The Backyard Bushman

The older two kiddies anyway. The youngest was at home reeking havoc on the house

I took the older two kids on an awesome hike today. What was so fun about it, was we had no plans! Usually we are going out under the guise of squirrel hunting, or hiking, or whatever. Today, we were just going to see what was out there.

Before we even got out of the truck, I spotted some chicory, wild lettuce, burdock and jewelweed. I didn’t take any pictures, but showed them all to the kiddies.

I had a specific spot I wanted to see if we could get to. It is a lake we had fished by canoe, but the banks looked inaccessible by foot. So, we tried to cut in a different way. We ended up making it, but there were lots of brush and pickers. They were both troopers. Here is a pic of us starting out.

I didn’t take pictures of all the cool stuff we saw along the way. But, beside what I already mentioned we saw sassafras, mullein, plantain, and all sorts of other stuff that I don’t know

Also, in there we saw some old beaver sign.

We saw tons of frogs, and sat there playing with them for a bit. In the general frog area, we saw deer drops, and tons of raccoon sign.

By the time we walked for a while, here is the stuff the kids were carrying (not to mention my girls pockets were full of acorns.

They kept laughing that I called the mullein “nature’s toilet paper.” I think that is why that had to get a leaf of it. Underneath that leaf is a nice chunk of fatwood we came across. We put that to good use later.

When we stopped for late lunch, we decided this was a good spot.

The kiddies hung out in the hammock, while I got lunch going.

Remember that fatwood? Nice and greasy.

The menu. I swear the kids would eat mac and cheese every day if I let them. Since I wanted them to have fun, I packed them what they wanted.

I had to make something different. I generally prepare my own dried meals, and then can just grab them whenever I want. This red beans and rice is pretty much a stable. I do the celery, onion, and garlic thing, followed by the kidney beans and let it cook all day. Seasoned, of course. The main difference when I dehydrate is I leave out the ham and sausage (it dehydrates better) and then figure out something to add into it later. Today, it is beef sticks.

The rice has already been cooked and dehydrated as well. It takes only a minute or two to dehydrate, instead of long cooking times. It tastes way better than minute rice, and still takes less time to cook.

Here is my cooking vessel, before water is added.

Just waiting now.

Of course, mine is done before the kiddies.

Finally, the end of our day, before fighting the briars and pickers all the way out back to the truck.

I hope you enjoyed these pics.

B

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In my previous post, I mentioned not wanting to write about the Pathfinder Gathering too much because I had an article about it in the works. Well, here it is at Woodsmonkey.

I hope you enjoy.

B

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I don’t want to write too much about it because I have plans in the work to write an article on it elsewhere. Still, I had to post at least one picture

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It seems that the “Kephart” knife is a very popular one for beginning knifemakers to make. I can speculate at the reasons why for that. Ranging from not having much design experience, being able to make a design that is already “laid out” for you, making a knife that IS a proven design, or even that the general shape is very easy to manufacture. For that reason alone, I have avoided it up to this point. Until now….

I recently took a vacation to the Smokey Mountains with the family. While there we did a lot of the touristy visitation of the historical buildings there. I also read (and am still reading) about the history of the inhabitants. Meanwhile, I also read of Kephart’s time and experiences while spending his own time in those mountains. Those things all together have inspired me to take up making this design of knife.

In one of the early editions of Woodcraft and Camping, by Horace Kephart, he dicusses knives in general. This is interesting information and since I have come up with the same conclusions independently, I think it is worth quoting the text here for information.

“On the subject of hunting knives I am tempted to be diffuse. In my green and callow days (perhaps not yet over) I tried nearly everything in the knife line from a shoemaker’s skiver to a machete, and I had knives made to order. The conventional hunting knife is, or was until quite recently, of the familiar dime-novel pattern invented by Colonel Bowie. Such a knife is too thick and clumsy to whittle with, much too thick for a good skinning knife, and too sharply pointed to cook and eat with. It is always tempered too hard. When put to the rough service for which it is supposed to be intended, as in cutting through the ossified false ribs of an old buck, it is an even bet that out will come a nick as big as a saw-tooth — and Sheridan forty miles from a grindstone! Such a knife is shaped expressly for stabbing, which is about the very last thing that a woodsman ever has occasion to do, our lamented grandmothers to the contrary notwithstanding.”

