Today I was bored and then I said to myself, wait a second... What am I doing sitting around being bored? It's a beautiful day and I just got a bunch of bushcraft related stuff in the mail, I might as well do something bushcrafty.
First I got out my old swiss army knife and my new mora clipper and new DC4. I was going to order a waterstone to learn to sharpen on and I might at some point but I just spent a bunch of money on an axe and stuff and then had to pay $60 in customs taxes (damn them...) when they arrived so I figured I might as well see if I could sharpen a knife on the DC4. I tried the swiss army knife first which seemed like it was going well, which surprised me. I was keeping the same angle and it sort of... felt right. It doesn't seem too sharp though so I definately haven't perfected my technique yet but I'll keep at it. Then I tried the clipper but I didn't really do that one for long because I didn't want to ruin it but I did try to strop it which I guess went as well as it could go. So that was the first time I've tried to sharpen anything and I think I did ok so I'm happy about that. Then I tried to sharpen my axe, no not my new gransfors wildlife hatchet because I'm not completely insane but my old wal-mart hatchet (yes it does suck). First I started with the gransfors axe file and did that for a little, definately didn't take enough off but that's why I was using the wal-mart hatchet. Then I went through the grits of the diamond files (yes I switched direction every time I switched files) but again I didn't take enough off I'm sure. Then I wet the axe stone and used it, first the coarse side, then the fine and that was definately the easiest part, probably because you're just sliding it around on the axe. It may not be that sharp but it's good enough for doing a bit of splitting or something.
Then I went out in the woods and tapped a birch tree, I also saw that the hole I had made with the awl of my swiss army knife a while ago was leaking sap. I had plugged the hole but it had fallen out so this time I made a better one and hammered it in better as well. This time I just pushed my knife in like I had done last year and it worked fine. It may seem a bit late for tapping birch but around here there's still some snow on the ground and it was even snowing not too long ago (as in a week or two ago) and I've tested the trees recently and there wasn't a drop. I have a bottle out there right now so I'll be going out soon to see how much is there, it's getting dark though so I guess I'll be bringing a flashlight. Can't wait though, last time I tried to tap a birch tree someone followed my footprints right to the tree (there was snow on the ground) and took the bottle off the tree, no idea why people do that but whatever.
The last thing I did was just a what the heck type of thing. I grabbed some loose bark off of the birch trees I was tapping, put a piece on a rock and roughed it up a bit (could have roughed it up alot more and it would probably have lit right away) and showered some sparks on it with my firesteel. After about ten strikes it lit and I threw the rest of the pieces on and watched my fire burn. It may not seem like that big of an accomplishment, you know using a firesteel and all but that's the first time I've lit a fire without a match or a lighter so I had a bit of a Cast Away moment.
So it was the first day of the year that I've done anything bushcrafty (I think it's a word) and it was great. Figured I might as well mention it, sorry if I've wasted your time...
First I got out my old swiss army knife and my new mora clipper and new DC4. I was going to order a waterstone to learn to sharpen on and I might at some point but I just spent a bunch of money on an axe and stuff and then had to pay $60 in customs taxes (damn them...) when they arrived so I figured I might as well see if I could sharpen a knife on the DC4. I tried the swiss army knife first which seemed like it was going well, which surprised me. I was keeping the same angle and it sort of... felt right. It doesn't seem too sharp though so I definately haven't perfected my technique yet but I'll keep at it. Then I tried the clipper but I didn't really do that one for long because I didn't want to ruin it but I did try to strop it which I guess went as well as it could go. So that was the first time I've tried to sharpen anything and I think I did ok so I'm happy about that. Then I tried to sharpen my axe, no not my new gransfors wildlife hatchet because I'm not completely insane but my old wal-mart hatchet (yes it does suck). First I started with the gransfors axe file and did that for a little, definately didn't take enough off but that's why I was using the wal-mart hatchet. Then I went through the grits of the diamond files (yes I switched direction every time I switched files) but again I didn't take enough off I'm sure. Then I wet the axe stone and used it, first the coarse side, then the fine and that was definately the easiest part, probably because you're just sliding it around on the axe. It may not be that sharp but it's good enough for doing a bit of splitting or something.
Then I went out in the woods and tapped a birch tree, I also saw that the hole I had made with the awl of my swiss army knife a while ago was leaking sap. I had plugged the hole but it had fallen out so this time I made a better one and hammered it in better as well. This time I just pushed my knife in like I had done last year and it worked fine. It may seem a bit late for tapping birch but around here there's still some snow on the ground and it was even snowing not too long ago (as in a week or two ago) and I've tested the trees recently and there wasn't a drop. I have a bottle out there right now so I'll be going out soon to see how much is there, it's getting dark though so I guess I'll be bringing a flashlight. Can't wait though, last time I tried to tap a birch tree someone followed my footprints right to the tree (there was snow on the ground) and took the bottle off the tree, no idea why people do that but whatever.
The last thing I did was just a what the heck type of thing. I grabbed some loose bark off of the birch trees I was tapping, put a piece on a rock and roughed it up a bit (could have roughed it up alot more and it would probably have lit right away) and showered some sparks on it with my firesteel. After about ten strikes it lit and I threw the rest of the pieces on and watched my fire burn. It may not seem like that big of an accomplishment, you know using a firesteel and all but that's the first time I've lit a fire without a match or a lighter so I had a bit of a Cast Away moment.
So it was the first day of the year that I've done anything bushcrafty (I think it's a word) and it was great. Figured I might as well mention it, sorry if I've wasted your time...
