"Skills" day

[flatlander88]

Well I took a personal day yesterday, mainly because of the weather. I spent the entire day hiking around and making things. Learned something every step of the way also, I'll share some farther down the post.

Attachment 6929
This was just after sun rise. Nice cool morning.

Attachment 6930
First stop I was out to collect fire making material but ran across some nice straight honey locust trees.

Attachment 6931
So I stopped and made a bow. It ended up being too long but once I got arrows it did shoot nice (rabbit and frog not anything larger could be taken with it).

Attachment 6933
Heres my pack and an old gas can that I found. I cut a small opening on one side. Haven't tried it yet but I think with the openings on top it would make a nice little stove.

Attachment 6932
Here was the collection of things I brought back for my fire.

[flatlander88]

Attachment 6934
After about an hour searching I found some willow branches straight enough to make some arrows. I didn't fire harden them but with some feathers I found they didn't fly too bad.

Attachment 6935
Out of the same willow branches I fashioned a basket to carry some more tinder in since I had the time

Attachment 6936
Here it is loaded with very dry sticks and grasses

Attachment 6937
Bow drill fire.

Attachment 6938
Getting late so I put supper on. You should be able to see the rack I made also, the metal came from an old BBQ'er.

[flatlander88]

Attachment 6940
I made me a frog spear form a hedge tree. It ended up about 5 foot long. Almost forgot. The bucksaw I made earlier, although it was dried out and needed tightening, still managed to cut more wood.

Attachment 6941
I made some tongs from the cut off of the frog spear for my hotdogs

Attachment 6939
It was a awesome day I got plenty of exercise and learned quite a bit. One thing that I was amazed about was how much sinew could be used. It is only about 10 dollars a roll and can be use on about everything.

Enjoy and thanks for looking.
Flatlander

[flatlander88]

Some things that I learned along the way were:

1. A small saw on a SAK or multi tool ready helps with certain tasks.
2. Sinew is worth having in my pack
3. A multi tool with a pliers is great to have now a days. Although sad, you can find trash and wire everywhere. Having the pliers makes it easier to work with.
4. Willow trees are a blessing. They can be used for cordage, baskets, fire, aspirin, etc. list goes on and on.
5. I used a partly serrated knife on this outing and the serration make for a nice little saw for notches and such. (Yes I know you can do everything and more with a sharp straight blade, which I still prefer)
6. Never shoot an arrow that has burrs on it, ouch.

I'll add more when I have time too think about it.

[finallyME]

Great post flatlander. I never buy a SAK without a saw now-a-days. I learned this when I was a scout and used my saw all the time. Now I have a SAK that is a multitool with pliers and a saw. Best of both worlds.

[crashdive123]

Looks like a good day. I don't think I would have cut up the gas can unless there was some sort of actual need. I think the older cans like that are really cool looking and add a certain "feel" to a shop.

[flatlander88]

Thanks for the comments!

Crash - I know what you mean by the "feel". I have many old traps, cans, bottles, horseshoes, etc in my shed but I decided to make this can into a wood burner. It had more holes then the picture shows. I kept it, and I do intend to test it out in a shelter this winter.

[Rick]

That was a great post. I had to give you some rep for it. Getting out and doing it is the better part of learning!

[flatlander88]

Thanks Rick! I had a blast. It's nice to have one whole day just to do this type of stuff. It really shows how much time and effort goes into the different tasks.

[Rick]

Now, imagine doing that day in and day out ... plus gathering food and water and wood just to stay alive.

[flatlander88]

Now, imagine doing that day in and day out ... plus gathering food and water and wood just to stay alive.

I did think about that yesterday. I had a cooler with lunch meat and food in the truck. I did wonder just how hard it would be to spear enough frogs, catch enough fish, bow hunt enough rabbits, etc. just to make it day by day. Not only that, but we are heading into winter. That only compounds the problem. (I may have to do a winter "skills" day)

Nevertheless, it is a great past time

[Beans]

I did think about that yesterday. I had a cooler with lunch meat and food in the truck. I did wonder just how hard it would be to spear enough frogs, catch enough fish, bow hunt enough rabbits, etc. just to make it day by day. Not only that, but we are heading into winter. That only compounds the problem. (I may have to do a winter "skills" day)

Nevertheless, it is a great past time

Great post/

Winter skills.
Car hoods make great sleds, Unless your car is all plastic

[finallyME]

My sled is plastic. My car has a lot of plastic panels. So far they have bounced back after deer have tried to dent it. However, my hood is metal.

[Rick]

Yes, my car is plastic. I used a coal hopper lid once for a sled. Worked real well until I hit that little tree stump about half way down the hill. Darn near tore my thumb off. My good thumb, too. Of course, it's not my good thumb anymore.

[hunter63]

Great post, good to see some one 'doing it".
Sounds like a great day, thanks for sharing.

[COWBOYSURVIVAL]

Thanks Flatlander! I need to take a day too, I am going to tow the family along real soon. Fiance has been working weekends only and I worked weekdays and some weekends. Her hard work payed off and she scored a new job...things are looking up for us to get out more!

[flatlander88]

I've used a car hood too, fun but I still prefer a round sled

Hunter63 - Thanks!- I hope to get out more and post the pics. I do go out more than I post but I don't always take pictures.

Cowboysurvival - I hope your able to get out. It'll be nice to get away from work. Thanks for looking. Btw. post some pics when you get out.

[billdawg]

Awesome post. It's always fun to just take off on a beautiful day. Question about bow & arrows. Kind of piques my interest, now I'm ready to try that too. A)How did you get the feathers to stay on the arrow?, and B) I noticed your bow was actually 2 pieces of limb/wood. How did it react to being pulled? And is that para cord holding the 2 pieces together?

[flatlander88]

Awesome post. It's always fun to just take off on a beautiful day. Question about bow & arrows. Kind of piques my interest, now I'm ready to try that too. A)How did you get the feathers to stay on the arrow?, and B) I noticed your bow was actually 2 pieces of limb/wood. How did it react to being pulled? And is that para cord holding the 2 pieces together?

Thanks for the comment! Just to let you know...I have NO training on how to make bows and arrows. Half was internet research and the other was experimental. Anyway, to answer your questions.

A) I use sinew to hold the feathers to the arrow shaft. Once I had the feather cut in half (the long way) I simply wrapped sinew on the front, middle, and back. The purpose is to give the tail end of the arrow drag so the point stays in front. Also helps with flight.

B) As I indicated above, I made the bow too long. However the two limbs worked very well. I put the larger ends of the limbs to the center (riser) of the bow and let the smaller ends stick up and down (limbs). They were green trees when I made the bow, so they were very elastic. I used para-cord for everything on the bow, including the string. Para-cord will stretch so you may have to tighten it as you go.

I hope this answers your questions. If not just asked and I'll try to clarify better

Thanks Flatlander

BTW. the honey locust grows like weeds in my area so to take two out was only doing the fence line a favor.