Trying fuzzies and playing with steel

upnorth

upnorth

Joined
Nov 25, 2006
Messages
7,038
I got out yesterday and it was fun. I could only hack about an hour even though I was dressed well, because a cold wind was threatening to drive fresh snow in. I ripped open old stumps and split dead wood with the BK-2. Why ?, because I wanted to use a long neglected beloved blade. I didn't do anything heavy with the Voyager. I just brought that along to be the thin blade, as I wanted to try a thick and thin blade for fuzzy sticks. I pretty much figured the outcome already but I wanted an excuse to use the blades. I really have to get a 4 inch Voyager because this thing is too damn big, but I can put more downward cutting pressure on the blade using two hands, the second on the spine. I have never needed\used fuzz sticks before, at least not intentionally. What the hey, they make sense so I'll fiddle around until I can do a decent job. Whether in the Boreal or the grasslands I have never found it hard to find grass\weeds to start a fire. But I'm sure the day will come, so time to learn.

Thick blade did alright with Maple in my books but was hard on my thumb after a while.
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Thin blade on Maple, slightly easier slicing.
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Thick blade on Spruce
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Thin blade on Spruce. The thinner blade gave me finer\thinner slices which tended to curl up. I need to practice with this fuzzy stick concept.
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I grabbed a dead chunk of Maple and started battoning the BK-2 through it. It did a decent enough job. About 3\4 through I simply chopped out the rest and the 2 reminded me that it is a moderately good chopper when I hold it close to the tang end (should have kept the para cord on it). Damn good rough use knife on any given day in my books. Always liked it.
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Ooops a knot, but the 2 powers through
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Sorry, batteries were getting cold and auto focus was crapping out on some pics.
 
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Nice pics, thanks for sharing. Love that Bk 2 you destroyed that log :)
 
upnorth said:
Jeez, dunno. I was concentrating on not freezing my little buddy off. It was ccccold out.:D
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"My little buddy"?!? ROFL!!!! That's a new one.....

Looks like it was a great day out though - fuzz-sticks are really useful and well worth the skill-development time. In many instances, blade-grind has alot to do with making 'em IME.
 
I agree it's a skill worth knowing even if you never use it. Just like batoning. You never know, you might be in the "what if" scenario of being out in the middle of nowhere with just a slipjoint. I'd much rather do fuzzies then try to baton for dry wood with a slippy.
 
Shotgun said:
I'd much rather do fuzzies then try to baton for dry wood with a slippy.
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Point taken. You know it's funny. I have been around and didn't just fall off the turnip truck. But there are many outdoor skills that I've never tried. Some I thought I'd never need. But I am willing to admit ignorance and be taught. It's kind of fun anyway because I have a legit use to fart around with a cutting tool then. For this stuff to be real\useful to me I want to mimic real conditions, which means being out in the cold and or crap weather. Believe me, I will find some of that quite difficult. Making a fire with natural local materials in the rain ? Or at -35 ? Man oh man that will be tough for me.
 
fmajor007 said:
"My little buddy"?!? ROFL!!!! That's a new one.....

Looks like it was a great day out though - fuzz-sticks are really useful and well worth the skill-development time. In many instances, blade-grind has alot to do with making 'em IME.
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Good advice for me here. I've never really gotten too hung up on all this stuff and take it all with a grain of salt. Fuzzy sticks, feather sticks, ok, I can see a difference I suppose. At this point in time I see that I need more practice, possibly a thinner bladed knife and or be conscious of blade grind, and my knives need to be a bit sharper. I think that I'm fighting myself because I want a fairly robust blade but also a shallow grind for the edge. Almost like the hollow grind on a JAB Potbelly I suppose. I'm reasonably close but working with below zero frozen wood and half frozen fingers is a challenge for me. I see little benefit in doing this at the kitchen table. I'm a believer but want it practical. I will be doing this in the cold, sometimes VERY cold weather. I'll need practice time out there.
 
upnorth said:
Point taken. You know it's funny. I have been around and didn't just fall off the turnip truck. But there are many outdoor skills that I've never tried. Some I thought I'd never need. But I am willing to admit ignorance and be taught. It's kind of fun anyway because I have a legit use to fart around with a cutting tool then. For this stuff to be real\useful to me I want to mimic real conditions, which means being out in the cold and or crap weather. Believe me, I will find some of that quite difficult. Making a fire with natural local materials in the rain ? Or at -35 ? Man oh man that will be tough for me.
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Same here. To be honest if I wasn't into knives I probably wouldn't carry one in the woods. I did just fine hiking, camping, and even SAR with nothing more then a SAK that I never even used. I practice skills now mainly for the excuse to play with knives. :D
 
Some folks preach a very shallow flat or scandi grind near the scales but a more sturdy convex towards the belly. The WSK magnifies this though but any knife with an primary grind that allows the thicker convex can be modded to have the shallow area.

I am going to practice this on a couple of machetes to see if I can get it right. Even just a 1/2" of "razor" portion would be enough.

I practice making fire with wet wood using my Vic Trekker- the saw is wonderful for making flash tinder to drop on the featherstick. It "can" baton peices about twice thumb thickness but I try to be careful about it.

Bill
 
Here are some excellent fuzz stick tutorials:

[video=youtube;TFGBzqPr9lA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFGBzqPr9lA[/video]

[video=youtube;326RtScPADM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=326RtScPADM[/video]
 
Shotgun said:
Same here. To be honest if I wasn't into knives I probably wouldn't carry one in the woods. I did just fine hiking, camping, and even SAR with nothing more then a SAK that I never even used. I practice skills now mainly for the excuse to play with knives. :D
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Ya, it's down right fun for some reason or another. Darned if I know why. :D Maybe part of it is the environment connection. I never got golf and it always struck me about as exciting as watching rocks turn to dust. But there is that outdoor aspect.......... And I metal detect for relics in some of the damndest blow down tangled, overgrown, spider web filled, coyote crapped spots. So I pack steel when out there, which is a lot. And I have been having great fun with machetes lately, which are turning out to be practical tools for me.:thumbup:
 
KuRUpTD said:
Here are some excellent fuzz stick tutorials:

[video=youtube;TFGBzqPr9lA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFGBzqPr9lA[/video]

[video=youtube;326RtScPADM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=326RtScPADM[/video]
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Will check them out.:thumbup: I could have come on here, watched a few of these then B.S.ed about this or that. But that's not real for me. So I guess I have to put my time in like the rest. I'm not hard core on this stuff, but I am interested.

Hey....good stuff !
 
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