“A camper has use for a common-sense sheath-knife, sometimes for dressing big game, but oftener for such homely work as cutting sticks, slicing bacon, and frying “spuds.” “

So now, Kephart has told what a knife should do, but next he gets into very detailed and specific dimensions for this knife.

“For such purposes a rather thin, broadpointed blade is required, and it need not be over four or five inches long. Nothing is gained by a longer blade, and it would be in one’s way every time he sat down. Such a knife, bearing the marks of hard usage, lies before me. Its blade and handle are each 4 1/2 inches long, the blade being 1 inch wide, 1/8th inch thick on the back, broad pointed, and continued through the handle as a hasp and riveted to it. It is tempered hard enough to cut green hardwood sticks, but soft enough so that when it strikes a knot or bone it will, if anything, turn rather than nick; then a whetstone soon puts it in order. The Abyssinians have a saying, “If a sword bends, we can straighten it; but if it breaks, who can mend it? ” So with a knife or hatchet. “

“The handle of this knife is of oval cross-section, long enough to give a good grip for the whole hand, and with no sharp edges to blister one’s hand. It has a 1/4 inch knob behind the cutting edge as a guard, but there is no guard on the back, for it would be useless and in the way. The handle is of light but hard wood, 3/4 inch thick at the butt and tapering to 1/2 inch forward, so as to enter the sheath easily and grip it tightly.”

With the dimensions and shape given, there is not too much left to the imagination in terms of design. Still, there is a lot of variation out there in the design among many makers. Of the folks making it, I have to say that I believe to Bark River variation to be the most appealing in overall shape. But, I still believe there are 3 key points that can still be improved, based on my own personal preference. They are:

1)      Thickness. Kephart explicitly states that the spine should be 1/8” thick. Since this happens to be my favorite general thickness for a 4”ish knife, I have to agree. For some reason, Bark River went a touch thicker.

2)      Grind. Kephart discussed “thinness” of the knife and the purposes it is used for. He also continually talks about his hand axe, and have a “combo” of tools. To me, that tells me exactly what this knife should do and not do. Again, along with my personal preference, the priority should be on pure cutting ability. Which to me, means that it should stray away from the convex grind, and get into a thinner flat grind, in which I will put on a convex secondary.

3)      Guard. I am a minimalist when it comes to guard size. I want it to take up a little less space in the direction of overall knife length, and also want to make the protrusion on the small side.

 A couple final thoughts on this knife. I mention one of the reasons for me avoiding making this style of knife, but another reason is that I personally feel that it is rather ugly : )  I am honestly not the biggest fan of the broader point, and the “plain jane” look of the thing. It looks like my opinion is in good company, because Kephart pretty much had the same thing about this knife. Again, a quote from his book.

“It was made by a country blacksmith, and is one of the homeliest things I ever saw; but it has outlived in my affections the score of other knives that I have used in competition with it, and has done more work than all of them put together.”

In the end, I can’t ignore the fact that this a time proven design. Hence, my version of it : )

It also interesting to note that I have the seventh revision of this book, and in this one Kephart has updated his thoughts on overall knife shape and has a sketch of a completely different knife design. This might leave the door open for a Kephart Version 2! : )

In included a small “sharpening notch” on this one, but it can also be left out as well.

I appreciate your thoughts on this knife.

Thanks,
B

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I only make knives that people order (in general) and I can’t control what “options” they get. But, it seems like lately I have had a few cool ones come through.

Here is a “Tony’s Bushcrafter” in Desert Ironwood Burl.

Next is a Bushcrafter in cocobolo. Not that unusual, except that I got to use mosaic pins on this one.

Next is another Bushcrafter, but in Desert Ironwood burl. I love the burl.

Finally, is the Camp Boner, in cocobolo, and A2 with the forced patina.

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By the lack of posting here, you would think that I have been up to absolutely nothing : ) The truth is quite the opposite. It seems we have been so busy that I have not had time to post. So, I will just post a few of the highlights of the things we have done recently, and then let you know what the near future plans are.

