Bannock or doughnut?  You decide...

I've been keeping an eye on a stalk of yucca in our front yard and wondering if it would be dry enough to make a friction fire.  Here's what I found out...

It was a bit of a challenge keeping the ember from blowing away in the wind but I was able to keep it together by leaving it in the notch until ready to transfer it to the tinder bundle.

A time lapse on Cartier Court at dusk shot with the GoPro2 from 999 images taken at five second intervals cropped for 16 by 9.  The final video is put together at 25 frames per second.

An Afternoon Walk With Lizzie

This is a short video I created for a contest on the BushcraftUSA forum. Lizzie and I went for a walk down Michigan Ave. to Canatara Park and then up to the beach in front of the water treatment plant in Point Edward.  From there we walked under the Bluewater Bridge and then back home for a total distance of about nine kilometres.  It was overcast that day which gave the video a somewhat somber tone. 

Well we had an unsuccessful hunt this year up in the Bruce.  The deer were all over the place last year but decided not to show themselves this time around.  Here is a short little video of my stand this year.

There is about a twenty to thirty minute walk into the stand from the cabin so the trick is to dress lightly and pack your insulating layers in for the morning so as not to overheat.  I like to attach my Kifaru Scout pack to the tree behind me and sit in the stand which I put up before the hunt.

For sitting in the stand in temperatures around the freezing mark I like to wear insulated boots with thick 90% wool socks, Keen insulated winter boots, MEC Mercury Tights, M1951 100% wool field pants, a running tech shirt for wicking moisture, a Boy Scout 85% Wool Jackshirt, a down vest, an insulated blaze orange hunting jacket I picked up at Meijer, an insulated hand warmer my brother in law gave me along with some air activated heat packs, some 100% wool glove liners and finally a Thinsulate toque.

For walking around from the stand I pack the insulated jacket, down vest, handwarmer and toque for a light jacket and a baseball cap.

If not in the stand I switch out the Scout pack for a Kifaru Tailgunner with just the shoulder sling as my possibles bag.  The rifle is a Browning A-Bolt II Composite Stalker with Boss in 30-06.

Skookum Bush Tool Type Knife Build

I've placed an order for a Skookum Bush Tool knife and was informed by the maker Rod Garcia  that the wait time is over two years. So I thought I would go ahead and try to make my own for the time being.  I have documented the process on the BushcraftUSA website on this thread.

This is how the knife sits right now awaiting the handle scales to be formed and attached.

Hand Drill with Local Materials

A friend of mine on the online forum BushcraftUSA sent me a handdrill set made from a plant called sotol.  The set worked marvellously well so it was a good starting point but sotol is not found in Southern Ontario.  So, a bushcraft goal of mine was to be able to produce a coal using the handdrill method of friction fire but with local materials. 

Yesterday I collected a number of different weed stalks and some willow to use to accomplish this goal.  Many of the thinner stalks did not work but I was finally successfull using a mullein stalk and a willow hearth board.

Here is a video showing how it all went down.  Of course I removed all the failed attempts so as to make it more interesting, I hope you enjoy it.