Ethan's Spring Challenge Warmup

[Moosez45]

Alright you apes, time to get to work.

Spring is coming on fast, time to dust off them skills, and make sure you still got the chops......

Here we go.

For this Challenge, you will need to complete:

5 fires, using both natural and man made material. You can't use the same thing twice. Example, if you use a Bic and some charcloth, you can't use a Bic or charcloth again, for another fire. Use your noggin, this could get tough.

5 methods of purifying water, using both natural and man made material. You can't use the same method twice. Example, if you use a man made water filter, then you can' t use another man made filter again in this challenge. Yup, get your noodle workin', this one is the tough one.

3 different types of shelter, using both natural and man made material. This should be so damn easy, I'm not even gonna give you an example.

You must pick one BKT knife to complete all aspects of the challenge. I recommend you choose wisely.

BONUS!!!!

This is not required as part of your entry, but it will help you score points with the Man with the Beard. Make a few items that will make your stay in the woods easier. Think, something that you COULD bring with you, but choose not to, and just make it when you get there. Say, instead of a light, make a candle from natural material, or, instead of a fork, make one. You get the idea, make them skills shine.

PRIZES!!!!!

1st place- Becker Field Bag, with a BK16 inside. These are VERY EXCLUSIVE!!! There are only a few in existence as of right now, more will come later, but for the next few, you have the chance to be one of a few that will have one.

Second and Third place, ya'll get a BK16

Must be 18yrs old to enter, you are responsible for yourself, no one else is. Don't break it if you can't buy it.

Contest will run until April Fool's Day, or later, but not by much.

To enter, post "I am dusting off the skills....." in this thread. NO CHATTING!!!! If you post anything other than your entry, you will be disqualified.

You must have at least 2 pictures per fire, filter, and shelter. Video's must not exceed 10 minutes, and must be no more than one video per post.

Questions will go in the question thread.

Let's do it.

Moose

 

[Tankerwolf]

Hellz yeah! I'm in! "Dusting off the skills"

 

[Psyop]

"I am dusting off the skills....." Beckerhead #146

 

[LG&M]

#188 "I am dusting off the skills"

 

[GarnetandBlack]

I am skusting off the dills.....

 

[oXide]

"I am dusting off the skills....." #220 in for the win. May the craziest man or woman win.

 

[NYOutdoors]

#286 is dusting off the skills!

 

[lowery399]

Entry!: I figured that I probably wouldn't have too much time to work on this again this month so I decided to work on this yesterday and today. I got it all done after a few successes and a few failures on skills. I tried to use things that I found laying around and I didn't go buy anything that I didn't have already. These are the ones that I was successful with:

Water Purification

I started off with something fairly simple, transpiration. For those who may not know what that is it is defined in the simplest terms of evaporation. Water from plants evaporates and is trapped by the plastic bag, that i found by the road, that is tied around the leafy parts of the tree. Throughout the hot part of the day the water evaporates and is trapped in the bottom of the bag. To make sure that the water went towards the bottom of the bag I placed a small rock in it to help pull the bottom of the bag down.

My 2nd method for water was a solar still. I found a simple digging stick. I dug a hole that was a few inches wide and a few inches deep. I cut the top off of a beer can that I found laying out by the road and I could see how nasty it was inside.

Since I didn't bring a pot scrubber with me, I tore off a few pieces of dried grass and stuck it inside. I scrubbed it around and then rinsed the can out and it was clean as a whistle!

I took the can and placed it in the ground.

I covered the hole with plastic and then weighted it down with some rocks. I put a small rock in the center so that any water that evaporates from the ground collects in the center and drips down into the can.

For my 3rd method of water I went down to a small creek that we have on our property.

I took a 1 liter plastic coke bottle that I found and covered the top with some grass to make a simple strainer.

After I filled the bottle up, all the way to the top, I put the lid on while making sure that there was no air in the bottle. I put the bottle out in the sun and left it there for a minimum of 8 hours in bright sunlight.

My 4th method is probably the easiest. I used my water filter with a coffee filter rubber banded around the end to keep out any additional dirt or other pollutants.

I gave it a few pumps out of this standing pool of water and it came out clean.

The 5th method of water purification was probably the most certain way of making sure that water was pure and that was by boiling it. For the boiling portions I opted to use two different containers, one is another old water bottle that I found laying around the property and another is my cooking pot.

