get out and bushcraft.

[hayshaker]

i would like to encourage members here to spend some afternoon or morning
to getout. bring the dog cook some food make a firestick some thing,
and photograph it an post to the fourm. i think it would be a fun thing to do.
if we could do this over the next couple of weeks say,  and get a phototime going
of our day out. mabey make a shelter show off your charcloth latest knife or axe in use
so waddya think?

matter of fact i'll start out the whole deal first. but I have to clean up the camp a bit so it don't look like
hobo heaven,lol. getout the cast iron pan and cook up some grub, have some coffee heck yeah.
matter of fact i'm finishing up a new knife with masur birch scales, which i'll use.

[Keith H]

I think it is a good idea, but if this is all about bushcraft, with respect, I think it is about time members got away from using charred cloth & started learning about & using plant & fungi tinders.
Keith.

[Moe M.]

  Good post Keith,  I haven't used char cloth since I watched your video about punkwood several years ago,  and a bonus was not having to make char cloth every time you run low,  with charred punk wood you only have to do it once in a great while, I just keep feeding my tin a little when I run across a piece of punk in the woods, I haven't run out yet.   

[wsdstan]

Personally I don't care whether a person starts a fire with a Bic or flint and steel on all the things that can be used.  If we get out and enjoy the outdoors we are having fun.  Bushcraft isn't a primitive skills contest for me.

[hayshaker]

keith if you don't mind me askin what kinda wood is that the one tree looks like shagbark hickory.
oh and thaks for the pictures nice camp.

[Moe M.]

Personally I don't care whether a person starts a fire with a Bic or flint and steel on all the things that can be used.  If we get out and enjoy the outdoors we are having fun.  Bushcraft isn't a primitive skills contest for me.

  I can agree with you to a point,  More often than not I use a Bic or my Zippo to get a fire going whether it's a campfire or my back packing stove,  on the other hand there's no better time to practice new skills or brush the cobwebs off of those you haven't used in a while.
  I no longer take on hikes that measured in miles or require gains in altitude over fifty feet, the old legs and lungs don't take too much of that stuff before the burning starts,  I pace myself, make a quick camp early in the day and hang around until the sun starts to sink,  to keep busy I tend the fire, make coffee, cook a meal, and polish up on my skills and crafts,  I try different methods of friction fire,  carve a try stick,  see just how fine I can make curls on a feather stick,  I really suck making cordage so I don't,  but I'm good at whittling, sometimes I just turn a fair sized stick into a tooth pick, sometimes a figure four trap.
  I had a friend,  a mechanic who used to work on my cars, I was in my thirties, he was sixtyish or so,  he was a hunter and pretty good woodsman,  when he got into his late 60's he began getting forgetful, one weekend a neighbor invited Pete to go to Vermont with him to check out his hunting camp, they were out looking for deer sign and it started to turn cold,  Pete got chilled, so the neighbor told him to go back to camp and he'd catch up with him, Pete never did find his way back to the camp, the wardens found him sitting against a tree,  he had died of exposure some time during the night.
  I know it was the neighbors fault, he knew Pete wasn't always "there",  but I can't help thinking that if Pete hadn't quit getting out even in his back yard and practice his fire making skills, and put a make shift shelter together once in a while he might not have died cold, hungry, confused, and alone on that night.
  That's one of the reasons I keep going and keep what skills I have as sharp as possible, well, besides, it's fun. 
 

[wsdstan]

You and I do the same thing.  I take short walks, light loads, and if it can be reached with a ATV or truck so much the better.  For fires there is practice with different fire starting methods and sometimes I even try to start a fire like woodsrunner does.  I would die if my life depended on that method. 

[hayshaker]

Moe that was a very sobering story.

[xj35s]

keith if you don't mind me askin what kinda wood is that the one tree looks like shagbark hickory.
oh and thaks for the pictures nice camp.

I think that's Cedar. shag bark is much bigger chunks. Nice Camp Keith. I'm going to bed but I'll try to get a video of my place and how I start a fire in the rain after we just got 3" Sunday and another 2" since.

[Moe M.]

You and I do the same thing.  I take short walks, light loads, and if it can be reached with a ATV or truck so much the better.  For fires there is practice with different fire starting methods and sometimes I even try to start a fire like woodsrunner does.  I would die if my life depended on that method.

  I miss Dave's contributions and videos here,  he relies allot on hand drill fires,  I've tried quite a few times (usually after I've forgotten about the time before) and I just can't get the hang of it, I can get to the burn in and smoke part, but by then my hands are getting raw,  LOL, got a couple of last years Mullien stalks in the back of my van waiting on me to be foolish enough to try it again.

[wolfy]

You and I do the same thing.  I take short walks, light loads, and if it can be reached with a ATV or truck so much the better.  For fires there is practice with different fire starting methods and sometimes I even try to start a fire like woodsrunner does.  I would die if my life depended on that method.

