plastic bottle tutorial-very picture heavy

[rancid badger]

I've been going to do a bit of a tutorial on how to make one of these for a while but just never got round to it.
So,here we go
This, is a minnow bottle or if you prefer; a tree sap collector, either way it takes about 30 minutes or less to make and is a great way to recycle plastic drinks bottles.

The raw materials: 2x 2litres drinks bottles.

You need a pair of sharp scissors, in this case the one's on my 15 year old Gerber multi-tool.
Some cordage,
Something to make holes with, that doesn't mind being heated up and something to make the heat, in this case, a mini trangia burner.

I started by cutting the top of one bottle,

ending up with this:

and the bottom off the other bottle:

Then,after removing the cap from the cut off top, fit this inside the other bottle. It should look something like This:

Next, you need to heat up what ever your going to use to make the holes. I used a home made awl, normally used for bark container making etc so not going to be ruined by heating.
I have used a mini trangia in this tutorial as thats what i had handy, but you could use anything including the cooker if you wish. It's very difficult to see, but it's alight here!

Once you have the awl or w.h.y. hot, start melting holes around the rim, about 15mm from the cut edge of the outer bottle.It pays to do one hole one side, then do the next one opposite. The holes being melted through, welds the plastic, helping to give the whole thing a bit of strength.

Continue around the bottle, alternating as you go, till you have about 15-20mm between the holes.Then put your burner out! Your bottle should now look like this:

Trim off the edges till you have about 15mm from the edge to the holes.:

It's just a matter of "sewing" the two parts together now. You can use any cordage you have available:

Here; we have spruce root on the left and Wych elm bark on the right:

I decided to strip down some old terylene rope, just to give the job a totally "recycled" flavour

Simply thread the cord through the first hole and tie it off-in this case; a round turn and two half hitches:

then, just keep threading the cord through the holes;

Until you get back to where you started:

Then form a loop and attach a length of cord, long enough to allow you to cast the bottle to where your minnows are and...well......Robert's your mothers brother

To use it; fill the bottle with water, add a few small bits of bread and then cast it into the area where your minnows are swimming. It also helps to chuck a few extra bits of bread around the bottle to attract the minnows to the area.

You need to keep an eye on it as it can fill rapidly with minnows and once in, they can't get out! When you want a minnow for bait, simply unscrew the cap and let one out. You can refill the bottle with fresh water every half hour or so and you can also carry the bottle if your moving around.If your static; just leave the bottle in the water and If your boat fishing, you can simply hang it over the side of the boat, either way, the minnows get a constant supply of fresh water.

So; there you go, if you need live bait for fishing, have a go at this.

You can also use the same device for collecting tree sap; simply hang it on the spile and place a piece of cloth in the neck to filter out muck and insects etc.

Even if you don't fish or collect tree sap, it make's a handy "pee bottle" for chaps in hammocks!

Have fun and mind your fingers

 

[Earlyturtle]

Nicely done, I've used these as wasp traps when I was younger by putting jam/honey/other sugary solution in the bottom section. Wasp goes down the funnel for the sweet stuff and can't get back out. Not the fairest way of getting rid of wasps but it was very effective.
Didn't ever think that there'd be other uses for it so cheers for that.
Mike

 

[RobertRogers]

Well done, I like this very much

 

[mr dazzler]

That brings back happy memories. I made minnow trap's from wine bottles when I was a lad, you had to carefully tap out the centre of the cone shaped base to make a hole about 1/2 inch or so wide. (bottlrs with a flat base were no good) Its amazing how many trap syatems work on the diminishing non return funnel principle, rat traps, even the old deer traps to herd them for royalty, also the trawler nets. I always found live minnow a killer bait to attract bigger wild trout in the Tees (there was some). Insert hook through tail, wrap once round the body, insert just under dorsal fin, another wrap the insert the hook out of its mouth. One time I was ledgering with a minnow and the fish hit the minnow so hard it pulled the rod off its rest and into the water

 

[spamel]

Great tutorial, a similar method is used on the Jack Hargreaves programme Out of Town to trap minnows for some rescued juvenile kingfishers.

 

[In Wood]

They are very similar to the ones Mike Armstrong did in last Months issue of Bushcraft & Survival Skills magazine.
Is this where you got the idea or off your own bat?

Good idea though and as you and he said good way to recycle plastic bottles.

 

[rancid badger]

They are very similar to the ones Mike Armstrong did in last Months issue of Bushcraft & Survival Skills magazine.
Is this where you got the idea or off your own bat?

Good idea though and as you and he said good way to recycle plastic bottles.

No, I've been messing about with plastic bottles for donkey's years now, mind you it's sod's law; when you finally decide to share your idea, some buxxer else has already thought of it elsewhere!
Never seen or heard of that particular publication before now, when I come to think about it:bluThinki
I bet that other buxxer's nicked MY idea!!! Doris!! get me flip flop's!!

Cheers
R.B.