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The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
1k Post / Epic Summer Fiddleback GAW: The Bushcraftiness(?!) User Challenge
- Thread starter xxwjtxx
- Start date
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2012
- Messages
- 2,921
Im in for the epic summer give away!
Will, thanks again for doing this giveaway. Awesome of you to do it. This is my official entry. Looks like it's the first one. Hopefully you'll get enough entries to do the GAW.
Sorry for the long post with too many pictures. It was too hard to narrow down and even these don't do the trip justice. Maybe I'll post a link to an album with the complete set if anyone wants to see more.
Every year I take the family camping with a few other families in Rocky Mountain National Park. Not exactly roughing it, as it's car camping and they have real toilets. But it's such a gorgeous place and all the wildlife make it worth it. Scheduling conflicts meant we went pretty early this year. Weather was great. Highs in the low 70s. Lows in the mid 30s. Normally in the Colorado mountains you can expect a rain storm every afternoon, but we stayed dry for the entire trip.
Sprague Lake, RMNP:
Visitors while we setup camp:
Oh oh, this one saw me:
This 1 year old bull moose was hanging out at Sprague Lake:
I always take a few knives and various other sharps to play around with. This year, I strapped the Camp Nessie on the belt and used it exclusively for all the camp chores. Only other blade I used was a SAK Farmer for it's Awl as a firesteel scraper.
Firewood Prep:
Dinner Prep:
Steak Knife:
I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love the Camp Nessie. I won't go into the details here other than to say it fits my definition of a camp knife perfectly.
I spent some time working with the kiddos from all the families on their fire starting skills. We worked on doing split wood fire prep (gotta get to the dry wood after the Colorado rain), making feathers and shavings for tinder, using man made tinder like dryer lint and PJCB (petroleum jelly cotton balls), made some char cloth in an Altoid tin and used it with a flint and steel with some jute twine.
My daughter working on her feathers:
My son practicing with the firesteel:
Each of the older kids received a flint and steel kit from Wolf Creek Forge - striker, flint, char cloth and twine. We also made more char cloth in an Altoids tin on the coals from the campfire. Use the striker and flint to ignite the char cloth. Put the char cloth ember into a jute twine nest and blow:
In the middle of the flint and steel practice, we had a little interruption:
[video=youtube;k5Pbmau79PQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5Pbmau79PQ[/video]
The joy on my daughter's face after getting the dryer lint and jute bundle going with a firesteel makes it all worth it:
Every evening pretty much ended like this: Sitting around the campfire, telling stories, making smores, talking about the elk, deer, moose we saw during the day, sipping a cold one, and fiddling with a Fiddleback:
Thanks for looking.
Will, thanks again for doing this giveaway. Awesome of you to do it. This is my official entry. Looks like it's the first one. Hopefully you'll get enough entries to do the GAW.
Sorry for the long post with too many pictures. It was too hard to narrow down and even these don't do the trip justice. Maybe I'll post a link to an album with the complete set if anyone wants to see more.
Every year I take the family camping with a few other families in Rocky Mountain National Park. Not exactly roughing it, as it's car camping and they have real toilets. But it's such a gorgeous place and all the wildlife make it worth it. Scheduling conflicts meant we went pretty early this year. Weather was great. Highs in the low 70s. Lows in the mid 30s. Normally in the Colorado mountains you can expect a rain storm every afternoon, but we stayed dry for the entire trip.
Sprague Lake, RMNP:
Visitors while we setup camp:
Oh oh, this one saw me:
This 1 year old bull moose was hanging out at Sprague Lake:
I always take a few knives and various other sharps to play around with. This year, I strapped the Camp Nessie on the belt and used it exclusively for all the camp chores. Only other blade I used was a SAK Farmer for it's Awl as a firesteel scraper.
Firewood Prep:
Dinner Prep:
Steak Knife:
I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love the Camp Nessie. I won't go into the details here other than to say it fits my definition of a camp knife perfectly.
I spent some time working with the kiddos from all the families on their fire starting skills. We worked on doing split wood fire prep (gotta get to the dry wood after the Colorado rain), making feathers and shavings for tinder, using man made tinder like dryer lint and PJCB (petroleum jelly cotton balls), made some char cloth in an Altoid tin and used it with a flint and steel with some jute twine.
My daughter working on her feathers:
My son practicing with the firesteel:
Each of the older kids received a flint and steel kit from Wolf Creek Forge - striker, flint, char cloth and twine. We also made more char cloth in an Altoids tin on the coals from the campfire. Use the striker and flint to ignite the char cloth. Put the char cloth ember into a jute twine nest and blow:
In the middle of the flint and steel practice, we had a little interruption:
[video=youtube;k5Pbmau79PQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5Pbmau79PQ[/video]
The joy on my daughter's face after getting the dryer lint and jute bundle going with a firesteel makes it all worth it:
Every evening pretty much ended like this: Sitting around the campfire, telling stories, making smores, talking about the elk, deer, moose we saw during the day, sipping a cold one, and fiddling with a Fiddleback:
Thanks for looking.
