Ron's Primitive Skills

My all time favorite primitive technology books

2023-01-07T15:26:00.003-07:00

I have a sizeable library. Physical books- probably around 500. Digital books and other type documents- probably around 100,000. I have been interested in nature since I was old enough to walk. So, a vast majority of my books are on nature subjects- rocks, plants, animals, etc. I have a lot of survival books. I have a lot of gardening and self reliance books. My favorite though, are my primitive technology books. My collection of physical PT books are:

Primitive Technology vol 1 & 2 edited by Wescott

Practicing Primitive by Watts

all 3 Woodsmoke books by the Jameson's

Both volumes of Primitive Wilderness Living by the McPherson's

Survival Arts of the Primitive Paiutes by Wheat

Wilderness Survival Handbook by Pewtherer

Can you Survive by Pressley

And the one that started it all......Outdoor Survival Skills by Olsen

In 1976 I picked up a copy of Olsen's book at the ARMY PX bookstore when I was stationed in West Berlin, Germany. I thought "this is it! When will there be more work on this subject?" It had just come out in paperback. By the way I still have this book. All I did was put a clear plastic jacket on it. It looks to be in pretty good shape for all the field work it saw. I made a carry case out of hard, thick rawhide to protect it on my ventures. West Berlin was around 100 miles behind the "Iron Curtain" in East Germany, the Communist German Democratic Republic, a Soviet ally at the time. What a lot of folks don't know is there are large areas of forested land in Berlin. The one I roamed was the Grunewald which translates to "green forest". There were some pretty secluded areas and the only threat was the huge European wild pigs. Those things looked like small rhinos when you saw them running through the woods! And they could be downright mean! There were red deer too. And of course rabbits and squirrels. Fires were a no-no but if you were smart and built a small smokeless fire all was good. I had many a good time on my days off out in the 'wald.

Notice that some of these books have "survival" in the title. I would say that they are more geared towards primitive skills than modern. The book by Pewtherer covers some modern necessities such as first aid kits (I always carry a small modern geared kit when I go woods running) and some other modern tools like a compass and survival kit. The rest is surviving from a primitive technology view point. Ben Pressleys book is almost all primitive except he shows how to use a fire steel and there are a few photos of him in a 18th century long hunters outfit. This is all just fine with me. I live in both worlds but I prefer primitive tech and skills. Its more a hobby thing. I use modern tools like saws, axe's, steel knives and such for my primitive projects if it requires serious stock removal. I've done many purist stone, bone antler & wood bow building and other projects but my joints are showing the damage done to them over many years of this type work let alone all the years doing most of my building construction by hand. It gets to ya quick so if there's an easier way I'll go that route. There are days when I can hardly bend my fingers and my wrists pulse with pain but I keep plugging along. Life is too much fun to give in to pain and discomfort. I just cut a little slower now.

I'm always looking for more stuff to write about and if there is something you would like me to research please let me know. I'm in need of resources such as bone, antler, hides and rock so if you have any extra I would be pleased. I have a few things to trade. Until next time, take care and enjoy life. Make as much of it as you can!

Happy 2023 Everyone!

2023-01-07T00:33:00.001-07:00

I've not given up yet on this old blog.Maybe someone out there will ask a question or two. I've been doing a lot of primitive skills lately and will soon have an eye operation so my vision should improve substantially. I have some new and interesting discoveries and these concern both primitive skills and modern survival. Stay tuned. By the way, I'll be turning 70 in a month and to tell the truth even with all the arthritis and good stuff that go's along with getting long in the tooth, I'm still having a blast and enjoying life to the fullest. Stay tuned and stay busy.

Time for an update and what are your marketable skills?

2021-09-20T16:37:00.006-06:00

Its been one busy year and now I can take a breath. Work has slowed down to a crawl and now we await the holiday rush for people to order plants. We've been busy doing upgrades to lighting, building stands, greenhouses, etc and stocking up on fall veggie plants to grow and sale. The weather is almost bearable and I look forward to spending the full day outside working. In the summer its a bear. Hot and humid by 11 AM. I usually get about 6 hours in if I'm lucky. In the fall and winter its downright enjoyable outside. Oh, and hunting season is soon to be here. Yay.

Now as far as marketable skills, I'm talking about skills that can be used in a post apocalypse/economic collapse/alien invasion, whatever your poison. For instance here's a list of mine:

primitive living

half decent blacksmith

electronics and communications

mechanical

mining

farming

leather working

gunsmithing

woodworking

medical aid

extensive knowledge of edible and medicinal plants - uses & identification

survival/preparedness

military combat skills

leadership

Some of these skills I'm pretty strong in and some at least a good working knowledge. All of these would make me a very good candidate to be accepted by a group in said apocalyptic situation. Make a list of yours and tuck it away in your head and be ready to prove yourself if the situation arises to join a group of preppers/survivalists/zombie hunters, whatever. Now is a good time to improve any saleable skills you have. Remember. No one is going to take your word for it unless they know you and have seen you in action-be ready to show your talents and "walk the walk". So, with that I bid all farewell for now and don't just survive. Thrive!

