Exploring the Nessmuk "Trio"

Here it is with my SAK and Frontier knife for scale,I keep it with my small garden tools.
It has a nice balance to it,the swell closer to the head gives a good balanced grip for close/fine hammering.
I thought the slot in the head was maybe for twisting baling wire,I cant see it doing much as a nail remover.
The handle is nice and firm and of good quality.
I bought it from someone on a bush craft forum many years ago.













 
Re above,
Interesting how little interest he has in the shape of the fb.
I think his axe is quite a bit bigger.
He does go on.
Nessmuk would still want a hatchet to chop roots out from under his bedroll.
Does Nessmuk even tell us what is best about his folder? Best pattern? Best made of the best pattern? Best for what use?
 
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This book is from 1994. The author followed in Nessmuk's wake. (Though my recollection is that Jerome called her canoe the Sairy Damp, as a play on the name of Nessmuk's canoe, which was Sairy Gamp (a Dickens character who always had an umbrella (which is why my grandmother always referred to umbrellas as gamps.)))
I could be wrong though; I haven't read the book since sometime before 2001.
K7nDZVM.jpg
 
Johnnythefox said:
Here it is with my SAK and Frontier knife for scale,I keep it with my small garden tools.
It has a nice balance to it,the swell closer to the head gives a good balanced grip for close/fine hammering.
I thought the slot in the head was maybe for twisting baling wire,I cant see it doing much as a nail remover.
The handle is nice and firm and of good quality.
I bought it from someone on a bush craft forum many years ago.













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I like your long handle on the little hatchet.

This is what Adirondack camping looked like when Nessmuk brought his go light, go it alone style to the region.
PCT3IjS.jpg

I think it was Kephart who said that Nessmuk learned not only from the Algonkian Indian whose name he adopted, but from a Scotsman named MacGregor, whose canoe was called the Rob Roy, and of whom it was said that he would not willingly give deck passage to a fly.
 
screened porch said:
I like your long handle on the little hatchet.

This is what Adirondack camping looked like when Nessmuk brought his go light, go it alone style to the region.
PCT3IjS.jpg

I think it was Kephart who said that Nessmuk learned not only from the Algonkian Indian whose name he adopted, but from a Scotsman named MacGregor, whose canoe was called the Rob Roy, and of whom it was said that he would not willingly give deck passage to a fly.
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I cant take credit for it,thats how it came.
 
Johnnythefox said:
I sat down and read some more this afternoon.
I seem to have misplaced my frontier knife so reached for something else rustic.

some passages grab your attention.








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I have read that book so many times I am surprised there is still print on the page..☺️😊
John
 
I have read more of Nessmuk this afternoon before it went dark.




The section I read on camp life means I now understand how a open pitch and fire works better than a tent in some circumstances.


Today it was the fishing section which I haven't done since I was a kid with a hand reel in the sea.
Sadly we didn't have anyone to teach us so we learnt as we went along,Knowledge of knots would have been a big help in me not losing my sinker amongst other things.

I digress, a lot of it I dont get so I started nt googling the fish which dont seem to be native to England.

Frogging sounds horrible to me as well and a good way to lose your frying pan to a oldtimer 😁


test keyboard keys

I couldn't work out what a wire snell was? google says snell is a knot which I reckon is similar to a lashing knot no mention of wire?




Also a jack lamp which he says isnt a lantern seeing as he mentions 88 which must be 1888 I can't find out what it is?

 
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Johnnythefox said:
I have read more of Nessmuk this afternoon before it went dark.




The section I read on camp life means I now understand how a open pitch and fire works better than a tent in some circumstances.


Today it was the fishing section which I haven't done since I was a kid with a hand reel in the sea.
Sadly we didn't have anyone to teach us so we learnt as we went along,Knowledge of knots would have been a big help in me not losing my sinker amongst other things.

I digress, a lot of it I dont get so I started nt googling the fish which dont seem to be native to England.

Frogging sounds horrible to me as well and a good way to lose your frying pan to a oldtimer 😁


test keyboard keys

I couldn't work out what a wire snell was? google says snell is a knot which I reckon is similar to a lashing knot no mention of wire?




Also a jack lamp which he says isnt a lantern seeing as he mentions 88 which must be 1888 I can't find out what it is?

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A jack lamp is just a light used for hunting at night. In 1888 there were most certainly lanterns available. The jack lamp mentioned was probably either a small oil fueled head lamp such as would have been used by miners or a small bullseye type lantern that is hooded so light only goes in one direction.
 
Arathol said:
A jack lamp is just a light used for hunting at night. In 1888 there were most certainly lanterns available. The jack lamp mentioned was probably either a small oil fueled head lamp such as would have been used by miners or a small bullseye type lantern that is hooded so light only goes in one direction.
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I think this.
Illegal now (for hunting) and unsportsmanlike then, I think.
Isn't a snell a short bit of line already tied to the hook? I was never enough of a fisherman to see the point of it, but I may actually own some snelled hooks.
 
screened porch said:
I think this.
Illegal now (for hunting) and unsportsmanlike then, I think.
Isn't a snell a short bit of line already tied to the hook? I was never enough of a fisherman to see the point of it, but I may actually own some snelled hooks.
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Only illegal for certain game species. Jacklighting deer for instance is illegal. Using lights to hunt frogs, alligators, raccoons etc at nightis perfectly legal. It seems to me that when hunting frogs as Nessmuk speaks of it would be better to have a headlamp so as to have both hand free.
Snelling means tying a line to a hook by running it through the eye then wrapping it around the shank. https://www.wikihow.com/Snell-a-Hook
I believe what he was referring to was a length of wire that has a loop on one end used to attach it to your leader when fishing, and a hook or several hooks (the "gang of hooks" he refers to, see the picture somewhere around page 30) on the other. This is commonly used when fishing for species such as musky and pike that could break or bite through normal line.
 
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