Mora Clipper and Bacho Laplander!

[Hammy734]

Was I a little naive to think that what I seen on Youtube and read on these very forums would be enough for me to walk in the wild and accomplish what most of you probably find pretty easy?

I thought a nice way to start with my new knife and new saw would be to talk a walk into the Donard Woods of Newcastle and have a go at what I thought would be a realitively simple task of making a fuzz stick - I wasn't even contemplating making fire yet...

I learnt a very valuable lesson - this is gonna take a bit of practice... Although the laplander is incredibly fast at cutting through wood of varying thicknesses and the Mora Clipper is razor sharp I was still unable to make a simple fuzz stick! I kept chopping the slithers of wood right off instead of leaving it on the actual stick... using too much force, not judging right or perhaps its just because I am left handed.... haha!

I will keep practicing, and I will return when I have mastered it! Then I will be back letting you know I can't get the darn thing to light!

 

[Sniper]

Maybe try tilting the blade a little if your not already doing so, this is more like paring than cutting I found one slice tip up then one slice tip down works, the knife then shears through a bit lighter with less force.

 

[verloc]

yeah my fire sticks leave a lot to be desired as well but remember that the curls don't need to be on the stick to work - it just that the people who are good at them make them look so very very good.

A big difference to how I first tried and how i do them now is to lock my arm and almost rock forward pushing down - i think this seems to keep the movement on one plane and works well. I thnk this is how RM demos it on his TV shows as well.

 

[woodstock]

The simplest task looks easy when performed by someone who has mastered it so the answer is practice makes perfect you'll get there in the end .....its not a race go at your own pace and if you have a Question just ask no one on here will take the pee unless you asked for it

 

[michiel]

Try this:

When you reach the end of your cut, tilt the blade so the shaving bends away from the piece of wood. It helped a lot in my case.

 

[squantrill]

The simplest task looks easy when performed by someone who has mastered it so the answer is practice makes perfect you'll get there in the end .....its not a race go at your own pace and if you have a Question just ask no one on here will take the pee unless you asked for it

Sorry woodstock have to disagree there a little bit 'Practise makes PERMANENT.'
I think a better expression is 'If at first you don't succeed try try try again', then practise

I am not that good at these feather sticks either! but I do keep trying, if it goes wrong i read a book or ask somebody to show me how they do it then try again.

Keep trying until you perfect a technique that works for you then practise it until it becomes second nature to perfom....

I found that shaving the bark off first then shaving the wood i little flatter (keeping the shavings of course) makes it a bit easier for me, trying to shave the rounded wood I keep loosing the curls on the floor!! Using the rounded edge of your jife seems to help to.
Solid control with your arm and as woodstock quite correctly says

.....its not a race go at your own pace and if you have a Question just ask no one on here will take the pee unless you asked for it

 

[saddle_tramp]

Try sitting on the ground, and using your knee as a stop, so effectively keeping the knife still and pulling the wood towards you.

 

[bikething]

And don't forget you can still use the 'feathers' even if you've cut them off the stick - just don't leave them on the damp gound for any length of time

 

[Dougster]

Your new knife has a micro bevel. It'll be easier when you've sharpened it properly.

In the spring you'll have enormous firesticks and be brandishing them with wanton abandon.

 

[bikething]

In the spring you'll have enormous firesticks and be brandishing them with wanton abandon.

... now I've got a picture in my head of a bloke in a swannie running round the woods waving a couple of feathersticks around in the manner of Ken Dodd and his tickling sticks