5th February

Fine sunny day 6 degrees C no wind. No rain again. There’s been no rain for a while now. I’m still trying to track the foxes, but I’ve only saw a fleeting glimpse today as I started off in the wood. I quickly gave up and started on my spoon project. I’ve decided that anything I make, I will only make in the wood with no other materials or tools apart from what’s in the wood, or what I bring with me. This is really quite a lot, because I tend to carry a fair amount, despite a promise when I started not to be too laden down.

I usually have a hand axe; laplander saw (recent purchase) Mora clipper and SAK. My first piece of wood was far too hard to work, but the second seemed to be softer. I quickly made a spoon of sorts, which is very rough and ready.

My second spoon ended in disaster as the wood split on the second axe strike. Far too confident!

The first spoon will do for a while.

Despite my promise only to make tools and crafts in the field, I had to bring home the spoon I started last week and finish it off by a bit of sanding and oiling. It didn’t take me too long to sand down to a nice smooth finish completing it with a couple of coats of olive oil. I decided to mark the occasion of May day (May 1st) by engraving the handle by using a soldering iron. I generally don’t do many craft type projects, so I was quite pleased with the end result.

A bit late posting this one, as I went out Friday (see last post) and Saturday. I wandered back into my usual woods. I’m so delighted to find the ‘secret clearing’. If it doesn’t get flooded in the winter, I can see this being one of my favourite spots. I will be careful not to frequent the spot too often. After a while an area does look ‘lived in’ and I don’t intend that to happen in any of the areas I visit. I couldn’t resist though making it a little more comfortable for future visits.

I dragged a couple of loose stumps over from another area. I think it’s quite important to have somewhere to sit on (even though I use the hammock as a seat) and a good solid stump to do some knife and axe work. A smaller stump would do as a stand for the trangia. I call this basic site furniture. Ideally the stump for the knife and axe work should have a ledge at the rear of the stump to rest the wood you’re working on. If it hasn’t been cut through properly then it will have ‘barber chaired’ which will act as a natural rest.

A bit more foraging and enough wood for a some basic tools was found. A baton is always useful especially if no axe is available. This in turn leads to a couple of pot hangers. I practiced battoning until I had made a notch in the pot hanger in about 45 seconds. Next came a couple of ‘Y’ shaped standards and cross pole for a cooking fire. Finally I made a tripod. This could have a number of uses, but primarily I use it as a rucksack holder (for larger rucksacks that can’t be hung on a branch). Another use is as a tripod stand for cooking where, instead of a cross pole, the pot hanger is put on a long pole and balanced on the tripod. The pole can then be varied in height (by using a cantilever method) to raise and lower the pot hanger, hence putting the billy can closer or further to or from the fire.

I had a bit of wood left over and carefully stashed it away for future use.

Before I left the site, I cached the tools and furniture so as not to make it obvious that anyone had visited the site and also to try to keep the wood dry for my next visit.

On the way back I bumped into this little chap. As you can tell he wasn’t too pleased to see me! For those not sure, it’s a Devils coach horse and isn’t as harmful as it looks. The threatening posture is enough to put anyone off though. According to Irish folklore, it is a symbol of corruption and eats ‘sinners’. The raising of the tail casts a curse. If that’s not enough, if we were lesser animals or birds, we would be on the receiving end of some foul smelling chemicals emitted from anal glands. Nice!

At last we’ve had a bit of rain but this has also brought strong and blustery winds. It’s been reasonably mild though. The wind and rain fortunately didn’t start before I took myself into the woods for another 24 hour excursion. This time I took more kit, more water, heavier tarp and the new Bcuk Magikelly hammock for a trial run. I wasn’t too bothered about space and weight as I dragged along the Sabre 75 for a bit of an outing.

I set up as usual and collected firewood for the fire later on. I’m getting used to prepping the fire far in advance of nightfall. I use small fires and start with digging a small trench about a foot long by 6 inches wide. I then place fine twigs as kindling across the gap and layer increasingly larger twigs on the top, alternating the direction as I layer. This is my favoured method over a pyramid type fire at the moment. When lighting the fire, I always use the fire-steel and birch bark slivers. I then feed the kindling by using the small trench. This keeps the flame out of the wind, but provides a little air circulation. The birch bark produces a flame after a few strikes with firesteel without producing an ember first, which is quite handy, but I know I must practice blowing an ember into a flame sooner or later.

