At least 5 days a week I am hiking. Always try to do something different to keep it interesting. For this hike I wanted to create a friction fire using a new combo, apple on apple. When gathering the materials it occurred to me there was more history to this exercise and just physical exercise. With that back drop lets hit the woods. The melt is over for now, the cold has returned. During the margins of the seasons conditions oscillate from one season to the other. It's easy to under dress this time of the year. The ice is back.
But the river still flows. Not too long ago it was iced over.
Up first is punk wood coal extender. I may only get one chance at a coal so stack the odds in my favor.
Looks like the woodpeckers are working overtime on this hemlock.
The Beech leaves are finally falling. I call this second Autumn.
High winds blew down this bundle of Oak leaves. I am going to need some.
Nice large Yellow birch. Going to take some of the outer bark.
A big old wolf tree. From this angle one might almost think it was summer but in reality temps were in 20's and dropping. The high winds were also a PITA.
Darn cool tree IMHO.
A wolf tree is one which grew within a clearing so spread out then new growth moved in. Often they help ID old farming sites or sides of long abandoned roads. Not sure what is the deal here. The interesting tree seemed like a good backdrop for my skills practice. I moved out of range from the branches because of the wind.
Stuff for the fire. The apple wood was mailed to me along with a big box of other friction fire materials. The knife was acquired from a give a way. The cedar bark foraged the previous day, punk wood, birch bark and oak leaves foraged today. The Kydex sheath was made by myself however started bending Kydex after was given a sheet plus grommets etc during a camping trip. The marker of the PSK knife is WCF which is a wonderful little operation. So the generosity of others plays a big part here.
Fluffed up the cedar bark then mixed in birch bark. Topped it off with punk wood.
The spindle was cut flat on both sides, sharpened one side pointy the other blunter. Drilled the notch in the fire board. Ready for the burn-in. The sheep's foot worked well as a drill which kinda surprised me. The extra burn-in holes were there when the wood was shipped to me.
The burn in. There was some nice smoke but the extreme black dust was troubling. Still my hopes were high.
Cut the V groove. I was lucky to have gloves because the thin knife dug a bit into my hands. If using this knife more I would have considered hafting it to a stick. Still as is the knife got the job done.
It was a battle. 4 attempts only produced cold hands and funky stringy jet black dust. Normally all I get is 3 tries per burn-in, sometimes the entire set. If something new isn't done during the 4th or 5th attempt then total failure is a very real possibility. The sun was also going down. So out of desperation I crushed up some punk wood packed it into the hole. I knew this was it. It only spun a short time till the spindle grounded out but unlike the previous embers which were false this one held. Even the dust looked a bit different. I wonder if punk wood like chaga can't be used to super charge a failed or working set in marginal conditions? I will revisit this.
Those oak leaves coming into play.
Transferred over to the tinder bundle.
Working it.
Flames. My hands were so cold held the bundle longer than usual. There are some aspects to the cold which will be missed once winter fades.
The fireboard was drilled right through.
Fire.
Ice.
The spindle was drilling into the ice which forced me to stop on the final attempt but despite that it worked.
I used the knife to shave off the glaze during each attempt cutting off the little nipple which can be produced as well. Still the end pointed out on the last try. Maybe this changed the downward pressure or rate of spin which resulted in the apple on apple success or perhaps it was the addition of punk wood within the set?
Tossed the PSK knife back into the PSK which was part of that same GAW. Again the generosity of others at work.
Hiked out as the sun set.
Thanks to everyone who made this practice possible.
But the river still flows. Not too long ago it was iced over.
Up first is punk wood coal extender. I may only get one chance at a coal so stack the odds in my favor.
Looks like the woodpeckers are working overtime on this hemlock.
The Beech leaves are finally falling. I call this second Autumn.
High winds blew down this bundle of Oak leaves. I am going to need some.
Nice large Yellow birch. Going to take some of the outer bark.
A big old wolf tree. From this angle one might almost think it was summer but in reality temps were in 20's and dropping. The high winds were also a PITA.
Darn cool tree IMHO.
A wolf tree is one which grew within a clearing so spread out then new growth moved in. Often they help ID old farming sites or sides of long abandoned roads. Not sure what is the deal here. The interesting tree seemed like a good backdrop for my skills practice. I moved out of range from the branches because of the wind.
Stuff for the fire. The apple wood was mailed to me along with a big box of other friction fire materials. The knife was acquired from a give a way. The cedar bark foraged the previous day, punk wood, birch bark and oak leaves foraged today. The Kydex sheath was made by myself however started bending Kydex after was given a sheet plus grommets etc during a camping trip. The marker of the PSK knife is WCF which is a wonderful little operation. So the generosity of others plays a big part here.
Fluffed up the cedar bark then mixed in birch bark. Topped it off with punk wood.
The spindle was cut flat on both sides, sharpened one side pointy the other blunter. Drilled the notch in the fire board. Ready for the burn-in. The sheep's foot worked well as a drill which kinda surprised me. The extra burn-in holes were there when the wood was shipped to me.
The burn in. There was some nice smoke but the extreme black dust was troubling. Still my hopes were high.
Cut the V groove. I was lucky to have gloves because the thin knife dug a bit into my hands. If using this knife more I would have considered hafting it to a stick. Still as is the knife got the job done.
It was a battle. 4 attempts only produced cold hands and funky stringy jet black dust. Normally all I get is 3 tries per burn-in, sometimes the entire set. If something new isn't done during the 4th or 5th attempt then total failure is a very real possibility. The sun was also going down. So out of desperation I crushed up some punk wood packed it into the hole. I knew this was it. It only spun a short time till the spindle grounded out but unlike the previous embers which were false this one held. Even the dust looked a bit different. I wonder if punk wood like chaga can't be used to super charge a failed or working set in marginal conditions? I will revisit this.
Those oak leaves coming into play.
Transferred over to the tinder bundle.
Working it.
Flames. My hands were so cold held the bundle longer than usual. There are some aspects to the cold which will be missed once winter fades.
The fireboard was drilled right through.
Fire.
Ice.
The spindle was drilling into the ice which forced me to stop on the final attempt but despite that it worked.
I used the knife to shave off the glaze during each attempt cutting off the little nipple which can be produced as well. Still the end pointed out on the last try. Maybe this changed the downward pressure or rate of spin which resulted in the apple on apple success or perhaps it was the addition of punk wood within the set?
Tossed the PSK knife back into the PSK which was part of that same GAW. Again the generosity of others at work.
Hiked out as the sun set.
Thanks to everyone who made this practice possible.
