- Joined
- Feb 28, 2007
- Messages
- 9,786
Okay, I know I've been kind of posting the bowdrill threads a bit too often lately. I've been slowly building to this moment culminating in where I wanted to go today. Today was the all or nothing, you are lost in the woods game. You have your bootlaces and knife. Can you make fire? - personal challenge. I didn't want to just go in knowing where the downed trees etc are. I didn't want to just rely on my knowledge of my favorite little places. I purposely went to a different part of the park where I wouldn't have all my familiar landmarks and secret tinder patches to deal with. I almost succeeded. Not quite, but for now close enough.
At Ojibway again. Beta was enjoying the romp. We have our light dusting of snow yesterday. I'm pretty sure Rick is already making snow angels while naked in the stuff. Not enough to do anything serious with, but enough to remind you its that time of year. Today was just a gorgeous day. Brisk, but warm in the sun. Hardly any wind. Quiet, except for the few deer that Beta decided to give chase to.
For gear, I had my maxpedition water bottle holder and the Magnussen S-curve. Nifty little rig. I used his baldric frog from the S-curve with a belt and found that I could hang both the knife and water bottle holder off the same belt. This is particularly good here because the knife sort of hangs behind the bottle holder on my back and makes it much more people friendly.
So I settled in a different area and went about foraging for the right wood. I spotted a stand of small sapling poplars. There are many around in the park that grow in clumps. After carefully observing them, I noticed a few dead saplings amongst the live ones. I chose on of these to make my bowdrill and hearth from. It easily broke, being dry and passed the thumbnail test.
I then gathered some tinder. Here I decided to venture to something different. Despite passing by a bunch of phragmites and thistle on the way to the area, I didn't collect any at the site. That turned out to be a mistake. Again, deciding to look on site at what I had available to me, I first gathered up a bunch of dried grasses and leaves.
Now, I needed a string. Again, instead of paracord or something prepared, I tried to use what I had on me. So the bootlace was sacrificed for my bowdrill. Turns out this is something I later learned to regret.
The drill and hearth were both made from the same piece. The drilling went quite well. Smoke in about 30 s after starting.
More coming....
At Ojibway again. Beta was enjoying the romp. We have our light dusting of snow yesterday. I'm pretty sure Rick is already making snow angels while naked in the stuff. Not enough to do anything serious with, but enough to remind you its that time of year. Today was just a gorgeous day. Brisk, but warm in the sun. Hardly any wind. Quiet, except for the few deer that Beta decided to give chase to.
For gear, I had my maxpedition water bottle holder and the Magnussen S-curve. Nifty little rig. I used his baldric frog from the S-curve with a belt and found that I could hang both the knife and water bottle holder off the same belt. This is particularly good here because the knife sort of hangs behind the bottle holder on my back and makes it much more people friendly.
So I settled in a different area and went about foraging for the right wood. I spotted a stand of small sapling poplars. There are many around in the park that grow in clumps. After carefully observing them, I noticed a few dead saplings amongst the live ones. I chose on of these to make my bowdrill and hearth from. It easily broke, being dry and passed the thumbnail test.
I then gathered some tinder. Here I decided to venture to something different. Despite passing by a bunch of phragmites and thistle on the way to the area, I didn't collect any at the site. That turned out to be a mistake. Again, deciding to look on site at what I had available to me, I first gathered up a bunch of dried grasses and leaves.
Now, I needed a string. Again, instead of paracord or something prepared, I tried to use what I had on me. So the bootlace was sacrificed for my bowdrill. Turns out this is something I later learned to regret.
The drill and hearth were both made from the same piece. The drilling went quite well. Smoke in about 30 s after starting.
More coming....
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Also, my crappy canned heat stove only lights with direct flame. Firesteel and sparks alone can't get the gell/soaked wick to go.
