Catch up on some walks last month

kgd · Mar 28, 2010

Sorry guys, I haven't been posting much. Work has been crazy and I needed a little bit of a break from BF. I felt I was getting way to carried away with the steel. I mean, gee I was going to bed at night with visions of the new steel I wanted to buy. It was becoming an obsession and I needed a bit of a break and have been posting elsewhere only because this place is like a steel crack house. Hell, I see Rick's beautiful little leaf blade up on the for sale section and I think - OOOOOOOOOOOH.......Then I bite down hard on my right hand and eventually the pain takes over the desire

Well that little Bruce Culberson blade did help satiate me some. But I do miss ya'll a lot even though I see you guys elsewhere. I used to post my weekly walks almost religously here but haven't been doing so that much. This thread is a bit of a catch up to our dry spring that is Southern Ontario. Sure, it is raining today, but this has to be the dryest spring we've had in a few years now. I hope that rain keeps coming!

This winter, I camped out a provincial park called McGregor Point with another guy from a different forum. It was cool and there were a tonne of birch there. We found a pile of chaga (true tinder fungus) and I cut it up and dried it out at bit. It now takes a spark very well. The drying time was about a month.

One of my crazy - deer, deer, deer moments with a panning shot. Its all splash and fuzz and a doe somehow caught on film. I recall posting this one in the W&SS chat room.

Coglans folding saws suck.....Here is the 3rd one I broke. I find the Victorinox Rucksack saw far out-cuts the crappy coglans anyhow. SAK saws are the best thing. Besides the Culberson knife, another little guilty purchase this year was a Vic Farmer. The Farmer = Perfect SAK!

Thorns with ice on a frosty morning in my prairie. I wish I can claim some mastery of photo-fu to have gotten the black packground like that, but like most of my shots it was luck and relying on post-editing skills!

I've been doing lots and lots of bowdrill practice lately. I tried handrill a few times and my palms are either too hairy or not much liking the handrill thing so much.

In winter, a tarp is a god send for being able to collect all the little wood chips and keep them from sinking in the snow. As much as I love my mil-spec Poncho, the weight of the thing is dragging my down. I finally put it to my scale. That bastard weighs over 800g!!!! Girlscouts to the rescue. Yes, I actually stole my daughter's old girlscout gear. She had a vinyl tarp slightly smaller than the GI-poncho that weighs a respectable 430 g and folds smaller. Thats what I'm packing now, even if it is purple!

more coming....

kgd · Mar 28, 2010

I use this cracked Eastern Cottonwood as a little cache for hearths and bows. Half of them get knocked down now and again, but its kind of cool to stick your stuff in a little cache.

More deer

A little play time with my Walt Davis blade courtesy of an awesome trade with Gunknifenut. Love this knife!

Another cool little blade. A David Farmer utility. This one was gifted to me by our very own Tonym for some reason that I still am not sure why! I did have a bit of an issue with the scales separating from the tang. I epoxied them in place and then put a little epoxy jute wrap to hold it all in place. This is a great little blade.

kgd · Mar 28, 2010

Nothing says spring like a little pussy(willow)

Sawing a little wood with my SAK-Farmer.

Fortunately the foot was no longer in the shoe.

I love a cuppa sumac. Last fall's sumac fruit is starting to get pretty weathered now, although I still enjoyed some tea made from this tree last week.

I already posted my review of the Culberson blade. Fine little blade. It now sports a convex edge and is wicked sharp (not like it didn't come razor sharp already, I just wanted to convert it to convex from its original V-grind). This thing is the natural mate to my S-curve. My wife also managed to get into the wool spirit. She bought two 8 point (king size) Hudson Bay wool blankets for our bed. Not very practical for the woods, but it is awesome snuggling up to these things at night! I also have a couple of British Baor blanket mil-surplus wool blankets for my outdoor play.

Last week, I was peeping on the peepers and managed to capture a 3-some going on. I know Jcav will apreciate this one!

A little play with the Culberson

Its 'The Scream' face in burl

still more coming....

kgd · Mar 28, 2010

Bow drill, bow drill, bow drill...(Hey, its a better way to spend your free time than smoking crack!)

And last my little take apart stove started up by bow drill.

