base as it was sinking down into the snow..Putting it on a small base of sticks makes having a small fire quick and easy even in deep snow.

When you have good dry fuel these will boil water in 3-5 minutes. You will hear the whistle and see the steam coming out of the cap when you reach a boil..this seems to be safer and more efficient than other kettles. Lift the kettle off the base as shown so you don't burn yourself!

Tea Time!!

Pour the kettle with the loop handle and the chain. This smaller size does two large mugs, I get a good 24-26oz. of water per boil.

Enjoy!!

Carving the Classic Feather Stick by Jim Dillard

2009-01-01T13:02:00.005-05:00

Carving the Classic Feather Stick

Among bushcrafters a person’s skill is often judged by their ability to make a quality feather stick. Making a quality stick not only requires top-notch knife skills, it also requires the maker to know a variety of woods and their characteristics.

The feather stick is important for several reasons. The most obvious reason and use of the stick is of course to start a fire. A flame touched to several well-made sticks will start a fire even when the wood is damp. Any camper can find themselves in conditions where the only firewood available is damp, and these are often the times when you need a fir e the most. Where I live in a sub-Arctic rain forest, there is always abundant wood, and it is always wet, so wet-wood fire skills are a must.

Another reason to practice making the sticks is that it quickly improves general knife skills. Every bit of competence you earn with a knife will transfer to other projects and will also make you a safer knife user in the field.

Getting Started – The Wood

To learn which wood in your area makes the best feather stick, you will need to experiment and observe. Part of bushcraft is a continual process of experimentation with the resources around you. What you read in books may not always apply. For instance, I have read that willow is an excellent wood for feather sticks. In some places that may be true, but where I live most of the willows are too small to make feathers, and those pieces that are large enough are too hard to make anything but a poor stick. So – start with the softer woods in your area, and try them all. In my area nearly the entire forest is made up of spruce, and all varieties of northern cedar are found as driftwood on the beaches. All of those woods seem to work equally well.

Learn to read the wood grain – observe and remember. Generally, evergreen woods such as pine and spruce should be carved with the blade at a 90-degree angle to the grain. Deciduous woods such as willow and aspen curl better when cut parallel to the grain. Woods with a tight grain pattern usually carve and curl better than woods with open grain. For instance, spruce wood with 20 annual rings per inch makes a better stick than spruce with only 10 rings per inch. Standing dead wood makes better sticks because standing wood is generally drier than other wood, but other woods will work too if they aren’t too wet. Most of the feather sticks I make are from driftwood found on the beaches near my home. This wood is wet on the outside, but usually dry in the center of the log. If the wood is dry enough to float, the center is likely to be dry enough to make a feather stick. Again, experiment with your local materials.

Using saw or axe, cut the wood into pieces 16 – 20” long, then split into pieces that are roughly one inch square. Save the outside damp wood to burn when the fire is well under way.

The Knife

Any sharp knife with a full Scandinavian bevel will make a good feather stick. The full Scandinavian bevel is necessary because it is the bevel that is used to control the depth of the cut. The curls on a good feather stick will be at most 1/100 of an inch thick, with most of the curls being closer to half that thickness. Holding a convex or hollow ground bevel consistently at that exact thickness as it enters the wood is impossible. With the Scandi bevel, you simply hold the bevel flat against the wood and push in. The bevel and sideways pressure serve as your depth gauge. Since you will be pushing the knife edge straight through the wood without any kind of sawing action, you will need a finely sharpened edge, one sharpened to 4,000 – 6,000 grit and well stropped. This is no place for a “toothy” edge.

The knife I am using in the accompanying photos is a Kellam Wolverine. The Wolverine won’t make a better feather stick than other similar knives, but since it has an edge hardness that is close to the hardness of a file, it will certainly make more of them without resharpening. Since I give boxes of feather sticks away as gifts, and since I have four woodstoves on my place, the ability to make lots of sticks in one setting is an advantage to me.

Cutting Techniques

Start with a stick about one-inch square. It should have a straight grain, not wavy, and should be knot free. With the bevel of your knife flat against the stick, carve five faces or facets the entire length of the stick. These will be 1/4” to 3/8” in width. ALWAYS keep your free hand behind the cutting edge. In photo #1, the facets are colored with a marker for clarity. Three of the facets are visible in the photo, and two more are on the other side of the stick.

By managing the angle of your knife blade, you can control the direction the curl comes off of the stick. I have seen experienced woodsmen giggle as they discover exactly how much control they have by simply changing the angle of the blade just a few degrees. I like to make the curls on the left side of my sticks curl out a bit by cutting with the tip of my blade slightly up. The angle of the blade in photo #1 is about right. To make curls stay parallel to one of the facets, simply cut the wood with the blade a 90-degree angle to the stick as shown on photo #2.