As the evenings are now getting longer I decided to do a bit of spooncraft before going to watch the wildlife. It’s been a while since I’ve made a spoon and this was my first effort with the mini hatchet. I was extremely impressed with this axe. After initially missing the weight of the Small Forest Axe for the heavy stuff, I was soon glad of the mini’s small blade for more intricate and delicate carving. In fact most of the carving was done with the axe and not so much with the Companion’s fixed blade. I knew this would be the case. Watch out Companion!

After wandering about looking at the night time wildlife (I’m pretty sure I saw a Barn owl sweeping silently across the field), I returned to the site and lit the fire. It was a bit windy and again I made heavy weather (‘scuse the pun) of lighting the fire, but it eventually caught and soon a nice warming fire was crackling away with a small flask of Brandy to keep away the chill.

As I’ve already said, the Bcuk group buy hammock is huge. It certainly swamps me, and that has it’s advantages and disadvantages. Slinging it like the DD leaves a large sag where I’m literally bent double, so I tied it lower but even more taught than the DD. Even so, I can’t see over its edge when lying down. Lengthways, the 3×3 tarp only just covers the hammock. The material is like parachute material and stretches a little more than the ripstop of the DD. Despite the differences, I had a good nights sleep. What I do like about this hammock is that you can sit very comfortably “athwartships” due the the extra large width. I might take this combination (Tatonka tarp and Bcuk hammock) to the Bushmoot at the end of the month.

I finished the outing the next morning by looking for a few new plants in flower. I saw some Forget-me-nots, Bugle, Dog’s mercury, Vetch, Ground ivy and the Arum lilly (or Cuckoo pint – pic). This is one flower you don’t want to mess with as most parts are poisonous (especially the red berries which show in the autumn). Apparently, the roots are in fact edible and contain a high starch content. In Elizabethan times, they were gathered for stiffening the high, pleated linen ruffs seen in the paintings.

The afternoon looked increasingly like rain, and rather than get everything soaking wet, I packed away and headed home.

By the way, I’ve added another short video to my video channel. This one’s about the Crusader cooker. See you next time and thanks for the visit.

Pablo

I kind of got the message when I recently presented Mrs Pablo with my latest spoon creation. “Oh, that’s nice. Another spoon.” Now I can take a hint. I’ve only made 6 after all. Time to try my hand at something else. A kuksa; a bowl; a chair; a wardrobe? No. I think I’ll hone my skills before trying something more advanced.

I’ve been using a tracking stick for a while and bought an excellent one from an instructor on the Shadowhawk course. So here was the challenge. To make another tracking stick, but all my own work.

What I really wanted to do was practice some carving and integrate that into the stick, so I found a dead straight piece of hazel and carved around the outline of a feather drawn into the stick. Not having any specialist carving blades I reverted to the Bark River PSK. The edge is extremely sharp and thin enough to do the intricate work. The point is also thin which helped. Once again, I found the handle a bit slippery, and my hand cramped up on occasions due to the handle’s small size, but all in all I managed quite adequately.

Reasonably content with the carving, I ordered a Silva button compass (the diameter was the only one that fitted the top of the stick) with a view to unashamedly copying the design of the stick I’d purchased on the course with the compass set into the top of the stick. I hollowed out the top of the stick very carefully with the tip of the crooked knife I use for the spoons plus the PSK. I also ordered an Alpine ferrule to fit the bottom of the stick. The ferrule’s diameter was too big as it turned out, as stupidly I’d already pointed the stick so I had to make a few adjustments.

I’ve made it a rule to do all crafts in the woods, but now I had a bit of a problem finishing off the stick. I tried to find some pine resin to fit the ferrule and compass, but not finding any in the local woods, I had to resort to “No More Nails!” Hardly a bushcraft solution, but I didn’t want to ruin the stick at this stage.

I carved some ruler marks into the stick and finished the whole thing off with a coat of dark wood stain primarily to hide the adjustments of fitting the ferrule.

The final result. One tracking stick ready to go.

Now, I wonder how many of these I can do before Mrs P says, “Oh, another stick.”

Pablo.

PS The last (at the moment) in the mini series of Useful Plants and Fungi has now been uploaded to Pablo’s Videos (You Tube).

We arrived at the site in Buckinghamshire in the pouring rain and it didn’t stop until 7 o’clock the next morning. There was something familiar here. Every time we arrive at these woods it’s either raining when we arrive or raining when we leave. Luckily the temperatures were reasonable at about 18 degrees C and the wind was only moderate but cold being from the north.

We helped put up the parachute and everyone settled into a rhythm of setting up, cooking and having a good chat with a few beers.

