Bushcraft skills challenge!!

[wjswiger]

Love the spork.....my next project!!

 

[crafty]

Love the spork.....my next project!!

Tnx! Although the fork part is barely used and the "knife serrations" are just there for aesthetics
Added an extra picture from the side so you can see it has this wavy shape.

 

[beanbag]

Dylan, I know you love your projectile weapons, so I thought I'd share some of bushcrafty ones for your contest.

Apache Throwing Star:

This is just over 22.5" per side, which is on the large size, but it's the heft that makes this weapon work so well and still penetrate deep.

I useda BK-9 to rough it out and make the notches, and my Pit Mora by Mark Wohlwend to sharpen up the points.

Here is a 16 year old family friend giving it a try:

[video=youtube;knKjXjrLpAE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=knKjXjrLpAE[/video]

Cold Steel Bushman Spear:

This was made entirely with the Bushman.

I'm 6', so I guess this was about 7' long:

The rig was really heavy and it was akin to throwing a shot-put vs. a softball.

Here is the wind up:

And the throw:

I was about 10 yards the target (a large maple tree) and with all that heft, the spear really went in deep.

Great contest, and thanks for the chance!!!:thumbup:

 

[Andster2]

I brought two knives outback to my fire pit for a quick lunch.

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Overlooked knife necessity, food prep. I cut up some onions and a green pepper from my garden.

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Tenderizing my steak with an over sized Gossman Deer Creek.

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Cut some fuzz sticks for the stove with a Swamp Rat Mastiff.

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The Emberlit is ready.

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Almost burned my onions and peppers. Misplaced my spatula and had to make a quik improvised spatula. It isn't pretty, but it worked just fine.

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A couple uses for bamboo:
Frog / fish gig

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Bow

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Arrow rest

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My son commandeered the bow

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Some bow customization

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Water carrier

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It didn't hold a lot, but it worked.

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Thanks,
Andy

 

[stewey1]

Hello Dylan thanks for the opportunity,

Scouting out a trapping area is hungry work. Here I've made a pot hook and prepared kindling with an ML knife. Its noodles and a hot brew for me









Next up I return to the valley in the snow. What I love about the snow is sign stands out very easily making tracking a lot easier. I use winter as a time to hone my tracking skills and make a bit of pocket money.







the equipment and an example trap, In the above pics you can see all the sign and I try to follow it and set traps on runs.





Darkness closes in fast


Back in the morning and it turns out my tracking skills are OK, I got a heap of the little guys.





Fur recovery



thankyou again for the chance and hopefully this is a bit unusual in a good way!!

 

[LostViking]

Just to keep this up near the top,

A wet early spring jaunt with a new offering from these folks,


A decent woods blade with a full tang, plain edge, thumb ramp, and a stout point,


It was a combo of wet snow and drizzle,


A great time to practice fire making skills,


Everything was a little damp,


Some scrounging provided some drier stuff,


After a few trys a spark caught,


Then grew,


A better outcome than Jack London's ill fated story,


I lived, and the dog stayed,


Here's to ya Jack, I never forgot that story!

 

[kyturkey]

Thanks for the contest Dylan! I really like contests as they cause me to make time to get out and try new things.

I used a Fiskers axe, saw and JK Ky Woodsman for today's activities. Utilized a SAK farmer for the trap.





Made something you don't see everyday, but makes camp life a little easier on you.



What's that? Have a seat.



The pieces are just lashed together with para cord. Clove hitch, wrapped and finished with a clove hitch.



Another option, first lash together three poles for a tripod.



Cross piece smoothed out a little.



Used my hammock folded in half, secured at the top with para cord and the cross piece at the bottom thru the fold.



Now sit back and relax



It was my first time making these camp chairs, and I think I made the tripod out of pieces a little too long. Still was pretty comfortable, and kept you up off the ground. Hopefully out of the ticks and chiggers.

Also, made my first cattail cordage.

Twist it on itself till it forms a loop.