Photo #3 shows both good work and bad work. The curls coming off of the center facet are well made. They all have multiple curls – they will light easily and will make a good contribution to your fire. The two long curls way out to the side of the stick are poorly made. They will quickly burn off and fall away from the rest of the stick. They won’t do much to help you start a fire. The reason the curls stick out too far is that the tip of the knife is held too high – at too much of an angle. Your goal is to make a tight mass of curls. Adjust the angle of your knife accordingly.

To get the wood on the right side of your stick to curl out a bit, hold the tip of your knife down. Be careful to not saw the wood, but keep the same part of your blade on the wood all the way down. This is more difficult than it looks and may take a bit of practice.

With your knife bevel pushed flat against one of the outside facets, carve a curl the length of the stick to about an inch from the end. Then go to the next facet and the next till you have done all five. Then start over again. Carve curls until you feel the stick begin to flex from its thinness. At this point you are finished – or ready for an optional next step.

Photo #5 shows an optional step. After I have finished making all the large curls, I sometimes make a series of tiny ones. The tiny curls are appropriate in two situations. First, if the wood is especially damp, the large curls may be difficult to start with a match. A single match will, however, light the small, thinner curls and if the stick is held upright, those will dry out the neighboring curls enough to get them started. Several years ago I tied up a bundle of spruce kindling and soaked it overnight in the lake near my house. The next morning I carved several feather sticks from the wet wood and finished them with the tiny curls at the base. A single match lit the small curls. Holding the stick upright with the mass of large curls on top, the entire stick was soon in flame even though the wood was fairly damp.

The second reason for the tiny curls is less practical, but is a lot of fun. If they are thin enough, it is possible to light the curls with a firesteel. This isn’t easy. The difficult part is to get enough sparks targeted into the center of the curls. Early last spring I was teaching a bushcraft class to a group of teens. Even though I had started feather sticks with sparks before, that day I failed miserably, and I did so while every student was watching. An hour later a 17-year-old student accomplished what I had failed to do. He lit his feather stick with a firesteel and then lit his fire with that single feather stick. And this was accomplished with a piece of cedar driftwood he found on the beach only a short time before. The result was a renewed enthusiasm in all of the students present. It was a good day.

I have read several bushcraft texts which claim that you must have a half dozen feather sticks to light a fire. If you make a featherstick the quality of the one in photo #6, you need only one. A single stick with this much curl and mass, along with some pencil-size kindling, will do the job every time.

The key is observation, practice and a sharp knife. Be patient and keep trying.

First Hand Drill Coals!

2008-12-08T11:01:00.002-05:00

Making Fire has been one of the skills I find myself using most. For the most part I use ferro rods but I had wanted to learn how to use the hand drill for fire by friction. I met Erik from burntmud.com last summer at the great lakes skills gathering and he was putting out hand drill coals in under 10 seconds with a mullen stalk and a paw paw base. He made it look way too easy.

I gathered some mullen stalks and some cedar for a base as we dont have any paw paw in the area. I clamped the base to a work table and practiced every now and then for 6-8 weeks. I was really working hard at it and kept getting sore hands and blisters, but I did get the motion and the rhythm down. I soon realized by doing some reading that I was pressing my hands way too hard and by doing that I was getting tired quick and getting blisters. This was kinda the same thing I went through when learning the bow drill, I just figured I could muscle my way through it when in fact I needed good form and some patience to get the thing going. The trick seems to be to keep a good rhythm and pace that does not ware you out until you get the thing warmed up and smoking, then you speed up and add more pressure until you see constant smoke...then you give it all you got and hope for the best!

I now have a few coals under my belt, but am not sure as to what position I like the best, I have done it knealing and on one knee like the bow drill, none of them seems comfortable to me. Once I get some more experiance I will post my other findings...thanks Ben

Fine Tune Your Mora Knife - part 1 by Jim Dillard

2008-11-26T20:21:00.003-05:00

The Mora knife is without a doubt the best bargain in the field of bushcraft. Bushcraft greats such as Mors Kochanski have developed techniques with the Mora that go far beyond what most of us ever thought could be done with a simple knife – and all with a tool costing only a few dollars. Admittedly, for most buchcrafters there is an attraction to specialized knives costing hundreds of dollars, but the truth is that in skilled hands, and with a little tuning, a Mora can do the work of the most expensive custom knife. There are clearly some benefits to carrying an inexpensive knife in the field. For those who tend to lose things, the replacement of a lost Mora won’t do damage to even the tightest budget. Another advantage is that considering the cost and the light weight of the Mora, most folks can carry two or three of them in different places in their gear, insuring that they will never be without a knife. As a teacher, one of my favorite advantages of carrying a Mora is that when I come across a special student, I can give them my knife as encouragement – a special gift for them, and at very little cost to me.