I settled for what’s become my standard setup; DD camping hammock, and 3 x 3 Tatonka tarp in an open front configuration. Despite the weather there was absolutely no ingress of rain water. I’d put my kit into the All Arm’s Bergen and there was more than enough room to spare. This bag also seemed to have an additional benefit of being even more waterproof than the Sabre when I deliberately (!) left it outside of the tarp. The contents were bone dry when I retrieved it. There was no need to carry the kit any distance, so I couldn’t test this aspect to any great effect. But as I’ve said, this Bergen is great for stuffing in kit for 3-4 days.

My colleague Paul tested out his Hexy stove by cooking a corned beef and potato vegetable stew from scratch in about 40 minutes while I struggled making a brew with my hashed up lightweight experimental stove of Trangia burner and Hexy stand! I realised that not only was the wind affecting the burn, but also the Hexy stand wasn’t low enough for the burner’s flames to be effective. Back to the drawing board! Later in the evening I saw a demo of a Bush buddy stove (photo) which was pretty impressive. This might be the solution to my lightweight stove dilemma. Certainly worth investigating.

It was a busy Saturday. A few of us went tracking in the morning while in the afternoon, Dave showed us his rabbit skinning and prep technique. It wasn’t easy to remember everything when I had a go, and I think you’d have to do it a couple of times to implant it in the ol’ grey matter. But overall, it appeared a better technique than any I’d previously seen. A couple of folk practiced their bow drill to great effect.

Later Mark showed us some spoon carving and again I picked up a couple of new techniques for carving the handle. I’ll have to describe this later when I’ve had a practice myself.

While we were away, Jason and Adam had built a pretty solid lean-to type shelter with bracken and twig thatching. The photo shows the shelter before the bedding had been laid down. The next day Jason reported that his night had been comfortable in the shelter.

The promised evening meal of rabbit stew, mash and carrots was simply outstanding. The sauce was out of this world and hopefully, I’ll be able to post up the recipe. The rest of Saturday evening was spent around the fire with the usual “show and tell” sessions of machetes, kukris and blades being brought out and compared. This picture shows a fabulous Alan Wood Damascus blade with a pretty unreal value. Also thanks to Andy who showed me his lightweight tarptent. Another impressive piece of kit.

As with any meets, all you have to do is watch and listen to those present and you can’t help learning. It was great to see some craft work (spoons, kuksas and bark containers) completed and in progress as well as looking at different sharpening techniques. At last, I know how to sharpen my crook knife!

I’d just like to say thanks to everyone at the meet for making us welcome and taking time to do the tutorials and of course, to Swyn who looks after the woods. It was a great weekend. I’ve not laughed so much in a great while and as usual, I’ve come home with ideas, learning and a sense that the UK bushcraft community is not only thriving but impressively affluent in terms of knowledge. Who needs to go on courses when there’s this amount of skill at your back door?

Pablo.

My mate Paul and I headed south to meet up with the Reading Group on Friday afternoon. A little rain was forecast but the whole weekend turned out fine and dry.

After a hot and sticky walk-in we arrived to find the parachute already up and a brew on the go. Mark presented me with a fine looking kuksa as a gift for doing the Reading group forum. I was completely overwhelmed and promptly planned what liquid substance should go in it. Well – it’s got to be sealed properly hasn’t it?

We woke up to a beautiful day on Saturday and after breakfast, a couple of us went roving with the bows to do a bit of stump shooting. I’d brought along the Samick SKB, the length of which proved ideal in the particular closed-in area of woodland we chose to shoot in. We all did pretty well getting close to the challenging choices of target and in a couple of instances even killed a stump or two!

Mark had brought along a large awl which enabled the construction of some wooden chairs. John decided to assemble what can only be described as a throne, which was in keeping with his heavy-weight style of camping. Hence he was dubbed “His Majesty, King John” for the rest of the meet. The chairs will be kept on site ready for the next meet.

Some of us went for a wander after lunch and ended up tracking along the moderately fast flowing stream. There was a lot of damselfly activity and I spent some time trying to photograph the amazingly coloured and aptly named Beautiful demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo).

We followed some tracks along the stream bank and decided it belonged to a small fox. The tracks ended up at a kill site where the only evidence left of the prey was a claw of a crustacian. Looking again at the photo I’m not too sure if there might be other tracks in there and I wish I’d studied the area in more detail at the time. Other tracks seen were roe, fallow, muntjac, mouse and a number of birds that had hopped along the bank. There was still no sign of the elusive water vole tracks.