Then twist the top strand away from you, and pull the bottom strand up over the top (hope that made sense, there are some good you tube videos showing how to do the twists)



Spliced in another piece.



Finished section



Thought I'd try my hand at getting a frog or two by an unusually method I'd heard/read about. It's my understanding that you can attach a piece of red yarn or cloth onto a string and present it in front of a frog and catch it. This can be done with or without a hook. So, I thought I'd give it a try.

First to find a pole



Make groove for fishing line



Attach red attractant



Fuzz it up a little ( not sure if that's a requirement)



Find pond with frogs





I found this frog while two others were croaking. Had a hard time getting that line in front of the frog with the briars and a little foot tall dead cedar that it kept hanging up on. Got the red string about a foot above the frog and he took off. No luck with that one, and didn't have time to try again. So it was unsuccessful this time for me, but who knows maybe next time.

Here is the whole completed pole. It has about 7' +/- of fishing line and the red attractant. I figured you could do like I did here and wrap the line around the pole to make it shorter if needed.



Since the thread didn't work for me the other day, figured I'd make a frog/fish gig out of it.





Now just to fire harden it and be good to go.



Also made a trap that's different from the often seen figure four. I made this one once before but have forgotten what it's called. You cut the upright support into two pieces. Make a diamond shape cutout in them to allow a squared off bait stick between the two halves.



SAK saw works good for making the notch.



Layed out, the bottom cutout had a knot so it wasn't quite as good as the top one.



Setting it up



Set



All the ticks and mosquitoes have me wishing for fall/winter to get here.
Got me thinking about a debris shelter I made back in January for an overnight trip. Ended up storming during the night, but I stayed dry. Only had one drip from the ridgepole just past my head.





The more debris the better

 

[dresnor]

First off a big thanks to Dylan for this challenge. I had a lot of fun and everything I did except the patina was the first time doing it so I learned a lot. I mostly worked on this stuff after work so it also helped me unwind from a stressful day.



The knife I used for this challenge was a Mora classic #2. Love the knife but I don't like the sheath. So I did something about it and made my first leather sheath. I am proud of it but all you professional sheath makers are not in an danger of lost sales due to my craftsmanship. LOL!


The first thing I did was make a template from and old cereal box. I wanted a traditional bushcraft style sheath that was small enough to also be used for neck carry.








Then I traced it onto the leather.





After I cut it out I soaked it in warm water to help with wet forming it to the Mora.





Then I put the knife in and let it form overnight.






After I removed the knife from the leather I noticed a bit of red rust on the blade and collar. So I used some mustard to give it a patina.





I am happy with the results.





After work I started to make the holes so I could stitch up the sheath. I decided on artificial sinew to keep with the look.







I cut off the excess and stitched it up.




After it was all stitched up I treated the leather with Sno-Seal.





Finished product. Can't wait to wear it in the woods.






In between waiting for the sheath to dry I worked on a container made from Birch bark. I am not very crafty so I had to work slow and think about this one a lot. I hope you guys enjoy.


Started off with a big hunk of birch bark from a downed tree. No trees were hurt for this contest! I separated the layers of bark and just used the thicker inner bark for the cylinder so the outer bark wouldn't flake off into the container.





Trimming it to size.








Figuring out the size I wanted.





Gluing the seam.





Glued and waiting for it to dry.





Cutting cedar for the top and bottom.








Carving the bottom to shape.





Poking holes in the seam for lacing.





I laced up the back with artificial sinew but failed to get pictures of the lacing of it. Sorry for that. It is shown in the finished product though.


I placed the Cedar bottom into the birch bark cylinder and held it in place with a little bit of glue and thorns from a flowering Quince.





Made a pilot hole and tapped the thorns in then trimmed them flush.








Now to work on the top. I left the Cedar full size but cut off the bark. Took a strip of birch bark and glued it around the top to form a cover. This time I used the outside white and grey part of the bark for contrast.








Here it is finished.