Only one more post left....

kgd · Mar 28, 2010

This was a geocache that I happened on in the Spring Garden ansi. I wasn't looking for a geocache nor did I have a GPS on me, but I found it nonetheless. I signed the register, didn't take out a prize, but put in a packet of Tim Horton's honey/lemon tea (in a foil tin) as a gift for the next guy/girl.

One of those big paper wasp nests, like this one, fell down and was on the ground yesterday. I picked a piece up and stowed in my tinder kit to test out. Takes a spark from firesteel very nicely. Two strikes and I had a nice flame.

Thats about it. I went out on two walks this weekend but didn't take any pictures. Yesterday I had some good weather but when I pulled out my camera I found that I left the memory card sitting in my computer (uploading last week's shots!). Then I went to one of my little play areas and found a mess left buy a bunch of goofs who littered the area with beer bottles and shot up (pellet gun) beer cans. It really pissed me off to see the area violated. I don't mind people drinking beer, but why can't they just haul their bottles back? They weigh a lot less then what they hauled in. So grumbling, I picked up the mess. It is my little rest stop after all and I don't want to have to look at garbage when I'm there. I carved a message on the stump asking people to pick up their trash. Think it will work???

dawsonbob · Mar 28, 2010

Good stuff, Ken. Nice pictures, and some nice steel, too.

I think you need to invest in a Silky saw. While I love the little saw on my Vic Farmer, it is a little saw. The Silky is just so much better than anything else I've ever used. Just saying...

Mistwalker · Mar 28, 2010

Great pics as always Ken. You have a beautiful area to wonder in.

Do you prefer a cross cut piece of wood for a bearing block better than a split piece? Does one burn in deeper or quicker than the other?

I really like that Walter Davis knife too, but which knife is that in the first picture?

kgd · Mar 28, 2010

mistwalker said:
Great pics as always Ken. You have a beautiful area to wonder in.

Do you prefer a cross cut piece of wood for a bearing block better than a split piece? Does one burn in deeper or quicker than the other?

I really like that Walter Davis knife too, but which knife is that in the first picture?

Yes, I find a cross cut bearing block is a bit more resistant to burn in. The one in my pictures was made of oak. It eventually burned in enough to make it useless. My favorite bearing block was a piece of beef bone. But then my cousin came along and I showed her how to do bowdrill and she left with my bow, my bearing block and all my cottonwood stock to practice.

Today, I just took a dremel tool to a smooth stone I picked up from my neighbor's drive way and used the grinder attemchment to hollow out a divot. That seems to work pretty good, but time will tell. I'm hoping I get my beef bone back at some point.

First knife was my Bryan Breeden Peacemaker.

mneedham · Mar 28, 2010

Ken,

Great to see you back here at the crack house (here, have a hit

), the crack doesn't seem the same without you. BTW - I will go to bed dreaming of that S-curve:thumbup:

DOC-CANADA · Mar 28, 2010

Nice pictures, k. Thanks for sharing.

kgd: I've been doing lots and lots of bowdrill practice lately. I tried handrill a few times and my palms are either too hairy or not much liking the handrill thing so much.

Here's the deal, just keep practising (to tune those muscles and palms up) and if you still don't get it, Phil and I'll tune you up. Won't be any problem, as long as the muscles and palms are tuned. The rest is a piece of cake (and you know what happens when I tell you that

)

Doc

kgd · Mar 28, 2010

DOC-CANADA said:
Here's the deal, just keep practising (to tune those muscles and palms up) and if you still don't get it, Phil and I'll tune you up. Won't be any problem, as long as the muscles and palms are tuned. The rest is a piece of cake (and you know what happens when I tell you that )

Doc

Doc, my biggest problem, or hurtle is being so familar with the bowdril. I got a feeling about how much smoke you want billowing out there and the powder pile. When I start the hand drill, I get smoke but its whispy and not full like I do on bowdrill and I see I'm getting powder but its a little drizzle of powder and not a pile of powder. Then I my shoulders start to slump and I begin to loose that hope of finishing it. I'll keep at it though. I've been using mullein stocks for handrill.

Mneedham - thanks!

DOC-CANADA · Mar 28, 2010

kgd said:
Doc, my biggest problem, or hurtle is being so familar with the bowdril. I got a feeling about how much smoke you want billowing out there and the powder pile. When I start the hand drill, I get smoke but its whispy and not full like I do on bowdrill and I see I'm getting powder but its a little drizzle of powder and not a pile of powder. Then I my shoulders start to slump and I begin to loose that hope of finishing it. I'll keep at it though. I've been using mullein stocks for handrill.

