Beginners Bushcraft

Tenth wonder hammock review

2011-08-27T01:24:00.000+01:00

So i bought one of these on ebay the other day. I wanted it as a spare incase my dd rips or something or i want to take someone with me. So i thought i would set it up and see how it compares to the DD camping hammock which its seems to be similar to except the tenth wonder has no zip but we will come to that in a moment.

First off, the service from the guys at tenth wonder is amazing. Not only was it very quick delivery but also you get an email instantly with an attached file on how to set up your hammock or tarp.

When it arrived i was really surprised at the pack down size, it was almost half that of the DD camping hammock, which was big points in my eyes. I think this was due to the lack of zip on the hammock allowed it to be stuffed into the stuff sack and pack down really small and you could even use a compression sack to get it down another couple of centimetres if you wanted.

We set up the hammock between two big birch trees, set it up with a method i learned from watching silver fox bushcraft videos on youtube. He called it a tree hugger setup the video is here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6ag9he2Z8w.

So all is going well for the tenth wonder so far. It packs down smaller than the DD and the set up's the same. However i feel i must say the ONLY problem i could find and that was sag. When first set up the hammock sagged so much i was on the ground, but lets keep this in context. All hammocks sag and especially when first tried out. So after a few times taking it off, adjusting the tension and setting it up again, the sag stopped (and please also keep in mind the set up i used which is designed to put lots of tension on and that would cause more sag at the start) and it was just as comfortable to lie in as the DD. I am nearly 6 foot and 15 stone and it held me brilliantly and comfortably.

Some Technical babble -

Measurements: 2.4m long 1.45m wide

Weight: approximately 700g

Rope supplied: Around 8 metres

Comes in its own stuffsack

So all in all a very good hammock, not quite as good as the DD camping hammock in all fairness but there is not much difference between the two reallly. The only two things that seperate them is the DD has a zip and is 300cm longer and that is about it.

For £9.99 you can not really go wrong i would highly recommend this as a starter, spare or even for the super lightweight camper. For half the price of the DD camping hammock you are getting the same thing.

Thanks for looking

Phil

Making bannock

2011-04-03T21:15:00.003+01:00

I had been wanting to make some bannock for a long time, since i seen it on ray mears actually. And finally decided to get out and do it and give the web tex warrior stove a test in the process. I had a bit of a look about for different recipes and found one (recommended by shewie at BCUK). So here is the recipe i used its.

2 Parts S/R flour
1 Part milk powder
Pinch of salt
2 tsp of brown sugar (i actually used demera sugar)
Handful of raisens (i think i used to many but i love em)
Water.

You can mix it and keep it in the bag as seen above and take it out with you and just add water to the bag, but as i did it at home and the mix would be far to big for my wee billy i just used a handful of the mix and put it in a bowl. So basically just add enough water to make a dough not to soggy but not too dry either.

Then what i did is just press make it into a ball and flatten it down just as you would a burger.

I think i have added too many raisens but never the less. Oil up the pan or in the case the pan of the billy can. If you are using a wee gas stove like the web tex warrior make sure the heat isnt too high or you will burn it very quick like i did. Then place the bannock in and gently press down and leave for a while to cook then flip it over.

You should know its ready when you can lighly flick it and it sounds hallow. Now there is nothing left to do but to enjoy you labour. Alot of people drizzle honey or put butter on it but i just enjoyed it as is.

My younger brother even gave it a go when we where out and i think he learned from my mistakes because his actually tasted a bit better than mine. Even though both our efforts ended up burnt slightly they were tasty never the less. Little brothers efforts below.

Knife making

2011-03-06T14:42:00.001+00:00

This was one thing i had been looking forward to making and honestly now that it's finished i'm quite sad, seeing this knife take shape over the past month has been great and for someone who has ZERO woodworking experience any sort of experience in making things really i am extremely happy with this knife. I have shown in a previous post the actual kit so i'm going to show the process of making it. Hope you enjoy.

So i started with a very basic concept design. Don't worry if it doesnt turn out exactly the same as your drawing as you are going to change various things depending on numerous factors the grain, a cut to deep etc. On this drawing you will see i forgot to include the height of the antler and bolster and i didnt actually cut the tang down any but it worked as a rough shape for the handle which is all its needed for really.

Next you need to tape up the blade, this is pretty obvious you do this to both protect you and the blade. Then mark the antler with the hole from the bolster so you know where to drill the antler. Then file the tang down all the way except 20 mm at the top near the blade so that the bolster will easily go down the tang. When the bolster gets to that 20mm that was left unfiled take a rubber mallet and tap on the bolster until it is next to the blade, this ensures a good tight fit. Then drill 3 holes where you have marked on the anler and using needle files tidy it up so it fits easily on but dont force the antler. Then what i did this is not essential but later on it makes life alot easier when it comes to fitting the tang in the wood and that was take the tang and either file it into a point or use a belt grinder.

