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