FoxfireSkilz

I'm Back at the Grindstone

2018-03-05T14:33:00.002-06:00

I looked at my blog and couldn't believe it had been so long! Life has definitely gotten in the way, to say the least. Between kids and work, and generally having more to keep track of than I care to think about, most all of my noble intentions toward bushcraft, etc., have gone by the wayside.

Well, I'm back! My oldest will be graduating soon, my other two are teens and their stuff is settling down, so I should have a little more time. I'm planning to get my youngest in on it with me and go through the Basic Bushcraft Class on Bushcraft USA. He's always been the one that was more interested in that type of thing, and always much more interested in the way I grew up doing things with my grandparents.

I don't have much (or maybe I have too much to get straight) to say, but I wanted to let anyone still following my blog know that I'm back and should be updating soon, and much more frequently.

God bless and keep you all!

Ramblings and Whatnot

2013-03-11T14:23:00.002-05:00

This was a busy week. Work was crazy but that's normal. I took my mom for her second cataract surgery on Wed. My oldest started football spring training and my youngest, soccer.

Watching the world only made me pray harder and further my resolve to prep and teach my family to survive. With North Korea threatening to end the cease-fire with South Korea and launch pre-emptive nuclear missiles at the U.S., our government being virtually incapable of making a smart decision, and it taking a 13 hour filibuster from Sen. Rand Paul to get an answer from the Atty. General on whether or not the President would/could launch drone strikes at non-militant citizens on U.S. soil, tells me things are not the best.

The weekend was a little calmer. I got some work done in the yard at my house and my mom's. Yesterday afternoon, I took all three kids fishing. The eldest was the only one to have any luck, and he only caught one little bream. Then again, when the wind is blowing between 10 and 20 mph, you're not gonna catch much. They had fun, though, and that's what matters.

Last night was week #2 of The Bible on the History Channel. I'm still enjoying this, and am thankful for folks like Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, who will heed God's call to spread the Gospel. God bless them!

Well, back to work. God bless!

I'm not dead!

2013-03-04T20:10:00.000-06:00

I'm still alive, though if you're still checking my blog, you might have wondered if the contrary was the case. Life has been crazy, and kept me away from the blog, much of any crafting of things, etc. It's been pretty much nothing but work, home, kids, and helping my mom. Fortunately, I think things might be settling a little, so I hope to be back.

My mom has her second cataract surgery coming up on Wednesday, and I'll be with her. I plan to take my leather stuff with me to work on once I get her back home. If so, I'll do my best to take pictures and get back to the possibles bag tutorial. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

The Rumors of My Passing...

2012-03-22T11:56:00.000-05:00

...have been greatly exaggerated, in the immortal words of Mark Twain. No, contrary to what folks have probably wondered, I'm still very much alive. Unfortunately, life has gotten in the way of living in the past few months. I haven't forgotten you, dear readers, nor have I forgotten my bag tutorial. It's just been so hectic between work and kids and my darling wife's grad school, that I haven't had time to even try. I do promise, however, to get back into the saddle as soon as possible!

God bless you all,
Brandon {FoxfireSkilz}

Almost Finished...the Multi-Generation Chair

2011-11-30T17:15:00.001-06:00

Growing up, we hand-milked our few cows. When we went to milk, we always stopped at the little, cedar log "seed house" and shelled corn to put into the troughs for the cows to enjoy while we milked. We always sat in the same old ladder-back chair with a white oak split bottom. That chair stayed in the seed house all my life and my mom never remembers a time it wasn't there. Looking at it, it is a perfect match for two of our inside chairs, as well as my Papaw's high chair. They were likely bought near the same time, which would put them at being around 113 years old.

The inside chairs all have their original seats in them, and are in exceptional condition. Considering that they've all gone through my great-grandparents, grandparents, parents/aunts/uncles, and all of us grandkids, it is a true testament to their maker's craftsmanship that they have held up so incredibly well. The one from the barn, however, had seen better days. The frame was in perfect condition except for the few layers of paint and decades of dust. The seat, sad to say, was shot. probably 70% was still solid, but one corner and side were completely apart. Considering the fact that I don't live where I can fell a white oak anytime I want, and don't honestly have time to hand make white oak splits, restoring an original style seat wasn't an option. So, what's any self-respecting country boy to do??? Improvise!

