"River of No Return" documentary by PBS

This is a great watch folks

Enjoy!

make your own tent stakes

Well this nothing new for bushcrafters and woodsmen but I just thought I'd share one of mine and couple things I do and look for.  The main benefit of this is that you don't have to carry stakes with you so it reduces your load.  You can easily do this with your knife or hatchet/axe.

First off I find that seasoned woods work best as they are harder, my preference is seasoned cedar or oak but most any wood works.  If all you have is greenwood you can fire harden both ends to make them more solid.  You don't want a piece with a crack already forming as this will split with force when you hammer it in.  You want to find a straight and round piece.  I like them around 1" wide and around 10-14" long depending on use and conditions.

Once you have your piece of wood chosen it's pretty simple.  You want to carve almost a spear point in the bottom end and make another cone/spear shaped end at the top, just don't make it as elongated as the bottom.  This cone shape will prevent the wood from smashing and splitting apart.  Once you get a split in the stake it doesn't hammer in nice.  This helps reduce that significantly.  Then about 2-3" from the top make your notch to hold your string/rope.  Size of the notch really depends on how thick your rope is.

Here's a quick one made of oak

Now you don't really know for sure if you have a good one until you can hammer it in

Thanks for looking

Got in a little paddle time on a windy day

This quick trip was from a couple weekends ago.  I had really enjoyed this lake in the past but not long ago a path/road went in to allow people to drive to the back of the lake.  So you know what that means....more people, and more TRASH!  It was pretty disappointing to be honest.  I'm not sure if I'll go back or not as I only picture it getting worse as we come into summer.  What a shame.

Well onto the pics.  Here's take out

making some headway

did a little fishing but the recent rain and wind had the water pretty murky so no luck with the fish.

pulled over to rest a bit, dad was getting whipped by the wind on this day

this spot use to be a nice secluded spot that no one ever got to.  Not anymore.

 

 I went to a couple other spots and the same thing were there as well.  No more human-less spots on the lake

All in all it was nice to get out for some paddle time with my little girl.  The road access and litter was not what I wanted to find at all but I guess I shouldn't be surprised and perhaps should lower my expectations with today's society.

thanks for looking

Update: Council Tool FSS Boy's axe in use

Hey folks, Just thought I'd do an update on the Council Tool FSS(Forestry Service Edidtion) Boy's axe.  I just couldn't come around to the lacquer handle and the painted head.  So now the handle is sanded and oiled and the head is clean.  The way I like them.  Well I've used this axe a bit since getting it and I'm loving it.  Here it is in use on a  dead standing oak about 6-7" wide.  This axe bites deep and holds it's edge well.  It's the best 3/4 axe I've used. 

 

Here's a few more shots of the axe after paint and lacquer removal

Thanks for looking. 

trial run for my new "old" hatchet

Well I got the old Collins hatchet out for a little trial run to see how it performs.

The good; the handle was very comfortable in full chopping motion and for choking up on the head for finer work and about midway grip for carving.  So comfortwise I was very happy.  The steel held up pretty good.  After the tasks I did below I really swung it hard into some well seasoned wood and no damage at all.  The steel held up great.

Now for the bad;  I didn't get the edge thinned quite enough.  The feather sticks and curls weren't as good as I was hoping for but that's just 15 minutes or so with a file and I think I can have it performing those tasks well too.  I thinned out the bit some before using it but i like to do this in moderation.  You don't want it too thin so I like thinning and checking it's performance so it's thinned just enough to where I like it.

Overall though I liked it and after a little more filing I think it will be as good as anything on the market today

Well here's the pics for you axe folk

first was felling a dead tree that was around 4" wide

finally down,  this felt like it took forever compared to the boy's axe I've been using a lot lately.  But it was biting good and deep.

Next up was some more chopping on the tree I felled, I bucked a log out of it and it did pretty well.  Better than I thought it would actually.  I forget to take a picture of the split log but it did fine in this role for a hatchet.

Next were trying out some curls and feather sticks.  The bit needs to be thinned out a little more for this to be done well.  I managed some but it felt like a chore

Well that was about it.  I gave it a run through the tasks I will be doing with it.  It'll be a great user for me when I don't need an axe.

thanks for looking

some fresh air and a beach combers bow-drill

Well I finally was able to get some fresh air at a nice area.  I got my hiking buddy and set out for a wilderness area with a nice lake in the middle.  Here's the first view of the lake coming out of the trees

arriving at the beach line

view back at the trees

Bel with a big muscle shell, these shells were all over the shorelines, so naturally we had to take a few with us

there was a fire in this area a few years ago and remnants of it are still all over the place.  There were a lot of dead standing trees that would make great firewood

some spring purple color

we kind of weaved our way in and out of the trees and down the shoreline

interrupted quite a few ducks as we emerged

view where we came down

some lake shots

found a lure that is still serviceable

resting in the shade for some lunch, PB&J's and some crackers and cookies

lunch view

well I wanted to make a bow drill out of things I found.  Given this is not hard as pretty much every lake around has trash a long the shoreline.  It didn't take long until I found some bank line that someone had tied off for a trotline

it's been awhile since I've done a friction fire.  I got decent at it about 10 years ago.  Mostly just to know I could do it if I needed to.  But I haven't messed with them much since then.  Well this was my spindle as I started.  Way too long.  I ended up trimming it down about half the size and it worked much better

As I was carving away the excess wood I am always taken by the grain on cedar

well here's what I used at first, again ended up cutting the spindle to about half the size

was looking for a nice flat piece for the base board and wouldn't you know...found an old board, can't beat that.  This was just getting the hole started

well I got distracted at this point and forgot to take pictures.  I got the hole drilled out and the spindle shortened.  I got to pumping the drill and it didn't take long for me to realize that the cedar spindle was too hard to produce a good amount of dust.  I was going to get another spindle but bel was ready to move on from this spot and getting impatient so I'll have to save it for another time.  So all in all a fail with the first attempt at a beach combers bowdrill.  There will be a round two at some point...

Well nothing else too exciting happened.  We made our way back down the shoreline throwing rocks and collecting shells.  It was a very enjoyable day.  I love the take your time jaunts with nothing particular on the agenda...I need more days like this.

here's a parting view for you folks as we left the lake to head back in the trees

thanks for looking