The evening meal was a barbeque of literally tons of meat mostly provided by King John.
Earlier, Steve (who was on my Shadowhawk tracking course) and I identified a good sit spot covering an area where there might be some evening mammal activity. Andy had already spotted a fox cub, and muntjac had been heard the previous evening. After the barbeque, along with Andy we sat for an hour being bitten to death by mosquitos! The sum total of our sightings? One rabbit, five hundred and three mosquitos - oh and some sheep! Well, you can’t win them all.

One of the best things about meets is that you can share experiences and stories around the fire. With new faces comes new stories and experiences. Knowledge is shared, kit examined and compared, and tips are passed on. This meet was no exception. John was busy dying a leather water bottle while Mark had made a fantastic flute case. You can see these pics on the network.

Prior to packing up on Sunday, conversation meandered on to the dreaded tick subject mentioned in my last post. This prompted everyone to start examining themselves. Low and behold ticks were found on nearly everyone’s legs. A tick removal session then took place. Anyone watching would be forgiven in thinking that a strange bunch of primates had invaded the woods and were busy de-fleaing themselves. Mark’s pocket microscope (is there nothing that he dosesn’t have handy?) showed in real terms what a monstrous looking creature the tick is.

A certain lesson learned and a good tip is to tuck the trousers in to socks or put elastics around the bottom of the trousers. Those with sleeping areas on the bracken slopes (myself included) should also have cleared a path through the bracken leading to the hammock. Whatever the precautions though, it’s inevitable that you will get a couple if you go tracking or exploring through the undergrowth.

All too soon it was time to say our goodbyes and leave the site. We doused the fire and cached the pot hangers. Another excellent weekend and a big thanks to Mark for organising the meet and everyone else that came along.

Pablo.

The weekend’s weather couldn’t have been more perfect. I arrived at about 1.30pm at Mark’s wood in Reading. The mile walk in was really pleasant and I stopped off to admire the still lake, which was on the way. I was pleased to reach the cool of the woods after a sweaty hike across the field leading from the lake.

As promised, some moving pictures from the weekend’s meet at Mark’s wood.

After arriving at the yard and being transported by Mark’s ‘Bush-taxi’ I considered the potentially hazardous and undulating final 100 yards into the camp. I needn’t have worried. Adam and Mike had built a bridge over the largest ditch for me to step across complete with handrail. With mates like that you just know that you will be in safe hands for the rest of the weekend. I named the bridge ‘Pablo’s Pass’ as a genuine lump came to my throat.

We settled into a routine of collecting wood and sawing it up ready for the cold, cold night that was expected. We discussed how short the days were and how much work you have to do while there was still some daylight to work by. It certainly helps to have a group of people to share the work.

I had brought both hammock/tarp and tipi; but I wanted to try out the tipi in anger. I was still unsure of sleeping on the ground but I had to give it a go. The others’ had a mixture of bivis with tarps and hammocks with one other tipi dweller. No one had a really uncomfortable sleep, but it was only -4C and warm compared with what the following night would bring.

On Saturday, after a leisurely breakfast, we had a Woodlife Network AGM as all 5 of the management team happened to be there. We then got stuck into some individual tasks. Mike making a buck saw, Sean having a go at bow-drill, George making a northern shelter, Mark helping everyone out, Ben spoon-making and me trying to make an oil lantern (I’ll put up the manufacturing stages later).

Again, we had to prepare copious amounts of wood for the stew and for a long fire for later in the evening.

The stew was a fantastic beef stew and dumplings prepared by Mark and Andy. As the temperature dropped, we discussed different methods of keeping warm. Insulation both in terms of clothing and insulation from the cold ground were the first obvious steps. And of course hot food and a hot drink. Before we turned in we planned to make hot water bottles from our water containers to pre-heat our sleeping bags. Alcohol probably isn’t the best thing to keep warm; nevertheless, a few kuksas full of different substances were passed around.

Every now and again, someone would race up to check the temperature. It was -6C at 8 o’clock and depending on where you were on the slope, it plummeted to -10C  later in the evening.

The morning saw the condensation on the inside of my tipi frozen and a thin layer ice on the outside of it. Despite this I felt no ill affects waking only once during the night. My new Alpkit SkyHigh 800 and thermarest provided all the warmth (I’ll do a full review later) and apart from the condensation problem, I was pleased with the tipi/sleeping bag combination.

Andy and Maverick had Exped SynMat 7s, which are very worthy considerations for ground-dwellers (although a bit pricey.) George comfortably survived his night in his northern shelter. In fact nobody felt any ill affects from the cold weather although on this occasion there was little wind chill to take into consideration.

All in all this was another great weekend with great company and a challenging cold weather scenario. Thanks to everybody there for making it a great first post-injury excursion for me.

Thanks for the visit.

Pablo.