Having fun with a small Fresnel lens. These are great to keep as a backup in either your wallet or char tin. I had to hold it a little higher as compared to the 50mm glass lens but still had a fire going within a minute.
https://www.survivalsuppliesaustralia.com.au/Fresnel-Lens?b7=z1
Looks like Dan Wowak from Coalcraker Bushcraft did it again. I really enjoy his hacks. The problem Ive been having with pot hangers is that most of them require staking into the ground. This is great when the soil is soft but where Ive been camping it always seems to be hard ground and these haven’t had much in the way of adjust-ability for simmering. Ive tended to like a tripod for this reason but hadn’t figured out how to use multiple pots. Just add a cross-piece to two of the tripod legs. Easy! And move the legs in and out from the coals The only improvement I can think of would be an idea I saw on an old Hoods Woods dvd with Ron Hood that incorporates a longer leg on the third tripod leg which can be rotated to raise the cordage holding the primary pot.
Coalcracker Hack
Other Pot Hanger Systems
Translates to Forest bathing. Shinrin-Yoku is the practice of immersing our senses in nature with the intention of enhancing well-being, or taking in the forest atmosphere.
Emerging from Japan during the 1980s alongside the Japanese art of mindfulness, emphasizing a lingering in the present moment, this restorative and engaging health practice incorporating a range of nature-based interventions, is becoming a cornerstone of preventive health care and healing
In Japan it is called shinrin-yoku (森林浴) or shinrin-roho (森林療法), in Korea it is referred to as sanlimyok (산림욕) and in China people call it senlín liáofǎ (森林療法)
To go forest bathing is simply to immerse yourself in nature, soaking up the sights, sounds, touches and smells of the great outdoors.
A new mate suggested I look into this as a way of enhancing the Bird Language and Tracking courses. I thought it looked interesting enough Id share his idea on the blog.
“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks”
John Muir
https://www.shinrinyokuaustralia.com.au/blog
https://www.workman.com/products/shinrin-yoku/hardback
https://www.shinrinyokuhk.com/whatisshinrinyoku/
https://www.centreofexcellence.com/shop/shinrin-yoku-forest-bathing-diploma-course/
Beginners Knife Making by James Gibson an ESEE Knives Designers. I really enjoyed this course, it gave a good introduction to knife making and I became interested enough to consider making my own blades. I have designed knives before and had them made up by other makers and had done forging earlier on in my life. The short course covered :
Roughing out a blank
Profiling the knife blank
sharpening drill bits
Grinding bevels
Heat treating
Stoning the blades
Blade etching
Attaching the scales
Kydex sheaths
Final edge sharpening
The course was a good concept of teaching someone else within the shop and filming it. I would like to have seen more of tempering, sanding grades and applications, close ups of marking the blade, however well worth the $25USD.
Id like to try getting a stencil of a LT Wright GNS and make up my own version in 15N20 steel and Tasmanian Blackwood. I have a few questions on angles to start with on different grinds, different heat treatment temperatures of steals. Ive had a good understanding of metal work from school and beyond with a good eye and timing. While I have access to a workshop this is something Id really like to try. I’m trying to nut out a few courses I have put off lately to make way for my tracking course where it will require more concentration and is tested throughout the course, before my Bird Language course begins.. I don’t see the point in wasting time while I’m laid up doing rehab when I can still be learning. I’m starting to get back on my feet, thx Dave for the motivation.
I was trying to sort some of my stuff and came across a magnifying glass from Survival Supplies Australia and being a nice day for a change decided to give it a try. I made a small birds nest from jute twine and filled the center with char cloth. I didn’t make a large nest as I wasn’t starting a fire for anything other than to see if the glass worked for me.
Temperature is 21 degrees Celsius clear day.It took less than 90 seconds to have the char cloth smouldering and another 30 seconds to have the flame too hot to hold the jute twine. I was very impressed.
I was watching the Grey Bearded Green Berets video on what he carry’s in his bushcraft belt pouch and several times through his videos he has mentioned carrying a magnifying glass as a way of lighting a fire without using up resources. I hadn’t thought of carrying a glass until seeing his clips,most of the time when I go bush it isn’t clear or warm enough to use one but from now on Ill be considering it more often.
https://www.survivalsuppliesaustralia.com.au/Magnifying-Lens-with-Leather-Holder?b7=z1
“I wake up in the morning, open my eyes and breathe… I’m alive.”
I saw the above quote some where and I have been thinking of it often. This has been the first time in 20 years I have not owned an animal. My cats and dogs were family and followed me every where, totally devoted to me and I to them. If the cat and dog weren’t looking for me, I was looking for them. If not for them I would never had made it out of hospital or out of a wheelchair for that matter. My dogs got me up and walking after many surgery’s, because I had to take care of them.
Its taking longer than I anticipated to adjust to not having them around. I’m trying to keep constantly busy from first thing in the morning until I’m exhausted of a night in order to sleep. Trying to concentrate on rehab. I have a long way to go if I ever want to get into the field again. I have a good ten kilo to put back on.
I’m doing my leg exercises everyday, rehab at the physio twice a week and start back at the gym for upper-body next week. I barely have the energy or the concentration to study or to write posts. I’m getting behind on three different courses. Ive spent the last 20 years waking at six am and now I sleep till eight.
I need to get my shit together. I’m loosing my discipline and drive. Life doesn’t feel the same at this moment in time, without my constant shadows.
“I wake up in the morning, open my eyes and breathe… I’m alive.”
