Search results

  • 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.
  1. ESpy

    want to start bushcraft, wheres a good place to start

    Given you're apparently in Portsmouth at the moment, there are a few of us nearby. Could probably organise some sort of impromptu show & tell on kit & books, for example.
  2. ESpy

    Reindeer Leather.

    Ah, I'll bring you some goodies at the weekend... ;)
  3. ESpy

    Reindeer Leather.

    If you're still looking for reindeer leather, http://www.dick.biz/ sell it (Materials/Leather) - albeit by the whole hide and significantly darker than that. Beginning to wish I hadn't looked now - they've also got ostrich in...
  4. ESpy

    Wet forming a sheath HELP

    Yup, exactly the same thing - except in the dye you're using iron acetate, which can soak into the leather more evenly. Other than oxalic acid, there's really nothing going to shift that that I know of!
  5. ESpy

    Wet forming a sheath HELP

    The black is iron tannate, formed by the reaction of the steel & the tannin in the leather - and it is deep in the leather. Oxalic acid might remove some of it, but I wouldn't guarantee it. Best bet is to dye the entire thing black. There is an old black dye that is sometimes used made up...
  6. ESpy

    Christmas Moot - 9/10th Dec 2006

    Possibly daft question - how close is parking to the barn?
  7. ESpy

    New bow saw at Woodlore

    "Problem" is - and you've pretty much hit the nail on the head - this group tend to be pretty can-do about making things (and learning about making things) and it is easy to get carried away on acquiring the skillset, without factoring in the cost of the time to make the item... We're also...
  8. ESpy

    automatic sewing awl question

    Ditto. Oh, and the thread drags horrendously on the needles. Guess I just scuppered any chance of selling mine! :D The Wild Rose stitching pony is a hinged beasty; very effective, but I've come to prefer a traditional clam now. Just as well, really - I've got 3 of them now.
  9. ESpy

    Leather suppliers?

    If you're paying top whack for veg tan tooling leather and it comes dried out to that extent, I'd send it back.
  10. ESpy

    South/Hampshire meet

    Probably not, due to the Christmas moot. I don't know the Chase Inn, could be interesting?
  11. ESpy

    polishing paste

    I've not tried using Steelbrite (or Steelcut, another Abramax compound) on strops, but I do use Tripoli on some - and it is just a case of scribbling the Tripoli onto the leather to give moderately even coverage. Rouge works - I've got both powder and block; chromium oxide powder works really...
  12. ESpy

    Best bushcraft sandwich?

    More importantly, you need to brew beer first to make it :)
  13. ESpy

    South/Hampshire meet

    Tues/Weds/Thurs are not too bad for me generally - and it's a cat, BTW!
  14. ESpy

    South/Hampshire meet

    I think the Prince of Wales is now under new landlords... :D
  15. ESpy

    kuksa making instructions

    I'd have assumed that was one of the Flexcut carvers from the photo, but I'm not entirely sure.
  16. ESpy

    Derma-Safe: Folding Utility Knife

    IIRC, Nomad Bushcraft were seeling some at the Wilderness Gathering.
  17. ESpy

    Mad Dave's Five Hour Forge

    Missed this the first time round... For longish objects (like blades), I've got a similar forge - albeit side draft - with deep notches cut out of the front & back, so I can build a good bed of fuel over a trench for the beasty. Remember that in supposedly smelling gas, you aren't smelling...
  18. ESpy

    What kind of shoes do you use?

    When they start curling over the front of the sandals, that might be a hint? :D
  19. ESpy

    What kind of shoes do you use?

    That one made me flinch... If your toenails are long, cut the damn things! Beats the pain of having the nail forced backwards into the toe. (All the Gore Tex boot linings I've seen have had the membrane protected too.) I'm a bit of a zealot on looking after your feet - it doesn't matter...
  20. ESpy

    Do you know a knife maker?

    There are also a lot of makers with high demand. Doesn't make them slow. We are not talking a production line here - if you commission a maker to make a knife for you, then it is not unreasonable for them to ask for a deposit. OK, so if you change your mind later they still have a knife...