Cold weather cooking with the Bravo 1

[mountainmist]

The other day it was -23 here in Eastern KY and I thought that it would be a great idea to go outside! I took my Bark River Bravo 1 and Silky PocketBoy with me, along with a small pack.

Quite a bit of snow on the ground:

Deepest snow he has ever played in:

This was the standing dead pine that I used for fire wood, and a larger one was buried underneath:

The pack, knife, and lifestraw:

After clearing some snow, I placed a ground tarp under my ork space to keep the snow off me:

4" pine and my silky:

The pine was sectioned into three pieces to use as a base for my fire:

And the smaller pine was for lighting the fire:

Some dry pine twigs to use as kindling

The Bravo easily spans almost any wood that I need to get to dry stuff:

It also Feathers alright. The blade can have a micro bevel or not, I chose to strop mine out because I find it to cut better like that. The downside is that there is no materiel to push the wood shavings into a curl, but this is also because I need more practice with this blade.

The fire steel from BRKT was more than enough to light my shavings:

Melting snow for rice:

I like the broth, it warms me up:

Poplar spoon:

That's all folks!

PS: Making this quick in case my power cuts out, so sorry if it isn't all right...

 

[Bladite]

you call your dog "river bravo"? nice. bark.

 

[mountainmist]

you call your dog "river bravo"? nice. bark.

Yep! And the other one in the sixth pic down is called "lifestraw" LOL...

 

[granitestateofmind]

Nice, MM. I really like my Bravo. Good on ya for cooking - last hike I took my JetBoil and still didn't use it because it wouldn't stop snowing and I didn't want to stop and sit down. I gather that dog did not come with you from Colorado - or he would've seen snow like that before.

 

[Hammer67]

Nice little report, and good on ya for getting out on a day when I'm sure it would have been easy to rationalize staying inside instead.:thumbup:

...The blade can have a micro bevel or not, I chose to strop mine out because I find it to cut better like that...

Can you elaborate on this? I haven't seen 'micro-bevels' on Bravos before - at least not from the factory.

 

[mountainmist]

Nice little report, and good on ya for getting out on a day when I'm sure it would have been easy to rationalize staying inside instead.:thumbup:



Can you elaborate on this? I haven't seen 'micro-bevels' on Bravos before - at least not from the factory.

Sorry if I was vague. I meant that you can strop to achieve a micro Bevel or you can strop straight. If you strop steeper I find that you will develop a slight micro bevel. If you strop shallower I find that the steel tapers to a point in a linear fashion, although still convex. Either way, most people can't tell the difference, it is only a slight change in strop angle.

EDIT: I guess what I'm trying to say is it isn't really a micro bevel, but a steeper transition from stock to edge. I just strop about 1/2 of the edge to thin it out, and slim that transition down.

I hope that makes sense.

 

[Hammer67]

Sorry if I was vague. I meant that you can strop to achieve a micro Bevel or you can strop straight. If you strop steeper I find that you will develop a slight micro bevel. If you strop shallower I find that the steel tapers to a point in a linear fashion, although still convex. Either way, most people can't tell the difference, it is only a slight change in strop angle.

Ah. Thanks for the clarification.

I picked up a Bravo LT not too long ago, and I've really been liking it. The blade is still plenty thick, esp. when combined with 3V steel, for anything I would use the knife for. And I know handles likes/dislikes are a subjective thing, but the Bravo line have some of the most comfortable handles I've used. :thumbup:

 

[mountainmist]

Ah. Thanks for the clarification.

I picked up a Bravo LT not too long ago, and I've really been liking it. The blade is still plenty thick, esp. when combined with 3V steel, for anything I would use the knife for. And I know handles likes/dislikes are a subjective thing, but the Bravo line have some of the most comfortable handles I've used. :thumbup:

I have found the same to be true. My BK16 is still slightly more comfortable, but that is mainly because I am only 5'4" tall, and have proportionally sized hands which the thinner scales on the BK16 facilitate better. However, if you have the LT, they will be about the same.

 

[22-rimfire]

Nice job cutting and splitting that wood for the fire. I would prefer just to use a real spoon myself. I guess most of the snow will be gone by Monday with all this rain. I like the Bravo 1. I am really thinking about letting go of the money for a Bark River 3V Kephart. Still pondering the sense of spending now......

 

[mountainmist]

Nice job cutting and splitting that wood for the fire. I would prefer just to use a real spoon myself. I guess most of the snow will be gone by Monday with all this rain. I like the Bravo 1. I am really thinking about letting go of the money for a Bark River 3V Kephart. Still pondering the sense of spending now......

Spoons are over rated.

I think that the kephart is looking pretty sexy right now, and plus you have something close to the bravo with your BJ 125. either way, both should be great knives.

 

[22-rimfire]

Damn sexy actually, and I might actually use it.

 

[JV3]

nice pics! and your feather sticks look just fine to me...i see we have the same spoon carving skill

 

[mountainmist]

nice pics! and your feather sticks look just fine to me...i see we have the same spoon carving skill

Haha! Yeah, i just don't see the point of spending that much time on something that I'm only going to use once. Honestly though, that spoon you see there is probably the best I've made.

 

[Mistwalker]

Nice post man! Frankly when it comes to cooking in the snow, after last winter I am totally cool with seeing someone else doing it I like your spoon making style, usually all I ever make for cooking are forked sticks, spoon-like-objects, and sort of chopsticks...though I probably should carve a spoon or two with the crooked knife my wife gave me last Christmas.

Jay is right on the feathers. It's fun to see how tight I can get curls, and I enjoy friendly competition in groups, but out in the woods all that matters is that they work for tinder and yours seem to have done just fine.

By the way, how does the life straw do with snow?

 

[mountainmist]

By the way, how does the life straw do with snow?

LOL, in hindsight, I don't know why I brought the straw really. I thought that i would use it on the creek/pond, but I didn't want to because it was too cold. I guess I thought I would melt snow, and then purify it?