Professor
Gold Member
- Joined
- Apr 6, 1999
- Messages
- 3,427
Hey All,
Haven't posted in a while and thought I'd poke my head in. Last week I attended Tom Brown's 7-day Standard Class at his Tracker School near Waretown, NJ, and loved every minute of it.
I took my trusty Small Sebenza, as well as a GB Mini Hatchet and a Benchmade Nimravus, but the Smal Seb got the brunt of the work. With it, I carved a bow-drill kit out of cedar, as well as figure-4 traps, deadfall stakes, cleaned a croaker fish for dinner, and plenty of other stuff. A touch-up or two on my folding diamond hone was all it took to get it razory again. I've owned and carried the knife since February 2002, and you can probably tell from the pics.
From a minimalist standpoint, if and when I go back for an Advanced Class, I will only take the Small Sebenza. While the "List of Things to Bring" specifies a small, fixed-bladed knife in the 3-5" blade range, I don't think they necessarily know just how stout a folder Seb's are. As a point of interest, my travel buddy who accompanied me carried a Benchmade/Bradley framelock folder, the smaller model, and it too performed very well. If anything, the flat backside of his Bradley enabled us to shave hunks off a magnesium firestarter and strike the flint, whereas the rounded spine of the Seb does not. I guess one could always use a small rock in the place of a knife blade any way, right?
On a side note, I was once one of those "is the Sebenza really worth the cost" people, and I realize now, after close to 5 1/2 years of edc and a lot of intentional and unintentional hard use, yes, it was worth the cost.
Anyhow, without getting into any nitty gritty, and without comment on the philosophical side of the training that I've been trying to wrap my brain around since I got back, I highly highly recommend Tracker School for anyone interested in challenging themselves and their cutting tools. While opinions on Tom's school may vary, I dig the fact that he and his staff, while certainly promoting a somewhat naturalist perspective, know what they're doing in regard to the skills and tracking itself, which is what I set out to acquire and learn.
Wish I had more pics of the trip itself (didn't pack a camera), but I've attached pics of the beauty in question that I took a while back. Thanks all!
Professor.
PS It was good seeing some of you at Blade this year!
Haven't posted in a while and thought I'd poke my head in. Last week I attended Tom Brown's 7-day Standard Class at his Tracker School near Waretown, NJ, and loved every minute of it.
I took my trusty Small Sebenza, as well as a GB Mini Hatchet and a Benchmade Nimravus, but the Smal Seb got the brunt of the work. With it, I carved a bow-drill kit out of cedar, as well as figure-4 traps, deadfall stakes, cleaned a croaker fish for dinner, and plenty of other stuff. A touch-up or two on my folding diamond hone was all it took to get it razory again. I've owned and carried the knife since February 2002, and you can probably tell from the pics.
From a minimalist standpoint, if and when I go back for an Advanced Class, I will only take the Small Sebenza. While the "List of Things to Bring" specifies a small, fixed-bladed knife in the 3-5" blade range, I don't think they necessarily know just how stout a folder Seb's are. As a point of interest, my travel buddy who accompanied me carried a Benchmade/Bradley framelock folder, the smaller model, and it too performed very well. If anything, the flat backside of his Bradley enabled us to shave hunks off a magnesium firestarter and strike the flint, whereas the rounded spine of the Seb does not. I guess one could always use a small rock in the place of a knife blade any way, right?
On a side note, I was once one of those "is the Sebenza really worth the cost" people, and I realize now, after close to 5 1/2 years of edc and a lot of intentional and unintentional hard use, yes, it was worth the cost.
Anyhow, without getting into any nitty gritty, and without comment on the philosophical side of the training that I've been trying to wrap my brain around since I got back, I highly highly recommend Tracker School for anyone interested in challenging themselves and their cutting tools. While opinions on Tom's school may vary, I dig the fact that he and his staff, while certainly promoting a somewhat naturalist perspective, know what they're doing in regard to the skills and tracking itself, which is what I set out to acquire and learn.
Wish I had more pics of the trip itself (didn't pack a camera), but I've attached pics of the beauty in question that I took a while back. Thanks all!
Professor.
PS It was good seeing some of you at Blade this year!
