Yesterday’s weather was reasonable with a medium SW wind. The temperature was about 9 degrees and there were sunny intervals.
It was nice to get back to the woods after last weekends jaunt down to the coast.
I had a couple of tasks. I had just received the new 2008 DDHammock and I was eager to try it out. Some guys on BCUK are thinking of a group buy, so I thought I would make a video showing people around it. You can find it here. I’ll do an initial review after I’ve taken it out on a proper excursion.
First impressions are that that this hammock is ideal for those wanting an in-built mossie net. In this version, the netting is much finer. In fact I’m warming the idea of a mossie net. It does keep the wind off of the body to some extent. I’ll try it out in earnest next week at the Essex Bushmoot.
After a hard hour’s videoing, I settled down and treated myself to a fry-up breakfast of bacon, scrambled egg and tomatoes. Of course this was done with the Bushbuddy stove. I’m really getting used to this stove and the way you can control the heat by adding the right size wood. It was quite windy and I did notice that the flames were buffeting away in the wind. This is because the grate is quite high. I think in high winds, this might potentially be a slight problem. I think a wind shield will be essential for open ground or very high winds.
I managed to have a cutting session with my new birthday present. I’d hinted at this knife when Mrs P asked what I wanted. After going through all the items in excess of £200 (!) she agreed to “think about it”. The knife duly arrived. It is a 3 inch neck knife made from 3mm 01 tool steel and Rosewood handle from Bearclaw. I dyed the sheath a dark brown and it now sits nicely alongside my antler firesteel around my neck. It’s a great little knife, unobtrusive but heavy enough for most tasks. The handle is really comfortable. Again, I’ll do an initial review when I’ve used it properly.
I also tried out my new Cold Steel Kukri Machete. I ordered this as it was really cheap (£18). I wanted to try out a longer blade and the kukri shape appealed to me. I knew there will be some constraints because of the cheap steel, but at least it will give me an idea of the cutting abilities before coughing up £80 or so for a proper kukri.
I don’t want to replace any of the blades or the axe. I’m just curious on how this will perform. I had a swipe at a dead branch and immediately found my arm tingling. Mmm… perhaps not suitable for chopping large wood, but it successfully completed all the tasks for splitting smaller dead wood. It was much more suited to green wood and I even managed some carving with it. I’ll give it a go over the next couple of months.
My last task was just to relax and take in the wood. I packed everything away and sat quietly. The leaves have all but disappeared from the trees. The nettles have long since died back and you can almost see from one edge of the wood to the other. It was pretty quiet apart from the squirrels darting about in the leaf litter and the occasional pheasant call.
It appears a sad time, but of course it’s not. All the nutrients in the plants are going into the roots and this is a time for slow-down, not close-down. The cycle of life is at its storage phase ready for the regeneration that the warmer months will bring.
Thanks for the visit.
Pablo.
Welcome.
This is the home of Woodlife. You will find links to Pablos Woodlife (blog) the Woodlife Social Network (forum) and Woodlife Trails (courses) all on this page.
I should persevere with the kukri blade, they seem a bit of a compromise at first but soon grow on you. I use one when I’m kayaking because it is short enough to fit in the hold. I’ve found a follow through with a quick flick of the wrist at the end gives the most comfortable chopping action. It’s got me out of many a scrape when fighting my way through overgrown river channels. They can be a bit of a fiddle to sharpen though.
What do you like your CS kukri-machete? It could be nice to hear more user experiences about it.
Great blog, keep going!
Regards
Kai from Finland
Barkfoot and Kai,
Thanks for the comments.
I’ll let you know how I get on with the CS kuk when I use it a few more times. At the moment, I’m just getting used to sharpening it.
Cheers,
Pablo.
Hi,
Inspired by your post I decided to try big blade instead of an hatchet / axe and see how it perform in bushcraft.
But instead of kukri-machete I decided to try CS 12″ barong-machete. It´s also interesting classic shape of nativepeople´s tools. Maybe not so radical that kukri´s design.
- Kai