Plant Books

2021-02-27T18:41:00.000-07:00

I've noticed over the years that plant books can be great or they can be mediocre. One of the things that makes a great plant book is the illustrations. I find that drawings are best. Granted, its nice to have color photographs, but sometimes the plant details just don't show that well. Therefore my take on drawings. A good drawing can show the minute details of the plant in question. Things such as the flowers, leaf scars, outline and shape of the leafs, etc. Have you ever noticed how the Peterson guides are all drawings? They use photos in some of the newest ones, but, the older editions have drawings and a few have a nice little section of photos which I consider eye candy. I have quite a digital collection of 19th century botany and herb books and the only color in them is hand painted plates and almost all the illustrations are drawings in black and white. I recall a book put out in 1905 about wildflowers and it had some of the first photos of flowers used for every plant described. The photos were in black and white and some few were hand colorized. They were not very useful. The saving grace for this book; there were drawings of the plants.

As you become more familiar with botany you develop a natural quickness in going right to the section of the books when you can distinguish certain botanical traits. Things such as number of flower petals, lanceolate versus heart shaped leaves, paired, opposite, smooth edges versus toothed, etc. These things can only be learned from drawings in my opinion.

This is a small list of some of my books on plants and the information contained whether drawings or photographs.

Peterson Field Guides:

1 Edible Wild Plants-Eastern US = drawings and a small section of photographs

2 Medicinal Plants-Eastern US = drawings and a small section of photographs

3 Trees & Shrubs-Eastern US = drawings only both 1958 and 1986 editions

4 Ferns = drawings only

Wild Edible Plants of the Western US by Kirk = drawings and a small section of photographs

Edible Wild Plants Eastern US Fernald & Kinsey = drawings only

The Illustrated Book of Wildflowers & Shrubs Grimm = drawings only

Botany in a Day Elpel = drawings only

The above list shows the importance of clarity in a plant description. I haven't seen too many photo's that can show such clarity in details unless they are high quality closeups.

Pocket Bushman continued

2021-02-13T20:18:00.003-07:00

This is a short post to show the work I did on the Cold Steel pocket bushman. The first photo shows the knife with the lock removed. When i have to work on a knife with the blade still attached such as this one I double the masking tape on the cutting edge. This makes it fairly safe but caution is still important. I use the little antique soap dish for my parts holder. In it are the stud and screw for the lock along with the spring.

This next photo shows the lock bar after I stoned the edges that were dragging against the inside of the handle. It shows as a mirror polish in the photo. The edges of the long cutout were stoned, too. This removed any wire edge or roughness from the manufacturing process. I ran green rouge on a felt wheel over everything with the Dremel tool after I cleaned off the oil and left over stone material. After I got everything back together (a real chore in itself! That little spring is strong and you have to put it all back together a certain way) the knife opened and closed a bit easier. I had to tighten the screw on the blade as it was a tiny bit wobbly. That took care of it.

This last photo shows some of my coarser stones. These are from machinist supply companies. I use them to smooth up and polish knife and gun parts. If you know what you're doing you can make a revolver work so smooth it sings!

An old friend returns

2021-02-12T22:27:00.001-07:00

I bought my first Cold Steel Pocket Bushman in 2008. I think it had just come on the market. I was looking for a good sized folder that would withstand the elements. The pocket bushman has one of the toughest locks known to knifedom (is that a word? it is now) and I wanted something that would not let go and cause a serious accident. Its hard to do firstaid on yourself one handed in the woods when your good hand is bleeding like a stuck pig. The locking system is called Ram Safe lock and was designed by Andrew Demko. I know of no better lock. The scandi grind of the blade was another selling point with me since I was a Mora fan and built several knives with Finnish Lauri blades. The steel was an unknown when this first appeared. Now you can find good info on the net about it. It is Thyssen-Krupp 4116 stainless which has been cryogenic tempered. This process slowly takes the hot blade blank down to -300 degrees F in liquid nitrogen and keeps it there for a bit. What this does is converts the austinite in the steel to martinsite. This makes for a tougher, longer lasting steel. Do a Wikipedia search of "cryogenic treatment of steel" if you want to learn more.

Anyway, I had this knife for a long time and one day I was closing it and the spring broke inside the handle. The knife became way too dangerous to use because that extremely sharp blade just flopped around. No good! I contacted the good folks at Cold Steel and they sent me a pack of 5 springs. I guess they figured this problem would require a lot of replacements. I sold the knife with the extra 4 springs and told the buyer about the breakage possibility and how to change out the spring. I was very sad because I especially liked this knife. It sharpened up to razor edge and held it for a long time and it was sturdy. I owned and carried it daily for about 5 years before the spring incident and had heard Cold Steel remedied the problem. However, I never got around to getting one of the newer versions.

Well, a few months ago I was watching a You Tube video featuring the pocket bushman.The video showed the old version and why it was breaking springs and how it was remedied. In the old lock bar there was an indent that the spring could bend down into and weaken it till it snapped. Cold Steel simply did away with this and made it a straight piece of steel. So far there have been no problems and this has been the case for about 10 years or so.

So, I went to my favorite store and low and behold there's a brand new sealed in the box Cold Steel Pocket Bushman with my name on it! All for the princely sum of $21.00! I got it home and took it apart. The first thing I noticed was the straight locking bar. Good. I stoned the bar where it felt like it was rubbing against the inside of the handle. Then I got out the Dremel and some felt wheels and green chromium rouge. This did a fine polish on the places I stoned (I use extra fine Scotch machinist stones down to 1000 grit). I did some minor stoning on the edges of the handle to remove and sharpness. The first thing to be left off was that useless thumb stud. Why? This is a hard opening knife and a thumb stud is just plain useless. I realize some folks like to flick their Bics and knives but save it for the smaller blades, boys. I got everything back together and tightened the star screws down and away we went. The RamSafe lock was a lot easier to pull back. Now, this knife is big. 4 1/2" blade, 10 3/8" overall when open, the 420 stainless handle is one piece construction and is 5 7/8" long. The knife is lite for its size coming in at 6.6 ounces. It has a reversible belt clip and is surprisingly slim and hardly noticeable in the pocket. Noticeable as far as feeling any bulge in your pocket-the top of the knife extends a good inch above the end of the pocket clip and the paracord lock assistant is sure to draw questions. Now I can retire my poor old worn out G-96 folder. It is so loose I'm half afraid to open it.

