SurvivaLogic

Bradford Angier's Wilderness Classic - How To Stay Alive in the Woods

2013-06-12T11:39:00.000-04:00

One of the first books I received on wilderness skills as a young man was How To Stay Alive in the Woods. In fact, it was probably the second book in my collection - right after FM 21-76. I don't recall having too many impressions of the book back then. Knowing myself, I probably read the sections that were the most interesting - snares and fire - and skimmed the rest. Because, as I was aware then and you probably know by now, water and first aid and navigation are all pretty useless topics. Who cares about all that, right? I guess I would have been the perfect target audience for shows like Man vs. Wild.

Jump forward to this week, a friend of mine from work found an older copy of the book from Goodwill and generously gave it to me as a gift. The original copyright for the book was from 1956. This copy looks to be maybe late 80's, early 90's. I've been reading back through it on my lunch breaks, recalling a few parts from a decade ago, but most of it seems like a fresh read. I actually really enjoy finding and reading some of the older wilderness works. Not having been alive in the 50's, I imagine that they were one generation closer to the folks who lived from the land and relied daily on the skills most of us practice as a

hobby. A good example, when I was at RAT back in March, Jeff Randall has been reading through an old Boy Scout manual recently and had stumbled across a woods technique that I've never seen in any survival book. It was a method common to woodworkers and furniture makers, but had been apparently somewhat lost to bushcraft. The technique was geared to shelter building when lashing material might be scarce or unavailable and it picture to the right. Those are the kind of finds that pop up now and then in the old books that make them particularly enjoyable to peruse.

Yes, some of the information in Bradford Angier's book is a little outdated. Don't let that keep you from reading it though! I mean the guy wrote this stuff half a century ago. Throwing the book out because he endorses wool (Remember, "Fleece" isn't sheep wool. It's polyethylene terephthalate, the same stuff plastic bottles are made of, and didn't come along until the late 70s.) means you lose some interesting info and a good perspective from a man who lived what he wrote.

Crayon Candles

2013-06-12T10:40:00.001-04:00

After seeing Creek Stewart's post yesterday on unconventional candles, I tried his "Crayndle" at my niece's birthday party last night. Everybody crowded around for the experiment, which didn't go so well the first time, but lit up and burned on the second go. This picture was taken after about 5 minutes of burn time. Pretty good for a crayon!

Tip: Break the tip off the crayon first so you have a little bit of bare paper at the top to catch first.

Horses In The Stable

2013-06-11T10:58:00.000-04:00

House Finch Eggs

2013-06-07T15:19:00.001-04:00

A Better Eagle Picture From Last Night

2013-06-07T12:32:00.000-04:00

Leatherwork for Frontier First Heritage

2013-06-06T08:23:00.002-04:00

One of my favorite small fixed blades is the Blind Horse Knives Frontier First Heritage. 1/8" thick, sambar scales, D2 steel - it's an awesome little knife and is so nice that I am halfway scared to use it. As a left handed individual, I am just about guaranteed to have sheath issues. It's a fact of life for us lefties. This problem isn't the reason I started doing my own leatherwork, but it sure has been a handy side benefit!

The inverted neck sheath isn't the most popular method of carry that you might see. Some people don't like the idea of the blade being pointed back up at them in case they should fall. Some folks just don't like anything hanging around their neck. I can relate to that; having anything on my neck when I am working or sweating aggravates me, but for daily general carry, neck knives are good for me. If I'm sweating, the knife just gets moved to my pocket instead.

