Suffolk Bushcraft Group

  • Come along to the amazing Summer Moot (21st July - 2nd August), a festival of bushcrafting and camping in a beautiful woodland PLEASE CLICK HERE for more information.
Cool, I am holding off buying anything until the weekend after next, when I am going to the Oyster fayre. You can get lots for little and also have a touch before buying. Hehe
 
I also must remove myself from July… sorry guys, no ride. :(

Bhutanese Bow down for July

1.Big stu
2.
3. SeanI
4. Mikesmith
5. Chris
6. Russell
7. Iambosscat
8. AndyW
9. Jjessup
10.
 
Just got a piece of leather for drawstring type pouches. I may well be after some advice at the next meet.

I've also booked up for the Moot, all the main days plus 3 others, probably the ones before the main days.
 
Hi guys. For the July meet, was wondering if anyone could give me a lift from Bury, ipswich, Hadleigh, Colchester? etc?
I'll only have a 45l backpack on me.
Also some people said they'd be willing to bring a couple of different sleeping set-ups so I could see what I liked most before I buy anything?

Let me know guys! Can't drive yet :(

Also, was too lazy and broke to spend any money and dye it, and I wanted to waterproof my sheath/mask so I just used black shoe polish. Looks a bit rough! I'll do something about it another time. Functionality though, is still there.
WP_20140608_001.jpg
 
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Hi everyone. I'll put this everywhere else I know it will be appreciated, but get your free open data Ordnance Survey maps here:
https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/opendatadownload/products.html
You'll need a bit of software to use the TIFF files properly but there's literally 1gb downloads of detailed OS maps for the entire country: for free!

I downloaded a part of Sussex first for an assignment but eventually downloaded the map of all East Anglia: 2.12GB of data.
scroll down to Street view, select what area you want, scroll to bottom, and click next. fill in details (trust me my university lecturer told us to do this so nothing sinister, just email and reason for wanting maps)

Use XnView to make your maps apparently, though I haven't tried myself.

Find which tile you want out of the hundreds you've downloaded here:
http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/bus...p-and-support/products/tile-locator-maps.html

Enjoy your free OS maps!

IMPORTANT EDIT:
I will however add that they aren't as detailed as the real thing if you choose street view, I haven't had a chance to find out if the other options are better yet!
 
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Also, was too lazy and broke to spend any money and dye it, and I wanted to waterproof my sheath/mask so I just used black shoe polish. Looks a bit rough! I'll do something about it another time. Functionality though, is still there.


Looks Ok, I ve used shoe polish before to colour leather. :)
 
Finally, after many false starts, I just got my first ember from a hand drill. Can't believe how fast it was, I would guess 20 seconds. Obviously that doesn't count the material prep!
 
Hi All,

Russ here from Colchester I posted in the newbie section and was pointed here by a few folk. Good to see there is a group fairly local. Have some very basic skills in bushcraft mainly from another life in the military many moons ago. Love wild camping and spending time outdoors. I have always wanted to have a go at primitive fire starting and having read a number of articles on BCUK and other website about the hand drill and the materials. I have found some Elder and what I think is wild clematis (Not 100%) on the clematis.

First attempt at the elder Drill was very straight but I think the drill is too narrow and short so cut a larger piece about as thick as my incex finger and the length of my elbow to finger tips.

First attempts as to be expected left nothing but sore hands. One thing I have heard mentioned is season the wood. Can someone explain what seasoning wood is, I assume it's just leaving the wood to dry out if that is the case for how long. Do I have any hope of success with fresh wood?

Any advice is greatly welcome.

Best Regards
Russ
 
I don't claim to be an expert, as I only gpt my first hand drill ember last week. But a couple of weeks in a warm dry place helps. I assume that you have taken the bark off. My successful attempt was with a bit of standing dead wood I found that was debarked but not dried after. Some sandpaper on the drill will help the hands, but build it up slowly to let them toughen up.
 

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