Botany in a Day by Thomas Elpel book heads up

2021-02-05T06:51:00.001-07:00

There's a really good deal on this book on eBay right now. $18 each, free shipping, for returned or slightly damaged (bent corners, etc.) copies of this most excellent book. This is the most current edition. Here's the link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Botany-in-a-Day-The-Patterns-Method-of-Plant-Identificat-6-1-Paperbk-or-Softb/164320624968?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908103841%26meid%3Db5ae2c121eb94844b6647b68ec18727d%26pid%3D100227%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D13%26sd%3D164320624968%26itm%3D164320624968%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2053904&_trksid=p2053904.c100227.m3827

Condor Village Parang, Using the Fire Tube, and Wild Edible Plants

2021-02-04T21:07:00.003-07:00

The Condor Village Parang is a hit! I've been working along the fenceline for last few days and it has done a sterling job. I will have to work on the handle to make it a hair smaller-a 4-in-hand file will do the trick and a finish up with sandpaper. My only complaint about the blade is it is convex grind and I will have to remedy that. It still cuts great but I love a flat grind. I've made knives so I have the confidence that I won't wreck this fine tool. I have no complaints about the sheath. It looks like Condor has fixed the problems they had years ago. I see online where some folks have a problem with it being a slow draw blade. Well, this is a tool and not anything near a self defense knife. If you're worried about that then you sure as hell better be packing. My choice is my .357 magnum with 4 inch barrel and target sights. In my opinion you can't beat a revolver.

I've had a few questions about the fire tube. Here's how it works. You get a nice red glowing tip on the cotton with a spark from your ferro rod/sparker/flint and steel. Blow on the glowing ember and put the whole deal into your already prepared birdsnest of tinder. Blow on the nest and when you see thick smoke you should be close to combustion. Keep blowing gently until you see fire. All done. Now pull the rope/wick back into the tube and leave an empty space at least 1/4 inch. Put your finger over the end of the tube and in seconds the ember dies. Let it cool of for a bit and wrap everything backup and put it away. I am careful not to damage the charred end too much so that I can get a good light the next time I put steel to it.

I notice everything going on here at the farm and be it birds, critters or plants I have an idea of whats happening. This week I found several edible wild plants that are coming up. Its been a not so typical north Florida winter so far. We've had more than the usual freezing nights and frost. We've also had a lot of rain. The days are getting longer and it can get up to 70 during the day. This is bringing a lot of stuff to the surface. Here's what I've spotted so far:

shepherds purse Capsella bursa-pastoris

cleavers Galium sp.

chickweed Stellaria media

henbit Lamium amplexicaule

Florida betony Stachys Floridana

These two photos show shepherds purse. It gets its name from the shape of the heart shaped seed pods. Note long narrow leaves and tiny white flowers. The whole plant is edible. The lower photo also shows henbit, cranesbill geranium and chickweed.

These two photos show cleavers. It has a square stem and gets its name from the tiny hooks all along the stem which make the plant stick or cleave to your clothing. Entire plant is edible but its best when young and tender. Older plants can be boiled.

These two photos shoe chickweed. The first photo has chickweed and henbit and the second two species of chickweed. The whole plant can be eaten.

These two photos show henbit. In the first it is associated with chickweed and cranesbill geranium. The henbit has the tall square stems. The second photo has a good example of how easy it is to confuse plants. The cranesbill geranium has deep grooves in the leaves and small stems whereas the henbit has rounded scalloped leaves and bigger square stems. Henbit is edible raw when young and the older plants need to be boiled and rinsed.

These three photos show Florida betony. It has square stems and is in the mint family. The first two photos show the plant structure and the leaves while the third photo shows immature roots and tubers. Its also called rattlesnake radish for obvious reasons. In the mid to late summer these tubers get up to five inch's long and its easy to gather a latge quantity. The roots and tubers are eaten raw and have a unique taste, some say like celery. The only problem with this plant is the fact that it is one of the most fast spreading and invasive plants in Florida. It ranks right up there with wandering jew, mexican poinsetta, and Bidens alba or spanish needles. I've batted them all. They're winning.

Standard cautionary notice!!! Never eat a plant you find in the wild without 100% positive identification. The wrong plant can kill you. Period. There are a ton of books out there these days that will lead you in the right direction. Here are the ones I use:

Botany in a Day by Thomas Elpel-super good book to teach you plants identification!

Edible Wild Plants of Eastern North America by Fernald and Kinsey-excellent book with drawings and uses.

Peterson Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants Eastern/Central North America by Peterson-one of the best with excellent illustrations and photos as well as uses.

Wild Edible Plants of Western North America by Kirk. I depended on this book when I lived and traveled in the western US. It has great drawings and descriptions as well as habitat and uses. Most of the plants are also found nation wide.