- Joined
- May 1, 2013
- Messages
- 844
Wow, the location is epic Nathan, and what's better than enjoying it with loved ones and some good food (missing beer pictures though... 
).
).
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2007
- Messages
- 2,247
Im in for the epic summer give away!
My fiance and I are getting married in August so are weekends are currently filled with wedding plans, condo renovations, painting, sorting, moving and more. 2 new grandchildren this summer as well. Needless to say life is hectic but absolutely wonderful!! I can't come close to the fantastic review Nathan did but this past weekend I took the family out locally for a little break.
I took my Hunter and Nessmuk out for some playtime. We had my sister and brother in law and all of our kids and grand kids camping as well so it was a busy campsite. I wasn't able to take any food prep pics but the 3/32" Nessie is outstanding with food prep and excels at cutting limes for Coronas!
The Hunter handled all of the typical camp work. I did some light batoning, fire prep and fire starting. The Hunter was also used for all the light duty chores such as cutting fishing line, firewood bundle cords and cutting hot dogs for the grand daughter to use on her princess fishing pole. Admittedly I did not push my Hunter this weekend in any way but regardless it's always a pleasure using a Fiddleback for even the simplest chores.
Sorry to be so long winded but like Nathan it's difficult to try and capture everything in just a couple sentences. I know this is supposed to be a summary on a Fiddleback but I feel the big picture needs to be seen to also appreciate how my Fiddlebacks fit in. Obviously like all of us I love being with my family. I love taking out my knives for other family members and friends to try and use. Most of my knives, although tools will be family heirlooms and will be passed down through the years.
This was our home for the weekend. It was a real "Survival Situation". I love to get out on the woods when I can but I'll admit that I do enjoy the comforts of the new trailer.
Maroon Hunter with natural and white liners.
The best parts of life...
My granddaughter's first bluegill. She wound up with a bucket full! They were set free shortly after a few more photo ops.
My newest grandson
My fiance and I are getting married in August so are weekends are currently filled with wedding plans, condo renovations, painting, sorting, moving and more. 2 new grandchildren this summer as well. Needless to say life is hectic but absolutely wonderful!! I can't come close to the fantastic review Nathan did but this past weekend I took the family out locally for a little break.
I took my Hunter and Nessmuk out for some playtime. We had my sister and brother in law and all of our kids and grand kids camping as well so it was a busy campsite. I wasn't able to take any food prep pics but the 3/32" Nessie is outstanding with food prep and excels at cutting limes for Coronas!
The Hunter handled all of the typical camp work. I did some light batoning, fire prep and fire starting. The Hunter was also used for all the light duty chores such as cutting fishing line, firewood bundle cords and cutting hot dogs for the grand daughter to use on her princess fishing pole.
Admittedly I did not push my Hunter this weekend in any way but regardless it's always a pleasure using a Fiddleback for even the simplest chores. Sorry to be so long winded but like Nathan it's difficult to try and capture everything in just a couple sentences. I know this is supposed to be a summary on a Fiddleback but I feel the big picture needs to be seen to also appreciate how my Fiddlebacks fit in. Obviously like all of us I love being with my family. I love taking out my knives for other family members and friends to try and use. Most of my knives, although tools will be family heirlooms and will be passed down through the years.
This was our home for the weekend. It was a real "Survival Situation". I love to get out on the woods when I can but I'll admit that I do enjoy the comforts of the new trailer.
Maroon Hunter with natural and white liners.
The best parts of life...
My granddaughter's first bluegill. She wound up with a bucket full! They were set free shortly after a few more photo ops.
My newest grandson
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2012
- Messages
- 2,921
That looks like an awesome "survival" situation Dave! Great use of the Hunter. Were you able to use it as a scraper for the firesteel?
So cool to see the grandkids enjoying nature and learning. I too love the pic your granddaughter hauling in the bluegill with the princess fishing pole. Fiddlebacks are fun, but like you said family is the best part.
Sweet entry to the giveaway.
So cool to see the grandkids enjoying nature and learning. I too love the pic your granddaughter hauling in the bluegill with the princess fishing pole. Fiddlebacks are fun, but like you said family is the best part.
Sweet entry to the giveaway.
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2007
- Messages
- 2,247
Thanks for the kind words guys.
Yes I did use the Hunter on the Firesteel. I typically use a scraper but since I made some char cloth I new I could get it to take a spark quickly. It took 2 or 3 strikes with the Hunter. The Hunter's spine worked great.
schmittie
Gold Member
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2009
- Messages
- 2,965
Nice trip Dave! And I'm with you, I envy Nathan's scenery.
"I'm in for the epic summer give away!"
The Mrs and I also went for a quite weekend. We didn't do all that much, but that was part of the goal.
Bailey was, of course, along for the ride too and that always makes picture taking a little challenging. But she just loves to go!
Our vintage Scotty backed up to the lake.
I took a break from fishing to let a few families have the cove for a while.