Mneedham - thanks!

Get rid of the Mullein and get some Teasel (Dipsacus sylvestris) or some Bull Thistle (Cirsium vulgare). I don't like Mullein (Verbascum thapsus). Others that work really well, but probably not available right now - Jerusalem Artichoke (Helianthus tuberosa), and Great Ragweed (Ambrosia trifida), although some years the Ragweed is not sturdy enough.

Mullein works, but it's not the easiest. Actually, JA is (Jerusalem Artichoke). Teasel is great though, and it's very prolific.

Also, remember to keep your shoulders as relaxed as possible. Keep 'em tight and the muscle fatigue comes early. Also, if you start getting a hot spot on your hands, stop and rest it a few days. You want callouses, not blood.

I must say, bowdrill familiarity is a new excuse.

Also, the smoke is not wispy, maybe only when you don't succeed.

Think it over. I starting to retune my hands tonight.

Doc

ratamahatta · Mar 28, 2010

great pics buddy, looks like some great weather!!!!!

mtnfolk mike · Mar 28, 2010

great stuff Ken...:thumbup: always love your posts(and knives

)...

BushcraftBrainTrust · Mar 28, 2010

Beautiful pictures. :thumbup:

Mistwalker · Mar 28, 2010

kgd said:
Yes, I find a cross cut bearing block is a bit more resistant to burn in. The one in my pictures was made of oak. It eventually burned in enough to make it useless. My favorite bearing block was a piece of beef bone. But then my cousin came along and I showed her how to do bowdrill and she left with my bow, my bearing block and all my cottonwood stock to practice.

Today, I just took a dremel tool to a smooth stone I picked up from my neighbor's drive way and used the grinder attemchment to hollow out a divot. That seems to work pretty good, but time will tell. I'm hoping I get my beef bone back at some point.

First knife was my Bryan Breeden Peacemaker.

Thanks Ken, I'll have to give that a try. I have made a couple out of a small Black Walnut limb but the first one burned in pretty quick so I thought I'd ask your thoughts on that.

I noticed that Rick carries a stone bearing and was thinking about making one.

I thought that looked like a Breeden sheath.

DOC-CANADA · Mar 28, 2010

So k,

I started to retune my hands tonight and at first I got skunked (more on that later).Whenever you get skunked, before you turn your hands into a big hunk of bleeding hamburger, change your tools.

New drill - success!

The coal didn't show up so well with the flash, so I switched my camera setting to 'shoot in low light without flash reducing blur'. Picture quality suffered but the coal showed up well, helped with a bit of fanning in the background. I included the KAT knife so you would know this isn't an old picture.

It progressed into a nice large, long coal.

Now, about being skunked at first. I should have looked more closely at the drill tips (both are Teasel). You will notice the drill on the right has a very narrow wall compared to the one on the left. You can get smoke, in fact, lots of smoke but it is mucho more difficult to get a coal with a drill with a thinner wall. The thicker the wall (less the softer inner wall), the better.

So, k, I guess you remember the following from a post about a year ago.....

And yes, tony, I did it in my apartment - it's raining and dark outside!

Doc

riz_aaroni · Mar 28, 2010

Great posts! I really enjoyed the photos and story that went along with it.

kgd · Mar 28, 2010

Awesome pictures doc. Great to know about the thickness of the teasil. This is the stuff right?

I harvested a few pieces of this, then everybody at 'the other place' told me to go out and get Mullein. Well, I'll go back to teasil then.

Might as well get you in an action shot Doc!

For no particular reason, here is my dog photoshopped to look like the devil!

DOC-CANADA · Mar 28, 2010

kgd said:
Awesome pictures doc. Great to know about the thickness of the teasil. This is the stuff right?

I harvested a few pieces of this, then everybody at 'the other place' told me to go out and get Mullein. Well, I'll go back to teasil then.

Yessir, that is Teasel and no, there is no other place!

As far as being told to use Mullein, ask those that recommend it, how many of them, have used Teasel. I've used both and can't imagine anybody would prefer Mullein, but as always, Y (and their)MMV.

By the way, if the stalk (Teasel) is a little bit crooked, it can be straightened using heat. I heat them over one of the front elements of my range.

Doc