Of course there are a number of great books that I haven't mentioned but you can check them out on Amazon and see if its something you think you can use. Just do a search for "edible wild plants, foraging, wildcrafting".

More fire kit odds and ends

2021-01-29T18:30:00.003-07:00

I was impressed when I saw this tiny device in Ray Mears "The Survival Handbook" when it came out in 1990. The picture is part of a scan from page 48 of the book. I built one just like it from a Coleman Lantern Spark Igniter. I've had this thing in my fire kit for a long time and its never failed to start char cloth, commercial tinders such a Coughlans Emergency Fire Starter tinder tabs, and jute. Not a bad little fire starter. It uses common cigarette lighter flints. It was pretty simple to cut down the Coleman's to match the one in the book. I carried it in a small medicine bottle with a few tinder tabs. Amazon has the Coleman Igniter for sale at around $7 if interested. https://www.amazon.com/Coleman-Company-Lantern-Spark-Igniter/dp/B001CEMK1K/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=coleman+lantern+spark&qid=1611968757&s=sporting-goods&sr=1-1 I put this piece of kit in my truck bag since I upgraded to the UST Micro Spark Wheel in my fire kit.

The strange looking piece of metal in the last 3 pictures is a tool I bought from a member of Bushcraft USA in 2011. He went by the handle Petrifiedwood. I don't know his real name or what happened to him. He made these out of either O-1 or D1 steel and they are really tuff. This thing measures 3 inch's by 1 inch and 3/16 thick. I've used mine to strike sparks with a piece of flint, strike sparks with ferro rods, shave fatwood, as a handhold for a bow drill and a few other tasks. It's a handy tool for the fire kit as it can do a lot of things even non fire related. The long bottom edge of this tool is flat and makes a dandy fire steel, the end is ground to a chisel and its useful for a lot of things.The top edge has a 20 degree angle ground on it and is very sharp so its great for sparking ferro rods, shaving some fat wood or any similar tasks. I keep this with a big ferro rod, a piece of flint, and a container of char cloth in a leather pouch. I usually have this in my back pocket when I'm working here on the farm. I burn a lot of wood, brush and weeds and this keeps me in practice with flint and steel fire making.

The joys of online shopping

2021-01-28T17:38:00.001-07:00

Yeah, right. I live about 20 miles or so from the capital of Florida, Tallahassee. It is a dismal place to shop for anything outdoorsy,survival/preps, etc. There is Dicks sporting goods but I don't do business with the dicks at Dicks because they stopped selling guns to appease the progressive political left. Screw them. There are gun stores here and there and a plethora of pawn shops but prices are higher than retail. Oh, and we have the ubiquitous Wally Werld here and they have goods that range from pure garbage to fairly useful. They keep putting the guns away anytime someone gets into the chicken little routine. For example, election day and swear in day for the idiot Joe B. the pervo. They actually put everything in the back and had the nerve to lie to me and say "the manager who sells guns isn't here today". I will NEVER buy a firearm from Wallys. I've had better luck going to off the wall thrift stores. I've scored some very nice gear. For instance an Outdoors Products 13L small hydration pack brand new never opened for $4. Sweet! A brand new oil lamp for $3. Good deals. Now, as for shopping on the net, I do business with sellers on eBay and Amazon. We own a small business so we get some good deals on supplies and I find some new primitive/survival gear to try out or work with. I do a lot of leather work so most of my new tools are from eBay and I get some real good deals on leather. I recently picked up the Micro Sparkwheel from eBay for cheap and the Condor parang from Amazon on sale. There is a good chance to save a few bucks if you shop wisely. Now there are some real turds doing business on the web and the jerks I bought the Kershaw Camp 12 are a perfect example. I told them the tool was defective, the blade curved to the right, and I wanted my money back. They sent me the return authorization and yesterday I got the refund. Minus $15!!! For a restocking fee!!! They restocked a defective piece of crap to sell to some poor slob!! The blade was visibly bent to the right so this tells me that there is a problem with tempering and/or metal quality. And this is brand new out of the package!!! I've forged enough blades and other tools to know when there's a problem. What a bunch of jerks. When I bought one of the first sheath knives Condor made some time back, I noticed the handle was coming loose and it was a defective pin. I emailed them and they sent me a return label, fixed the handle, apologized and sent me back the knife. That's service. So, keep your eyes open for the good deals and watch who you deal with. Like an idiot, I didn't check out the ratings for the dealer who sold me the Kershaw. I learned the hard way.

Condor Village Parang

2021-01-27T19:33:00.003-07:00

I sprang for the parang. Yuck yuck. After the fiasco with the Kershaw useless piece of garbage I bought a real parang-the Condor Tool & Knife Village Parang. I paid $73 plus change at Amazon, free 4 days shipping, and its from the Condor Tool & Knife store so I'm getting the real deal. This is the cheapest I could find it anywhere. The sale price at Amazon was $68.65 so the rest is about $5 in tax's. If you want good gear you have to pay for it. The Village parang is a solid tool weighing in at 1 pound 9 ounces. The blade is 12 inch's long with a 10 inch cutting edge, with 6 inch handle its 18 inch's overall and the blade is 3/16 inch thick. It is full tang and has a hardwood handle pinned to the blade with heavy brass pins. There is also a brass lined lanyard hole at the back of the handle. It comes in a leather sheath and I remember seeing some You Tube videos about the sheath being shoddy. These were made back around 2013 or so and I hope Condor got the message and remedied the problem. There are a lot of reviews on You Tube but most are pretty boring. I enjoy the videos put out by Paul Coakley as Junglecrafty and a short one by the master of the parang, Ray Mears. All of Pauls videos are well done and you learn a lot. Much better than some young buck wailing on a stump with a plastic handled parang or golok or an 18 inch bladed machete. Of course, I enjoy all of Ray Mears videos and sometimes I catch a few Les Stroud shows. Those are my favorites. As a side note you can get all of Ron Hood and John McPherson's videos on Internet Archive. https://archive.org/search.php?query=woodsmaster&and[]=mediatype%3A%22movies%22 for Ron Hood and https://archive.org/details/primitive_wilderness_skills for John McPherson. John and his wife Geri are the authors of two of the best primitive skills books out there, Naked Into The Wilderness 1 & 2.

