Things from Ron Edwards Bushcraft series of Books

[Mesquite]

Looks like a nice bit of kit Tom

 

[Macaroon]

The usual thing was to improve the grip by using the clamp between the thighs, Tom, and squeezing slightly whist using it; all the harness makers I knew reckoned that having them fairly tight "as is" made it a lot slower and more awkward to move the work along in the jaws.

 

[tombear]

Cheers, they ain't that tight as I was concerned with digging into the leather, but if they do prove awkward I can loosen them off some by remounting the top bolt a few inches closer to the bottom two. I had to fight the urge to slap glue between the bolts which would have been overkill strength wise and made them a pig to alter. Old habits die hard!

I've put a coat of satin yacht varnish on them, I don't think it will need a second. The glues waterproof.

ATB

Tom

 

[Crowe]

If you wish to twist wire together use a drill. More regular and quicker.

 

[lou1661]

If you wish to twist wire together use a drill. More regular and quicker.

I wish to use what i have in the field, I have wire and a multi tool, It may not be as tidy or as quick. But that is the way i like it.

 

[tombear]

An excellent point Crowe! Somewhere I did a tutorial on making bottle brushes, specifically for long ones for cleaning hydration tubes and sponge tipped ones for drying them out and I used a drill then, they work very well especially with lighter gauges.

As well as horsehair or nylon bristles and sponge you can put pan scrub material ( comes in sheets, usually green ) between the wires before twisting and trimmed they clean out stubborn stains. You have to take care of coarse as they do leave scratches.

ATB

Tom

 

[tombear]

And one last one for today, a variation on the fencing wire flip toaster

Harder to make, uses more materials and as far as I can tell does nothing the other doesn't do. Maybe a little stronger,

atb

Tom