Bald Eagle

2013-06-05T09:51:00.002-04:00

Growing up, I remember hearing that bald eagles were a very endangered, very protected bird. I don't know that I was ever told this necessarily, but because I never saw one, I assumed that they were on the brink of extinction and their last strongholds were remote places like Alaska or Idaho. Maybe this was true 20 years ago when I was in elementary school or maybe they were rarer in Texas than in Georgia, but in the past year, I have suddenly begun seeing eagles here and there. Last year during a family photo session at Allatoona Pass, we watched an eagle flying over the lake and resting in the trees along the shoreline. It was the first one I had seen in years, and I was very surprised to run into one so close to the Atlanta area and on such a busy lake. I mentioned it to a good friend who is a native to the area, and he told me about the famous eagles at nearby Berry College where they have set up an eagle cam.

Then last night, that same friend called during dinner to say he had heard about an eagle's nest about 5 minutes from our house.The nest is on private property, but it can be seen from a little dirt trail off the road by the fence-line. The eagle was in the nest and was moving around, but it was only with binoculars that we could really see any detail because of the distance. I also learned last night that the head on an eagle only turns white once it is fully mature. Until then, the entire body is dark, and such was the case with this one. I only had my phone with me, so the photo isn't good, but you can hopefully see how enormous the nest is.

Snake Skin Attempt

2013-06-04T09:07:00.001-04:00

On one of the rural roads near my home yesterday, I went right over the top of this snake, barely missing him. The Ford Explorer behind me though, clipped it near the tail. I made it to my neighborhood and then it occurred to me that I've never skinned a snake, and this would be the perfect opportunity to try. Turning around, I went back, jumped out and snatched it up like a crazy person. Fortunately, I had one of those big Rubbermaid tubs to put it in inside my vehicle so it wasn't bleeding on anything. Once home, closer inspection revealed that it was already dead, and in fact may have been dead for a bit longer than I thought. It was still twitching slightly, but the scales were coming off (molting maybe?) and the body was rigid in a few places. Maybe the Explorer just hit it again after some other vehicle killed it earlier in the day. My wife was mortified that I brought it home and that I planned to skin it sitting on the driveway. I say, she knew what she was getting into when she married me :)

Never having skinned a snake before, I expected it to be a bit like TV - cut off the head and then just peel the skin off like removing the plastic from a Slim Jim. I don't know if it was because the snake was dead too long or what, but the skin itself just kept tearing and falling apart. I got it mostly skinned, but the condition of it was nothing I would tack up or keep. It was just more of an experiment really.

4.5' long Black Rat Snake

Luna Moth on the Trail Yesterday

2013-05-30T10:20:00.003-04:00

Bluegill Nests

2013-05-28T14:14:00.001-04:00

You may have to click on the picture to see the detail, but the things that look like tires under the water in the center of the picture are actually bluegill, or bream, nests. The spawning season starts at the end of may and runs through most of the summer.

Memorial Day Afternoon at The Pocket

2013-05-28T09:19:00.001-04:00

For the long weekend, Jeannie, Jack and Zane, and I all drove out to John's Mountain Wildlife Management Area to visit a place we've been planning to check out for a while, called The Pocket. I'm never entirely sure where WMA ends and NF begins up there, but it's very near Lake Marvin and the Girl Scouts' Misty Mountain Camp. The Pocket is built along a scenic creek that runs cool and clear from a natural spring. Though we didn't see it ourselves, some friends we ran into up there said they have seen people bottling the water from the spring, gathering it right at the source.

Jack and Zane had a blast, throwing rocks and running down the creekbed. Jack and Jeannie managed to corner a five inch crawdad (so they say!) that just slipped past them, and despite the relative crowd of people there, we were able to find a quiet stretch of creek to play in. In his typical enthusiastic manner, Jack said that it was the best day of his life and that he hoped we could live there. Either he's like me and just loves the outdoors, or we've done a terrible job showing that kid a good time so far!

Swollen River

2013-05-20T17:07:00.002-04:00

We have had just excessive amounts of rain here for the past month - enough that all of the creeks, rivers, and lakes are overflowing. Snapped this shot of the Etowah yesterday where Euharlee Road crosses over.