I'll be using the parang around the farm and in my travels. I'll be sure to post anything interesting about this quality tool. Here are some images of the CT&K Village Parang.

Less is more......

2021-01-26T20:40:00.007-07:00

....easier to carry. I have several types of fire making kits such as flint and steel, ferro rod, good old BIC, fire bow & drill and this one. It depends on what mood I'm in or where I'm going to choose the type I take. This is my sparking wheel fire kit I sometimes carry when out and about. As you can see there isn't a lot of stuff that makes up this kit. In the first picture is a Micro Sparkwheel Fire Starter from UST (Ultimate Survival Technologies) https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ultimate-Survival-Technologies-UST-Micro-Spark-Wheel-Weatherproof-20-02032-02/323795978453?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 and I paid all of $13 for two of them on eBay. One for my kit and one for the wife's. This is a great little piece of equipment for anyone to own and its very easy to master. There are several YouTube videos showing it, however I personally don't recommend running the wheel on a rock. Using your thumb is plenty good enough. These are about 1 1/2 inches long and come in a handy little tube with instructions and 3 extra flints. I put a spare spring from a defunct Bic lighter which I cut to size in the tube with everything else. I was shown one of these when they first came out and I was impressed by the amount of sparks and the bomb proof construction. Next is a pack of spare flints by Ronson. I recently bought a bulk lot of Zippo flints on eBay, 12 packs of 6 for a total of 72 flints. $10 for all, free shipping. What a deal! These should last for a very long time. I took the holders out of the bubble packs and put them in an empty vitamin bottle with a couple of moisture absorbers. Ronson and Zippo flints are made in Austria and are top quality as well as capable of throwing lots of hot sparks. I think the flints that come with the Micro are made in China but I'll use them up none the less. Here's the link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Zippo-Replacement-12-Flint-Value-Packs-for-All-Zippo-Lighter/261508751771?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

The brass tube with the kerosene lamp wick is a fire tube. I made a similar one years ago using a longer piece of brass and some 100% cotton rope. Link: https://ronsprimitiveskills.blogspot.com/2009/09/fire.html This one is made with 3/4 inch wide 100% cotton lantern or lamp wick. Again, I bought two 6 1/2 foot rolls of this for around $6 on Amazon. Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08MXXVXW2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 The tube is made from a fired .38 shell. This is much smaller than the one that uses the rope and you simply roll up the lamp wick, insert and you're just about ready. You need to char the end and to extinguish carefully pull the end of the smoldering wick halfway down the tube and put your thumb over the tube. Simple. The next time you need it just give it a dose of sparks and blow gently on the smoking tip.

Next is a nickel plated brass pill bottle. These are sold at most drug stores and I'm sure they can be found cheaper at Amazon, eBay, etc. This one has a screw top lid with a rubber gasket. Its full of my favorite fire starters - Coghlans. These are getting a little hard to find but in my opinion they are the best. Treat them like petroleum jelly cotton balls and you will get fire at first strike. I don't know the formula but they are cotton with petroleum jelly and some kind of wax. They are pink when brand new. These are over 15 years old and take off like I bought them yesterday.

The small canvas case, about 4 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches, contains this fire kit and a few minor essentials such as a piece of fat wood, some safety pins, a very handy multi use large finger nail clipper, a scalpel blade in its package and my little Brunton key chain compass. I threw in about 5 or 6 pieces of bicycle inner tube maybe 1/4 inch wide. They are great for wet weather fire starting. I keep an eye on the weather and if it even looks like rain I have a small zip lock snack bag full of very dry tinder stuffed in my pocket along with this kit. Just a guess but the whole thing probably weighs less than 5 ounces.