To use the bottle I rigged up a simple tripod with some natural cordage. I took a piece of paracord and rigged up the bottle so that it would hold the bottle up off of the coals. For the cook pot I just sat it on some rocks right next to the fire and it boiled within just a few minutes.

Fire
In order to get to the final water purification step I, of course, had to start working on these. My first method of fire was to used some of that dried grass, flint & steel with a charred rope.

Within just a few seconds the rope caught a spark. I took that rope and placed it inside the grass and had flame in just a few minutes.

My 2nd fire method was really simple. A bic lighter and some pine needles. Needless to say this didn't take much time at all and I had fire instantly.

My 3rd method was going to be the bow drill. However, I have found that I am completely useless at this point with friction fire. Because of this, I opted for another simple way. I used some old cardboard that was laying around. I fluffed it up some and put a match to it and it, of course, caught on fire instantly.

I then moved on to option 4. A magnifying glass and a cotton ball with PJ. It wasn't quite sunny enough for me to be successful at this one either so.......I moved on to a battery. I found some wire laying around the outbuilding and after rigging it up to the battery I sparked them on the cotton ball and it caught pretty quick.

Option 5 was pretty simple also. I took some bark off of what I think is a cedar tree. I peeled off the weathered outer layer and opted for the fluffier bark underneath. I broke that apart and mashed it around until it was like a bird's nest. A few swipes of the steel and I had fire.

Shelter

Keeping with the "things I found" theme I moved on to shelters. I saw what appeared to be an old tarp laying out. After stretching it out I saw that only half of it looked like it was in good shape.

I cut half of it off and then stretched it out. I made a center pole and then pinned down each corner. It wasn't pretty but it was a simple shelter to keep you dry and kinda warm.

My 2nd shelter took a little bit longer and it required the help of my two younger girls. I started out with a standing tree that I batoned and broke over.

I covered it and filled it in with debris. It wasn't the best debris shelter that I've ever made but it works in a pinch.

My 3rd shelter is the BH favorite. A hammock under some tree cover. I didn't use a rainfly because there was plenty of cover overhead but if needed I had a simple tarp to string up above it.

For my improvised items:
I started out with the pot scrubbers (aka dead grass) for the empty beer can. Once I found out that I had *forgotten* to bring any silverware I figured that I needed to make some. That is probably the worst looking fork that has ever been made. However, the spoon turned out alright.

Once I got to the point where my knife wasn't quite working for the spoon carving I opted to let the earlier fire skills help me out. I set a coal in the center and let it burn the bowl out of the spoon.

A porous rock was used in place of sandpaper to finish it out and it was all done with this pretty little BK16. I had fun with it and I hope all of these entries are legitimate. If judges decide that I duplicated anything, please let me know and I can modify my entry some if time and scheduling permits. I'm sure that some of you have some better ideas than I do so good luck!

 

[Psyop]

I used my BK9 for all the tasks I need to come up with a name for her she is by far my favorite knife. I also decided to not sharpen it at all for the whole time. It still cuts hair off my arm.

For shelter

1. Snow cave I piled up a bunch of snow on a drift and dug it out.

2. Tarp shelter. I pitched my tarp and put down a wool blanket

3. Tent Kelty Zen it was raining so this is a great choice

 

[Psyop]

Fire

1 Ferro rod with fatwood

I made curls with the BK9 and used the ferro rod to get it going.

2. One stick fire with one match used juniper for the wood. The king flexed a little but there was a good knot

3. Steel wool and a battery

4. Magnifying glass with cedar bark

5. I had planned on doing a friction fire but it has been raining all day and Im running out of time. So I did a lighter with a bit of rope and everything else was wet. I split a big piece to make some curls and used some small twigs that were partially dry.

Here are a couple of pics of my tinder gatherer helpers on this rainy day. Yeah I got in trouble but it was worth it

 

[Psyop]

Water

1. Transpiration. I put a trash bag over as many pine branches as I could fit with a rock in the corner so the water would collect in it.

This is the next morning it is weighed down

The results were for sure less than ideal. I guess you can get water this way but it had a bunch of pine debris in it.