If there was one thing we always had around home, it was twine - jute, sisal, etc. General old baling twine was the next best thing to duct tape. I tracked down a few spools of jute twine and after much scrubbing and sanding, set about replacing the seat. I did my best to keep the original pattern to the weaving and though not perfect by any stretch, I think it turned out pretty well.

It took a couple of weeks of nights when I had the time - and MANY backaches from sitting stooped over for a couple of hours at a time, but it's done and in the original pattern.

In the closeup, you can see that I didn't get the sides perfect, but it's strong and comfortable and I won't complain. I still have a little cleanup to do on the wood, then a few coats of Tung Oil to protect it. I'm doing my best to keep the look that age has given the wood. Hopefully this chair will last long enough for the fifth generation (my kids) to use it and pass it along to the next.

Oh, and here is my constant companion and giver of unwanted help, Marie. The picture's horrible but oh well...she doesn't stay still long enough for glamour shots.

At What Cost "Protection"

2011-11-30T11:06:00.001-06:00

It's amazing to me what our government attempts to do, all in the name of "protection." There are times that I wonder where the understanding of the founding ideals of our country has been ferreted away, as it is surely not in the minds and pens of those in Congress.

Please, take a moment to view the videos on the Off Grid Survival blog, as they are quite enlightening.

From Off Grid Survival Blog:

In a disturbing speech from Rand Paul on the senate floor, we learned today that the government considers having guns or more than 7 days of food a possible terrorist activity.

In the speech Rand Paul says “Someone who has guns, someone who has ammunition that is weather proofed, someone who has 7 days of food in their house” can be considered a potential terrorist by the federal government.

He warns that under a new provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act the federal government could lock you up indefinitely if you are suspected of activities that they consider terrorism related. That’s right the military will now have the power to lock up anyone, even American citizens without due process and without being convicted of a crime.

Full post from Off Grid Survival

CDC Warns of New Swine Flu Strain - ABC News

2011-11-29T11:04:00.000-06:00

U.S. health officials remain on the alert for additional cases of a new swine flustrain that infected three Iowa children this month.

Since July, 10 Americans have been sickened by S-OtrH3N2 viruses that picked up a gene from the 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. The new flu strain combines a rare influenza virus (H3N2) circulating in North American pigs and the H1N1 virus from the 2009 outbreak. New flu strains develop when flu viruses combine in new ways. They can pose health risks because people haven’t yet developed immunity to them.

CDC Warns of New Swine Flu Strain - ABC News:

I'm Sorry, Folks!

2011-11-29T07:51:00.001-06:00

For all who have been reading and waiting for an update, especially on the possibles bag tutorial, I offer my most sincere apologies! The past week has been pretty busy. The sister-in-law and her kids were at my house all week so there were 5 kids running around (2 12 year-olds, an 8 year-old, and 2 7 year-olds). In addition, this Thanksgiving was the first major holiday since my dad passed, so I spent a couple of days with my mom. The Wednesday the previous week would have been their 39th wedding anniversary as well, so it's been a tough time for her.

With all of that going on, I haven't had a chance to do much work on anything, or even be online very frequently. I haven't been able to move forward with work on the newest bag, thus no updates to the tutorial. I hope to be able to get at least a small update for the next step in the process this week.

On a good note, I did get the weaving of my chair seat finished this weekend. I'll try to post pictures as soon as possible. The chair was one of my great-grandfather's that had been at the barn all my life, and as long as my mom can remember as well. We used to sit in it at the corn sheller to shell corn for the cows when it was time to milk. The old white oak split bottom was completely gone in one corner, so there was no way to salvage it. I took the old bottom off and cleaned up the chair, then used jute twine to weave a new seat in the original herringbone pattern. It turned out quite nicely, if I do say so myself!

Ok, enough rambling for today. Again, please accept my apologies, dear readers, and I will do my best to get back in gear soon!

God bless!

Are You Prepared?

2011-11-17T21:19:00.001-06:00

With all of the natural and man-made disasters to befall the world recently, many more people are beginning to rethink their ability to survive horrific circumstances. Unfortunately, not enough are considering and acting on how to be prepared. It's often blamed on either an "it won't ever happen to me" or "I can't afford to prep." While I can't do much about the first (except to remind folks of the Japanese Tsunami or the tornadoes that devastated the Southeast on April 27 of this year) there is a great post dealing with the second on the Apartment Prepper blog. Please, do yourself a favor and check it out!