Downsizing

2021-01-24T21:54:00.001-07:00

Next month I will be 69. When you get as long in the tooth as I am, you start to look at all the stuff you own and say "do I really need all this"? A few years back I had a big clean out and got rid of a lot of knives, hatchets, axes, and camping gear. Now I am down to just a few old reliable knives, 2 hatchets and a 3 pound felling ax that never leaves the farm. I kept my Bahco 7" folding saw and my collapsible buck saw. The military pocket chain saw is in my BOB. I whittled away at all the fire making gizmos and a host of other gear. I figure if its going to weigh me down, I don't need it. Let someone else take care of it. I don't use a tent. I like my nylon tarps. I usually use a bedroll instead of a sleeping bag. My backpack is a medium sized one. As for cooking gear I have a stainless wide mouth thermos of 1 liter capacity and my trusty Zebra kettle. I always traveled light anyway and lighter is better. On my last big adventure I carried my Norlund, my Bahco and my Kukri. I did fine. I see some folks out on the trail with everything but the kitchen sink. All kinds of stuff hanging from their packs and belts. That would take most of the fun of woods running away for me.At one point I owned several very good compass's. Brunton, Silva, you name it. I kept the British Army issue one. A Silva, I believe. I have a little Brunton keychain compass for backup. Thats about all I need. My fire kit contains a big ferro rod I got from Going Gear and a Micro spark wheel from UST. I really like Coughlans emergency fire tinder. It is similar to Spark-lite Tinder Quick and works great. I only need a pea sized piece to get a fire going. I bought about six packages of this stuff 10 years ago and have plenty left. It doesn't get old. I can make fire with a bow drill or hand drill in my sleep and I leave them where I used them. The fire kit is for bad weather or emergencies. I do carry a small flint and steel kit in my back pocket to start fires here on the farm. Its just something I do for fun. The whole outfit weighs maybe 3 ounces. The truth is its easy to accumulate a lot of stuff you think you may need someday. Well, someday is here already for this pilgrim.

The Kershaw Camp 12 Parang is going back home.

2021-01-24T21:20:00.004-07:00

What POS quality control at Kershaw! The blade noticeably curves to the right. If the temper is messed up then its dangerous to use. I didn't even try it out. Asked Amazon for a return, got it and packed this thing up and it will go back tomorrow. I am going to buy the Condor Bushcraft Parang. I like the Village model, too. At least I am familiar with Condor quality and its not made in China. Years back I owned a Condor Tool & Knife Golok. It was a sweet blade. I downsized my collection and it was one of the things that went. I also had one of the early sheath knives and it was great, but it too went to a new home. When the Bushcraft gets here I'll give it a workout. Theres a portion of my fence line just covered with huge muscadine grape vines and privet trees asking to be cleared.

The Kershaw Camp 12 Parang

2021-01-23T19:17:00.005-07:00

This is something I did a lot of research on so I dropped a grand total of $31.96 to eCop! on Amazon. It arrived in 5 days. Sweet. Now to put it through its paces. I'll use this around the farm here, mostly for brush clearing. I'll give a full report after this thing gets a good workout. I'm looking to buy a similar sized parang for my bush kit and the Condor Village parang looks like it could fill the spot. Here are the specs for this tool:

There is a certain way you cut with these, there are a few good videos on you tube showing this technique, and it can make working with one safe and less tiring.

Hi-jacked and un-jacked

2021-01-20T22:39:00.001-07:00

My blog has been hijacked and come to find out they never posted anything. They did delete a bunch of my stuff but that can be fixed. Weird. It took a lot of work to get the powers that be to believe me when I told them I am who I say I am and I'm the author/owner/creator of Rons Primitive Skills. So finally after a long break I'm back. I've been doing a lot of primitive goodness these past years and will have gobs of goodies to share. I don't do Facebook anymore and I don't hang out at any forums. I've been doing a lot of research and working 12 hour days. Our business takes up most of my time. I have some articles to post soon such as the fire plow, some new and exotic cordage plants,how to get anything useful from low grade coastal chert and some more fire making fun stuff. We're still here in Florida and have been casually looking at some sites in Missouri and Tennessee. I have a lot of work to do to make this place get a good market value. We will try to sell it as a working hobby farm/horticulture business. I've gotten rid of a lot of gear over the last 7 years and I've bought some new things, too.I whittled my library down big time when I was still in California and now I only keep a few very good books. Now that our business is up and running I should be able to carve out some time for frequent posts. Stay tuned.....

Still among the living and way too many bugs!

2014-05-18T19:33:00.000-06:00

I have been so busy with the farm these past several months. I have been putting in all kinds of crops, building and improving pens for the various critters, and have had nearly no time to play or make stuff. In February I did manage to go to the Primitive Festival at Ochlockonee State Park just a few miles south of me. I bought some really nice stone for knapping and carving and I got to see some fantastic stuff like bows, atl atl's, and tons of rock and knapped wares. So many fantastic artists out there......
The bugs are and have been out for a while. During the early spring it was sand gnats and no-see-ums. Now its those wonderful things plus mosquitos, horse flies and all kinds of bees and wasps. You just have to know how to dress and have a good bug net for your head. I'll be doing a review of a bug headnet I got from my friend Ben at Bens Backwoods. We have been fortunate in increasing the number of very rare American Buff geese this spring. We now have 9 altogether. 6 babies were born two weeks ago, but, sadly we lost one of our geese, Sneezy, to being egg bound and she died.
Now that I have things under control (!?!?!?) I'll be able to write once in a while. Stay tuned for further adventures........

Newly hatched American Buff

Squash plants in pallets

American Buff chick a few hours old

Dolly the goat and her new digs

Chinese water chestnuts propagation

2014-01-15T10:14:00.002-07:00

I received a package from a very decent person here in Florida. It contained 10 corms of the Chinese water chestnut, Eleocharis dulcis. It will grow quite well here in Florida and I am zone 8a/8b depending on the weather. I am rather enjoying all the exotic (to me, anyway) plants, both native and cultivated, here in sunny Florida. My fiance, Annie, is an ardent Florida gardener and has taught me a lot about southern gardening which is completely different from anything I have ever experienced up north or out west. Here there is no "end" to the growing season as far as gardens go. The only problem we have had was a few nights of frost so far. We have radishes, carrots, and beets in the ground and a very healthy stock of tomatoes and peppers in trays getting ready for transplanting. We use only heirloom and non GMO, non hybrid organic seeds. These first photos show how I planted the water chestnuts in a temporary container that I bring in every night. I will transplant them to a kiddie wading pool after the last frost passes. If you are interested in these delicious plants do a search for Chinese water chestnuts and you'll see they are not hard at all to propagate. I would highly encourage anyone with an interest in exotic plants and southern gardening to go to http://www.floridasurvivalgardening.com/ This is a great site and has tons of interesting information. David is an expert on southern gardening.

