Share the Knowledge. *WINNER* BPrepared304 *WINNER*

[DerekH]

Alright folks, my 1,000th post saw a cool sheath from MWTIC given away, and my 2,000th post has come and gone without much ado. With that in mind, I figured I would post a contest up for you reprobates and make you work for something pretty cool. Here is the contest:

1. In up to two posts, I want three step-by-step tutorials on how to perform three different outdoor skills. (How to build a fire, how to build a shelter, how to whatever, so long as they are useful outdoor skills you would want your kid to know if they were stranded in the middle of wherever and needed to survive. Assume they have a knife and the contents of a semi-decent survival kit with them.)

2. You must have THREE different topics covered and clearly documented. I want the best pics you can manage, and I want it detailed enough that a 12 year old could follow it. Clear text instructions are also a must. You can put up to 40 pics in a comment, and I want as many pics as you can squeeze into up to two comments.

Please keep the language in here clean, and keep on task. I will be showing this thread to my Scout troop as a learning aid. The cut off date for entries is June 3rd at midnight Eastern Time. I will show this to a few people and a few of our Scouts and then I will choose a winner. I ask that you be at least somewhat active in the Becker forum or be someone I know is genuinely interested in Becker knives. (I have no qualms with someone choosing to become more active in this forum after reading this to be considered a valid entrant for this contest.)

I would like to ask that you refrain from chatting in here.

If you have any questions feel free to shoot me a PM or email and I will either reply directly or update this post as needed.

As per usual, neither myself, nor Kabar, nor Becker Knife & Tool, nor any participants, nor your parents, neighbors, or anyone else are responsible for any of your actions or any accidents that may occur during this contest. By choosing to participate you waive any and all rights to hold anyone previously mentioned responsible for any negative happenings that may take place during said participation in this contest. All participants must be 18 or over or have their parents consent (and should someone under the age of 18 enter and win, I will be contacting their parents and the prize will be sent to their parents, not the entrant). I retain the right to choose the winner based on nothing more than personal whim.

I want pictures much more so than video. If you want to add video that is fine, but pics will be the determining factor when it comes to the winner. The idea is to be able to print these off if need be for use as guides.

THE PRIZE:

The winner of the contest as chosen will be able to choose one of the following knives to be purchased for them by myself from Moosez45:

BK2, BK15, BK16, BK17

These are standard production models currently available from Moosez45, although if the winner chooses a knife that is not in stock currently they will be able to choose a replacement that is in stock with Moose at the time of winning or wait until chosen item is restocked by Moosez45.


*WINNER* CONGRATULATIONS BPREPARED304 *WINNER*

 

[C_Tanner]

Timeframe?

 

[oXide]

Reserved for How to's when I get back to the swamp.

P.S. Tanner, he said until May 30th, 3:00 pm.

Edit 2: I'm afraid I can't finish all 3 pictorials, a surprising lack of time popped up, and I'm sorry that I can't finish it. I hope the Scouts of Troop 3 enjoy and learn from the one that I was able to get up. Thanks for the opportunity to share the knowledge (what little it may have been)! Should I (somehow, I don't expect to though) win, I won't be near my computer until MAYBE June 5th.

Edit 1: First pictorial: How to Make Char Cloth:

From one Scout to another, this was not the best way to go about making a fire, forgive me, but there has been a local fire ban and this was the best way I could demonstrate. The proper way to do this is with a proper fire, in a proper fire pit/place, with wood.

What is char cloth? Char cloth is cloth that has been charred, but not burned, hence the name.

How can I use char cloth? In all honesty, it is one and only one thing, a heat conductor. And a REALLY good one at that. I'm sorry I don't have a picture yet of how it burns.

On with the How to:

The first thing you need is a fire, my fire was not ideal, but it did work. I used petroleum jelly, cotton balls, a pizza box, a small tin pan, and a fire steel with striker to make the fire (I forgot to get the fire steel in this picture):

This is the uncharred cloth, I used some left over material from my 1800s era outfit for reenactments, 100% cotton, synthetic materials such as nylon will not give you anything more than a puddle of melted plastic, or more likely, by the time you can open the tin after your done, a solid puddle of melted plastic. Remember to use a tin with a top, and as few gaps for air to get in as possible, hence the reason Altoids tins work great:

When you get your fire going, place the closed tin (with the char cloth arranged as staggered as possible) as close as you can to the embers while still being able to retrieve it without much hassle. My tin is buried under the cardboard because of the limitations of my fire. You don't want a neat little pile of cloth, but you also don't want it hanging out the side, thereby burning everything inside instead of charring it.

When it's done (assuming you did yours in an established fire, not a pizza box/foil pan oven), you'll be able to tell by the lack of smoke coming out of the sides, depending on the type of tin you use. Altoids tins may or may not smoke, but if you read some survival preparation books, they might tell you to put a hole in the top, therefore allowing smoke out. I personally do not like that method because you run the risk of burning your cloth instead of charring it. When your done, you should have a nice little pile of black cloth that will, when sparked, be useful for lighting some nice, dry, nest of tinder.

The results are this:

 

[tradewater]

Holding a spot. I'd love to help out the scouts with a few things you don't see every day.

 

[Psyop]

Reserved Im busy but will try to make time for this.

