- Joined
- Feb 28, 2007
- Messages
- 9,786
Its very hot out. I'm not acclimated to the heat and just genuinely don't like it. Feel all sluggish, sticky and itchy. Oh well, gotta make the best of it.
Went out yesterday with my bud Joe near the water to let the dogs have some swimming and fun.
Beaver's have invaded this part of the Detroit River in the past 2 years. They are making quite the impact on the island. Good sign though, now I can have my bush and beaver too!
Forest is nice and lush, mosquitoes just starting to come out but not really peaking yet. Most of the spring herbs are now waning or have gone bitter. Blackberries aren't in yet but I expect them to arrive in a few weeks. Its an odd year just in how late everything is with the cool and very wet spring.
We did a bit of fire practice. I did a two-stick bowdrill with willow that was easy as can be despite my half assed nubs of the two sticks. I found a piece that wasn't quite as long as I'd like but it was nicely weathered. I managed to get my coal pretty quick, as is typical with weeping willow, even though the platform to stand on was pretty minimal. Hard to see the ember, but that little glow to the left side is the ember being fanned by the wind.
I recently forced a patina on my B-Andrews knife. Weird thing is I had this one done up in A2 for a little more corrosion resistance. Every since that Eastern Ontario Camping trip though, the blade always shows up these rust spots in the same place. Even when I sand them off and they seem gone, they seem to re-appear on the slightest wetting. Rust fuzz and spotting doesn't bother me much, but these re-appearing dots were annoying me. So forcing the patina was to keep me from having to notice them.
Joe did a standard bowdrill with cottonwood and got his ember right off the bat. He then played around striking shavings with his firesteel. I like his pink camera and how it compliments his camo pants and military pack.
Joe had along a buck nighthawk that he recently received in trade. Its a big hunk of steel. Not my style at all, all chunky and clunky, but he seems to like it for its heft. Sorry, didn't get a shot of the nighthawk. I think most people know what it looks like though.
A grey egret decided to check out the action before being chased off by the dogs.
More fire fun with one of those Bens' Backwoods fresnel cards. The sun was so intent it took only a second or two to ember up gathered punkwood.
Thats all.
Went out yesterday with my bud Joe near the water to let the dogs have some swimming and fun.
Beaver's have invaded this part of the Detroit River in the past 2 years. They are making quite the impact on the island. Good sign though, now I can have my bush and beaver too!
Forest is nice and lush, mosquitoes just starting to come out but not really peaking yet. Most of the spring herbs are now waning or have gone bitter. Blackberries aren't in yet but I expect them to arrive in a few weeks. Its an odd year just in how late everything is with the cool and very wet spring.
We did a bit of fire practice. I did a two-stick bowdrill with willow that was easy as can be despite my half assed nubs of the two sticks. I found a piece that wasn't quite as long as I'd like but it was nicely weathered. I managed to get my coal pretty quick, as is typical with weeping willow, even though the platform to stand on was pretty minimal. Hard to see the ember, but that little glow to the left side is the ember being fanned by the wind.
I recently forced a patina on my B-Andrews knife. Weird thing is I had this one done up in A2 for a little more corrosion resistance. Every since that Eastern Ontario Camping trip though, the blade always shows up these rust spots in the same place. Even when I sand them off and they seem gone, they seem to re-appear on the slightest wetting. Rust fuzz and spotting doesn't bother me much, but these re-appearing dots were annoying me. So forcing the patina was to keep me from having to notice them.
Joe did a standard bowdrill with cottonwood and got his ember right off the bat. He then played around striking shavings with his firesteel. I like his pink camera and how it compliments his camo pants and military pack.
Joe had along a buck nighthawk that he recently received in trade. Its a big hunk of steel. Not my style at all, all chunky and clunky, but he seems to like it for its heft. Sorry, didn't get a shot of the nighthawk. I think most people know what it looks like though.
A grey egret decided to check out the action before being chased off by the dogs.
More fire fun with one of those Bens' Backwoods fresnel cards. The sun was so intent it took only a second or two to ember up gathered punkwood.
Thats all.
