Search results

  • Hey Guest, Early bird pricing on the Summer Moot (29th July - 10th August) available until April 6th, we'd love you to come. PLEASE CLICK HERE to early bird price and get more information.
  1. Billy-o

    Oil Lamps (Pics please)

    When I moved from the UK to Canada a long while back now, I brought with me a big box of oil lamps/lanterns of various ages and states of repair. Mainly Feuerhands, but others too. Over time the number has gradually dwindled to, as of last week, none. I need some replacements, but here a...
  2. Billy-o

    Merlin app

    I wondered how many people used the Merlin app. It is a bird ID app run by Cornell Uni (I think); who process the info. It provides visual identifications, as you might expect. But, the very neat thing is its audio ID function. You make a recording with your phone and it tells you what is...
  3. Billy-o

    Shackleton's 'Endurance' found

    No, not the discovery of a new type of Viagra. They found the ship that Shackleton and his crew had to abandon and then paddle the unlikely distance across the Weddell Sea to a remote islands in the hope of being picked up (some many months later, it turned out). Odd it should bob to the...
  4. Billy-o

    Gene Ingram

    By luck rather than design, I have had the rare opportunity to see these things all in the same room at once. Usually they find themselves distributed in two or three places round the country. But, that aside, another reason for posting this pic is that Gene Ingram has given himself quite a...
  5. Billy-o

    Border or Northumbria

    Barbours, I mean Just seeing my old and derelict Solway off, and will scour eBay for its replacement (vintage, that is) What do people think are the different merits of the Border and the Northumbria? :)
  6. Billy-o

    This bone sheath

    I find it quite difficult to find adequate leather sheaths here ... at least within the range of affordability. My own leather work is only OK, if that. So, I tend to avoid. But the other day I found this picture of an open structure bone sheath for a large leuku. I like it. Maybe bone won't...
  7. Billy-o

    Barometers?

    Does the hive mind know much about barometers? I feel I'd like one for my dotage, but don't know much about them ... except they can be cheap or expensive :)
  8. Billy-o

    Boy Scouts USA getting eaten alive

    Beset by sex abuse cases, the Boy Scouts of America organization is heading into bankruptcy ... see some of the hourly rates lawyers are charging. Talk about feeding off the carcase! https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/11/us/boy-scouts-bankruptcy-legal-fees.html
  9. Billy-o

    Spikes for shoes

    Here's a trick I'll be trying soon. For those of you as gets tricky-to-deadly icy streets a few times a year, or mud. http://www.runningonhappy.com/2017/12/studded-running-shoes/
  10. Billy-o

    Dead of Winter

    I was wondering; is the dead of winter a particular time, or a particular thing, or a quality of weather perhaps? Or, is it just something people have got used to saying?
  11. Billy-o

    Breeks - who wears them

    Just speculating, like. I had a pair of waterproof 3/4 length trousers when I was younger in the UK, but grew out of them when I was eighteen. For hiking. They were pretty popular in the 70s and 80s in the Outdoor Pursuits milieus, but gone now ... and I have never seen them in Canada, or...
  12. Billy-o

    Repairing Merino clothing - help

    Hi ... I am hoping for some advice about repairs here. It is time to dig out the merino baselayers in preparation for the winter walkies. Actually, we've had the first frost and first snow here already, so I am a bit tardy on this. Anyway, upon inspection, I find that a few pieces (200-ish...
  13. Billy-o

    Whin?

    Does anyone here use the word whin to describe gorse? I mean is that the first word you would think of when you see the bushes?
  14. Billy-o

    ESEE 6 itch

    I have a proper jonesing here for an ESEE-6. Has anyone here got one, had one, had a go on one? 1095 steel at about Rc 55-57, so pretty soft ... tough and easy to sharpen being the qualities aimed for, I guess. Here's a little video, because, well, you know, because ... :) I like that guy...
  15. Billy-o

    Buffalo Hood?

    Help! :) Those of you with Buffalo shirts/jackets ... What do you think? Hood or no hood?
  16. Billy-o

    Go Ruck Boots - any opinions

    A couple of years ago Go Ruck started making boots. We know this. But now the time has come for a boot upgrade for me, and I am looking at these with a half-serious eye. The reviews are almost uniformly splendid, but the brand does attract a lot of fans who may have the rose tinted glasses on...
  17. Billy-o

    D2 and a bit of damp

    Concerning the rust resistance of D2: I got rained on yesterday. Wetter than I thought, obviously, and found an Elver in D2 in the sorry state witnessed here. Gave it a wipe down with a bit of carboard and it looks like this now. Most of my D2 knives have spots of (pretty much...
  18. Billy-o

    3" blade, flat grind, fixed blade

    I'd like to get a little flat ground fixed blade knife for myself. 3" blade would be great, even slightly shorter perhaps. Flat grind is what I am after, and in carbon steel. O1 for preference ... though if something magical in that K390 stuff is around, that would be lovely too. Anyone got any...
  19. Billy-o

    Bimini knot and Whoopie

    Do knots go here? :) I thought I'd put these vids up. I got introduced to the Bimini recently when I started fly fishing again. Very handy for that, and there's a million other uses. The Whoopie I came across when ordering some 3mm dyneema cord the other day. I didn't know that there is a...
  20. Billy-o

    Nice listen about the Fens - Radio 4

    BBC Radio 4 series https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0006lp8 (OT - did you ever read Graham Swift's novel Waterland)