  I miss Dave's contributions and videos here,  he relies allot on hand drill fires,  I've tried quite a few times (usually after I've forgotten about the time before) and I just can't get the hang of it, I can get to the burn in and smoke part, but by then my hands are getting raw,  LOL, got a couple of last years Mullien stalks in the back of my van waiting on me to be foolish enough to try it again.

A solution for your raw hands would be to emulate Dave and his practice of wearing a pair of soft leather gloves when spinning the mullein stalk in the fireboard; that really helped me!   Those things are by nature, pretty rough on the outside surface.....especia lly for the first few firemaking attempts.

                                                               

[Moe M.]

You and I do the same thing.  I take short walks, light loads, and if it can be reached with a ATV or truck so much the better.  For fires there is practice with different fire starting methods and sometimes I even try to start a fire like woodsrunner does.  I would die if my life depended on that method.

  I miss Dave's contributions and videos here,  he relies allot on hand drill fires,  I've tried quite a few times (usually after I've forgotten about the time before) and I just can't get the hang of it, I can get to the burn in and smoke part, but by then my hands are getting raw,  LOL, got a couple of last years Mullien stalks in the back of my van waiting on me to be foolish enough to try it again.

A solution for your raw hands would be to emulate Dave and his practice of wearing a pair of soft leather gloves when spinning the mullein stalk in the fireboard; that really helped me!   Those things are by nature, pretty rough on the outside surface.....especia lly for the first few firemaking attempts.

                                                               

 They are damned tough, I even skinned the bark and little spines sticking out all over the stalks from where the leaves grow out with my knife.
 I suppose I could try to come up with some reasonable sounding excuse, but the truth is I never used to carry gloves in the warmer months, I started to this year because my skin is getting pretty thin on my hands and arms, so now I've taken to wearing long sleeve shirts in the woods and carry a pair of leather work gloves tied to my pack for collecting firewood and clearing brush, otherwise I'd be bleeding all over myself.
 But I'll take your advice and try it again with the gloves. 

[madmax]

When I was practicing the bow drill didn't bother me.  The hand drill was murder.

[hayshaker]

goat skin gloves are nice and supple and not really spendy.
also for dry hands in winter they sell at the farm store.
in these little box shape green tins a teat rub i believe.
great for winter time. wolfy or wsdstan would know the name i'm sure.

[imnukensc]

I believe you're referring to Bag Balm.

[wolfy]

I gave a can of that to my wife and she slapped me!

[Moe M.]

I gave a can of that to my wife and she slapped me!

  LoL,  Now that's funny right there,  I don't care what anyone else thinks. 

[imnukensc]

I gave a can of that to my wife and she slapped me!

You obviously did not present it correctly.  Lights down low, a glass of wine, some Barry White music..........you get the drift. 

[wsdstan]

We buy Bag Balm about six cans at a time.  Works great on dry hands and other things.  I will confess that I have never used it on a cow unless it was secure in the chute with one leg tied back.

Your wife sounds like my wife Wolfy.   

[hayshaker]

used to use it on the dairy goats now and again,
oh wanna see a goat jump splash on some ice cold teat dip
in winter, oh boy,

[Moe M.]

I gave a can of that to my wife and she slapped me!

You obviously did not present it correctly.  Lights down low, a glass of wine, some Barry White music..........you get the drift.

  Oh my God,  if you remember Barry White you've been to see the elephant,  all you needed back then to score with the girls was a car, an eight track player and a box full of Barry White tapes,  and if they didn't work you'd go into the glove box for one of your copies of Rod McKuen's the Earth, The Sky, or The Sea,  they couldn't resist those.

[imnukensc]

I'm old, too, Moe, but I thought taking it back to Frank Sinatra or Perry Como was just a little too far.

[Moe M.]

I'm old, too, Moe, but I thought taking it back to Frank Sinatra or Perry Como was just a little too far.

   LOL, OK, we won't go there .

[hayshaker]

no perry como christmas special for me. lol
anyhow as for the get out and bushcraft,
well tomorrow i'll try to prep and clean up some on the camp.
but i got knife making and many other chores first.
but i'm getting there.
oh as for barry white saw him preform in grant park chicago
at the band shell.

[Old Philosopher]

  .... a bonus was not having to make char cloth every time you run low,  ....

My wife was into quilting. She made queen-sized rag quilts from old Levi's for our 3 kids. I saved all the seam trimmings. I have probably 30 yds coiled up in an old coffee can.  I turned 3 feet of it into char cloth and coiled it up in my tin with the flint and steel. My kids will probably inherit that strip, and THEIR kids will get the coffee can.  In other words, I think I'm fixed on char cloth for awhile. 