Next its time to mark out on the wood where you want the hole use the tang to mark out on the side the size of the hole needed then mark on the top of the wood and drill the holes needed. A tip i recommend is to mark the drill bit with the depth needed i made the mistake of not doing this and went too far and needed to get more wood.

Next you need to file the hole with needle files and file the tang if needed to get the knife to fit into the wood. Then mix up your araldite and get as much as possible in the hole, on the tang and between the bolster and antler then put a piece of wood on the tip of the blade and clamp in place and leave to dry for about 24 hours.

Draw a rought shape of the handle on the wood and then start to saw away as much excess as possible without cutting into where the handle will be you are just looking to get rid of some of the excess to make the filing a bit easier. Now begin to shape the handle using a rasp and a knife to whittle the smaller bits, this is a long and laborious process so dont be afraid to take a break if needed.

When you are happy enough with the shape of the handle its time to sand it. Its best to start off with a really course grit then down to a medium grit and a fine and then an extra fine untill its as smooth as possible. The use of an electric sander makes this job alot quicker.

Now its time to give it a finish. I used some boiled linseed oil and the more you oil it the darker it will go. So wipe some oil on and leave for 5 mins or so and then wipe off the excess.

Now that we have the knife finished its time to start making the sheath. So let the leather soak in some warm water for 5 mins or so soften it enough to make it easy to work with. Make sure the blade has some tape on it to protect it from the water and put the inner sheath over the blade. Then wrap the leather around the knife and inner sheath and use some clips to hold the leather in place. Then using a fork mark out the holes that you want to pierce with your awl. Then you need to remove the knife and start to sew the sheath with a saddle stitch. Run your thread through some beeswax and tie a needle at each end of the thread. Then pierce a hole with the awl and start the first stitch, then pierce the second hole and do the second stitch and carry that process on untill the leather is sewed. (There is a good video on the saddle stitch here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fHYcnrSie8)

Now What you need to do is to re-soak the leather in warm water. Then place the knife in the sheath and start to mould and form the leather around the inner sheath and knife. And pierce two holes to thread you leather through either for a belt loop or as i have done with some leather thonging to make a necklace. When you are happy enough with the forming process leave the sheath in a warm place for a couple of days to dry. Hopefully the tape has kept the water off the blade but if there is any rust it comes off easy enough with some steel wool.

And thats the knife finished. I'm going to use this now as my main bush knife just because i'v made it myself. This process has been really rewarding and i'v learned so much. I cant wait to start on another one as there are some various things i would do differently but all in all i'm extremely happy with the knife. And making the sheath i found to be very rewarding so i think i may start and dabble in some leatherwork in the future.

Leather drawstring pouch.

2011-03-06T12:44:00.001+00:00

I'v been wanting to make one of these for a while now and i finaly got round to doing it. Its faux leather so i thought it would be good for making my first one as its much easier to sew than real leather. This was one of the easiest things i'v done yet and was relaxing to make as i could just sit and sew with the tv on in the background and a nice cup of tea beside me made for a lazy relaxing friday night.

So what i did first was take a piece of the "leather" and fold it in half make sure its inside out of the way you want it, then i used some small but strong clamps to hold it in place. I used them to show if it was real leather however due to this being faux leather Lisa told me to use some normal pins to hold it in place and it made the sewing process so much easier. Then rougly mark out where you want to sew it. I used just a normal stitch and its holding up nicely.

If this was real leather I would mark out where i want to make the holes before sewing. You could use a fork it works just as well as the real stitch marker tool then use an awl to make the holes. When you have it all sewed cut off the excess thats not needed and turn the leather inside out again and mark out where you want the holes for your drawstring and make them either with an awl or a hole punch or whatever works best for the material you have chosen. Make sure you put an ODD number of holes on each side or the string will be inside.

Then just thread the string you are using through the holes. I used some paracord because it was just what i had to hand, however if this was real leather i would use some leather boot laces, leather cut offs or something along those lines.

And there you have a drawstring pouch. I really enjoyed making this as i also learned to sew for the first time too thanks to lisa. I'm going to take this new but simple skill and make a couple more pouches especially one to hold my hobo stove and cooking stuff. The more space i can save in my pack the better.

Walking Staff

2011-03-05T20:49:00.001+00:00

So heres how i made my first walking staff. Now you would normally go and find a suitable stick and heat it up and bend it striaght. However you need to season the wood (let it dry out of all moisture and harden) and this takes a while, i'v read that the rule of them is a year for each inch of diametre. So i decided to go on over to http://www.thestickman.co.uk/ and bought some straight seasoned hazel and other bits and pieces needed. Keith over at stickman was more than helpful and extremely fast delivary.