Prepping on a Budget - The Apartment Prepper

Making a Possibles Bag Part 1

2011-11-15T21:02:00.000-06:00

Adventures in Recycling - Making a Possibles Bag from Reclaimed Leather
Part 1: Selecting and Preparing Leather

When selecting a garment or other leather item to remake, pretty much anything goes depending on the size of the bag you want. There are, however, two major considerations: 1) Quality of the leather and 2) Environmental conditions expected during use.

1) Quality of the Leather
The primary consideration when making a bag from another leather item is quality. The leather needs to be heavy enough and of good enough quality to hold up to deconstruction and reconstruction, as well as day-to-day use. Leather that is too thin, or has weak sections will not hold up to any normal level of use, and may not hold up to the deconstruction process (I speak from experience here).

2) Environmental Conditions
The secondary consideration is just as important. If a bag will be used in a day-to-day setting, pretty much any leather item designed to handle occasional exposure to water, etc. should be fine (i.e. jacket, skirt, etc.). If a bag will be used in rugged areas and expected to come into frequent contact with water, the item in question will need to be of a somewhat heavier leather and preferably treated with a waterproofing solution.

When selecting your item to remake, make sure to test out the item as much as possible. Tugging firmly on the leather at any seams, as well as down the center of any sizable panels should help to see if any weak spots are present. I learned the hard way to do this when I started deconstruction of a jacket only to have the leather rip at every single seam and in the center of the largest back panel. There was literally no usable leather in the entire jacket. When purchasing an item, I tend to visit the Salvation Army Thrift Store first. I can get jackets for $5 each. Normally, I'm not a brand person, but I have found that the better leather is found in the brands that carry the higher retail price tags. Shop wisely!

The Leather Coat to Become a Bag

Back of Coat - Vertical panels provide lots of flexibility in design

Once you have chosen an item (for the sake of this tutorial, a leather coat), you will need to prepare it for working.

Preparation:
All linings, shoulder pads, etc. should be removed. To do this, select a corner of the lining at the bottom of the coat and snip a hole large enough to get at least two fingers in.

Opening Started at Bottom

Weakness found during lining removal

If you can get to the seam cleanly, it would work even better to clip enough stitches along the seam to get two to three fingers into the opening created. Do not cut out the lining! The lining should be removed by pulling firmly and allowing it to tear or hopefully, the threads to break. Pulling will allow weak spots that weren't immediately recognized to show up in that they will likely tear.

If a weak spot is found, pull gently on the leather and allow the tear to continue a short distance. Hopefully the weak area will show up visibly as in the photo, and you can simply cut out the weak area, making sure to give a generous allowance around it to account for additional weakness that isn't visible.

Continue to pull the lining from the coat, making sure to turn out the sleeves and completely remove the lining there. If possible though, keep the pockets intact as they can be used later. When completed, you can discard the lining unless you have an idea on a use for it (and if you do, please share it!)

Lining completely removed

Turn out the sleeves and straighten the coat in order to study its make and determine the most efficient method of (de)construction. In the case of this coat, the vertical panels give us a large expanse to make use of, as well as ready-made gussets for the sides. To allow for easy deconstruction as well as built in seam allowances, we want to separate the panels along the seams.

Panels marked

Separating the marked seams allows for the back and flap combined to be the entire length of the coat, which is a decent sized bag when finished. The following picture shows the panels marked for most of the basic parts.

Other than these, we need a front panel and bottom gusset. For my first, I cut across the panels on the right front of the coat, retaining the front pocket and buttons. This allowed me to cut another section of a panel and sew to the inner portion behind the buttons and have a wider bottom gusset and thus give a little expansion room. It also provides a built-in pocket on the front of the bag.

Part 2 of the tutorial will deal with the actual deconstruction and layout of the pieces. I will try to provide it shortly, as soon as time permits.

Thanks for reading and God Bless!

Adventures in Recycling - Making a Possibles Bag Intro

2011-11-14T17:02:00.002-06:00

Adventures in Recycling - Making a Possibles Bag from Reclaimed Leather

Introduction

Recently, I had the harebrained idea to make myself a leather possibles bag. Now keep in mind, I haven't sewn a stitch except for attaching a button in 25 years. On top of that, I didn't have a local place to get decent leather that didn't cost a fortune. So, what's a guy to do? If he's as nutty as me, he looks for completely unrelated parts to make something new. Enter the Salvation Army Thrift Store.