Saturday the 3rd will be the 8th Birthday of as we say, my second double bilateral lung transplant. I had spent 12 years of my life carrying around an oxygen bottle, over a combined 90 days in ICU, 2 years dragging my leg around after a 90 liter blood transfusion into my groin blew up and they had to cut out the lump the size of a German sausage, sew it back up with a vac drain. I could have fit my fist in the hole. Spent a lot of the time doing rehab and getting back into martial arts and have tried to make as much use of my time as I could. All I had to do is out live my animals. My two cats and two dogs and I made sure I pushed myself to a level I never thought possible to make sure that happened and that my animals were taken care of. All of them were pretty much my shadows. My tortoiseshell passed away in 2020 and Tashy my brindle staffy a few weeks ago. I feel lost with out them. The calmness they brought to my life is leaving me. Tashys ashes are returned to me tomorrow so she can finally join my tortoiseshell. They were inseparable and will be scattered with my ashes in turn. Ill be sitting by the fire pit with Tash in her favorite chair around the fire drinking a few beers with her one last time. Time is fleeting , make the most of it.
“The Purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ive started an online tracking course with Lee Burton which has a rather extensive reading list on top of the lectures through out the course. Looks like Ill be investing a lot on more books.
The course covers:
Interpret track morhologies for mammal, reptile, amphibian and avain species, Identify tracks in the field for canines, felines, ungulates, rodents, proconidae, small ammmals, herps and birds
Recognize other animal sign (digs, burrows, beds, runs, debarking, marking, feeding, kill sites and skeletal remains)
Identify scats of mammals, reptiles, amphibians and birds
Analyze and interpret animal gaits and differentiate between tracks of varying ages
Recognize fresh animal spoor and techniques for following trails
Improve pattern recognition skills
In the words of Ernest Thompson Seton “…the oldest writing known on the earth.” Tracking
https://courses.naturaliststudies.com/collections
https://www.booktopia.com.au/tracks-scats-and-other-traces-barbara-triggs/book/9780195550993.html
https://www.booktopia.com.au/practical-tracking-louis-liebenberg/book/9780811736275.html
https://www.booktopia.com.au/animal-tracking-basics-jon-young/book/9780811733267.html
Id purchased a Remote Projects oilskin Tarp 9×9 some time ago and due to traveling for courses or injuries hadn’t tested it as much as I would have liked. During my time laid up from the knee Ive been going through all my gear and getting it ready for as soon as I’m able to go bush again without fear of doing any further damage to myself. The older version of Remote Projects tarps have a sewn in ridge-line. I tend to set my tarps up now using a plough point rather than an A-Frame and was thinking of either selling my original tarp and purchasing the newer version with no in built ridge-line or trying to order from over seas from Tentsmiths. Which I may still do for an 8×8 size. However after contacting Ross Remote Projects, He was able to remove the sewn inline and re-enforce the center-seam for me, saving me from selling it or having to purchase another. Thx Ross. I may have to enquire about getting an 8×8 from Ross at some stage. Dave Canturbury may be coming over to Australia at some stage to teach his level 1 and an 8×8 is required for his level 2 course. I believe on level 2 you have to build your own ladder style pack frame and wrap your gear in a tarp to carry it.
From Wiki ; (The Sami knife (Sami: stuorraniibi = “big knife”, Finnish: lapinleuku or leuku), is a large knife traditionally used by the Sami people.
The Sami knife has a long, wide, and strong blade that is suited for light chopping tasks such as de-limbing, cutting small trees for shelter poles, brush clearing, bone breaking and butchering tasks, and is sometimes used as a substitute for an axe for chopping and splitting small amounts of firewood from standing dead trees—an essential ability when all dead and fallen wood is buried underneath many layers of snow. Typical Sami knives have a blade length ranging from 200 millimetres (7.9 in) to 450 millimetres (18 in).
The blade’s edge often has a Scandinavian grind, i.e. a single flat bevel. The blade should be strong enough to split (reindeer) bones, and tempered to sustain low temperatures.
The Sami people typically use two knives; the smaller called a, puukko or unna niibaš ( “small knife” ); while the larger “Sami knife” is called stuorra niibi ( “big knife” ). An even larger version known as a Väkipuukko (or Sax) is similar to a seax named after saxons.)
The Shaman Leuku arrived today. The postage only took a week from Hungry. We were a little concerned with the shipping at the moment as to whether it would arrive or not. Laci was great to deal with, always keeping me up to date and great to chat with.
Made from Slepner Tool Steel, a tougher version of D2 steel with greater edge retention and hardness. I was looking for a Leuku that was a modernized version. This one is 200mm long approx 6mm thick but looks much thicker. However doesnt feel heavy, that you would think from the look of the full tang. I really like how Laci finished it off for me with the rustic file work to the handle.
Had to have a quick chop for an initial testing. Felt no hot spots on the handle, no harmonics. I only had seasoned Yellow box Gum on hand and the blade made quick work of it and left no rolling or chipping to the blade and could still take hair off my arm. I like that it has a hand guard unlike traditional versions.
I’m no longer living in an area with a state forest so Im having difficulty finding green wood to do my testing on. Ill have to do a complete review after I have a chance to spend a few months using it. I luv the nice high scandi grind. The sheath is made of thick leather and reinforced with rivets with what feels like an oil finish.
It arrived at just the right time. I’m finally out of the leg brace after six months but still require one crutch outdoors and can only bend the knee to 90 degrees. Between the pain killers and loosing the staffy I’m going a little stir crazy so blade testing will get me motivated to get out more and explore the area. Not really the same without the dog following me around watching everything I’m doing with a look on her face like what are you doing crazy human but Ill follow you around anyway.
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