 

[Widerstand]

I'm down!

 

[BPrepared304]

my name is george. i would be Pleased to enter your Interesting share the knowledge Contest. i Keep wonderinG if my Entry wOuld be Really interestinG Enough to have SuccEss. Now i will TRY really hard. so stay tuned i'm in!

 

[GingivitisKahn]

Spot reserved - thanks for the chance!

---

Beckerhead #42

 

[DerekH]

Ya'll are in trouble now. Gingi is one hoopy frood, and he knows the heck outta some outdoors skills. Better bring your A game!

On another note, turns out May 30th isn't Monday, and we aren't having Scouts anyways, but since I posted the 30th, we will let it run that long, maaaaaaaaaaaaybe even a bit longer until the following Monday. Depends on how I feel on the 30th. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

 

[Tankerwolf]

In! I will try to find time but right now we’re working on the scout skill of trying to detox the house because my wife caught a BAAAAAAAAAD case of the three leaved menace. She looks like a leper.

 

[Mistwalker]

Do I have at least three days to produce something for this?

If so, then reserved.

 

[kakefat]

I hope you let it run until the following monday like you said. If so I'll do my best to get in on this.

So - spot reserved.

 

[tonym]

[off topic content removed by moderators at the request of forum members.]

 

[oXide]

I know it's not my place to say, but this contest was, as I read and understood it, to be used as a pictorial for new Scouts (10-12 years old mostly), and Tony, last I checked, that's not even close to Scout appropriate, nor on topic.

 

[Griffin777]

i would love to get in on this. it would be my first time testing out my new bk2. if i can get the time (school is crazy right now) i will defiantly jump on board with this. thanks for the opportunity.

 

[BPrepared304]

Derek need some clarification for your contest - are we limited to only 40 photos for our entry? I would hope you wouldn't stiffle our creative genous by limiting us to only a mere 40 photos. You wouldn't have tied one of Van Gogh's arms behind his back as he painted his famous masterpiece Starry Night would you? I MUST CREATE!!!! ONLY 40 PHOTOS????? Let me know whaat you want, thanks

 

[DerekH]

Alright, screw it, limited to two posts full of photos. Should be a total of 80 photos allowable.

 

[BPrepared304]

Thank you for supporting the Arts

 

[One Legged Josh]

Fatwood beads are a simple project that can be as simple or as fancy as you wish. I have used them more than once to help myself get a fire going when it was wet outside.

First you need to collect sone fatwood. this can be found at the stump level of rotten pine trees. You will know when you have found some, as it has a very turpentine smell, and it is much harder than the surrounding rotten wood.

Bust it down into small(ish) pieces, and then we are ready to start...

Get a good sharp knife and whittle away the sharp corners.

Dont forget a container (a pill bottle works really well) to collect your shavings. Throw the full bottle in your pack for extra fire insurance!

After some whittling, it is getting kind of round. it dosnt need to be perfect.

Size up the length of your drilling tool. (I chose to use the awl on my swiss army knife)

Cut your "beads" to length.

If you are allowed to use a power drill, It makes this step easy! I used the awl.

Now that you have them close, you can sand them smooth if you want to.

You can put a few of these on the zipper pulls of your pack, on the lanyard of your knife, or pretty much anywhere! If you ever need them, you will have them handy. I put these on a paracord hatband for a friend.

Just a fun little project that anyone can do.


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How to split wood with a saw......

Sometimes you may need to get to the dry middle of a piece of wood to get a fire going. Maybe you dont have an axe, hatchet, or a strong knife that you can use to spit the wood. In that case, you can split wood with your small saw. I learned this trick from a SERE instructor (who is also an eagle scout).

Find a piece of wood somewhere between wrist and calf thick. Hardwoods work much better than softwoods.

If the wood has a crack in it all ready, that is even better. Cut the wood to the halfway point...

Hold the wood by the end, and smack it sharply on a solid stump, rock, or tree. It will split down the length. You may have to hit it more than once, but it will split!

Now grab the end again and hit the remaining 1/2 on the solid tree, rock, or stump. It will split as well.

Whack it! It will split lenthwise.

All of this was split with one sawcut that only went halfway through the log. The harder, and straighter the wood, the better this works.

 

[One Legged Josh]

Braid an eye into 550 (paracord)


If you ever need an eye in the end of your rope, or need to strengthen the rope that you have, here is how to braid an eye into it.


Cut 3 pieces of rope an equal length.

Leave about 6 inches to a foot of cord on one end, and (loosly) tie all three pieces to a un-moving object.

If you want a 3 inch "eye" in the rope, Just braid 6 inches of it. If you want a 6 inch eye, just braid a foot!

Un-tie it from your object, and double it over on itself...

Separate the "short" strands, and pair them with one of the longer strands.

Now, you just continue to braid. But instead of braiding 3 cords, you are braiding 6.

This automaticly forms an eye in the end of the rope.

Braid it down, until your short pieces run out. You can just ignore the ends for now...Keep braiding with the 3 long strands, until you reach the desired rope length.

When finished with the braid, go back and burn the short ends, to "fuse" them into the braid.

Here it is all finished!

I hope you guys try these projects, and have some fun......Be prepared!

Josh (Eagle Scout Troop #122 Ohio)



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