Playing in the bush with a wilderTool

[kgd]

Three of us locals, Rick Marchand, rangerjoe and myself got together today to hang out and play with some steel in RangerJoe's little enclave. Its a small woods out in the county that he has his lean to at. Its a nice forest with lots of basswood, beach, oak, maple, hickory, etc.

We managed to practice a few skills including fire making, wild edibles and enjoying a cuppa of sassafras root tea. It was a great day!

What was left of Joe's leanto...

We took down a small dead standing basswood for some bowdrill play. I used the inner bark for the tinder basket and the basswood for both hearth and spindle. My bow was just from some trashwood.

And now for a little knife porn.....Rick is entering a new model into the bushcraft knife contest . For those who might remember, in the Camp Knife contest, Rick developed the S-curve which was a design I really liked and ended up buying one. This time, Rick developed a little bushcraft S-curve style knife. It has a pronounced swell that hits the back of your palm and makes you feel like you are getting a hand message when you are using it.

Damn, its a comfy handle!

Pictured below along side of its bigger brother the S-curve.

Earlier, I posted shots of his bushcrafter proto with a straight handle. He brought that along also. Aesthetically, the straight handled one looks a bit better, but having used the S-curve one and the straight one side by side, my hand instantly chooses the curve. LONG LIVE THE CURVE!

There was also some other quality steel with us out that day. I had my Brian Andrews Bushcrafter and RangerJoe had his Turley Gasconade.

 

[kgd]

Some bowdrill action

Rick used a split stick variation. He split the wood using a wedge and drilled such that the split formed the notch. It worked well for him.

I used the little S-curve bushy for shaping my bowdrill. I really like that thing!

I didn't get any shots of myself doing bowdrill, but my coal was the one used to start the fire. Thanks to Joe who provided a hat full of oak shavings and kindling courtesy of the gasconade.

Joe working up his coal.

More knife porn - the S-curve...

I started to shave some tinder fungus to make some chaga tea, but then Rick using Joe's dog Scout to do most of the work, dug up some sassafra root, so we had that instead.

 

[kgd]

Rick and Joe then decided to play with their firesteels a bit.

In this episode of Rick vs Wild, he crosses a log...

Nobody was quite hungry enough to gulp this little grub I pulled out of a hickory nut...

 

[kgd]

So we decided to dig up some burdock root instead....Sorry guys, my undies are kind of showing. Hey thats what you get when you give Rick your camera, a whole bunch of butt-shots! At least I spared you the plumber`s butt The groovy patch is my jute twine PSK made by and given to me by Doc-Canada.

Parting knife porn shot....and thats all she wrote!

 

[Rotte]

Great post Ken.

I really like that S-curve.

 

[sicily02]

Awesome post Ken, I wish I could have been with you guys, that looked like so much fun.

Bryan

 

[DOC-CANADA]

Nice shots, mister. Who's the weird looking guy?

Doc

It looks like you stitched the top of the mini PSK pouch together?
And how come the loop looks so long? Is it too long?

 

[OldPhysics]

I didn't know Marchand was that graceful!

Glad to see Rick made it through in one, large piece.







Everytime I see one of Marchand's knives, my wallet starts to tingle.
That S-curve ... sweet.:thumbup:

 

[RescueRiley]

Great stuff as usual Ken, That is quite a group of expereinced woodsman you got there...to say i'm not a bit envious of your comradery and skill would be a bit of a lie... Thanks so much for sharing... Rick makes some beautiful knives...I am lucky enough to own his chipper knife... it i the sharpest thing I have ever seen.. and is one of the knives I value most........mostly because it is the only knife I have that can make tonym jealous....
seriously though.. great stuff guys.. Thanks for sharing your pictures, skill, and wisdom.

 

[kgd]

Doc

It looks like you stitched the top of the mini PSK pouch together?
And how come the loop looks so long? Is it too long?

Quit staring at my ass Doc

 

[Mistwalker]

Awesome shots Ken! Yeah Rick has been diggin' that split stick method for a bit now, we talked about that at Blade. I've tried it a few times with no success I plan to try it more though since it is so successful for him. I've found several small Basswood trees on my own land so maybe later this year as winter sets in. What was the problem with the grubs, just more protein, I bet the squirrels see them as a treat . Wish the laws would allow you guys to send me some tinder fungus to experiment with, I'd buy a little... it doesn't grow this far south.

Since that straight handled bushy is all defective and dysfunctional and stuff you can send it to me...I'm used to dysfunctional

 

[pitdog]

That S-curve style knife looks sweet but I'm really starting to dig the look of these Turley knives !

 

[Mentor]

What a great thread. Thanks for posting.

Ken, I love your wildertools knives. Great blades (well done, Rick!). It's always nice to see a few w&ss regulars getting some trail time.

All the best,

- Mike

 

[WILLIAM.M]

Awesome post Ken, I wish I could have been with you guys, that looked like so much fun.

Bryan

I Agree:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

 

[Carolina River Rat]

Thanks for sharing. Looks like you guys had a good time, and I always enjoy seeing examples of Rick's work.

 

[Brennanscott]

Great stuff.

 

[nate1714]

Good techniques for fire! Great pics.

 

[crossada]

Everytime I see one of Marchand's knives, my wallet starts to tingle.
That S-curve ... sweet.:thumbup:

definately agree! I love the looks of that little S-curve knife. That one and a small Koyote i have been eyeballing has my wallet scared.

 

[TheGame]

Great post Ken. Thanks for posting it up.

 

[KuRUpTD]

Looks like a great time was had by all - Ken it seems like you never pass up a chance to play with Rick's tool