Neck Sheath Design

2013-05-15T12:21:00.000-04:00

After seeing the creative sheath that the guys at BHK are making for the May 2013 special, I came home last night and made a small O1 neck knife and little neck sheath to go with it. Though not as polished as the ones that Blind Horse is making, I love this design! It holds the knife snugly, is slim and light, pretty easy to make, and looks good. I modified the design a bit to integrate the style into a pouch sheath design, but it really didn't change the function of the sheath, only the amount of stitching.

Using Non-Magnetic and Non-Electronic Navigation Aids

2013-05-12T10:49:00.000-04:00

One of the the more useful navigation tools that I had forgotten about, but was reminded of during the navigation portion of a recent course with RAT was the use of clear nav cards. They were also demoing their new Survival/Navigation Notebooks which also include one page of hard clear plastic that is printed and can be used as a non-magnetic "compass" to find your heading. The process to use these cards is simple, but when you see it work for the first time, it makes you scratch your head for a minute. Now these cards aren't a replacement for a compass. They do a fine job giving you a heading number, but a compass is still needed to turn that number into a path for your feet to follow.

To illustrate their handiness, on the map above a path has been marked between Hanging Mountain and Sugar Hill Pond. Knowing the area, I could guess that the heading should be a bit west of due north, but that's about as specific as I could tell you offhand. Using a map and compass, the first task would be to spread out the map, align the edge of my compass to a north/south indicator like the map border or grid line on the map, and then orient the map itself so that north on the map points north in real life. Once I have done that, my compass, map, and the real world all line up with each other (except for declination which I pretend doesn't exist most of the time!).

With map aligned, I can move the compass back over to the path I have marked, align the edge of the compass with the drawn path, and then rotate the compass bezel until north on the compass bezel lines up with the red magnetic indicator. At this point, it is apparent that my direction of travel will be right around 332 degrees. Not quite north, but certainly northward and this would seem believably close when I line it up against my knowledge of the area. I expect this is how most people who use a map and compass work the two together - lay the map down, orient the map, align the compass to the path, box the arrow, and then read your heading. Pretty traditional stuff.

Now, let's screw up the orientation of the map
so that north on the map is pointing eastward in real life.

If you do navigate using this method above, you know how hard it is to maintain the map's north/north orientation, especially on uneven ground or on a boat or even on a windy day. Here's where those clear cards come in handy! The whole reason you have to orient the map is because your compass needle is always going to swing north, and there is nothing you can do about that. But with the cards, the north mark points whichever way you want it to. Since north is clearly marked on every topo map, you already know in the map's world which way north is. To find your direction of travel, you just lay the clear card on a north/south line on the map, line up the 360 and 180 marks on the card with that line, and your card and map are now aligned, even if you are facing west or even holding the map in your hands. Center the dot on the card over your marked path and your heading is apparent - very close to 332 degrees. No worrying about having bumped the map or finding a flat surface to lay it on. Just slap the card down, align the directions with what's marked on your map, put the center dot over your path, and read your heading! Of course, you still need the compass for when you start moving unless there are some unmistakable visible landmarks you can use.

Deep Etched Knife Blade

2013-05-08T12:46:00.001-04:00

How To Make Burlap "Micarta"

2013-05-07T18:06:00.001-04:00

Well, I put "Micarta" in quotes since that's a brand name material, but that is what everyone seems to refer to any type of textile laminate in this niche. I've seen it called Mycarta which is kind of catchy. I am a big fan of burlap as a laminate material. It has an interesting texture and a more old fashioned look. Making up a batch for yourself is pretty easy, cheap, and painless.

1. Take the measurement of your knife and cut the burlap to length. Determine what width and thickness scales you want to end up with. I have found that 7 sheets of burlap make 1/4" thick laminate.