I took the kids out on a hike in one of the nearby recreation areas. There are great trails, good terrain, and nice woods here. Makes me wonder why I don’t visit here more often.

I made up one of the infamous “Ikea” hobo stoves. I love using it as a twig burner, but honestly have been using it A LOT with my alcohol stove. Many of the additions shown here I have not been using. My favorite addition is the pot stand for the top. It allows air flow under the pot, resulting in a better draught, allows any size container to be used, and allows you to feed in sticks from the top.

I made an Aneroxic Terrasaur for myself and have been loving it. At 3/32” it is a super cool slicer.

We also took the kids to a semi-local nature center. One of the attractions of the place for me was the wildflower area. Besides getting to see that, we got to see some large mouth bass, lots of frogs, see a really cool beaver lodge and have a picnic

The whole family went to a local gathering of “bushcrafters.” I can not even begin to tell about all the fun that was had there, but I will just post a few pictures knowing it doesn’t do the visit justice.

My girls

We recently took the kids camping on the property of a friend with a cabin up north in Michigan. It wasn’t a hardcore camping trip, but a very fun mix of camping, campfire, fireworks, great cooking, the beach, and did I mention campfire? : ) Unfortunately I didn’t get many pictures at all. Just a couple at the beach, and one of the apple cobbler I made for dessert.

Next, we are off for a week of camping in the Smokey Mountain National Park with the hope of seeing a few of these.

I will have an update on that when we get back.

B

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As much I as I would like to be able to supply outdoor folks with a quality, properly tuned axe from a production source (even though it requires modification by me), it seems to be harder and harder to do.

I have been ordering my axes directly from Snow and Nealley in batches. There has always been variation from axe to axe in these batches, but in the last two batches I have received something has changed. I don’t know what it is, but it appears they changed something in their forging process. The head shape has been different and the variation between axes is larger than it has been before.

I was able to work these variations out, but with what I have been receiving lately that does not look possible. It would be either to modify not up to par axes, or scrap half of what I receive (which I can not afford to do). Despite my best efforts, I would not be sending out something that I would be happy with. So, until I find something else, I will no longer be modifying Snow and Nealley axes. I will sell my current stock, and that is it. 

I will continue to look for vintage heads, and restoration projects, but obviously those are few and far between and much more expensive to complete. 

Please let me know if you have any questions in your quest for your perfect axe.

Thanks,
B

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With respect to knives, it seems I have just been working away on existing orders, and nothing much new has been happening. Well, I got a chance to take on a couple of projects I have been meaning to get to for awhile.

First, is something completely different. There has always been something about the blade shape of a Canadian belt knife that I have always liked. Not necessarily the handles, but definitely the blade : ) You can see a little bit of that influence in my other late model, the Slim Jim. Yet again though, the Slim Jim was designed to fill a niche that my 4” models were not filling, and I had not yet put this blade shape into my 4” knife line-up.

This is where the story gets interesting : ) If you are reading this website, you more than likely spend time reading blogs, hanging out on forums, and making some really good “friends” despite the fact that you have not met face to face. That is exactly my scenario with the author of Patriot Earth. Ian spends more days per year in the backcountry than most of us even wish we could! Therefore, it was an honor to make this knife for him based on some specific needs.

It started with a blade shape idea. Ian knew what he wanted, and sent me some sketches. He left the liberty of the handle up to me. Once we got a final sketch agreed to, it was all a matter of making it happen from there. The specific design features that Ian wanted to address were the following:

- The absence of a guard that prevents the knife from going onto a cutting board (which is usually a log for me) because 50% of what I do with a knife in the backcountry involves working with food.

- Second the smooth transition from the edge of the blade to the spot where the choil would be if it had one prevents that edge from catching on stuff, which I find eternally annoying about some 4″ and shorter knives.

- Though it’s not bushcraft, I like the bump forward design because it puts the wide part of the blade out where I need it for spreading stuff on bread or crackers, lame, I know, but we have to be honest about what a knife gets used for.  =)

According to Ian “ It also has all the functional aspects which have taken me years to determine specifically what I want.” I couldn’t agree more : ) The end result is a design that give a nod to the old north woods styles, yet still contains my style and what I feel is important in a handle.

