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- Nov 22, 2009
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:foot:
My and my three sons have been doing some back yard camping in recent weekends. Far from bushcraft, but it is a start for young minds....
Anyway, I look at these adventures as preparation for them for later this summer when I hope to take them on a decent hike/overnight using primative tools (in addition to a tent and sleeping bags)...perhaps we can call it Junior Bushcrafting
Anyway, it has been raining here almost every other day, but my sons were quite determined to brave it and be tough campers last night. I must admit everything seemed to be going pretty well and there were no fears or concerns expressed until my seven year old sat up (just prior to us all falling asleep after a VERY active day) and proclaimed in a dreary confused voice, "my bag is all wet...!?!"
The way he said it had me thinking that perhaps he had wet the bed (which he has not done since being in diapers years ago)...then I realized....I need a new tent!
By the time we all jumped up and ran back in the house, pretty much all the gear was dripping wet...my kitchen now has 4 sleeping bags hanging all over the place drying out, and I am learning that my knives are not nearly as rust prone as some would have us believe (I forgot to check it and left it wet in the sheath over night...it is fine).
I never claimed to be great at this...just determined to feed my boys enough knowledge to be better at it than I am. So far they are WAY a head of me when I was their age....and I suppose mistakes are the best way to learn preparedness.
Ahh, great lessons.
On an unrelated note, my oldest son and I did some knife work yesterday because he wanted to make some Mother's day presents. This was entirely his idea, and I was thrilled to be part of it!
Ben wanted to carve a set of flat ware for Mom (spoon, knife, and fork). He got a whittling book for Christmas and has been wanting to try various projects from it for a while. Generally, I do the big stuff and he finishes the detail work that requires less strength (most of the wood around here is pretty hard).
He went out back and selected a few sticks from a pile of Poplars I cut a while back and started forming a knife. Basically these are good for spreading butter, or jelly...but we call them knives anyway.
I was rather taken by the beautiful grain of this wood. Unfortunately the pith was VERY soft and it made a rather poor knife, but we were determined to make due.
The really soft pith got me to thinking about a project I saw another forumite do a year or so ago that I always wanted to try...a whistle!
We started by cutting a short stick and boring out the pith a few inches deep (and packed some mud in the bottom of the hole to prevent the hole from growing out the back end of the whistle.
Next I rounded the mouth piece a bit and cut the wedge as shown. The cut needs to go about half way through the diameter bored from the center. Then I found another stick to whittle down to the size of the hole.
This is probably the toughest part...whittling this stick down to the right diameter to fit very snugly in the hold. Here it is to a nearly perfect fit.
Next we mill a flat side on the small stick. I aimed to remove about one third of the thickness.
Next, we put the plug in the hole with the flat side facing the same side as the notch. Then we trim the plug to the length of the mouth piece (it extends from the tip to the notch).
Not a perfect fit, but fairly tight so that it does not fall out and air does not freely move around it (except where we want it too).
I realize that this was supposed to be a gift from my son (not me) but I was excited as this was my first whistle...so I did much of the work. I handed it to Ben to do the finish work and remove all the brown bark. He continued until it was nice, smooth, and uniform...then he would not let me get it back for a finished photo
We also completed a fork and a spoon from a cedar branch...again, I could not get them from him for photos (he is hoarding/hiding them so "Mom does not see before Mother's Day"). Once again, I did the mass removal and he did the finish work.
Fun with knives!
I decided to share this here because I have not seen much discussion of making your own whistle...it is not that hard (as long as you have a tent stake or SAK to bore out the pith) and this whistle is LOUD! Perhaps some others can use this?
Thanks for reading and hopefully not laughing too much at our rain-out/learning session
My and my three sons have been doing some back yard camping in recent weekends. Far from bushcraft, but it is a start for young minds....
Anyway, I look at these adventures as preparation for them for later this summer when I hope to take them on a decent hike/overnight using primative tools (in addition to a tent and sleeping bags)...perhaps we can call it Junior Bushcrafting
Anyway, it has been raining here almost every other day, but my sons were quite determined to brave it and be tough campers last night. I must admit everything seemed to be going pretty well and there were no fears or concerns expressed until my seven year old sat up (just prior to us all falling asleep after a VERY active day) and proclaimed in a dreary confused voice, "my bag is all wet...!?!"
The way he said it had me thinking that perhaps he had wet the bed (which he has not done since being in diapers years ago)...then I realized....I need a new tent!
By the time we all jumped up and ran back in the house, pretty much all the gear was dripping wet...my kitchen now has 4 sleeping bags hanging all over the place drying out, and I am learning that my knives are not nearly as rust prone as some would have us believe (I forgot to check it and left it wet in the sheath over night...it is fine).
I never claimed to be great at this...just determined to feed my boys enough knowledge to be better at it than I am. So far they are WAY a head of me when I was their age....and I suppose mistakes are the best way to learn preparedness.
Ahh, great lessons.
On an unrelated note, my oldest son and I did some knife work yesterday because he wanted to make some Mother's day presents. This was entirely his idea, and I was thrilled to be part of it!
Ben wanted to carve a set of flat ware for Mom (spoon, knife, and fork). He got a whittling book for Christmas and has been wanting to try various projects from it for a while. Generally, I do the big stuff and he finishes the detail work that requires less strength (most of the wood around here is pretty hard).
He went out back and selected a few sticks from a pile of Poplars I cut a while back and started forming a knife. Basically these are good for spreading butter, or jelly...but we call them knives anyway.
I was rather taken by the beautiful grain of this wood. Unfortunately the pith was VERY soft and it made a rather poor knife, but we were determined to make due.
The really soft pith got me to thinking about a project I saw another forumite do a year or so ago that I always wanted to try...a whistle!
We started by cutting a short stick and boring out the pith a few inches deep (and packed some mud in the bottom of the hole to prevent the hole from growing out the back end of the whistle.
Next I rounded the mouth piece a bit and cut the wedge as shown. The cut needs to go about half way through the diameter bored from the center. Then I found another stick to whittle down to the size of the hole.
This is probably the toughest part...whittling this stick down to the right diameter to fit very snugly in the hold. Here it is to a nearly perfect fit.
Next we mill a flat side on the small stick. I aimed to remove about one third of the thickness.
Next, we put the plug in the hole with the flat side facing the same side as the notch. Then we trim the plug to the length of the mouth piece (it extends from the tip to the notch).
Not a perfect fit, but fairly tight so that it does not fall out and air does not freely move around it (except where we want it too).
I realize that this was supposed to be a gift from my son (not me) but I was excited as this was my first whistle...so I did much of the work. I handed it to Ben to do the finish work and remove all the brown bark. He continued until it was nice, smooth, and uniform...then he would not let me get it back for a finished photo
We also completed a fork and a spoon from a cedar branch...again, I could not get them from him for photos (he is hoarding/hiding them so "Mom does not see before Mother's Day"). Once again, I did the mass removal and he did the finish work.
Fun with knives!
I decided to share this here because I have not seen much discussion of making your own whistle...it is not that hard (as long as you have a tent stake or SAK to bore out the pith) and this whistle is LOUD! Perhaps some others can use this?
Thanks for reading and hopefully not laughing too much at our rain-out/learning session
Luckily she was a trooper and it didn't end the hike.