December Own the skills initiative

RescueRiley

RescueRiley

Joined
Mar 22, 2006
Messages
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Well its time to start prepping for the Decemer own the skill initiative, I slacked off a bit on the November one (been a little Nutty)

So For December, your challlenge is to fashion 2 containers for boiling water (purification) out of all natural materials... so finding a pop bottle out in the woods doesn;t cut it..the materials must be harvested in the field and the container must be made by you utilizing only those materials, fire, and basic manual powered hand tools.. Axe chisel, Saw, knife, crook knife etc.
And both containers must actually be able to contain and boil water... and you must post photographic evidence of it..

as usual everyone who qualifies will be put into a pool my Wife will selcect a winner at random out of the list on New Years eve
the winner of this challenge, gets a Used but not abused Condor Bushlore with sheath
 
I'm looking forward to this! I'm not sure how well I'll do (mainly because I have zero ideas) but I am HIGHLY interested in seeing what people come up with.

p.s. if anyone can point me in the right direction to get some ideas I'd be much obliged.

CP
 
CoyotePhysics said:
I'm looking forward to this! I'm not sure how well I'll do (mainly because I have zero ideas) but I am HIGHLY interested in seeing what people come up with.

p.s. if anyone can point me in the right direction to get some ideas I'd be much obliged.

CP
Click to expand...

You can boil water by adding hot rocks to a waterproof vessel and stirring. However, if you'd like to smelt iron ore and make a pot from it in the woods, you'll win the contest. Or at least, I'd vote for you.
 
Is there an amount of water you are asking for, as it would be easy to take a spoon knife make one little pass and put a teaspoon of water in it.
 
Good question Skab,

It should hold 16oz of water, or theoreticaly enough water to tprovide you with life sustaining liquid should you be stranded without a vessell

Here are some pics from a similar experiment I did a while ago,, the water boiled, but it wasn't enough water, and the der[esseion was to small to suply enough rocks to keep the water at a boil
Using coals to hollow out a log
PICT0013-32.jpg


an depression
PICT0016-30.jpg


Holding some water
PICT0017-28.jpg


Hot rocks doing the boiling
PICT0018-27.jpg



Hopefully this month I;ll be able to refine it some.
 
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Ooh, I want to try this one :)

This is something I've always been curious about. Making something out of natural materials to boil water :thumbup:
 
Can they both be the same type or do I need to do two different kinds, ie. one log and one hid in a hole in the ground.
 
Kudos on the skills challenges RR!
These are the kinds of threads that have kept me sticking around over the years. I know you have been offering up some prizes to the "winner" at the end of the challenge. It is certainly generous of you to do all this and I think others would be willing to put up some potential prizes as well. If your open to it I have a few things I could send your way for future skills thread prizes.
The first thing that comes to mind is this modded DP hunter model, now made into a drop point.

DPmodded.jpg

polished.jpg


I've got some other things as well so let me know if you want a hand with the thread booty.
 
WOW!! That's a great looking knife.

Moose
 
Md, That is a more than welcome and generous addition to the booty Thanks a bunch.. I'll be Pming you soon to pick your brain anyway about some more contest ideas..
Thanks so much for the guesture,
Thanks to the othe folks who have offered me things as well
and thanks to all of you whop participate.
 
Wow!!! Tough one!I've wondered about this particular issue a lot.

I've only come with one option but it'd only work in a particular scenario.

Can I provide my suggestion so anyone else could try it? I don't have the means to do so down here. I don't care if someone else wins as long as they come with a suitable option.
 
TKM said:
Wow!!! Tough one!I've wondered about this particular issue a lot.

I've only come with one option but it'd only work in a particular scenario.

Can I provide my suggestion so anyone else could try it? I don't have the means to do so down here. I don't care if someone else wins as long as they come with a suitable option.
Click to expand...

