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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2014 22:24:48 GMT
The bird's nest, now well alight inside, is carefully placed in a bed of dry wood shavings, with dry kindling build around it and over it - the plastic bag contained birch bark which is good for lighting fires with as it burns fast and quick. Today's mission is.... At this point there came the photo of cooking breakfast and dinner at the same time. Breakfast now over, stockings unpacked and explored, sweeties eaten, a bottle of wine empty, waiting for the turkey to cook...
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2014 22:31:10 GMT
6 month old Little Ted who is hopefully going to grow up to be a fine gypsy caravan pulling cob. A very "aaaggghhh" photo, and he was even cuter and cuddlier and inquisitive and excitable in real life. Just delightful. He was quite intrigued with the camera - this is the only photo in which he isn't trying to eat the camera The self-made gypsy caravan used by guests to experience a real gypsy travelling holiday. Also used as a spare bedroom. The other caravan was out on the road over Christmas.
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Post by n brown on Jan 4, 2014 22:42:25 GMT
really nice to see you getting a bit of exposure to this stuff and appreciating it so much ! most people are so removed from this reality,it's a shame.so good for you !
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Post by robmac on Jan 5, 2014 10:06:07 GMT
Char cloth is brilliant stuff Jess. I make it in an old biscuit tin over the fire and use it if there is no Birch bark around. Old Mans Beard (Clematis family) or Bullrush also makes fantastic tinder. Get yourself a decent knife! Essential for bushcraft, people pay hundreds of pounds for knives, but the one I use I paid about £10 for (Mora Clipper). It does everything the expensive ones do and is very highly regarded; www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0FHoffNVX0When I go tarp or tent camping in Scotland, I also carry a hand axe and a folding saw. There is always dead wood to be found.
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Post by seanrua on Jan 5, 2014 12:52:32 GMT
Thanks to All for some more excellent stuff! The only problem is that if you keep it up, everybody will want to do it! Not a very democratic statement, so I withdrwa it. Anyway, as long as there's a website like the WC club - with all their negative vibes and hang-ups - I don't suppose there's much to worry about - provided they don't come a-snooping around.
So nice to see folk doing things the right old way - none of these taboos about fires ( CO ?), knives,tables and chairs,, horseshit, dog piss, galvanised sheets, etc etc!
Robmac, I agree that a knife is essential kit and that particular one looks good. I'm lucke as I get " recycled ones from the scrapyard - which, btw, is f a like Ajax and the other whingers seem to suggest.
Yes, "recycling" became one of these fashionable buzzwords for the bureaucrats to seize upon and use to draw up law after law, but, surely, some of those cleverclogs on the WC can remember milk bottles with the slogan " rinse and return"? Nothing new, imo, and if some of the tossers knew anthing about about the Continent besides their particular hide-away from the UK IRS in, say, Spain or French-ruled Brittany, they'd know that sorting out the crap has long been the norm in many states.
My personal view is that Recycling is not particularly "green". especially when all the transport costs are taken into consideration. Yet, we get the clerclogs suggesting folk go a-driving to the tip! Ffs! Isn't the unnecessary "school run" a bad enough jammer for them?
The same dudes probably donate hundreds to places like Stonehenge and offa's Ditch.
HO hum, it takes all sorts, I guess, but it must be hard to be humble for ICV drivers, imo.
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Post by robmac on Jan 5, 2014 13:24:46 GMT
I found a knife in the loft recently Sean. I remember buying it, probably 35 years ago, and it had some very good use but then has lain forgotten about for years. I probably wont take it anywhere with me as its a bit Ramboish and I'd get locked up! Edit; Not sure why but when you double click the pic it rotates it and you have to single click it again to get a proper image. Strange.
