Ahhh... Saturday. What better way to spend Saturday than out in the woods?

This Saturday, I actually visited Cloak and we went in to his neck of the woods. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />





We practiced various buchcraft tasks. Mainly the most basics such as making walking sticks, making spears, splitting wood using the wedge method, cutting small saplings (wrist+ width, so fairly thick) with the RMD, and of course whittling and fuzzying sticks up! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />

Here's Cloak, in all his wisdom <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> , calmly making a walking stick.



Next, I felt the need and attempted to destroy my RMD. In return, the RMD laughed at me and helped destroy a fairly thick log.



No FBM needed. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />



No chopping. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />



Then, Cloak had this idea of trying out the wedge method of batoning. It involves a wedge. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

I think the pictures will show what we mean. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />







I guess the purpose of using the wedge method is that a knife is only so thick. If you can get some wood that is fairly strong you can make a fairly thick wedge. Because of how thick the wedge is, it takes much less effort to baton through with a skinny knife.

Here's the wedge.



After a few whacks, it's down and Cloak can pry it apart with his hands.

[img]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee292/The_Aaij_1/DSC_0014-5.jpg[/img]

There it goes.

[img]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee292/The_Aaij_1/DSC_0015-4.jpg[/img]

After all that we decided to take a break. For food, we had nothing. I got so hungry I started eating wood. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> Hell, if the beetles will eat this stuff, I'll eat it. (Wow, I just noticed that look a lot like Bruce Lee in this pic, with the hair and eye expression, weird.)

[img]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee292/The_Aaij_1/DSC_0016-6.jpg[/img]

No, just kidding. We actually got some sour patch (again) and several liters of water. That was just me making a nice fuzzy stick with the RMD. You can see the long and thin shavings.

[img]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee292/The_Aaij_1/DSC_0017-7.jpg[/img]

So after our little break, we decided more things needed to be destroyed. Our little camp area was already ladened with combustible shavings of wood. Death and destruction was all around us. So what the heck, more batoning. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

[img]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee292/The_Aaij_1/DSC_0018-4.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee292/The_Aaij_1/DSC_0019-3.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee292/The_Aaij_1/DSC_0020-3.jpg[/img]

There goes the wedge.

[img]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee292/The_Aaij_1/DSC_0021-4.jpg[/img]

But that was a bad trial. So we started over.

[img]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee292/The_Aaij_1/DSC_0022-6.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee292/The_Aaij_1/DSC_0023-4.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee292/The_Aaij_1/DSC_0024-6.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee292/The_Aaij_1/DSC_0025-4.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee292/The_Aaij_1/DSC_0026-5.jpg[/img]

Almost there...

[img]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee292/The_Aaij_1/DSC_0027-4.jpg[/img]

CRACK!!!!

[img]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee292/The_Aaij_1/DSC_0029-1.jpg[/img]

I actually didn't have a go at this method of splitting wood ergo I got mad and had to hack a whole tree down with one swipe of my RMD. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> You can see the wood splitting from all the shock.

[img]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee292/The_Aaij_1/DSC_0030-2.jpg[/img]

But, no, seriously, this was another new bushcraft method that we had to try. It involves batoning the knife through the wood length wise and down the grain structure, not into it. It worked fairly well and I think in some cases could be better for chopping, but I'm not sure. For certain, it is one way a little knife can be a big knife.

[img]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee292/The_Aaij_1/DSC_0031-3.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee292/The_Aaij_1/DSC_0032-4.jpg[/img]

The RMD definitely performed and left its marks on the tree. Green paint, that's what I'm talkin' 'bout. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

[img]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee292/The_Aaij_1/DSC_0033-3.jpg[/img]

All in all, it was a day wrapped up. We were able to use fairly new techniques that worked really well.

Fun stuff and good company. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />

Looks like fun!
The wedges are really helpful when battoning, I got my ASH-1 stuck in a few logs and had to use a wedge.




.....you guys sure do like those Sour Patch kids don't yuh?

Yea, the wedge was a really neat trick. It worked well at splitting wood.

And yes, we do like Sour Patch kids a lot. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

It looks like you had a good time. The next bushcraft skill I plan to practice is making traps and snares. All you really need is some piano or snare wire and you can make tons of stuff. I have the Ragnar Benson book "Mantrapping" and it shows how there are really only a couple different traps set differently.

Unsub: I agree that there are a myriad of traps that can be built, but there are only 2-3 that, if mastered, are all you need. Figure-4 deadfalls, for example, are very similar to piute deadfalls, but the former is FAR easier to set up (IMO). I've found it useful to learn a couple of different trigger mechanisms, and you can basically create your own traps to fit the scenario. The SAS Survival Handbook (New York: HarperCollins Publisher Inc., 2004) has a very complete section on traps and trapping, but again, it includes a lot of very complicated traps that I find rather dubious. Another good resource (that copied the SAS book down to the diagrams) is this one, however it has only about 75% as many traps as the SAS book:

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/food-2.php

(Don't let the add for a cheapie survival knife at the bottom of the page fool you, the trapping info is legitimate )

Sharp: thanks for posting the pics, I'm headed out for much fire-starting today because its sunny

Nick: I found the wedge method to be even better than batoning with the knife, esp. if you have a small one. With the RMD, I frequently run out of tip to baton on, so I typically insert my RD7 upside-down into the split (so that the spines are facing each other) and then push the knives in opposite directions to split the two pieces of wood apart. This wedge method is def. something to keep in mind.

P.S. something else I learned recently: brownie sundaes at Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream of REALLY GOOD!

Great shots, Sharp. That's my kind of bushcraft...no little sissy fuzz sticks, but splitting logs! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />

and hacking down trees, cutting down through 4 inch logs. All that with a 4 inch knife. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

The triumphant RMDs.

The wedge is used when your knife is to small the be used with your baton, like if you stuck with a knife like the grossman psk.

Alright, headed out for some fire starting. We had our first sunny day, but the wood was still damp from the last month of rain. I had to baton large chunks off it to get to the dry stuff underneath.



here's the tinder pile with my stacks of kindling in successively larger sizes



The only thing I used to construct the fire was my Swamp Rat Ratmandu, which worked VERY well to make those curls. The wood used was slightly damp Red Oak. This wouldn't have been my first choice because it catches slowly. This would have been great to add to an already-established fire to give it greater longevity, but ideally I would have started with something like Ponderosa Pine. Similar to a survival situation however, I used what I had on hand. The tinder, which I typically carry with me whenever I go hiking, is cotton fluff rubbed with petrol jelly. Set it alight with a normal ferro rod, no magnesium used.

I let the fire burn for a bit, but then allowed it to sputter out. I was only in my back yard, so I didn't want a bonfire





A fine way to begin my sunday!

I've never seen the wedge technique used like that before.
cool!
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

I like to learn as many rtap triggers as I can too, then you can mke up your own kind of set ups.
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Nice pics as usual <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Thanks you guys,

Nice work Cloak. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />