First dusting of snow...

kgd

kgd

Joined
Feb 28, 2007
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It was our first dusting of snow this morning. I had to go to my friends house who owns about 20 acres of land. It was mostly business that we had to talk about, but I did get a chance to stroll around his house a bit before we got to our meeting.

Great morning, perfect temperature. I only wish there were more snow than there was. Love this fluffy stuff!

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For the Canadians - we pipe this stuff into our veins every chance we get.

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Had my forum knife with me today

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Spotted some great tinder!

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Then I just couldn't help but do a little bow drill demo. My buddy used my camera to take a shot of me which I rarely ever get. The RatPacker knife did great. Oh and yeah, the coal got a glowing after a bit.

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All in all a great day!
 
great pic's, iam in the bc lower mainland, so we usually do not get much snow.
they get lots in nothern bc.
 
Nice pics kgd. I wish I had my camera in the duck boat yesterday. It was beautiful. Dusted woods all around the lake. It wasn't so pretty when we got back to the boat ramp and nearly busted our melons on the inch of ice everywhere. Sigh, tis the season!
 
Thanks guys,

milani74 said:
Beautiful pics kgd. What wood did you use for your fire board?
Click to expand...

Wood was cottonwood, a type of poplar tree. We have a lot of poplars and willow in this area which makes good wood for bowdrill. The best wood I've ever used was basswood, but that tends to grow north of me by about a few hours. White cedar works great for those immersed in evergreens. Tonym posted a thread last week indicating that staghorn sumac works good. A good gage for appropriate wood is the thumbnail test. You should be able to dent the wood with your thumbnail, but not cut fibres. If its too hard, your nail won't make an impression, too soft and it will cut.

The wood works best using dry wood, although there are techniques to dry the wood using the spindle. That requires more practice to be able to get down. Select standing dead branches. If you come across a downed tree, cut a few limbs to find the driest ones. Usually if you walk around the crown of a fallen tree you can find branches that obviously died before the tree did. If they are off the ground, those are usually the best ones.

Finally, last tip, but one that really works best for me is to make your drill from the same piece of wood that you make your hearth from. Cut a limb or round. Split it in half by batoning. Use one half for the hearth and cut down the second half by batoning and shaving to form the drill. This almost always works for me, while mixing woods gives me mixed results.
 
kgd are you related to Newt by any chance? LOL J/K.

Great story and pics. Thanks for the tips too.
 
Wish we only got a dusting. Ended up with 10" of the white stuff here. West of here got over a foot. Looks like a muddy Christmas coming.
 
kgd said:
Thanks guys,



Wood was cottonwood, a type of poplar tree. We have a lot of poplars and willow in this area which makes good wood for bowdrill. The best wood I've ever used was basswood, but that tends to grow north of me by about a few hours. White cedar works great for those immersed in evergreens. Tonym posted a thread last week indicating that staghorn sumac works good. A good gage for appropriate wood is the thumbnail test. You should be able to dent the wood with your thumbnail, but not cut fibres. If its too hard, your nail won't make an impression, too soft and it will cut.

The wood works best using dry wood, although there are techniques to dry the wood using the spindle. That requires more practice to be able to get down. Select standing dead branches. If you come across a downed tree, cut a few limbs to find the driest ones. Usually if you walk around the crown of a fallen tree you can find branches that obviously died before the tree did. If they are off the ground, those are usually the best ones.

Finally, last tip, but one that really works best for me is to make your drill from the same piece of wood that you make your hearth from. Cut a limb or round. Split it in half by batoning. Use one half for the hearth and cut down the second half by batoning and shaving to form the drill. This almost always works for me, while mixing woods gives me mixed results.
Click to expand...

excellent tips here - thanks!!
love the pics, too - hadn't considered sumac, but have plenty to practice with.
 
17.6" here in Roanoke VA, but only about 8 miles as the crow flies got 2'. Pretty much shut everything down yesterday. But its nice to get a little every once in a while.


HAK
RP#354
 
kgd, 'Tis the season ...

I hope you don't mind, I set those red berries as my desktop background.
They are a bright and cheerful change from my usual starscapes. :)
 
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