Hiking Buddy, In It's Element

[Mistwalker]

I needed some photos of making a fire bow for a website so I played around with the Hiking Buddy some today.




Found a curved limb for the bow, and a straight limb for the spindle. After a little whittling I had those components taken care of. This little knife is a great size for working with, big enough to get the job done and small enough not to be fatiguing to the hand, with excellent ergonomics!

Then it was time for the bearing block and hearth. So, using a baton I first truncated a limb about 2 inches in diameter once for the hearth.

and once more for a bearing block.

Now on to cleaning up the limb for the hearth board and splitting it. The great edge on this knife sheered cleanly through a couple of knots with no trouble at all.

And on to the bearing block.

So, all parts made, on to burning in the socket….and that’s about as far as I got before my eye started bugging me again. So…hopefully a coal tomorrow.

.

 

[schmittie]

Beautiful! Nicely done Brian. I'm diggin your scandi, mine is convex.

 

[Mistwalker]

Beautiful! Nicely done Brian. I'm diggin your scandi, mine is convex.

Thanks, I've liked the Hiking Buddy design since I saw the first one and I'm glad I got one. In all honesty I've used both Andy's convex and Scandi grinds and I'm comfortable with both now. I'd have been all about this one regardless of edge geometry. I do still want a convex one.

 

[Gevonovich]

Thanks for the tutorial. That's one sweet looking hiking buddy. Looking forward to a little coal action.

 

[Mistwalker]

Thanks for the tutorial. That's one sweet looking hiking buddy. Looking forward to a little coal action.

Well...not quite all the pictures for a complete tutorial...I was mainly just showing the ones that showed the knife in use, but you do get the idea. Yeah, I think so to, it was like love at first sight lol.

Yeah me too...also looking forward to my right eye feeling better....

 

[chainring]

Lovely little knife, and great pics.

 

[schmittie]

In all honesty I've used both Andy's convex and Scandi grinds and I'm comfortable with both now.

I hear ya. Last season Andy's Hunter came with me and dressed out and butchered deer like it knew more about what it was doing than I did! Everyone else was pretty impressed too. And my little Hiking Buddy (which is a kinda halfback, not totally Fiddleback since it was a blank I handled) makes for a great bird and trout knife. Its the perfect size for small game and so light I frequently thought I had lost it. But it was still there. Roy makes a mean convex for sure. I can't wait til this season.....

 

[Mistwalker]

Lovely little knife, and great pics.

Thanks man, glad you enjoyed the pics. Man I love the handle on this one. I'd love to get a larger knife with the same handle material, but this one is really quite a capable little tool so no real rush on it.

I hear ya. Last season Andy's Hunter came with me and dressed out and butchered deer like it knew more about what it was doing than I did! Everyone else was pretty impressed too. And my little Hiking Buddy (which is a kinda halfback, not totally Fiddleback since it was a blank I handled) makes for a great bird and trout knife. Its the perfect size for small game and so light I frequently thought I had lost it. But it was still there. Roy makes a mean convex for sure. I can't wait til this season.....

My Bushfinger is one of my all time favorite knives, Andy definitely does a mean convex.

 

[Fiddleback]

Man, what a thread. Nice work!

 

[Claudiasboris]

Great pics and skills as always Mist. I've got to get me some Fiddleback sharps!

What's up with your eye? Hope you're feeling better soon.

Claudiasboris

 

[Mistwalker]

Man, what a thread. Nice work!

Thanks Andy, glad you enjoyed it, that's the same thing I said about the knife

Great pics and skills as always Mist. I've got to get me some Fiddleback sharps!

What's up with your eye? Hope you're feeling better soon.

Claudiasboris

Thank Boris, Andy makes some great knives.

I got something in the right eye that set up a bad infection. Took two trips to see a doctor, with the first one an ER visit in the middle of the night, to get the right antibiotics. By the time I got the medicine I needed the eye was pretty bad, but it is getting better now.

 

[J. Oeser]

Great thread Mist and great knife. I hope your eye gets better soon.

I know I sure love my little HB. I made the same assessment you did. Just a great little EDC that can tackle big tasks.

 

[Mistwalker]

Thanks Oeser, the eye is getting better.

That's the first real paces I've put it through, but I had no doubts how it would handle it. Now I'm thinking about a 5/32 convex with micarta handle scales. Have to see if one of those pops up later but I still want a Recluse.

 

[TCurry]

I want one sooooooooo bad!!!!!!

 

[Mistwalker]

I want one sooooooooo bad!!!!!!

If you get one I don't think you'll be disappointed.

 

[mykel m]

Great knife & pics Brian.
I tried to make fire with a bow drill when I went camping for the 4th weekend.(Failed!)
Seeing your pics I realise one of the things I did wrong.
I carved the bearing block end of the spindle too blunt,lotta friction up there too.
I see I need to make that end pointier.
I had a nice pile of saw dust & plenty of smoke,but couldn,t get the moss & fat wood tinder to light.
Oh well,I'll try again with the piontier bearing block end.
Good thing I had a fire steel.(And a Bic,just in case)

 

[mykel m]

Oh,& I hope that eye is getting better.

 

[Mistwalker]

Great knife & pics Brian.
I tried to make fire with a bow drill when I went camping for the 4th weekend.(Failed!)
Seeing your pics I realise one of the things I did wrong.
I carved the bearing block end of the spindle too blunt,lotta friction up there too.
I see I need to make that end pointier.
I had a nice pile of saw dust & plenty of smoke,but couldn,t get the moss & fat wood tinder to light.
Oh well,I'll try again with the piontier bearing block end.
Good thing I had a fire steel.(And a Bic,just in case)

Thanks Mykel. Yeah, it's been so long now I don't even remember the influence on my spindle making, I'd say it was most likely Rick a few years back when I first started seriously getting into primitive fire starting. Up until then I had the principle idea down in theory but had lost interest in it over other areas I guess so I never got physical with it. Rick did a tutorial on another forum some years back and it just hit me again..."oh yeah, I need to know for sure how to do that" and I started studying wood types and conditions, bow lengths, speeds and when to "shift gears", good bearing materials and lubricants, good usable tinders, and what have you. I just know that since I have been at it I have always whittled my spindles down narrower on the top, and flatter on the bottom.

Oh, and speaking of tinders, using a coal is not the easiest way to go about igniting fatwood, or in other words friction fire is not really one of those times when fatwood really shines as a tinder...at least in my experience. It was not easy to get to ignite with the embers of steel wool with a battery either I had to get enough steel wool going to get really hot to ignite thin slivers of of some good fatwood that took off quick with sparks from a ferro rod. With the steel wool the fatwood itself just wanted to ember rapidly away and not flame up. The good news there though is that with a bow drill if the conditions are dry enough and the humidity low enough for a bow drill to work really well and quickly then odds are there re better dry tinders in the area such as dry grasses are dried fibrous leaves. Also moss can be a tricky one too, depending on the type. If it has any dampness to it then a lot of times it will just want to ember away and not ignite.

Oh, and thank you. The eye is feeling a lot better now.

 

[Mistwalker]

I should add that there is one time that fatwood can really shine when doing friction fire starting from scratch like this. It has a great density so if you can find a nice limb of fatwood near by they make damn fine batons.

 

[schmittie]

Help me out here Brian. I've been trying the bow drill. I have made everything from my wood stack and from trees in my back yard. The hearth and spindle I believe is hackleberry. No matter what I do I can get smoke but never a coal. Is what I have too hard?