Here's a pic showing a few of the things I have been playing with lately.
We have a very big pot we use to cook up fruit for preserving etc, but all the wooden spoons we have can disappear in it. Consequently there was a need for bigger wooden spoons. I split a couple of slabs from a willow branch and roughed them to shape with a hatchet. I then dug out my home made crooked knife and hollowed out the bowls of the spoons. The convex surfaces and handles were shaped with a small fixed blade knife.... I even bored the holes through the handles with the knife. When these are fully dry I will smooth them up a bit, using sandpaper if necessary.
I heard of someone being poisoned by using our native kowhai wood to make a spoon which was used to stir food. So I am always careful to use only known non-poisonous wood for any cooking implement.
The fatter triangular arrowhead is one I made from the base of a bottle. The nicer long arrowhead is made of obsidian. This one was made by my buddy Matt Edwards...he lives in the USA.
The big hatchet is one I made up from an old head that a buddy found. The handle is kanuka wood. I cut a bit off the head to give it a more pleasing shape.
The little tomahawk is one that I made (as described in another post).
The pocket knife with the white handle is a nice-looking old timer. Not an expensive knife, but nice nevertheless. My sister found this in a car she bought once.
The smaller pocket knife belonged to my uncle Ralph. I remember him cutting off lambs tails with it on his farm. When I was about five years old I was with him while he was working on the lambs. He turned away and I picked up the knife and cut myself. He thought he had done it and I didn't do anything to dispel his illusions seeing that I wanted to remain blameless. In latter years I told him that it was me that did it, but he didn't believe me .... thinking probably that I just wanted to make him feel better. Poor bloke, he was a hell of a sensitive caring man and he must have felt awful. It is a German knife with the marks K55K but the last k is reversed (I cant print it on this keyboard). It is also marked "HY Kaufmann and Sons Germany". It may be related to the Mercator knife described in another recent thread.'
The clay bowl was made and fired in my back yard. We have special clean air rules in my neighborhood now which makes it fairly unnaceptable to light fires outdoors so I havent done any more pottery, but it is good fun.
The hank of grey cord is some amazing stuff. I think the brand name is Dynex. Its nominal size is 6 millimetre, and its un-knotted breaking load is over two tonnes!!! It is far stronger than is required, but I like to carry it in case I want to set a snare for a big animal.
The thinner black braided cord is the stuff I have used to snare many possums. I am constantly working on trying to find a better way to support the snare and hold it open in the set position...so that it will close easily and not look too obtrusive. I've caught many possums, but I still have snares that get disturbed without catching anything. Maybe I will be disappointed to not have the challenge any more when I finally solve it.
We have a very big pot we use to cook up fruit for preserving etc, but all the wooden spoons we have can disappear in it. Consequently there was a need for bigger wooden spoons. I split a couple of slabs from a willow branch and roughed them to shape with a hatchet. I then dug out my home made crooked knife and hollowed out the bowls of the spoons. The convex surfaces and handles were shaped with a small fixed blade knife.... I even bored the holes through the handles with the knife. When these are fully dry I will smooth them up a bit, using sandpaper if necessary.
I heard of someone being poisoned by using our native kowhai wood to make a spoon which was used to stir food. So I am always careful to use only known non-poisonous wood for any cooking implement.
The fatter triangular arrowhead is one I made from the base of a bottle. The nicer long arrowhead is made of obsidian. This one was made by my buddy Matt Edwards...he lives in the USA.
The big hatchet is one I made up from an old head that a buddy found. The handle is kanuka wood. I cut a bit off the head to give it a more pleasing shape.
The little tomahawk is one that I made (as described in another post).
The pocket knife with the white handle is a nice-looking old timer. Not an expensive knife, but nice nevertheless. My sister found this in a car she bought once.
The smaller pocket knife belonged to my uncle Ralph. I remember him cutting off lambs tails with it on his farm. When I was about five years old I was with him while he was working on the lambs. He turned away and I picked up the knife and cut myself. He thought he had done it and I didn't do anything to dispel his illusions seeing that I wanted to remain blameless. In latter years I told him that it was me that did it, but he didn't believe me .... thinking probably that I just wanted to make him feel better. Poor bloke, he was a hell of a sensitive caring man and he must have felt awful. It is a German knife with the marks K55K but the last k is reversed (I cant print it on this keyboard). It is also marked "HY Kaufmann and Sons Germany". It may be related to the Mercator knife described in another recent thread.'
The clay bowl was made and fired in my back yard. We have special clean air rules in my neighborhood now which makes it fairly unnaceptable to light fires outdoors so I havent done any more pottery, but it is good fun.
The hank of grey cord is some amazing stuff. I think the brand name is Dynex. Its nominal size is 6 millimetre, and its un-knotted breaking load is over two tonnes!!! It is far stronger than is required, but I like to carry it in case I want to set a snare for a big animal.
The thinner black braided cord is the stuff I have used to snare many possums. I am constantly working on trying to find a better way to support the snare and hold it open in the set position...so that it will close easily and not look too obtrusive. I've caught many possums, but I still have snares that get disturbed without catching anything. Maybe I will be disappointed to not have the challenge any more when I finally solve it.
