First Post, NMFBM LE put to use

Welcome mate! What a fantastic first post! Love the your work. A heavily used piece of infi is a happy piece of infi. And a happy owner! Love the pooch too. :)
 
Great first post Tim ... and a great shelter too :thumbup:

Your shelter reminds me of the one Ray Mears did in his Canada episode ... he went back some years later on a different series and it was still standing ... I think yours will be the same ... I bet a few people will benefit from your work ... so kudos there :cool:

When I first discovered Busse I did a similar bit of research weighing my GFB Small Forrest Axe and then looking for a suitable Busse to see how they compared. Like you I settled on a NMFBM and have found it to be a great choice. There are a number of uses in your post which show the versatility of the knife ... as a draw knife and for limbing they work much better than an Axe ... and with the right technique they can take down trees in similar time scales too. The NMFBM LE will be within an ounce or two the same weight as a GFB SFA and IMO is a much more versatile tool. :thumbup:

It will be interesting to see if you manage to do what I hoped I would do ... and that is sick with my first "combo" ( a Skinny Ash and NMFBM ) ... or whether the bug will bite and have you buying many others to test and compare ...

For a cold climate like Newfoundland a Res C grip is useful in winter as the metal spine in the NMFBM can be something to watch for with "cold freeze" on skin contact ... that would have me looking at a Basic 11 teamed with a Basic 5 ... :D ... the lists go on and on ... welcome to the madness ;)
 
I think you broke the mold for 1st post bro! Excellent pictures, and excellent work. I love practicing bushcraft. Hikers might look at you like you asked them the square root of something...but stuff 'em! Its good to get in touch with your Neanderthal roots.
 
Hi everyone, thanks for the warm welcome, and all of the great comments, I didn't expect to get so many. I'm glad you enjoyed the pics, I had a ball using the knife.

Mike-The-Knife
Always nice to see a fellow Canadian on here too /B]

Same here Mike, what part of the country are you in?

Steve O.
Very cool first post! Just to be clear, the dog broke the plank, right? What a beast!/B]

Haha, she is a little on the large side (160lbs) but she didn't break the plank!

RickJ
...add a long log fire and you could stay in it down to well below freezing./B]

I took the shelter pics the morning after I spent the night. The fire wasn't quite the full length of the shelter, but it was close, you can get an idea from the ashes. It went down to -1 Celsius (30 Fahrenheit), and I managed to survive without a sleeping bag. I found that I cycled from absolutely roasting when I stoked the fire, then falling asleep at a nice cozy temperature, then waking up frozen when the fire needed to be stoked again, then repeat! Not the most comfortable night I ever spent, but I wanted to see if I could do it. I had a sleeping bag just in case, but didn't use it.

Raging Rhino
Nice dog...mastiff?

Thanks, she is a Neapolitan Mastiff

Raging Rhino
I'm thinking about heading up to Newfoundland for the first time in July...little back packing excursion to smell crisp cold air again...no idea what or where the seed was just planted in my head a few days ago...but i think its a go.

I'm biased, but I love it here. Born and raised, we have lots of great backpacking, we have a national park (Gros Morne) on the West Coast, and a provinvial park (Terra Nova) closer to the east. We also have the East Coast Trail on the East Coast. If you need an info, I'm happy to pass along what I know.

Al-Sheikh
I almost moved to St. Johns last year. Looking at your pics I regret I haven't.

There's no time like the present!

RobStanley
Welcome mate! What a fantastic first post! Love the your work. A heavily used piece of infi is a happy piece of infi. And a happy owner! Love the pooch too.

Thanks Rob, I've enjoyed many of your posts since I've been here. I love your dogs too, mine isn't as tall as yours, but shes probably heavier!

PeterPHWS
Your shelter reminds me of the one Ray Mears did in his Canada episode

Thats no coincidence, thats where I got my design from:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsbSMplJ6g4

he went back some years later on a different series and it was still standing

A few friends went camping there in February, the bed served as a great bench, but they used the back of the shelter for firewood!

It will be interesting to see if you manage to do what I hoped I would do ... and that is sick with my first "combo" ( a Skinny Ash and NMFBM ) ... or whether the bug will bite and have you buying many others to test and compare ...

I'm afraid I already know the answer to that question, I have been bit! I love my NMFBM LE and Boss Street, but I'm hoping to pick up one or two more pieces of infi. I have a magnum bear cub en route, would like to get a FSH, NMSFNO, GW, etc.....

For a cold climate like Newfoundland a Res C grip is useful in winter as the metal spine in the NMFBM can be something to watch for with "cold freeze" on skin contact ... that would have me looking at a Basic 11 teamed with a Basic 5 ...

I usually wear gloves, most of the wood is full of resin, so I don't find the handles cold. I love the solid feel of the fusion handle for chopping, but I'd like to try one of the basic models, I guess thats another one to add to the wish list!

Thanks again for all the comments. Next time I put a few more miles on the big chopper I'll try and snap some more pics.

Tim
 
Tim,
I'd love to ask you a few questions...right click my name and shoot me an email if you're willing to offer a few suggestions...mainly interested in locations.
 
Tim, welcome to the madness Bro and great skills there!!! The NMFBM and BS are a perfect pair of blades. Thanks for the pics man and again WELCOME!!!
 
Tim, if you need to sleep out without a sleeping bag here is a little tip I got from some guys in our S/F who had come over from New Zealand ... it basically follows the idea of a Maori Oven for a warm nights kip ... if you dig a pit and line it with stones and create a fire ... then build a moveable trellace A Frame akin to your rain shelter but without the two trees as fixed points ... let the fire warm the stones till they are "cooking hot" then back fill with soil removed for the pit ... by judging the depth right for the soil you can create your own "soil electric blanket " which stays warm much longer than the temporary heat from the fire ... once the soil is back filled let it steam dry if damp ... then place the A frame over the soil for shelter from the rain and you can sleep direct on the earth with just a poncho for a ground sheet ... the heat from the soil easily comes through the poncho but the damp does'nt ... keeps you warm much better without a sleeping bag ... especially if you have the height of the A frame judged right to keep your body warmth trapped and your upper body free from drafts ...

Points to note though are the depth of the back fill ... too little and your jumping around after an hour or so as this system gets too hot ... too much and your a bit cold ...

Always dig a good depth for the trench akin to a Moari Oven as you can control how much back fill you put into it ... but cannot re-do the trench once it is lined with stones and a fire lit ...

A tin foil survival blanket can be added on top of the ponch if it gets too hot rather than add more damp soil ... this works if you are close to "right" but feel it is getting too warm. The risk then though is that you feel cold a few hours later ... but then just remove the space blanket ... if you really get it too thin you might start to burn the poncho ... if you smell burning nylon ... remove the trellace A frame and back fill more soil ...

In the morning ... YOU MUST dig up the soil and pour water generously into the pit ... if the soil is peaty or even just close to tree roots you can have an underground fire starting ... if it is really cold it helps with this risk and just back fill snow ...

This system works as well if not better than the full length fire with heat deflector ... but requires the ground to be above "perma frost" degrees of coldness ... if the ground is that cold you cannot dig easily so go with the full length fire for the first night and use the "oven" technique if staying there for the next and successive nights ...

If the number of nights is going to be unknown ( a true survival situation ) just dig out the pit and let it air cool ... no need for water or snow until you leave ...

This technique was used by fur trappers in Alaska and Canada too. They would lay down deer skins or bear skins to sleep on for extra warmth ... used properly this technique let's you sleep through the night without needing to feed the fire ... takes a little practise though on getting things "just right" ...
 
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