There are a few simple alterations that can be made to the Mora and sheath to make it more useful to those practicing the art of bushcraft. The first such alteration is to SHARPEN THE SPINE of the knife. This does not mean to create a cutting edge on the back of the knife, but instead means to grind the back of the blade to where it has a sharp 90 degree angle to the side. A word of caution here – this technique is best used on simple carbon steels. Because the sides of the Triflex and laminated blades are soft, a sharpened spine will only last a short time before needing to be redone and therefore would have limited use. The sharp spine would have more use on a stainless blade, but generally stainless blades do not work as well with a firesteel, so the alteration is best with blades made of simple carbon steel..

The first photo shows the spines of two Mora carbon steel blades. The bottom blade is rough and rounded on the edges, just as it comes from the factory. The top blade is one with a sharpened spine, a more useful bushcraft tool.

Sharpening the spine is a simple process, but needs to be done with caution. The blade can be ground on a bench grinder with a fine stone, or can be ground with a belt sander with a fairly fine belt, 220 or finer. When grinding make sure of two things. First, the spine needs to be ground at a 90 degree angle to the side. If you are experienced with such things this can be done by “eyeball.” If your grinder has a guide as many do, set the guide at 90 degrees to the stone. The second caution of course is that the metal should not get too hot. If the blade gets too hot, the temper will be ruined. Make quick passes when grinding and use light pressure. The tip of the blade is most likely to burn, so see to it that the tip spends very little time on the stone or sander and has time to cool between passes. If at any time the blade becomes so hot that it is uncomfortable to touch, you need to make quicker passes or use water for cooling.

Once the spine is ground, it will have to be maintained just as the edge does. Every time you sharpen the edge of your knife, turn the blade over and rub the spine against the sharpening stone. This can be done with the coarsest stone you have. Grind the spine until the corner feels sharp. That’s all there is to it – no finer stone or stropping needed.

Photo #2 shows a spine being sharpened on a diamond stone. Simply place the back of the blade down on the stone and go back and forth – point to handle.

Photo #3 shows one of the uses of a sharpened spine. Several bushcraft projects require that the outer bark be scraped off of green wood. Here the outer bark is removed so that the inner bark can be made into cordage.

Photo #4 shows a technique that is impossible with a blade spine as it comes from the factory. Here the sharp corner is being used to “fuzz” a piece of split wood. If the wood is dry the fuzz can be lit with sparks to start fires.

One of the most dramatic benefits of a sharp spine is with the firesteel. Photo #5 shows a strong effort being made to make a shower of sparks with a factory spine. Even though a great deal of pressure was used only a meager shower of sparks is produced.

Photo #6 shows a massive shower of sparks produced by the corner of a sharpened spine. The difference is obvious.

As your bushcraft skills increase, you will most likely find even more uses for a well-sharpened spine.

Bushcraft Bow by Jim Dillard

2008-11-14T08:51:00.005-05:00

Most commercial gift bows are made at least in part of some kind of plastic. They are designed for one-time use and usually are transported around the world using fossil fuels. And then when we finish with them, they usually end up in the local landfill. To the rescue is the bushcraft bow, a natural and unique bow to adorn any package - and it's great knife practice to boot.

Step 1 Select a clear piece of kindling. Just about any length will do.The one pictured is 14" long because that's the length of my firewood. This wood is spruce, but many woods will do including aspen, willow, some pines,birch and others. Most woods that are not too hard and that have a fairly fine grain will work. Usually, a better curl is produced if the wood grain is cut at a 90 degree angle to the knife. On one edge of the kindling trim the wood into three facets. On the first photo the facets are colored for clarity. Your knife may be any solid knife with a full Scandinavian bevel.It needs to be sharp and well stropped.

Step 2 Mark the middle of the kindling with a pencil. Then with the bevel of the knife flat against the facets, begin carving curls from near the end of the stick to within 1/4" of the middle. Stopping in the middle is the hard part. This is where good knife control is essential. Carve the left facet, the middle and then the right one. Then repeat until you have an impressive mass of curls. If the wood isn't too dry, you can actually arrange the curls as they are cut to form a consistent and symmetrical set.

Step 3 Turn the stick to the other end and carve the three facets in the same manner. Go slowly and be careful. If you go too far you will cut off the curls you made on the first half of the stick.