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Post by edina on Jan 5, 2014 14:10:51 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2014 14:14:57 GMT
There's more photos of the caravan yet to come but it's a slow process, resizing them to under 1Mb, and then uploading them in sets of 3, will add some more later. I don't want to post them to photobucket and link to them as some people can't click through to the links and it's much nicer to write a caption for each one in the thread. robmac, Dave showed me how to make char cloth using an old tobacco tin with a hole in the lid, I'm going to have a go at making some. I have a couple of knives - one from my army days which is very similar to the one in your photo above, with the wooden handle, I remember buying it in an Army Kit shop in Salisbury whilst down on exercise on the Plain, probably around 1989. Not sure where it is, probably in the loft with my climbing kit, as I always used to carry it when climbing in case of a "Joe Simpson/Simon Yates (need to cut the rope)" incident. Like you, I'm reluctant to carry it round without having a good valid reason as it's definitely Ramboish and I wouldn't want the boys in blue to come across it and with my mental health history, to put 2 and 2 together to make 5. I also have a smaller foldaway blade, which is more "ladylike", which I carry in the van and which I keep sharp using river stones, and it's used for all sorts of things. It's small enough and innocuous enough to carry in my handbag but it's a good blade and sharpens well. Because of the Storm Kettle, I'm used to gathering wood etc and also have a foldaway saw in the van, and also a bough saw (I have been known to screech to a halt on a road after a strong wind, to cut up a fallen branch to chuck in the van to take home for the wood burner). I am already fairly clued up on outdoor living after years of mountaineering, and working as an outdoor instructor, but Dave has taught me some specialised skills which I hadn't known - ie the snares, preparing the bird, making fire without matches and lighter. All these things are, for me, interesting to know about but in all honesty, unless I'm absolutely desperate, having lost my knife and fag lighter, I'm unlikely to need to use them. But it's good to know that in a desperate situation, I would have enough knowledge to at least have a go at coping. Sean, in my eyes, recycling means reusing things that would otherwise been thrown away, to make new things or to give them a second use. For example, I make all sorts of crafty things, such as knitting / crocheting with plastic carrier bags (I have made dog beds, bags, draught excluders out of old plastic carrier bags), also have made crocheted baskets using baling twine. I never throw anything out without thinking carefully about whether it can be reused in some way. Although I've been recycling tin cans and glass for years, long before it became trendy and fashionable to do so, but way back in the late 80s and 90s when folk thought I was strange for saving such things to recycle, and recycling facilities were few and far between, I do now think that we make it far too easy for people to recycle and don't do enough to prevent people from buying such crap in the first place. For example, you buy a pair of scissors, imported from China, which are contained in pointless plastic packaging, which you need a pair of scissors to open. That does my head in, all the unnecessary plastic packaging for every day non-perishable items. So now I try not to buy things in unnecessary packaging. It's actually quite easy as I'm so skint at the moment, so anything other than milk, bread, baccy and dog food, are unnecessary luxuries And the milk cartons can be reused in various ways, the bread bags are used to pick up the by-product of the dog food, and the baccy goes up in smoke.
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Post by n brown on Jan 5, 2014 14:35:15 GMT
i have one of these in each vehicle,as you say keeps a good edge,good carbon steel,great for cutting rope and seatbelts and skin etc. I prefer the no 7,as size matters to me
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Post by edina on Jan 5, 2014 15:02:26 GMT
i have one of these in each vehicle,as you say keeps a good edge,good carbon steel,great for cutting rope and seatbelts and skin etc. I prefer the no 7,as size matters to me Now you've made me feel so inferior!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2014 15:35:08 GMT
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Post by Etienne Le Croq on Jan 5, 2014 16:00:56 GMT
Great pictures WVW! Looks like you had a really good time.
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Post by Etienne Le Croq on Jan 5, 2014 16:02:55 GMT
i have one of these in each vehicle,as you say keeps a good edge,good carbon steel,great for cutting rope and seatbelts and skin etc. I prefer the no 7,as size matters to me Now you've made me feel so inferior! Opinal are great knives mines a No 10 bye the way.
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Post by n brown on Jan 5, 2014 16:10:12 GMT
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Post by Etienne Le Croq on Jan 5, 2014 17:04:00 GMT
That's a whopper mate!