It is named it after the environment we designed it for.  Calling it the “Bitterroot” after the Bitterroot Mountains that he will be working in this summer (also a wild edible plant).

With all that babbling, here it is dressed up in desert ironwood.

Next,  is a variation of the Terrasaur model, designed by Joe Flowers. I am calling this one the Anorexic Terrasaur, mainly because I already have another “mini” version in my head. Hopefully it will be in steel shortly. I really like this model, and it is one of my reliable standby’s that I know I can always count on. But, I have had this idea in the back of my head to make a new style knife that is more “mora like.”

If you take a look at the mora, they are extremely popular. Folks will have expensive customs, fancy woods, and all sorts of cool things in a knife, and yet they will still reach for a mora from time to time. Besides the obvious reason of affordability, I believe there are a couple other reasons for this. They include the following, IMO:

Weight: These things are light. Even if you are into reducing weight at all costs, it is hard to justify leaving behind the weight of a mora, when it is still a decent sized blade capable of getting some work done.

Thin: Let’s face it. We all want the indestructible, “do everything” knife. But, when it comes right down to it, thin slices and cuts like nobody’s business!

Control: The overall shape of the blade, and dimension from edge to spine allows a multitude of grips and lets you get great accuracy out of the cutting edge.

I am sure there are more reasons, but these are the stand out ones to me. So, my mission was to build a custom version taking care of the same needs. Looking at the models I already make, the Terrasaur seemed to be a great platform (from which I already like) to make such a knife.

And here it is.

Compared to its big brother.

Compared to a mora.

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When it comes to axes, I am always saying forget the Gransfors If you want the best of the best, find a vintage American made axe, and make it your own! Well, this one is a beauty.

This one is a pretty good find. I came across it on eBay. When I saw the condition and shape of the head (and the fact that the poll had not been used as a hammer), I had to snatch it up.

After receiving it, I decided not to keep it. Why? Because it is almost identical to one I currently own In can be hard to tell dimensions through pictures, and I was not buying it in person. But, every single line of the head, and weight is exactly identical to my post used axe. So, instead of putting it back up on eBay, I figured I would rather let folks I know have a crack at it first. I will pass it along for exactly what I paid for it, $90 shipped CONUS. If you are interested in it, just shoot me an email at briangandrews at comcast dot net.

The handle is 27″ long. It is nice and tight in the head, but it is an older handle. If I were to keep it, I would use it as is for awhile before I considered re-handling it (just because it is nice and tight).

Check out the nice, un-pounded on poll

The edge geometry is perfect. Just needs a touch of sharpening. I can do that for you, if interested, although it does make shipping a razor a pain in the butt!

Here it is along side my Gransfors SFA for a size comparison.

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If you mention to people that you camp in the winter, their first assumption is that you mean in a trailer When they find out that it is either in a quinzee, a tent, or with a tarp, their look and reaction is generally a mix between disbelief and disgust

Well, this year my son was old enough to join scouting, and I am in a leader position. It is important for me to understand as much about the history of scouts as possible. Our local library has a great collection of Boy Scout Literature. One of the books I recently checked out is the “Boy Scouts of America Fieldbook For Boys and Men” published by McGraw, 1967. I will more than likely comment on the book in later posts, but I wanted to share (quote directly) the opening paragraphs in the Winter Camping section. Here it is:

Have you ever heard some guy say “Go camping in the winter! Are you out of your ever lovin’ mind?” Well, maybe, but only if you don’t know how to camp in the summer and aren’t prepared for the differences between warm- and cold-weather camping.

Summer weather is kind and forgives poorly prepared and trained campers, but winter is cruel and unforgiving. You can get by with improper gear and inexperience when the mercury is above 40 degrees, but it can be pretty miserable when it’s below freezing.

Sounds like winter camping isn’t so hot, doesn’t it. Well, it isn’t as far as the temperature is concerned, but it’s real hot in the fun, adventure, and satisfaction that comes from knowing you can take care of yourself outdoors under extreme conditions.

That pretty much sums it up for me, as far as why I do it. More specifically, the last sentence. It is just a bummer we have not had much snow this year here in Michigan. I would love to make one more trip if we get some snow soon. If not, I am ready for warmer weather

B

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