The New Year 2013 And An Improvised Woods Chair

   Well the new year is upon us and I am looking forward to many new adventures in Bushcraft. I had my first outing of the year on Saturday, January 5th, 2013. It was a beautiful day and the sun was shining with the promise of warmer weather to come. It was about 10°F and the snow was crunchy under foot. It was difficult to move quietly and even hard sometimes to stand still and make no noise at all.
   Despite the noisy conditions, I did manage to catch a few deer on video and I found a lot of very fresh deer sign and was pleased with the chance at tracking the mega fauna.
   As the day turned out, it ended up being a solo trip after waiting the customary thirty minutes for some of the regular BushcraftUSA Minnesota members to show up for our 9AM Saturday Morning meet-up.
   I know my friend Sticker wanted to make it out, but had some urgent family obligations to attend to. I know he will be anxious soon to join me for another adventure, so maybe I will see him on the next Saturday outing.
   I decided it was time to work on a BushclassUSA elective and since I had been playing quite a bit with my new toy, the one inch scotch-eyed auger, I decided that the "Student Practice to Improvise A Woods Chair" would be my next lesson.
   I have not really focused on any BushclassUSA lessons as of late, because I have been enjoying so much the time I have spent with my new bushcraft friends and helping them to complete their bushclass lessons.
   But, I know I have to get started on things again, as the goal this year is to complete my Intermediate Bushclass Certification.
   So before I go any further with this years plans, here is the video of my first outing of the new year and within that, my completing my "Improvised Woods Chair." I hope you enjoy it.

   It was a great outing, even if it was just a little bushcraft improvising and some hot cocoa. I always enjoy my solo times and getting closer to nature. And yes, even in winter, it has its perks.
   Thanks for watching and look forward to your comments. Until next time, Happy Exploring.
 

On Sharing the Bushcraft Adventure

   Today was a great day. Every day I get a chance to get out in the wilderness and practice bushcraft is a great day. Today I had a chance to take three friends into the bush and share some of my experience with bushcraft. They are all new members of BushcraftUSA and are working on completing their lessons for BushclassUSA. We had a great time, even though it was raining and drizzling, and we still managed to get fires started and cook breakfast. I was able to share several examples of the bushclass lessons and assist them in understanding what they needed to do to complete their lessons. Little Jon was able to complete his lesson for "Student Practice for 5 Man Made Tinders" and his daughter worked on completing her lesson for "Student Practice for Twig Fire."
   I shared with them various cordage items that were results of bushclass lessons, such as the ridge line for a tarp shelter, twisted 2 strand cordage, and several knots in the line kit. So without rambling on to much more, here is the video of our adventure.

   As my tag line at the top of blog states, this is a place to "...Share Adventures In Bushcraft With Friends" Well today it became a larger adventure and a reality for a great group of friends. I am sure you will be reading much more about our adventures as they continue to follow me on my adventures and work on completing their lessons. Until the next time, Happy Exploring.

Improvising A Flint and Steel

  You may have noticed as of late, that the last few posts here have been on the subject of Firecraft. From the use of natural tinders, to the making of charred cloth, building a twig bundle fire, and also on using flint and steel, all are important subjects to touch on when it comes to polishing your firecraft skill set.
   This last week end, I had the chance to set a fellow BushcraftUSA member, Little Jon and his daughter on the path to understanding bushcraft. Little Jon decided it was time to start on his BushclassUSA lessons and he chose the "Student Practice for Making a Twig Fire." He did a fantastic job on this and I helped to cover the lesson for him by taking some video so that he will have something to post up for the lesson on the BushcraftUSA forum website. I am very proud of him as one of my students and his daughter is very eager to get started on her bushclass lessons as well. Here is the video of his first lesson, building a twig fire.

   So having gotten out in the bush on Saturday with some friends (even my bush buddy was along to help teach and he did a good job of that too) I was very eager to get yet another lesson done for myself for BushclassUSA. I chose to continue with the whole Firecraft theme of the last few outings and decided on knocking out the elective "Student Practice for Improvising A Flint and Steel."
   I really enjoy using flint and steel and natural tinders, and this day was just too beautiful to ignore. So here is the video I submitted for the class.

   I do hope you enjoyed the adventure in firecraft and I am sure there will be many more to come. If improvising a flint and steel looks like something you might like to try, get yourself an old file or a carbon steel knife or even a ready made steel striker and practice getting some sparks. It is a lot of fun. Until next time, Happy Exploring.

Just Your Basic Twig Bundle Fire

   One of the most used skills in bushcraft is the subset of skills called firecraft. Learning how to "build" a fire, to ignite it in a thousand different ways and to fuel it and to keep it going under all conditions takes hours of practice. The importance of fire is without question and the ability to build one in a hurry can be the difference between life and death.
   Back in 1975, famous grandmaster of bushcraft, Mors Kochanski, did a demonstration and video (read "movie film") of the "Twig Bundle Fire". He showed the advantage of putting together all the twigs and sticks and pieces of wood in the right order and tying them all together so that it was fully transportable, could be ignited at anytime and could be handled in such a way as to get it burning faster, granting the woodsman a great deal of control.
   Flash forward to 2012, and BushclassUSA has made the twig bundle fire part of the skill set being taught through the online course. The lesson, in case you want to look it up, is "Student Practice for the Twig Bundle Fire".
   So this last weekend, I completed this elective and here is the video I submitted for the lesson. I hope you enjoy it.

   As always, I enjoy practicing firecraft and having this twig bundle fire idea in my firecraft tool kit is a great skill to have. It is a great thing to put together and have on hand, especially under conditions that may turn hypothermic. Please consider learning this technique as well and adding it to your firecraft kit and please check out the great lessons at BushclassUSA, found at the BushcraftUSA.com forum site. Until next time, Happy Exploring.

Using Natural Tinders

   This last Sunday, I worked on completing my first lesson for the BushclassUSA Intermediate Certification. It was entitled, "Student Practice for Five Natural Tinders" and it involved finding five natural tinders and then lighting them with a firesteel. I went out on a beautiful spring day and collected all of my tinders and then some. I wanted to experiment with a few others as well as those needed for the lesson, so it was a great adventure gathering all the possibles. I did actually explore a couple of different areas and gathered a good amount of material to play with.
   So here is my video submission for BushclassUSA Student Practice for Five Natural Tinders. It shows the process of gathering and then lighting five natural tinders. The five primary tinders are birch bark, eastern red cedar bark, cottonwood bark (inner layer), cattail seed head and thistle down. I also tried a paper wasp nest (failed to light), golden rod pith (failed to maintain a ember), a bird nest (great success), milkweed seed silk (success) and the pith of the mullen stalk (success). If you want to skip ahead to where the lighting of the tinders is started, that begins at the 6:35 point on the timeline. This was a great lesson and it is always good to become familiar with natural tinders in the area you spend your bushcraft time. I hope you enjoy the video. It is a bit lengthy, but I wanted to share the whole process for those who have no idea where some of these tinders come from.

  
   There are of course many more natural tinders out there and I will continue to share with you some of my discoveries as I come upon them. So you might consider this part I of a multi-part series. Consider searching out natural tinders in your area and do some experimenting. It's fun and is very much a part of your primary skill set when it comes to bushcraft. Learning to make fire should be at the top of your list. Happy Exploring.