I went into the store on a spur-of-the-moment spark of inspiration. On the racks, I found a ladies leather coat (Ann Taylor, I think), that was a heavy suede that had good leather. Five minutes and $5 later, I walked out with my main raw material - leather. Now, I needed a pattern. Well I can tell you, it's not easy to find a decent one, so I made my own as I went.

The coat I got was made of multiple narrow vertical panels seamed together. I turned the coat every possible way for a couple of days until I could see the bag I wanted. After that, it was just a matter of taking things apart and reassembling in the way I wanted.

When I tweeted about making the bag, I had multiple requests for pictures, which I finally was able to send along. It wasn't long before (much to my surprise), folks were asking for a video or blog tutorial on how to make one. A video was out of the question for two major reasons: 1) I don't really have anybody that would be willing to be my camera person, and 2) you do NOT want to see my ugly mug or hear a southern drawl that would make Jeff Foxworthy sound like Norm Abrams on YouTube!! Therefore, you get this tutorial.

Since the original was completed without any in-progress pictures, and my kids are wanting me to make bags for them, I picked up another jacket this weekend and got ready to do round #2. I will be adding parts to the tutorial as I get to good transition points so please, bear with me.

The first section deals with selection a leather source (coat in this case), prepping the piece, and analyzing its make to determine the best layout for maximum bang for your buck. You can read it here.

WARNING: I'm sometimes slow so please, don't think I've forgotten you should things slow down.

God bless you all!

Welcome!

2011-11-12T20:01:00.000-06:00

Welcome to the new blog home of FoxfireSkilz. Some folks may recognize me from my tweets on the #PrepperTalk and #Bushcraft lists. I guess I should give you a little information about myself.

My name is Brandon and I'm originally from Lawrence County, Alabama. I've been happily married to my beautiful wife for almost 15 years. We have three wonderful children: DS1 (12), DD (8), & DS2 (7). My wife is a high school biology/zoology teacher. I am a software engineer for a global software and integration company.

I grew up on a farm in the Appalachian foothills on the northern border of Bankhead National Forest. Unlike most folks in their late 30s, I've actually had to hand-milk cows, slop hogs, feed chickens in the yard, go all around the farm to different nest boxes to pick up eggs, etc. Shoot, my first hoe was on an old broom handle because a regular hoe handle was too long for me. My papaw put a hoe on the broom handle and I was out hoeing corn.

Summers were filled with working in the garden, the corn field, etc., and then helping to prep and can all of the fruit and vegetables that we had in abundance (thank the Lord). The winters were filled with cutting and hauling wood for heat. Every afternoon was splitting wood (yes, with an axe or hammer and wedge if I couldn't get an axe through it), chopping old cedar stumps and fence posts into kindling, and making sure there was plenty of wood in the house for us and for my grandparents across the yard from us.

Growing up as I did, as I tell folks we were poor as Job's turkey, there wasn't a lot of extra comforts to be had. Honestly, it didn't bother me. I had all I needed and lots of love from family. I loved the quiet of home, being able to go out the door and 30 yards later be in the trees going up the mountain to roam. I was also fortunate (read blessed) enough to learn many of the skills that few of my generation ever encountered. When you have little money, there not a lot to spend on replacing things. That means you learn to see things a little differently and see a part you need within something completely different. It also means you tend to become a packrat (much to the consternation of my dear wife), but those things that seem trash today tend to come in really handy down the road.

If you've read any of the Foxfire books, you've had a glimpse into some of what life was like for me. I actually knew people who spoke as those you read there, and saw many of those skills put into use. Those are skills I'm trying to retain and pass along to my own children.

Most importantly, though, I want to pass along my values to my children. I was truly blessed in that I grew up in a home where God came first and my love of and relationship with Jesus was fostered from my earliest memories. We were always active in our church. The church I grew up in was founded in 1824, and my grandfathers had been elders in the church since the 1840s. It was a typical small country church, and was truly a family. Thanks to such a rich blessing, I have been proud to call myself a Christian for most of my life. There are many things important to me, but nothing more important than our Lord.

Hopefully, I will be able to pass along some of my knowledge that I've gained over the years as well as what I still hope to learn here. I also hope that everything you may read here will be uplifting and a good example of who I strive to be.