Triumph! (with a shout out for Swonut and Suffolk Metal Works)

[Mistwalker]

I feel like I am running way behind on certain lessons with Alayna. Although we have sort of half worked on them here and there, between the time in Florida with my father in the end of 2012, the total stupidity of how the Michigan endeavors went in 2013 and 2014, and then everything that has been going on since we moved back, I have just gotten way behind on several lessons. Recent events both local and global have inspired me to get back to it, and to step up the pace a bit.

Today it was fire starting practice with a ferro rod and striker using mostly fibers from inner bark,. She did a LOT of practice today getting the hang of the ferro rod and striker. Blaine (Swonut) makes some awesome gear. She got her first ever flames with just a pile of bark fiber.

That triumphant feeling the moment you raise your self one link higher on the food chain

She came really close with a feather stick I made, we will work on that more

And, bless her little heart if her hand wasn't so fatigued and sore she would have gotten our cooking fire started. She came oh so close with the actual fire, but by that time she had spent a LOT of time learning why hand control is so important. By the time we had the fire lay set up, she had smacked her little hand into the stump so many times it was hurting. Even then she didn't give up, she soldiered right on, but the sparks she was throwing were getting weaker and weaker. I could tell what the issue was just by watching her hands and the expressions crossing her face. So I told her she needed to give her hand a rest and showed her how easily it could be ignited. I also told her that next time she could skip all the practice and practice while actually lighting the fire.

We did have some snacks with us, but somehow the potatoes had gone bad so they didn't get cooked. The hot dogs did but with were too busy discussing fire mechanics and specifics for me to take pics. The new lunch box and the Arete are a good match

I had let her use my larger striker that Blaine made a while back since she is inexperienced and I have the new one. Now her purple ferro rod is no longer all shiny and new. I had gotten that one from Blaine months ago when she had a pinkish / purpleish Hiking Buddy, but I had no idea it was going to be so difficult to sheath that particular knife securely enough to suit me for her, and now it's found a new home. Lol, when I saw the purple Patch in the thread yesterday I started trying to figure what I could maybe sell off to buy it for her so we would all have Fiddlebacks with complementing ferro rods. Luckily Chris saved me from the self torture of trying to figure that out earlier today Besides, I had already reached the conclusion that there was something to the Scandinavians calling a guarded knife a “child's” knife and a guard-less one an “adult” knife. I don't want to rush her first Fiddleback, I want it to be a special piece with a color that suits her personality even as she matures, and a shape that best suits her still-developing style of knife use. I know I will feel better with her training with a knife with a guard anyway for some of the things I will be teaching her this year. Some of it will be pretty advanced stuff and maybe even a little extreme as far as knife uses can go. I bought the knife she is carrying for the repeated abuse of class instruction any way, so where better to instruct with it. I'll get her a Fiddleback when she has more experience, knows more about finesse in use, and develops a respect for the craftsmanship within

I am extremely proud of her for pushing so hard and being so determined. We stopped and had blueberry and white chocolate milkshakes on the way home as a treat

….

 

[Scotcha]

A+ on all counts. Well done!!!

Both of you should be really proud of each other, I am. PM incoming.

 

[Mistwalker]

A+ on all counts. Well done!!!

Both of you should be really proud of each other, I am. PM incoming.

Thank you Abe! On all counts! I am very proud of her!

 

[crazyfingers]

More kids should be in the wood learning stuff like what your teaching your daughter. she looks so happy when she got the fire started. its also a great feeling as a parent to see your child use the skills you teach them come together an work. there isn't any kind of feeling that can compare to that feeling. So where did you pick up the little striker thats on your knife Mist? Thanks for sharing also Chuck

Also thanks for the tip about the fire steel Swonut is making a few of them. He showed me one that was finished an it look really sweet.

 

[Mistwalker]

More kids should be in the wood learning stuff like what your teaching your daughter. she looks so happy when she got the fire started. its also a great feeling as a parent to see your child use the skills you teach them come together an work. there isn't any kind of feeling that can compare to that feeling. So where did you pick up the little striker thats on your knife Mist? Thanks for sharing also Chuck

Also thanks for the tip about the fire steel Swonut is making a few of them. He showed me one that was finished an it look really sweet.

Thanks Chuck. I've always preferred to be outside and I'm very glad she does too. She even went out to work with me in some extreme cold temps in Michigan.

Blaine is very talented, he makes some awesomely cool fire steels and strikers that work very well. I have picked up a few for me and my family and some for friends also.

I have a matching rod for my Arete

I picked up a blue one to complement Lisa's knives, which are all blue...

Natural micarta ones to go with the mid techs

And I have matching ferro rods for my work knives

Then Blaine started making strikers and I have picked up a few of those

Blaine is also making a matching one for one of my spare work knives that I have sort of issued to Alayna for training training purposes due to feeling more comfortable with her having a guarded knife during training sessions. It is OD and orange like the knife handle

 

[crazyfingers]

Im really digging the small striker that you have on your natural micarta knife. The other strikes would be a tad to big for me I think. Ill have to ask him about that one when gets back to me this week. Again thanks for the Pics. an the info. Chuck

 

[Texas_toothpick]

Very cool. Glad to see families that still get out. I'm excited to get out more with my son and teach him everything I can.

 

[Mistwalker]

Im really digging the small striker that you have on your natural micarta knife. The other strikes would be a tad to big for me I think. Ill have to ask him about that one when gets back to me this week. Again thanks for the Pics. an the info. Chuck

He does two that are smaller than the green one. The smallest one on the Arete is from his little fire kits, then there is the blue one he made for Lisa's set up, and then the green one Alayna is using for training purposes is one of the first ones.