2. Iodine tabs didnt taste good but it works

3. Distill. This is a little water distiller I have in case TSHTF water turns in to steam witch is cooled and then collected. I cant really show all of it

4. Boil pretty easy and safe

5. Filter MSR fits on a nalgene and works great this water tasted really good even though it was pretty dirty to start with.

Well Im glad I did this it was a stretch for me many of these skills are ones I had never done before. So it was a great learning experience. Thanks Ethan for putting on the contest.

 

[redmech]

Here is my entries, I hope it all makes sense.

For these challenges, I used my BK7, one of, if not my favorite Becker Knife.

Fire,
Here is a simple twig fire, using my firesteel and my spine of my BK7


Prep,








Artic strap (mouth) drill, using cottonwood hearth, mullein spindle, and Cottonwood bark bearing block/mouthpiece.
Here is the hearthboard with divot burned in, and notch cut. This method, you hold the bearing block in your mouth and do not use a traditional bow. I have a youtube video up of this process if any one would like to see it, shoot me a PM and I will send you a link.



Tinder bundle,



Ember success,








Steel wool and Battery,


Shagbark Hickory bark scrapings to use with steel wool












Making fire with a magnifying glass, the sun, and punkwood,


I am always shocked how well and quick this “can” work.






Doing a fire using chert, tried using a cotton char rope (ended up using char cloth, and the spine of my BK7, and Hackberry split down with my BK7.


Prep, ready to make fire,


Tried and tried to catch a spark with my char rope, kept getting the charred portion of the rope full of chunks of my chert. I switched to char cloth, which had much more surface area. This I was able to finally get a spark to take. This was one of my most challenging parts of this whole deal. Much failure!!
\

Jute twine tinder bundle,




Fire,



Water,
Water Generator, here I use an old pants leg, tie off the foot, and fill full of snow. Let the fire melt the water while I attend to other camp chores,





Pumping out the water,


Katadyn hiker water filter


Took 1 minute 45 seconds to make 2 quarts of great water.




Collecting clean water from the good lord above, collecting rainwater off my tarp,


Really raining pretty good this day,


Took about an hour to get this full, a bit of sleet in there as well.


Boiling water, this is a good method to kill bacteria and all them organisms


Water is boiling, almost coffee time,


A for sure way to get safe drinking water. The chemical way, using Portable Aqua. Add part one, which is two tablets to one quart of water. Let set for 5 minutes, shake, and let set for 30 minutes more. This is basically a method that uses iodine to kill the bad stuff that will mess your guts up. Part 2 is add two tablets from the bottle marked 2 to the quart of water and let it set for 3 minutes. This removes the iodine taste. This is not my favorite way to make safe drinking water, but it works.





Shelters,
My snow cave/shelter, that I had help with from my 7 year old daughter. Quite toasty, gets you out of the wind.





I stomped and packed a lot of snow down, then dug out the inside with my Zebra pot.

My Hammock and tarp setup, for sure my shelter of choice. Just a Kelty Tarp and a Warbonnet hammock.




Here is my third shelter spot, lots of rain on this outing as well.


I was planning to use my emergency blanket, that has been around a bit, a 8 foot piece of para cord,


Good to check out your gear, this emergency blanket had failed. It had stuck together, and separated and tore when I tried unfolding it.


So I improvised with my poncho, made stakes with my BK7, and used innerstrands of para cord to tie it all up. I used the BK7 and cut about half way through a branch so it would sag all the way down. I also lined the outside of the shelter with cedar limbs to add some added support. Around the hardwoods in the spring, all the leaves are gone, and on the ground. When going under a cedar tree, the ground can some times be dry, (about the only place dry in my neck of the woods at this time of the year). It had rained the night before, and the whole time I was making this shelter. I am going to keep a closer eye on emergency blanket health. They do not last forever.






Thanks for making a great product, giving out great American made gear, and doing these contests.

Ross,
Beckerhead #165

 

[COPPERHEAD88]

I am dusting off the skills!



This is my first challenge and I had a lot of fun working on it. I learned a lot working on each piece of this challenge. I had to do some research and try things I have never done before and it was worth it. Jeremy has been helping me with my skills so I wanted to go for it. I am going to school for a science and biology so I picked things that interested me in that regard.





The knife I used for this challenge was my BK 11 I got at the Northeast Beckerhead gathering. Remember boys it is not the size of the tool it is how you use it!