The corms-some are sprouting already.

Another shot of the corms on our planting table.

The dirt-a mix of sandy loam and a bit of the local pipe clay.

Here's how much dirt I put in the bucket. Its a 2 1/2 gallon bucket.

Here are the corms before covering.

A closeup of the uncovered corms. I will leave the sprouts exposed above the surface of the dirt.

I use this specially modified bucket to water things that need the least disturbance to the soil. Its also very handy for draining wet potting soil.

Here's the bucket and contents before water is added.

We have several containers on the property to collect rain water. In the summer these can fast become mosquito heaven so we keep them covered.

Filling the watering bucket.

Adding the water to the soil with corms.

This shows the soil with about 6 inches of water over the soil.


The complete project-setting in the sun with our seedlings on the starter tray racks.

This and the next two photos are shots of our starter trays with very happy seedlings getting acclimated.

Peppers, cabbage and tomatoes.

The racks-recycled shelving units from a retailer long gone. The white ones are adjustable for shelf distance. This is a southern exposure and gets a good dose of sunshine all day.

Odd visitors

2014-01-15T08:37:00.000-07:00

I caught a glimpse of these flying over a few weeks ago and had my Kodak handy. The American Buff geese were not very happy about it but I was quite thrilled. They are F22 Raptors. Pretty neat to watch several million dollars worth of airplane fly over. Awesome!!!

Green Carving Wood-Yaupon

2013-12-10T16:24:00.000-07:00

Back in the middle of November I was clearing some of the brush and small trees from around the property. I took down the largest yaupon holly tree, Ilex vomitoria, I have yet seen. It was 20 feet tall and had a diameter at the base of 5 inches. I decided to cut it into 2 foot sections and seal the ends with latex paint for future carving material. The reason for sealing it is the habit of all holly trees to check and crack like crazy if they dry too fast. Its such a dense and beautiful wood and I don't want to waste an inch.
Yaupon isn't scarce here. I can count 100 of his cousins in 10 minutes within 20 feet of the stump. I have a few other holly trees in line for harvesting and I believe they are American holly, Ilex opaca. None of them are as large as the yaupon tree I took down, most being at the most 3 inches in diameter. These, too, will get the same treatment as the yaupon. I let the yaupon log air out and dry a little in the shade for about a month before I cut it and sealed it. I then moved the wood to our aviary to keep it out of the weather and give it a cool, shady place to dry. This wood is used for turning, inlay and carving. I plan to make a lot of spoons and utensils with some of this wood. A search for green wood carving has show quite a few pages and a lot of info on the subject. Looks promising. Here's a link that mentions yaupon holly in a wood working forum. Its the last post at the bottom: http://lumberjocks.com/topics/8709

Here are some photo's.

2 foot sections fresh cut & ready to treat

3 1/4" should be plenty big enough to get some good carvings. This wood will yield a lot of spoons and kitchen utensils as well as other good things!

Nice clean wood with a lot of potential.

I weighed each one to see how much they will loose after a month or so. It will probably take a few years to completely season and dry. I intend to sell them green as well as seasoned.

Another nice log.

Even the small stuff has some potential.

Sealed and ready to be put up.

In the aviary drying and waiting for sales.

Critters continued

2013-12-09T20:04:00.003-07:00

Here are some more photo's of the local fauna. Enjoy and please don't be afraid to ask questions. Thanks everyone!

eastern ringneck snake Diadophis punctatus

I found this handsome fellow under an old bucket yesterday. They are very docile and quite harmless to humans. They are the only species within their genus and have rear fangs and are poisonous. However the chance of being bitten is so darn remote due to the tiny size of the mouth. They bite their prey (worms, slugs, frogs, salamander and lizards as well as juvenile snakes of other species) and constrict. The venom eventually kills or incapacitates its meal. The venom is not produced in regular poison glands like a rattlesnake but in tiny organs called Duvernoy's gland which is located directly behind its eye. They rarely even attempt to bite a human and this would seem to prove that their poison is used for feeding rather than defensive purposes. They are fairly common, but being nocturnal, they are seldom seen. Special thanks to Annie for doing the photography and for sharing my love for all things natural.

American gree treefrog Hylidae cinerea

Another common resident here at the property. At night they like to climb the office window where Annie and I work and ambush the light loving insects. Cute little critters, aren't they? By the way, they are the state amphibian for Georgia and Louisiana.


Here's a full grown one-about 2 1/2 inches long perched on an elephant ear stem.

Copes Gray Treefrog Hyla chrysoscelis


Copes Gray Treefrog Hyla chrysoscelis

Anyone see the skull and crossbones on his back? That design would be more appropriate to a poison arrow frog from Central America.


Copes Gray Treefrog Hyla chrysoscelis

This handsome little guy is usually found hiding during the day under debris and comes out at night to eat. No two Copes have the same pattern. Each is individual and as you can see in the last photo it is very good camouflage.

Again, due to unauthorized use, I must repeat, all subject matter and photo's are my personal work and are in my copyright. Please don't republish them without my permission. Thanks! More to come so stay tuned!