Mrs Schmittie was catching sunfish and I kept a few that swallowed the hook past saving them and used them for cutbait. I figured I could land a big channel cat and impress her. But my morning catch wasn't all that impressive. Only about 12-13"
BUT, then on the next cast, when my pole almost flew into the water, I KNEW I landed the BIG ONE! However, when I was reeling it in, it was heavy but not resisting. It was a painted turtle! She was the first turtle I ever caught with rod and reel. The next few minutes I'm sure were pretty entertaining for our neighbors. The 10" long turtle was scrambling to get away and hissing at me trying to take the hook out while Mrs Schmittie was holding back Bailey who was incredibly intent on getting in the turtle's face AND she had the camera in the other hand.
This is the only pic of the fiasco -
A new favorite of ours is fresh biscuits and gravy while at the campsite.
Preheating
Biscuits in
Biscuits out
Welcome to delicious
The Mrs makes outstanding bacon gravy!
Here is my little bushcrafty Fiddleback project. As usual, I should have taken more pics. But this is simple enough.
First I split a thin plank off some mystery wood in the pile. I used the hatchet to plane it down a little flatter.
Then I roughed out my shape.
I used my scandi Terrasuar to clean it up a little and drill a hole.
Done!
It's a bullroarer. If you've seen Crocodile Dundee, he used one to make a 'telephone call' in the bush. It makes a pretty decent sound but I'm wondering if I would have made it thicker and heavier, it may be louder. I'll have to research it. But it's fun to mess with.
That's all for now. Thanks for looking.
"I'm in for the epic summer give away!"
The Mrs and I also went for a quite weekend. We didn't do all that much, but that was part of the goal.
Bailey was, of course, along for the ride too and that always makes picture taking a little challenging. But she just loves to go!
Our vintage Scotty backed up to the lake.
I took a break from fishing to let a few families have the cove for a while.
Mrs Schmittie was catching sunfish and I kept a few that swallowed the hook past saving them and used them for cutbait. I figured I could land a big channel cat and impress her. But my morning catch wasn't all that impressive. Only about 12-13"
BUT, then on the next cast, when my pole almost flew into the water, I KNEW I landed the BIG ONE! However, when I was reeling it in, it was heavy but not resisting. It was a painted turtle! She was the first turtle I ever caught with rod and reel. The next few minutes I'm sure were pretty entertaining for our neighbors. The 10" long turtle was scrambling to get away and hissing at me trying to take the hook out while Mrs Schmittie was holding back Bailey who was incredibly intent on getting in the turtle's face AND she had the camera in the other hand.
This is the only pic of the fiasco -
A new favorite of ours is fresh biscuits and gravy while at the campsite.
Preheating
Biscuits in
Biscuits out
Welcome to delicious
The Mrs makes outstanding bacon gravy!
Here is my little bushcrafty Fiddleback project. As usual, I should have taken more pics. But this is simple enough.
First I split a thin plank off some mystery wood in the pile. I used the hatchet to plane it down a little flatter.
Then I roughed out my shape.
I used my scandi Terrasuar to clean it up a little and drill a hole.
Done!
It's a bullroarer. If you've seen Crocodile Dundee, he used one to make a 'telephone call' in the bush. It makes a pretty decent sound but I'm wondering if I would have made it thicker and heavier, it may be louder. I'll have to research it. But it's fun to mess with.
That's all for now. Thanks for looking.
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2014
- Messages
- 1,704
Oh man! Looks like you all had some fun. We too went on a 'nice' family trip (it rained a lot!). Back country Bolivia with no electricity or means of communication. It was nice to be off grid for a few days! BUT! Alas, no Fiddleback to play with, so I can't enter! Next month when my Fiddleback gets here, I'll try to get out again. But that will be too late for an entry.
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2012
- Messages
- 2,921
Good stuff schmittie! Looks like a great trip. The biscuits and gravy look perfect. Congrats on the turtle Four legged friends always make the trip more interesting - I'm sure Bailey had fun.
Cool project with the hatchet and Fiddleback. I've never tried one. Looks like a fun project that I'll have to remember.
It's great seeing everyone's trips. We'll have to do a trips & expeditions thread after the giveaway to keep this going.
Four legged friends always make the trip more interesting - I'm sure Bailey had fun. Cool project with the hatchet and Fiddleback. I've never tried one. Looks like a fun project that I'll have to remember.
It's great seeing everyone's trips. We'll have to do a trips & expeditions thread after the giveaway to keep this going.
Mistwalker
Gold Member
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2007
- Messages
- 19,035
Beautiful EDK, I have have to get in on this one if I have time
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2013
- Messages
- 914
Nathan, Dave, Schmittie: good show. You've all set the bar high for the rest of us.
Will: Thanks again for another great thread. Since I've met my challenge, I'm hopeful I'll be able to slip in under the deadline. Regardless, I've already gotten so much enjoyment out of this thread.
Michael
Will: Thanks again for another great thread. Since I've met my challenge, I'm hopeful I'll be able to slip in under the deadline. Regardless, I've already gotten so much enjoyment out of this thread.
Michael