Shelter



We have been getting a lot of snow in Maine recently so I wanted to use it to make shelters, The first one is a snow trench. This was easy to make and didn't take long at all. In A real situation I would have entered head first and all the way in. But for the sake of the pictures I didn't.

The next shelter was a Quinzee. This one took a lot more shoveling but it was worth it. The snow was very insulating and warmed up quick with just the candle. I also added air holes and the BK&T logo.

Jeremy wanted to check it out too.

The third shelter I couldn't decide on which tarp shelter to make so I made 4. The Adirondack, Lean to, A frame and the Plow.





The ground was still frozen so I had to beat the stake in the ground. The lines have prussic knots to adjust the tension.

Finished product with my bivy in it for scale.

The tensioners for the lean to shelter.

Finished lean to. Me hanging with Princess.

A frame.

The plow.

Lots of room inside this one!

 

[COPPERHEAD88]

Water



The first way I disinfected water was with bleach. 5 drops per liter. let it sit for 30 minutes. Pour clean water over threads to clean them and enjoy.



For the first two method I collected the water with the bottle facing downstream to prevent floaties getting in it.

Tincture of Iodine 2%. Do not use this method if you are allergic to iodine pregnant or have a Thyroid problem. 10 drops per liter and clean the threads of the bottle.

Next was boiling. The number one method according to the CDC.

Water filter. This one was easy. Rocky was there to help.

The last method was a still. Boil water to create steam then get it to condense in a bottle as water. Since the dirty water is turned into a vapor the nasties can't hang on and when the vapor is turned back into a liquid it will be pure. I only made enough water to prove the method works



My BK 11 got some good use on this one.

Lots of steam and finally water.

 

[COPPERHEAD88]

Fire.



The first method was fatwood and a lighter.

Using the "Next fire" way of thinking I used the first fire to make charred cloth.

Then used the charred cloth and a ferro rod to make the second fire.

With the second fire made I used it to make charred punk wood to help with my third fire.

Used my charred punk wood and a Fresnel lens for the third fire.

The fourth fire I used a AA battery and dryer lint wrapped in tinfoil. I ran the electrical current from the battery through the tinfoil till the tinfoil got cherry red and ignited the dryer lint.



I had to wear some welding gloves because the tinfoil got hot fast.

The lint and the tinfoil after then fire was lit.

Very excited about this one!

My last fire was made using potassium permanganate combined with glycerin. When mixed together they create an exothermic reaction and burst into flames. This was hard to document in pictures and do it justice so I went for a video instead. Wait for it! Click the picture to watch video.

 

[COPPERHEAD88]

BONUS!



I made two things for the bonus. The first was a candle made out of old mans beard and pine pitch. Jeremy kept making wise cracks about women and their candles while I was making it.



It burned for a long time and was easy to make.

The next bonus item I made was snowshoes using saplings and bows tied together with paracord.

Thanks to Ethan and Moose for having this contest.



~Amanda

 

[Moosez45]

Damn........

Some real good entries. I mean, all of them were out of sight.

Good luck, Old Man, you're gonna break some hearts with this one......

Closed so that ye may be judged........harshly.

Moose

 

[Ethan Becker]

Damn.......this one is painful.....Too Many too good.......

First prize .........Copperhead 88

Second goes to ....... Psyop

Third........Redmech


Great stuff all around.......Amanda your still put you over the top on this...... Lowery will get some kinda sumthin at the gathering for a damn good effort.........Really impressive.....

Send to beckerkt@gmail.com....

Phone number
Email
Name
Street address

Will get the goods out as soon as I get back from Becker West.......

Really impressive an inspiring.....

Ethan

 

[Ethan Becker]

Damn.......this one is painful.....Too Many too good.......

First prize .........Copperhead 88

Second goes to ....... Psyop

Third........Redmech


Great stuff all around.......Amanda your still put you over the top on this...... Lowery will get some kinda sumthin at the gathering for a damn good effort.........Really impressive.....

Send to beckerkt@gmail.com....

Phone number
Email
Name
Street address

Will get the goods out as soon as I get back from Becker West.......

Really impressive an inspiring.....

Ethan

 

[COPPERHEAD88]

Thanks Mr. Becker! Very generous of you.

I had a blast. Congrats to everyone else!

E mail sent.

~Amanda