Some Florida critters I've met

2013-12-07T13:25:00.000-07:00

I live in the area of Florida called the Big Bend which is where the pan handle coast curves northward on its west to east swing. Or east to west if you really care. Take a look at a map of Florida and you'll see. The area is sub tropical and unlike south Florida we do have a winter, though you wouldn't think so with yesterdays temperature being 80. This climate is highly conducive to a preponderance of animal species or in other words there are a lot of critters around! I remember seeing way too many snakes when I took survival class at Eglin AFB up near Crestview a long time ago. I've only seen two snake's here on the farm since I've been here-a juvenile black snake with a BIG attitude and a very docile corn snake. The only alligators I've seen were at the St. Marks River wildlife reserve. Of course the famous little anole or so called chameleon is everywhere. One day we caught around 25 just on the buildings here at the farm. They work on the local bugs so we let them all go after our little bit of fun.

Spiders are another story. I have seen dozens of different species here on the farm and it amazes me that I have seen NO black widows around since they are supposed to be so prevalent. I saw way too many up in Idaho but not a single one here. Yet. There are some huge orb weavers here such as the golden orb weaver or locally called the banana spider due to the shape of its abdomen. I read where they bite but not sure how poisonous. They build the most fantastic webs! Another one new to me is the orchard spider with its fluorescent looking orange and green markings. There is a big, beautiful lynx spider living in the banana trees. I see him buy the porch light some mornings taking care of any lingering insects. Another locally named spider is called the crab spider. I'm not too familiar with a lot of spider names but this name seems appropriate.

Every morning we see signs of armadillo digging during the night. They make a conical hole in the ground in their search for insects. From what I've read the eat earthworms and grubs as well as other critters. The local opossums are healthy and thriving. The neighbor has live trapped a few and we take them out in the way-back and release them. Ugly critters.

Here are some photos to give you an idea of whats going on here in sunny Florida. Please remember that these photo's are under my copyright. Feel free to download or "save image as" for your own personal use as long as you don't publish them. Enjoy!

Alligators

Anole's

Spiders

spinybacked orbweaver Gasteracantha cancriformis

daring jumping spider Phidippus audax

orbweaver Araneidae

green lynx spider Peucetia viridans

southern house spider Kukulcania hibernalis

orchard orbweaver Leucauge venusta ?


unknown orbweaver

to be continued.......

Florida-Busy Making Preps and Life in General

2013-12-05T20:39:00.004-07:00

Well, I made it through the hot and humid Florida summer. This has been a typical subtropical winter with highs being in the hi 70's today. Water is NOT a problem here! There is so much of it coming down. We had one day where there was a rainfall of 4 inches in a little over 10 hours. With the right storage system a person could store a lot of water for the garden. Speaking of gardens, we have our winter crops in and new seeds are under the lights right this minute. I have been checking out the local fauna & flora. The variety of insects is incredible, especially the spiders. Of course there is the Florida state bird, the mosquito. I hate those things with a passion but I have seen a few of the local "insect repellent" plants such as dog fennel and beauty berry. I tried beauty berry leaves this summer and by darn, it works! As a plus the berries are edible and can be used for making jelly and have medicinal properties. We, my fiance Annie & I, are selling some local natural items in our eBay store as well as the usual stuff. Look on my eBay link at the top right column to see what we have if you're interested. This economy is getting very rough and we are barely making it but we work hard and by the Good Lords blessings we do OK. I am doing research and some things with yaupon holly, Ilex vomitoria. The famous "black drink" was made by the local Native Americans from it, and I plan on seeing if selling the leaves for tea is feasible. The yaupon has a caffeine content that is less than coffee or tea, but enough to satisfy any craving for caffeine. "Dry, unprocessed yaupon leaves contain between .65 percent and .85 percent caffeine by weight. Coffee beans are about 1.1 percent caffeine by weight and tea leaves about 3.5 percent caffeine," according to a University of Florida article. As a plus they are rich in certain vitamins and antioxidants. I can reach out the bedroom window and grab a handful of yaupon leaves, its that abundant down here. Kind of like sage brush out in good ole' Idaho. Worth a web search if you are interested. It was used in the 1800's and during the Civil War as a coffee and tea substitute and unlike some other substitutes, it stayed around for a while until coffee became more plentiful and cheaper. I've read where birds will eat the berries but only as a last ditch effort in late winter. They must be considered as a "starvation food" among our feathered friends. Also, the wood is very nice and has been used for turnings, inlay and carvings. I removed the biggest yaupon I have ever seen from our goose pen. It was 20+ feet tall and about 6 or more inches in diameter. I am cutting it into 3 foot sections and sealing the ends. We have an aviary that's not in use so I'll stash it in there till its dry enough to use and sell. I don't know how well it does as a green wood for carving and I've read that the holly's have a nasty habit of cracking and checking if it drys too fast. Here are some shots of the local yaupon bush's. I'll be posting more interesting stuff in the near future as time permits. Thanks everyone and enjoy the holidays!

Whats going on?

2013-08-12T12:18:00.001-06:00

I have been very busy getting things done around here and have had little time to post. The garden is going full bore, the war against squash bugs and goathead's continues. I'll load some pictures of a family of California quail that live here. The babies are about 2 inches tall, fast and hard to get a good picture. I'll post some more good stuff in a little while since I have things under control and can take the time out to blog. Enjoy the pic's!