[Old Philosopher]

...
  I no longer take on hikes that measured in miles or require gains in altitude over fifty feet, the old legs and lungs don't take too much of that stuff before the burning starts,  I pace myself, make a quick camp early in the day and hang around until the sun starts to sink,  to keep busy I tend the fire, make coffee, cook a meal, and polish up on my skills and crafts,  ...

Sounds right smart there, ol' bean.
Yesterday my son invited me on a camping trip next month. My excitement started to wane this morning when I went to water the critters in 20-degree temperatures.  Then I looked at the weather forecast for 9"-12" of snow over the next 7 days. 
I'm going snow camping for 1-2 nights, with highs in the teens, with 2 guys in their 20's?   I might be getting senile, but I AIN'T stoopid!

[Moe M.]

  Welcome  OP,  we've had a rare and wonderful time today here at B&B,  hopefully it'll happen again soon.

[Dano]

You and I do the same thing.  I take short walks, light loads, and if it can be reached with a ATV or truck so much the better.  For fires there is practice with different fire starting methods and sometimes I even try to start a fire like woodsrunner does.  I would die if my life depended on that method.

  I miss Dave's contributions and videos here,  he relies allot on hand drill fires,  I've tried quite a few times (usually after I've forgotten about the time before) and I just can't get the hang of it, I can get to the burn in and smoke part, but by then my hands are getting raw,  LOL, got a couple of last years Mullien stalks in the back of my van waiting on me to be foolish enough to try it again.

A solution for your raw hands would be to emulate Dave and his practice of wearing a pair of soft leather gloves when spinning the mullein stalk in the fireboard; that really helped me!   Those things are by nature, pretty rough on the outside surface.....especia lly for the first few firemaking attempts.

                                                               

Moe- next time you get a hankerin to try a hand drill, take some type of cordage with you, like paracord or jute twine, cotton or whatever.  Cut a small notch in the top end to place the cordage, like an arrow nock.  (You might have to wrap below it to keep it from splitting)  Anyway, make a loop in each end for your thumbs, so the piece needs to be around 18-24 inches or so in length.  The idea is that you can keep your hands in place, but still exert downwards pressure with the cordage.  This way you don't have to press your hands together nearly as hard, plus you get the advantage of not having to stop because your hands don't move down the drill as you turn it.

I'm sure what I just wrote probably doesn't make any sense, but you probably get the idea.  Since you also like to make camp early and have time to fart around, you can play with it and see if it doesn't help.  I bet it will. 

[Moe M.]

You and I do the same thing.  I take short walks, light loads, and if it can be reached with a ATV or truck so much the better.  For fires there is practice with different fire starting methods and sometimes I even try to start a fire like woodsrunner does.  I would die if my life depended on that method.

  I miss Dave's contributions and videos here,  he relies allot on hand drill fires,  I've tried quite a few times (usually after I've forgotten about the time before) and I just can't get the hang of it, I can get to the burn in and smoke part, but by then my hands are getting raw,  LOL, got a couple of last years Mullien stalks in the back of my van waiting on me to be foolish enough to try it again.

A solution for your raw hands would be to emulate Dave and his practice of wearing a pair of soft leather gloves when spinning the mullein stalk in the fireboard; that really helped me!   Those things are by nature, pretty rough on the outside surface.....especia lly for the first few firemaking attempts.

                                                               

Moe- next time you get a hankerin to try a hand drill, take some type of cordage with you, like paracord or jute twine, cotton or whatever.  Cut a small notch in the top end to place the cordage, like an arrow nock.  (You might have to wrap below it to keep it from splitting)  Anyway, make a loop in each end for your thumbs, so the piece needs to be around 18-24 inches or so in length.  The idea is that you can keep your hands in place, but still exert downwards pressure with the cordage.  This way you don't have to press your hands together nearly as hard, plus you get the advantage of not having to stop because your hands don't move down the drill as you turn it.

I'm sure what I just wrote probably doesn't make any sense, but you probably get the idea.  Since you also like to make camp early and have time to fart around, you can play with it and see if it doesn't help.  I bet it will.

  Hey Dano,  thanks for the reminder,  I don't remember where or just how long ago it was, probably the late '80's, I do remember that we were at a ten day long period rendezvous, one of the guys from the Canadian group that usually camped in our area was explaining the method and then made an ember using it.
  At the time my preferred methods were either flint & steel or the burning lens, I found it interesting but not being into that sort of friction fire I evidently didn't store it away where it could be readily recalled,  but now that you've mentioned it I'll give it a try.
  My biggest problem is trying to control how fast my hands travel down the length of the spindle and how much pressure I have to place on the spindle while twirling it between my palms, that method might just make a difference.

  Thanks again.

[Old Philosopher]

I haven't tried it yet, but the first time I saw that thumb loop trick I'd already given up on the hand drill. My reaction was,  "I coulda had a V-8!"