Survive! Skills, Tips, Tricks and How to's

To say nothing of carrying knives everywhere we go!
I had a job once that required me to know the chemical structure of various explosives.
Every time I looked up that information online I cringed.
 
Fancier said:
To say nothing of carrying knives everywhere we go!
I had a job once that required me to know the chemical structure of various explosives.
Every time I looked up that information online I cringed.
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What? You don't like someone watching ya, do ya? Really? US or the Germans/Brits working on their behalf?::friendly sarcasm.

Be happy you don't/haven't been living in China. Got an advanced class in Big Brother (big bother????) while living over there. Only a matter of time over here, sad to say.

Funny, reading article today on the creator of China's Great Firewall. Holding conference, tried to access website on Internet, found that he was blocked and had to use a VPN service to get around the firewall. Gotta appreciate the irony and humor in that!

Edited for clarity of meaning/intent.
 
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If anyone here sucks as bad as I do at real feather sticks, I found a tinder idea that works better than I thought it would. By tapping the tip of your knife into a solid, flat surface and setting the edge of a stick against it and lightly dragging the stick towards yourself, you can create a nice little pile of wood shavings and curls with NO talent at all. This may not be new to a single person here, but I was impressed with how little precision was needed to produce this easy tinder.


 
Silver,

If the pulling motion yields better and faster results for you, you can also securely rest the spine of your knife against your left knee while kneel down on you right (I assume you are right handed, otherwise the other way around) and simulate the same by dragging your feather and tinder making wood toward you. You can also sit on that nice tree stump while doing this as long as your legs don't freely dangle off the edge :D
 
Casinostocks said:
Silver,

If the pulling motion yields better and faster results for you, you can also securely rest the spine of your knife against your left knee while kneel down on you right (I assume you are right handed, otherwise the other way around) and simulate the same by dragging your feather and tinder making wood toward you. You can also sit on that nice tree stump while doing this as long as your legs don't freely dangle off the edge :D
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Now that's a great tip for when I find myself without a suitable surface. Nice :thumbup:

I actually have a few stumps all situated next to each other so I was sitting comfortably with the pictured stump to use as my work bench. Both feet comfortably reached the ground :D
 
I like it. I would think you could keep your hands completely clear of the blade with your method SN. Nice going.
 
Great tip Silver!
Maybe I'll finally be able to make a feather stick that doesn't get thrown across the yard because it pisses me off! They're my Kryptonite.
 
Standard: you're just killing me! :D

HK, for a minute I thought you were talking to me!
 
It definitely worked well for curls, but I wasn't able to get the curls to stay on the wood like a true feather stick.... like I had seen done. This was just a quick and dirty alternative. I'm way more aware of finger safety now than I was a week ago, so this helps in that respect as well!
 
I believe the name for that technique is called a "static draw knife" I have taught my children that method to start out with because it's safer and because you can exert more power pulling then pushing. With the correct blade geometry it is possible to get full double curl feathers that way also. But it is different. Some blades tend to "bite" much more in the static draw position. Silver, was your tinder stick pretty dry? It looks like excellent fire starter, but possibly to brittle for long curl feathers?

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Brian77 said:
I believe the name for that technique is called a "static draw knife" I have taught my children that method to start out with because it's safer and because you can exert more power pulling then pushing. With the correct blade geometry it is possible to get full double curl feathers that way also. But it is different. Some blades tend to "bite" much more in the static draw position. Silver, was your tinder stick pretty dry? It looks like excellent fire starter, but possibly to brittle for long curl feathers?

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Great eye. It was super dry and kind of crumbled off as the wood curled. Here is a pic of much fresher wood. I have a long ways to go with traditional feathering, but this is about as good I could with the traditional technique, but it seemed much easier.

 
Silver Needle said:
Great eye. It was super dry and kind of crumbled off as the wood curled. Here is a pic of much fresher wood. I have a long ways to go with traditional feathering, but this is about as good I could with the traditional technique, but it seemed much easier.

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Just stick a firesteel close, strike and you'll be cooking in no time!
 
Green wood curls best. But is poor tinder. I have started practicing with dry pine and soft woods. Oak and hickory are difficult to make "pretty" curls. From years of using a block plane, and seeing how beautiful curls would come up out of that, I learned how different woods react to shaving. Some hard wood would always throw small pcs just due to its makeup. So to perfect techniques and build more skill, I have looked for wood that best lends itself to that skill. I hope that's not cheating!
 
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Brian77 said:
Green wood curls best. But is poor tinder. I have started practicing with dry pine and soft woods. Oak and hickory are difficult to make "pretty" curls. From years of using a block plane, and seeing how beautiful curls would come up out of that, I learned how different woods react to shaving. Some hard wood would always throw small pcs just due to its makeup. Do to perfect techniques and build skill, I have looked for wood that best lends itself to that skill. I hope that's not cheating!

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You're using your noodle and applying experience. :thumbup:

I'd say that's smart.

And, yeah, green wood is crap for tinder.
 
Burned out a spoon for the first time while I was on vacation, worked pretty slick.

Roughed out, I think it was aspen but won't swear to it.
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Little more carved off, made a trough for the coals to go in.
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First burn
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Took a break to stuff our faces, the Knorrs packets with canned chicken or Spam are easy and pretty darn tasty.
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Last bit of smoothing for a while.
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Went to a few spots on the AuSable river with my buddy and his girlfriend. Apparently there is no hidden switch that makes you start acting boring after turning 40, that's a relief!
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Back at the cabin I did 1 more burn with a bunch of little bitty coals then used a stick then a brass brush to clean out the char. Then I rubbed a couple coats of mineral oil in.
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Not too shabby I suppose. Left it behind for my buddy's mom as a gift, she'll dig it I'm sure.
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I brought a couple good sized chunks of birch back home with me, I want to try something similar with making cups or bowls.

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Grogimus,

Looks like a good outing and nice job on spoon. Thanks for sharing.

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