- Joined
- Apr 13, 2007
- Messages
- 12,294
Finished my last radiotherapy treatment yesterday so figured I'd start my first treatment free day with a nice sunny local walk.
Can't beat some fresh air in the lungs !
The dogs both headed straight for the nearest water !
And onto the knife candy, today I took with me my Bruce Culberson knife ( Is he still around, he was a super nice guy and great knife maker.).
Perfect EDC fixed blade size !
Now when it comes to survival skills I'm probably in the bottom 10% on this forum but I have noticed that many seem to be struggling with the basic knife and ferro rod fire technique. With very little practice nobody should be having issue with this method, if I can do it then any monkey can.
I also think that it's important to establish this skill using natural available tinders rather than relying on ones you carry with you !
My top tips for what they are worth:
1) Make sure the spine of your knife is sharp.
2) Make sure to use both a flash tinder ( Dandelion seed heads, scraped cedar bark, cat tail fluff ) and a secondary longer burning tinder ( Finely cut fatwood, tree resin, pine sap ).
3) Hold the knife near the tinder and DO NOT move it, only the ferro rod should move !
4) If it's windy stick the tinder to some duct tape.
5) I'll also add in that I'm personally not a fan of the going gear type rods, they throw off huge globs of molten metal but they usually land three feet from my tinder, I prefer the solid steady sparks given off with the LMF rods.
I had a quick practice using the BC knife today, I used Cedar bark and fatwood shavings.
Wild edibles noted on walk:
Lots of small lizards, Dandelions, Plantain ( There must have been much more around, guess I'm losing my touch !
)
Can't beat some fresh air in the lungs !
The dogs both headed straight for the nearest water !
And onto the knife candy, today I took with me my Bruce Culberson knife ( Is he still around, he was a super nice guy and great knife maker.).
Perfect EDC fixed blade size !
Now when it comes to survival skills I'm probably in the bottom 10% on this forum but I have noticed that many seem to be struggling with the basic knife and ferro rod fire technique. With very little practice nobody should be having issue with this method, if I can do it then any monkey can.
I also think that it's important to establish this skill using natural available tinders rather than relying on ones you carry with you !
My top tips for what they are worth:
1) Make sure the spine of your knife is sharp.
2) Make sure to use both a flash tinder ( Dandelion seed heads, scraped cedar bark, cat tail fluff ) and a secondary longer burning tinder ( Finely cut fatwood, tree resin, pine sap ).
3) Hold the knife near the tinder and DO NOT move it, only the ferro rod should move !
4) If it's windy stick the tinder to some duct tape.
5) I'll also add in that I'm personally not a fan of the going gear type rods, they throw off huge globs of molten metal but they usually land three feet from my tinder, I prefer the solid steady sparks given off with the LMF rods.
I had a quick practice using the BC knife today, I used Cedar bark and fatwood shavings.
Wild edibles noted on walk:
Lots of small lizards, Dandelions, Plantain ( There must have been much more around, guess I'm losing my touch !
)
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