Please do, I could use the help! :)
 
Well, I've tried/tought of a couple ideas,

The first one, has already been shown above, chose a large thick log, I can't tell exactly the type of wood, but the greener (fresher), the better, carve a space in the middle, as if you were building a canoe, then , fill with water and instead of putting it right near or next to the fire, use rope/paracord to hang it (obviously horizontally, at a prudent distance over the fire), you could wet the bottom of the log to reduce the risk of burning.

I haven't really tried it, but it is similar to the method used with a plastic bottle. Worst case scenario, the water filters down the log or the log catches fire and burns at the bottom, obviously dropping the water.

My main option (which would only work if you are near palm trees) would be using a coconut, you carve a whole on top of it (you'll need patience, care and a strong knife) drain the juice and if possible remove some of the "meat" and fill with water. You have to make sure that all the "hair" and "crust" sorrounding the coconut is gone, but leave the "crust" at the bottom to protect it from the fire. You can try hanging it above the fire or placing it on a tripod made with rocks right next to the fire. I suggest you use a rock or piece of another coconut to cover the hole you carved to fill with water.

Now, you have to be careful with the "hair" of the coconut, cause as soon as it dries enough, it will burn really fast. I tried this method once (long ago), just for fun, and the whole coconut lit on fire since I hadn't clean all the stuff around it. The water was already hot and the bottom had a little damage but couldn't carry on with the experiment since I only had the one coconut.

If someone tries any of these, be careful, safety first, remember that logs, rocks and even coconuts will pop an explode when submitted to sudden temperature changes.
 
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Now, to be honest, I don't know if the coconut idea will actually work properly (It might take a long for the water to reach its boiling point).

I got the idea when camping in a very secluded tropical country area in Mexico. Country men there carried the water in the carcass of a plant called bule or huaje they somehow dry it and tie a piece of cord around it to use as a sling.

I talked to them and they told me that it will work as a canteen keeping water fresh, and that it'll also stand the heat of being filled with hot coffee or some alcoholic beverage.

But I did forget to ask them if they used some kind of varnish or anything to protect it.

Here is a link to the plant's info. (If it is against the rules I'll remove it).
 
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teacher, just scroll down the page and to the left of your screen you'll see a menu reading En otros idiomas (other languages) just click on English.

Sorry I posted it in Spanish, my bad, it's just that I had to look up the plant in its original name.

I'm changing the link first thing tomorrow, right now I'm on my phone and don't really know how to use it.
 
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Very good skills initiative RR. I'm going to try and participate in this one. Damn, I wish we had bamboo growing in our parts!

A couple of questions for clarification.

1) Do the containers have to be portable? <-- this would make it more interesting and prevent folks from simply using a pre-made bowl in a rock.

2) Do the two containers need to be made of two different materials? I think this one would again be useful. It would be better to try something different then replicate what worked previously.

I think the 16 oz (500 mL) size is an excellent compromise between getting overboard on size but having a reasonably useful size.

One last comment. Would it be useful to engage in a survival requirement for gathering water? This sort of builds off of Question #1. What I'm trying to get at is that people actually find a water source and use either their container to gather water or other means, e.g. sopping up water with their hanky and wringing it out into the container, using their hat to gather water ect.....Just trying to explore the challenge a little bit more...
 
OK, this thread needs a bump!
I went out yesterday around dusk, after an excellent tree rat pistol hunt:D, and collected a section of bamboo that was on my way back from the mountains. My first contained holds 14.8 ounces (close enough) and still has enough room for the boil to not spill over. I tested it over the stove top and it boiled nicely but it doesn't count until I do it over hot coals in sub freezing temps. I'll knock that out this weekend.

Bamboo grove that I collected from

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Both the lake and my water bottle was frozen:mad:


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Finished container being tested over stove


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I know this doesn't have anything to do with the thread but I had to share. I took the 4x scope off my .22pistol and replaced it with a red dot (no magnification) to force me to get closer.
My day's bounty: six is the daily limit here

014.jpg
 
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