I still have a few more strikers...and a few more cord locks to get. In all honesty, while his newer ones are more stream lined and look cooler than the old ones, and I need a couple more of these, I'd honestly still love three more about that same length as the old ones and with scales. Two in natural canvas, and one in OD and orange just for the work and training knives

Very cool. Glad to see families that still get out. I'm excited to get out more with my son and teach him everything I can.

Thanks man, and I still get excited about it, and I love that every week she asks where we are going to go on the weekend. She wants to go camping very badly, so the first times we are going to go places like Fall Creek Falls, Cloudland Canyon, and De Soto Park.

The way I see it, the more time I spend teaching her things I want her to know and feel like she needs to know, the less time she will spend with the system and society teaching her things I'd rather she not be taught. I feel it is well worse the investment.

 

[swonut]

Thanks for the shout out. I didn't realize you had amassed quite that many. I've just gotten back from some traveling work and the Trackrock, so once I can dry my tent and get through the crisis at work, I spend some time working on some inventory. Honestly, I've just been busy and maybe working a little bit on putting together a forge in my garage.

Unfortunately, I have a day job now and the kids are getting into soccer season and volleyball, so there just isn't the garage time that there used to be.

Anyway, thanks for sharing.

 

[tarrdaddy]

This is great. Parenting win!

 

[Fiddleback]

Can't beat those kind of memories my friend.

 

[Mistwalker]

Thanks for the shout out. I didn't realize you had amassed quite that many. I've just gotten back from some traveling work and the Trackrock, so once I can dry my tent and get through the crisis at work, I spend some time working on some inventory. Honestly, I've just been busy and maybe working a little bit on putting together a forge in my garage.

Unfortunately, I have a day job now and the kids are getting into soccer season and volleyball, so there just isn't the garage time that there used to be.

Anyway, thanks for sharing.

Yeah, I liked your work from the beginning and have to have a few. I have used them to teach several people how to start fires with ferro rods over the last little while.

This is great. Parenting win!

Thanks man, glad you enjoyed the post!

Can't beat those kind of memories my friend.

No you really can't. I knew she was getting close and wanted to capture it in images. Shooting 6 frames a second I must have shot a thousand frames to get those very special 8 frames of her first flames, but I was determined to capture it when she did. I was sitting about 10 meters away shooting those shots so I wouldn't distract her. She wants to be my work assistant and that alone makes me very proud, I am more than happy to teach her everything she is willing to learn on the subject. Some of the things I am doing with her will be included in the series of survival manuals I was fortunate enough to be asked to participate in producing.

 

[thurin]

This is so cool Brian! Her celebration at her success after the hard work is priceless.

 

[Mistwalker]

This is so cool Brian! Her celebration at her success after the hard work is priceless.

Thanks Nathan! I think so too. I am so glad I was able to capture that moment in time

 

[Mistwalker]

Thanks for the shout out. I didn't realize you had amassed quite that many....

Lol, I just thought about something...two other things really...

A) There are four others, two black and two natural canvas ones that aren't shown here. They went to friends on the knives they were bought to complement

B) I didn't go into the whole story on the functionality strikers. We were so busy discussing things I had almost forgotten by the time we got home. The shape and size makes them more than just a ferro rod striker. It makes it a multi-purpose tool. They work very well for scraping and fluffing up the inner fibers of tree bark. The radius side of the striker for the concave inside of the bark, and the carbide striker side on the cylindrical exterior of the tree where the bark came off. It brings a lot to the table for it's size. I'll take photos of this stuff the next time I am out.

 

[hasco]

Great post Brian! That is such an awesome feeling for both of you. Congrats to Alayna!!!

I need to get one of those cool strikers from swonut.

My son loves playing with a fire steel. We went out the other day and it was pretty wet. We had some chaga that someone had given us, so I let him use the fire steel to get an ember to catch on it. It is much easier than getting a tinder bundle or a feather stick to light, but he still enjoyed getting the chaga to catch a spark and then blowing it up.

We had some vegetables that I had cut up with Allen's Arowana earlier and put in tinfoil. It does great in the woods too!

Nation made a little sharp stick to spear his food with.

It turned out to be a great meal and he enjoyed helping to get the fire going.

 

[Mistwalker]

Thank Todd! She was really excited and I am very proud of her. I had been letting her play with the UST Spark Force for a while just to get the idea of making sparks, but it's definitely not the best choice for a beginner fire steel. She did much better with the rod and striker from Swonut.

And yeah I sort did the same thing. I let her start with very dry bark fiber that is pretty easy to ignite so she could see good results early on and be encouraged. We will work on the more difficult stuff over time as she gets more familiar with the motions and develops more hand control.

Nation looks quite adept at the motions and looks like he is having a blast! That smile on his face speaks volumes!

The sharp poky tick was one of the first things I taught Alayna one day when we were out one day. She loves smoked oysters and clams as much as I do. When I am out alone I usually just use the tip of my knife, another reason I like pointy blades, but her doing that concerned me at the time so I make small pointy stick and she made her own. It is habit for her now. Since then she has gotten pretty good with chopsticks too. We will work on utensils more over time as well. She was out with me when I made the spoons with the Bushfinger years ago and was fascinated by how I burned out the bowls so we will work on that some this year. I will eventually have to teach her how to sharpen a knife, but for now I am content with watching her dull them as she learns to use them