I think my girlfriend is going to steal this container, either that or I get to make her one.


I had some Birch bark left over so I decided to make a spoon/ladle. Again I used the thicker inner bark because it was stiffer and free of holes.


I cut the bark to a circular shape.





Folded it like this.





I used Apple wood for the handle. Got to do some carving with my Mora.








Removed all the bark and split it a little to hold the bowl of the spoon.











Then I wrapped the handle with twine so it wouldn't split anymore.





It holds water with no leaks.





Everything all together.






Thanks again for this challenge it is very generous of you. Good luck to everyone else!. Lots of great entries.



Jeremy

 

[Tilley Knife]

This thread just keeps getting better. Great stuff guys!

 

[Fletcher Knives]

This thread is awesome! You guys have until midnight. I'll do my deliberation and announce the winner tomorrow or Saturday.

 

[crafty]

Generous give-away contest and great posts here! I already posted something (post #20), but I got tempted again... Thought it was fun to add since it's nice to carve with kids (see below the olive spoon).
In general I always forget to make pictures during my projects. For instance this spoon in wild olive, must say it's quite tough wood for carving, which I just finished (used a carving knife, crooked knife and sand paper).

I'm very pleased how it came out, but then again no picture during the progress. Then some fun thing came in my mind, the "hui stick" (or Hui game, hooey stick, magic propeller stick, geehaw stick). It's a perfect project to make with kids: great way to learn them some good carving techniques and make a fun tool.

So I got out this morning and picked a knife, a SAK (since this is also often used by kids). Searching the necessary items.

Carving the stick. Making first a squired stick.

Once the stick is squire-like you can add the notches.

To make the propeller I needed a flat piece of wood. So used the SAK to make a "pre-split" in a small log and carved a wedge to split it.

Rough lines of the propeller. You should drill the hole in it before you finish the carving, you dont want to split the wood. Also make the diameter of the hole large enough, it should be able to rotate with minimal friction.

Ready to assemble the parts. Used a thorn from the hawthorn, but a iron nail works better.

All parts assembled together.

And here it is spinning, but you need to know the magic to make it spin
First try I broke the thorn so I had to get a new one. I also reshaped the propeller since it was out of balance making it hard to get it going.

 

[Fletcher Knives]

Guys, this thread has been terrific! I have re-read it several times trying to pick winners. It's agony trying to choose when everyone's entries are so awesome. I know I was supposed to announce winners already, but I have seriously had the toughest time.

First place, and a brand sprankin new Delta V, goes to LostViking. Brother you are definitely a brave man, subjecting your mrs to such a fun outdoorsy experience. LOL I loved that kitchen you made, complete with artwork carved on the poles.

Second place, and a brand spankin new Delta 4 mkii, goes to kyturkey. That chair was a new one on me. Good job broski.

everybody did awesome. I saw some new things I haven't seen before. Had to look up what the heck a hui stick was.
Winners, email me your addresses and I'll get your knives shipped. fletcherknives@gmail.com When you get 'em, test them out and post what you think!

Big thanks for everyone that participated. I'll do another one of these again in the not-to-distant future.

 

[PineMartyn]

Congratulations to the first and second place winners, LostViking and kyturkey!

And thank you Fletcher Knives for this opportunity. As a consolation prize, I'm going to review this thread to look at all the competition over again. There really were some exceptional entries.

Cheers,
- Martin

 

[crafty]

Congratz to the winners and thank you Fletcher Knives for the opportunity!
To all; thanks for posting, it's a very interesting thread!

 

[kyturkey]

Thanks for doing the contest and the second place finish!
Congrats to LostViking, also.

Just sent an email, looking forward to trying out the Delta 4 mkii

 

[LostViking]

Dylan,

Thanks for doing the contest, and for my sexy new prize. I am thrilled.
I was impressed with all the entries, some really great stuff.

My email just went out,

Thanks Again,
LV,

 

[dresnor]

Congrats guys!

Awesome entries.

Jeremy