So when all that arrived it was time to get started. What i ordered for mine was 1 54" hazel shank, 1 beaded brass collar and one angled antler piece and one alpine spike and 1/2 metre of leather thonging for a lanyard.

Started with tapering the ends of the stick to fit both the brass collar at the top and the alpine spike at the bottom.

Both ends are glued in place with our good friend Araldite Precision, however the alpine spike should be attached with a screw through the hole provided, but giving my lack of experience i opted just for the Araldite.

Next it was attaching the antler. It needs to be filed at the bottom in order to fit in. Then fill the collar with araldite and place the antleer in and use a small piece of electrical insulateing tape or something to hold the antler in place and leave to dry. Though make sure to not to put too much tape on that it will stick to the araldite. And for the lanyard what i did was cut the leather needed and drill a hole in the stick. Taper the ends of the leath to fit through the hole and use a pair of pliers to pull through nice and tight. Then cut off the excess and using a small piece of araldite lightly put some on just enough to wet the leather.

Next its time to finish it. Get yourself a piece of fine steel wool and some teak oil and put some teak oil on the steel wool and rub the stick down, leave for a couple of mins and then wipe off the excess. Remember to saturate ALL rags that have the oil on it in water as they are prone to combust. I would mayber use linseed oil next time to try it.

And there you have it a finished walking staff. I really enjoyed making this and can't wait to make a couple more when the wood seasons so ill do another post at that time showing how to bend the wood. This may not be the most prefessional one but it seems to do the job fine i'v took it out a few times and it has worked alot better than any shop bought walking stick i'v tried. Once again id like to give a special mention to Kieth at http://www.thestickman.co.uk/ who was extremely helpful.

Whats happening.

2011-02-12T19:11:00.000+00:00

My apologies that this has seemed to go a bit stale, but i am working on expanding my blog into a small website, with the blog still being the main aspect i just want to add a little bit more. I have two projects on at the moment and progress is slow. My knife is taking alot longer than i originaly thought and i want to put up the whole process as appose to having it put on in pieces. I have also a Walking staff in the making however it is going to be a while as i'm waiting for the wood to season. Thankfully though the weather is getting better so i hope me and the mutt will be getting out alot more.

Thanks for all the views guys and keep checking for more posts and updates.

Phil

Book recommendation : Guy Grieve - Call of The Wild

2011-02-04T02:05:00.000+00:00

A quick post to recommend a book i have just finished. Guy Grieve - Call of The Wild, is about a frustrated office employee who decides to "jack" it all in to live through a winter in alaska, build a cabin and learn to mush. Its truely a wonderful read and i would recommend it to anyone interested in bushcraft as there is an abundance of it in here. Read Guy's journey from being a complete tenderfoot and butt of alot of jokes to the locals to someone with the abillity to live in the wild. An interested, gripping and emotional read and easily one of my favourite books.

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/guy+grieve/call+of+the+wild/5584698/

Guy and his wife also run the Ethical Shellfish Company more information available here http://www.ethicalshellfishcompany.co.uk/

Forest petition!!!!!

2011-01-29T21:16:00.000+00:00

I urge everyone either an avid bushcrafter, someone who is looking to start bushcraft to your everyday treehugger to sign this petition. The suits in Downing street are planning on selling ALL of our national forest to the highest bidder. Its a bloody disgrace so other than signing myself i thought i would stick a link up of it here. I realise this has been an issue raised a wee while ago however the idea of linking it from my blog only came to me now. So i urge EVERYONE to head over to http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/save-our-forests and sign up.

Knife Making Kit

2010-12-30T22:14:00.000+00:00

I got this knife making kit from my fiance for crimbo, really looking forward to getting stuck into this. Kit contains 9cm carbon blade, brass bolster, reindeer antleer piece, block of curly birch, reindeer leather and leather strip.

Tutorial and progress made pictures to be posted at a later date.

250 Page views

2010-12-10T01:37:00.000+00:00

I'm really happy to say Beginners Bushcraft has reached 250 page views since it started little over a month. I never expected to have this many hits but i'm glad that it seems to be catching on. So expect to see alot more in the coming months.

Phil

Hobo Stove

2010-11-29T03:07:00.000+00:00

Decided on making a hobo stove. This is a pretty common design and means of making one. The plus to the hobo stove is that it allows to you to cook and boil water in areas where you can not make a campfire, and it is far lighter and more portable than any gas stove.

First you will need either a utensil drainer (from ikea or pound shops) like shown above. Or any stainless steel cylinder container just make sure you drill air holes around the side and on the bottom so the fire inside can breath.

Next you need to cut a hole to allow you to fuel the flame/embers iniside.

Next either drill four holes or use 4 that you have already drilled or 4 pre drilled holes from the drainer, screw four large flat headed bolts into the bottom to act as legs.

Now agian you need to either use some pre drilled holes or drill 4 more and slide 2 tent pegs in, this will give you billy can something to sit on while the flame cooks/boils what you need.