2. For mixing the fiberglass, I use a little 3oz cup. I tick off the oz lines to aid in measuring the mix.

3. Once you have your stack of burlap, you'll need to prepare the fiberglass. You can also use epoxy in place of fiberglass if you'd rather. The Extra Time variety of epoxy can be more forgiving time-wise if you are worried about being quick enough. The fiberglass works for me because it sets faster and I can get to work sanding on it. The stuff in the picture has a 15 minute set time and a 2 hour cure time, though it really seems more like 12 hours before it is completely hard and not tacky. I lay out a plastic bag on a flat surface, don the gloves, mix the fiberglass, then on to step 4.

4. Lay down a bottom layer of fiberglass mixture on the plastic bag underneath where you are going to put your first layer of burlap. Then layer down the burlap and apply fiberglass to the surface until it is soaked. Add another layer of burlap and repeat until you're either out of fiberglass mix or you have achieved the thickness you are after. Remember, the burlap is going to be compressed as it dries, so err on the side of thicker.

5. Fold the plastic bag over the top of the burlap so it doesn't stick to whatever flat, heavy object you are going to set on top of it. This pushes out any air bubbles and ensures that each layer adheres to the ones above and below it.

6. Finished product - 2 hours later. It is still tacky at this point.

7. Finished burlap laminate ready to use as knife scales. It works and cuts like any hardwood.

Stacked Leather Hobo Fishing Handline

2013-05-07T17:34:00.001-04:00

Smooth Black Scandi

2013-05-01T09:58:00.000-04:00

Tiny PSK Knife

2013-04-30T15:15:00.001-04:00

Fixed blade knife sized to fit in a mini Altoids Tin PSK. Definitely a little two finger blade!

Black Etched Scandi

2013-04-30T13:14:00.002-04:00

How To Make Charcloth

2013-04-22T21:41:00.000-04:00

Making A Knife From An Old Bearing

2013-04-21T23:50:00.000-04:00

This guy's work is terrific. His shop, his location, his minimum of tools. Makes me want to get an anvil and take up smithing!

Bloodthirsty

2013-04-21T05:00:00.000-04:00

This is the blade that caught me on the hand yesterday. A couple of butterfly bandages and I was able to finish it up today. This one was experimental. I prefer the look of a black blade, either with the scale from the heat treat left on or a forced patina from vinegar. My wife told me that I needed to stop only making dark knives and give a shiny finish a try. She has a point - most knives are shiny after all. It's a thin scandi knife in O1 with a black kydex sheath. I'll pocket carry it for a while and see if the shine holds up.

Burlap Handle

2013-04-20T23:30:00.000-04:00

Burlap is my favorite handle material. Soaked in epoxy or fiberglass, it has a cool pattern to it, finishes matte, and works a little easier than micarta. I'm always on the lookout for other absorbent materials that might make a good laminate. Lately I've been wondering about thin barks?

The Easiest Non-Traditional Fire Firestarting Method

2013-04-20T17:34:00.002-04:00

I first heard of the Fresnel Lens about two years ago. The applications that it was developed for really have nothing to do with the wilderness survival, but it's a really great, cheap little addition to your wallet or Altoids Tin Kit. It is simply a flat piece of material with little ridges grooved into it. The one that I carry is sold by Ben's Backwoods for $3.00. It fits in my wallet, takes up hardy any space and is easier to keep on my person than say, a firesteel. The down side to a lens over a firesteel is that you need clear weather and a view of the sun to get a fire going. On an overcast day, the lens isn't going to work at all.

Oh and also, this is a good alternative for those who want to be a bit more primitive that a lighter and a newspaper but who are friction fire impaired like me :)

Everything you need, plus a little PSK blade. I chose paper for contrast, but there are plenty of better materials to try this on. Fatwood dust, dryer lint, cottonballs, charcloth...

You want to adjust the lens placement until just a focused dot of sunlight is on the tinder material

After 2 minutes

At 3, smoke appeared and at 4 minutes, the first flames came up an charred the paper

At 5 minutes, a nice little coal in there

Photo taken in the shade so you can see what the charred area amounted to