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There used to be a time when all I carved was spoon shaped firewood, but after hundreds of attempts and fires I am finally getting to a point where I can be proud of my spoons.
To be honest for years I was more concerned with other things and put no effort in trying to improve my preferred method of making an implement that had some semblance of spoonishness. It was all about function and nothing to do with form, but a few things have changed my opinion over the last few years first off having spent time with much more talented carvers and secondly a gift from the other half.
Safe to say I am still by no means a master craftsman, but I have started to make some spoons that have both looks and purpose. My last one was sent to Bangkok as my contribution to the worlds biggest secret Santa. Here's a quick run through should you be inspired to have a go yourself.
I should mention before you start that to do this right you need sharp tools. and you need to know how to use them
safely before you start cutting the wood, yourself or anyone else for that matter
Whenever I am out in the woods I am always looking forward to my next brew, no more so at the break of dawn when Im just rising and thinking about the day ahead. Something that I cannot do without a good fresh coffee in hand. Coffee being so important I will some time dedicate a blog to my quest for the perfect camp brew.
of course after a long night its always a little disheartening to come back to the camp fire only to find a flat bed of white ash and a few blackened dog ends. But fear not as there is a simple and effortless way to bring life back to this heart of your bushcraft camp.
Some bow drill friction fire pointers.
Well although I have p[romised a few of you who have been on my courses that I would Blog a tutorial on Friction fire. So far every attempt to write it turns into a full blown hundred page manual. The final decision being that until I arrange to film it I will let people find the myriad other videos on you tube that already exist.
However for those that are trying themselves, as I have seen with my students often times there are a few very simple pointers that can make your friction firemaking so much easier.
Well it has been a busy few days and a long time since I sat in front of a computer, all for good reason and Im back to report on the most recent event, building an earth oven at Arlington Court.
There is not a great deal to building an earth oven and I think its the sort of thing everyone should get involved with once in their lives, there is a real sense of achievement when you get the first whiff of cooking bread and pizza and even with the odd gritty bit there's no taste like a true al fresco meal. home baked in the great outdoors. They can be built as a temporary bushcraft project or with a little thought and planning something a little more permanent that can sit next to the barbecue for years to come.
It was Dave Watson of Woodland Survival Crafts who showed me this great method for extracting bramble fibres. I like using bramble in bushcraft as you can use it straight from harvesting, no drying needed; and its readily available almost everywhere I go; although it’s quite seasonal as you need to find the newest growth you can still find 1-2m lengths which are perfect for the job. I find the fibres to be a little more course than nettle and not quite as strong but for the majority of camp uses bramble is up to most tasks.
Those of you who know me may well know I live with a half cat half Godzilla type creature that some may mistake for a simple cat. And how I handle her and nettles to avoid any sharp pains is pretty much identical.
Like cat fur nettle stings grow in one direction up the stem and out along the leaves stroke cat or nettle in the right direction and no harm will come however stroke them against the direction of growth and you’re asking for trouble.
Knowing this makes handling nettles a lot easier and once your holding a nettle there is so much to be done with it. The fresh new leaves once blanched make for an excellent spinach substitute. The older leaves make for a pleasant hot drink and the stem will give you some of the finest fibres for string making.
Whatever your chosen method for fire lighting is the fundamentals of establishing, managing and maintaining a fire will always follow the same guidelines. First off what is the fire for? A few possible reasons are heat, light, signalling, cooking or most importantly boiling tea water.
Once you've decided on that then it makes it all a lot easier, but before I get carried away let us just go through some of the basics of fire. Most should know of the trinity of fire if not you will by the end of this paragraph. Fire needs three key components Oxygen, fuel and heat.
It is easy to forget what a difference a little string can make but once your out in the wilds one of the key elements of bushcraft is the making of cord. from short lengths for bangles and decoration to enough to make nets and baskets there are a million uses for string. Making it can become a little addictive and you will find yourself experimenting with anything vaguely fibrous no matter where you are. I have found myself on the London underground with the bark of an exotic tree getting many perplexed looks which turned to looks of bemusement when I handed a friend who was with me a bracelet to take home. Fibres can be taken from a wide range of plants nettle and bramble being my favourites. However for the purposes of this I've opted for raffia as it’s something that I have in great abundance for running workshops with local schools and groups. The key to tidy string is in keeping everything even and in two strand twisted string there isn't much to concentrate on so with a little practice it’s fairly easy to come up with something strong and presentable.