There you have a finished hobo stove simple. I haven't got a chance to get it out and try it out hence the festive candle in this picture. I would also suggest some kind of wind breaker to wrap around the outside that can be rolled up and stored inside the stove.

Paracord Survival Bracelet

2010-11-08T00:09:00.001+00:00

Made my first one today and i'm pretty happy with it. This is an excellent way to carry quantities of paracord. So i'm going to show you how to make one it really is so simple.

First off measure your wrist or whatever length you want it and add an extra 3 or 4 inches then cut that amount of paracord and tie in a knot at the top as show. Then you need to cut the amount of paracord you need, i used the thinking of a foot for every inch you want to cover.

Rig yourself something that can keep the paracord taught. Here i am using a coat hanger between my legs and a ring from a key ring attached to the cupboard handle.

Now take your paracord length and place it behind your base paracord evenly. Form an S shape with one length then thread the other length down through the front loop and up through the back loop. Then make sure both lengths are even before continuing if not rearrange them and pull tight and leave about a half an inch free at the top to loop your knot into when its finished.

Repeat the process only this time form the S with the other length and keep repeating the process alternating the S each time.

Every time you do one pull tight and push up to bring them all in close together.

Finish it off by leaving a small bit at the knot free and cutting and singing the remaining paracord. And there you have it your finished survival bracelet. Obviously this isn't the greatest or neatest one but ill be making a few more and they will get better looking also using two different colours for the base part and the main part would make it look better.

Dundrum Bay

2010-11-06T19:37:00.000+00:00

Took some of these pictures while walking along a local bay. The plan is to try and get down in a couple of weeks or so when the tide's out and do a bit of shoreline forraging.

Ray Mears Belfast 2010

2010-11-04T12:04:00.000+00:00

Just a quick wee review on the Ray Mears show that was held in the Ulster Hall on Monday night. It was an extrememly interesting night in which we learned a little be more about the man and also some of the tribes and indigenous peoples. He was asked questions by a wildlife film make from the province called Brian Black, he asked some very good questions as did the entire hall (with the obvious "what do you think of Bear Grylls"). All in all it was an very good night and he did a book signing afterwards which was pretty awesome.

New Banner

2010-11-01T01:31:00.000+00:00

A big thank you to a good friend of mine for hooking me up to with my excellent banner/sig. So yeah a big thankyou to ZfG Unique. Catch her, myself and a whole load of other cool people at http://www.zimmerframegamers.com/

Tree Identification = Elder

2010-10-30T22:27:00.002+01:00

I have been learning tree identification quite alot lately and the elder tree is on of the most easiest for me to spot because of the easily identifiable fruits (which you can make into wine as shown below).

Also you can make sure its elder if you break a branch in half it should be soft, white and pithy in the middle.

Nettle cordage take one

2010-10-30T22:09:00.000+01:00

Well it ended up being more like nettle string as i didnt collect nearly enough nettles but it was valuble practice.

Carefully slide your finger and thumb upwards to remove all leaves and hairs (i used a glove) and gently sqeeze the stem all the way down and split open as shown

Bend the stalk upwards to break the pith inside and gently pull the outer fibres away.

You should be left with fibres like this. Allow them to dry before carrying on, i placed them on a piece of kitchen roll and let them dry out.

Once dried like above they are now ready to be rehydraded either with warm water or saliva and its ready to work with.

I took 3 pieces of the nettle fibres and plated them as shown and that is it. Not quite the method i orignally set out to do but all in all i am pretty happy my first attempt and didnt have nearly enough netlles gathered.

Crafting with mans best friend.

2010-10-30T16:57:00.000+01:00

I spend most of my time outdoors with the dog, therefore if i'm out collecting, gathering or foraging the mutt is usually with me, took a wee pic of us resting under a tree.

Resources galore!!!!!

2010-10-29T02:32:00.000+01:00

As with anything, you can never have enough resources when it comes to learning new skills. I use a number of websites.

Bushcraft UK (UK based bushcraft forum with members with a wealth of experience)
A/Z Bushcraft
Youtube (an extremely good source of skill videos)

Along with these and many many others that can be found with google there is a vast amount of books available. However the following two i find to be invaluable when it comes there usefulness.

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION

2010-10-27T12:09:00.001+01:00

Hello to all that is going to see my new blog, I thought i would start up a blog to both document my learning of bushcraft and show the skills i'v learned and tips to help and assist fellow beginners. So that being said heres i little about myself. My name is Phil i'm from northern ireland and like many i first took an interest in this from watching tv shows of Ray Mears and even Bear Grylls although the latter is more entertainment he still helped plant the seed of interest of bushcraft and survival in my head. So come with me in my journey as i try to learn as much as i can and also pass this knowledge on to fellow beginners.

Phil