Step 4 Using your knife and a baton, trim off the part of the kindling stick that has no curls attached to it. You will need to follow the grain to determine where to start your knife. Learning to read wood grain is yet another valuable bushcraft skill.

Step 5 Using a saw trim off the excess stick to the base of the curls. Be careful in the last few saw strokes to avoid damaging the curls.

Step 6 There you have it - organic, low impact, and burnable. The package in the photo is wrapped with my favorite recycle bin wrapping paper, and the bow is tied on with cordage made of beach grass. It is all absolutely free, and after making a dozen or so bows, you will see a noticeable improvement in your knife skills.

Firewood Time!

2008-09-23T13:34:00.006-04:00

This is the time of year we start to put up firewood for the winter.

We have a decent amount of hardwood on our property here, mostly maple but also beech, birch, ash, black cherry and some oak. This picture is of what we have stacked right now on our deck. It came from one double maple tree that part of it died and I cut the rest down. So far the one tree has provided almost a full cord of wood, 4' x 4' x 8' . There is still more I need to get in from this tree. One good sized tree like this will provide about 1/3 of the wood we need to get through the winter.

Harvesting Firewood is hard work, but like anything once you get used to it , and if you have a few helpers, its not that hard of work and becomes enjoyable for the whole family. We like to do a few hours here and there and the wood pile just starts to add up.

There is just something rewarding about harvesting and using wood for heat that is hard to explain. I would not trade it for anything and will likely be running a chainsaw and swinging an axe until I physically cant keep up with it.

Heating with wood also gives you self reliance as your not dependent on oil, or gas to keep your home warm in the colder months. I enjoy simple things, and would highly recommend using wood as a main source of heat.

This is a small Fisher woodstove I picked up at a yardsale for 20.00 about 8 years ago. I had to clean off the surface rust and paint it. It has been heating our home ever since.

Every Day Carry Tools

2008-09-03T10:29:00.003-04:00

Hello,
This is my first post on this blog thing and we will see how it goes.
First off I'm not an expert in the Bushcraft/Survival field just an enthusiast, This info is just my opinion and reflects the way i do things. I will try to keep it simple as I like simple stuff.

There is much advertised as "survival" tools, some good , some hype. I myself lean more toward the Bushcraft end of things and believe in having knowledge or skill to be used with the tools you choose. Here is a list of the 3 items I carry on a daily basis in my area. These tools help me feel more comfortable when exploring that unknown two track, hiking trail or following that trout stream a little further.

Tools

Compass- A lightweight compass and a basic idea of the area you are in will give you the ability to walk in a straight line and find your way back without guessing which way to go.This is often overlooked as a tool and has caused many people to have spent the night in the woods over a simple mistake. I carry a Silva watchband compass with me. It has proven to be accurate , durable and easy to use.
Knife- A handy pocket knife you trust is valuable for many chores. I have been using the swiss army knives for many years and find the blade and the saw to be very useful. This size knife and saw will do more work than you think and will help you shelter yourself and find use in many crafting projects. Pictured are the Victorinox Rucksack and Camper models.
Firestarter- I carry a small ferro rod on my knife lanyard and use the side of the flat head screwdriver blade on my SAK as a scraper. I file the edge of the blade to square it off and make it sharp. I am familiar with many natural tinders in my area that will catch the spark of the ferro rod to build fire. I use the mini scout rod we put together but also have used the BSA hotspark or something similar.

These three tools are the most used and most practical in my mind for everyday carry in my neck of the woods. They alow me to Navigate, build a fire, Help build a shelter and craft other tools for a short stay in the woods.

Keychain tools- Another set of tools I carry with me is attached to my keychain. These tools dont see as much use as the other three described but I am always glad to have them with me.

I keep a Doan Magnesium firestarter with a small eze-lap sharpener glued to the side of the Doan tool on my keyring. Firestarters should be redundant and the magnesium is my backup tinder. I use the sharpener on a regular basis and also use the fish hook groove when fishing. I also carry a p-38 can opener and a photon flashlight that sees much use and seems to hold up well for a flashlight on a keychain.

Overall these tools dont add too much bulk on my keychain or in my pockets. I have seen many people get carried away with adding so many tools to their outfit that it becomes bulky and you dont carry it with you.

In choosing EDC tools it is very important in my mind not to overdue it, but also to pick high quality compact tools that dont compromise much in size over performance. This is not a place for gadgets or a whole string of cheap dime store stuff. Get real quality tools that really work and I will bet you will find yourself using them on a regular basis as I have....Thanks Ben

New Blog

2008-08-15T19:31:00.000-04:00

Hello,

I hope to have some articles and info up soon so check back...thanks Ben