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Post by robmac on Jan 5, 2014 17:05:55 GMT
Have a look at some of the bushcraft forums Jess. There are some great creations where people have made their own knives using wood or horn for the handles. Some even grind there own blades out of old files etc. Don't mention splitting logs (batoning) with a knife though, you would be drummed off the forum. Don't know why though, and I often do this.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2014 17:08:41 GMT
Boys and toys, eh?!! [wvw tuts in exasperation] What have I started? As with my own Ladylike Handbag friendly knife, one could say that it's not the size that counts, but how sharp you keep it, and how you use it
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Post by X on Jan 5, 2014 17:31:50 GMT
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Post by seanrua on Jan 5, 2014 17:41:43 GMT
That may be appropriate, basildog: I just logged in to thank everybody for the continuing interesting posts, when I got some warning from avast about hackers - smartchat hackers to be exact.
Must be the terribly dangerous content of the thread, I suppose, unless " Christmas" is getting too much airplay.
Anyway, carry on regardless and refuse to be daunted! Life is too short to waste.
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Post by n brown on Jan 5, 2014 17:46:40 GMT
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Post by Etienne Le Croq on Jan 5, 2014 17:50:39 GMT
Nice chopper mate!
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Post by robmac on Jan 5, 2014 18:12:53 GMT
I only got a little chopper;
And a little saw;
Just right for camping though.
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Post by Firefox on Jan 5, 2014 19:10:09 GMT
I have a Swiss army knife, the huntsman to be exact, though I have never hunted with it! I can really recommend this knife. It's the best 20 odd quid you will ever spend. It's pocket size compact, not bulky like some, but packs all the features. Ideal for bush crafting and survival as it has the saw for small branches which will really help with shelter building, and fire wood. I would love an off grid xmas sometime in the future!
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Post by n brown on Jan 5, 2014 19:38:47 GMT
I hadn't really thought of bushcraft as such,but it'ssurprising what you pick up over the years,i suppose it's playing with the kids.we built rafts and coracles,learnt knots and weaving,made up wattle walls for dens,threw knives and axes,made bows and arrows,spears and spearchuckers,slings, catapults and different boomerangs. we learnt rope splicing and shelter building,made tree houses,not having a telly eh ?
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Post by Firefox on Jan 5, 2014 19:42:19 GMT
Yes, bushcraft is just what we have always done. It used to be called survival, and before that scouting/guiding skills. I wonder what they will call it next
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Post by gaz on Jan 5, 2014 19:45:34 GMT
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Post by robmac on Jan 5, 2014 20:20:49 GMT
I belong to a couple of Bushcraft forums and you can learn some amazing stuff. It is very unlikely that any of us will get caught in a real survival situation, but some of them are very keen and carry their survival kits with them everywhere just in case the bus breaks down and they have to live off the land for a couple of hours!
It's more of a hobby for me. I've spent ages using a bow drill trying to get embers glowing and then given up and used my lighter, but on the occasions it has worked it's very satisfying. Also building a lean to (Adirondack shelter) with a tarp and sleeping by a fire is really nice, there are simple techniques to build a fire which will burn all night, also cooking over an open fire is great.
You have to like your own company and it's not for everyone.
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Post by n brown on Jan 5, 2014 20:30:01 GMT
I'd forgotten them ! we made them too,and learnt how to use those big wooden spinning tops that you throw upside down,we also made fire arrows and fired them off the cliffs into the sea.got some beautiful blowpipes and darts from a French gunshop,proper hunting pipes for small birds.incidentally,a bit of 3/8 ally tube makes a perfect blowpipe for those coloured pushpins for notice boards.we hung a dartboard at one end of the van and fired at it from the other end,if you don't have a dartboard a picture of George Osborne will do the job.very satisfying
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Post by n brown on Jan 5, 2014 20:33:54 GMT
just looked at your link gaz,that's not what we called a dutch arrow.it's more like a spear chucker.we would wind a bit of string around the arrow shaft from the feather end and it would spin when thrown,bet yours was like that
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Post by robmac on Jan 5, 2014 20:40:38 GMT
I'd forgotten them ! we made them too,and learnt how to use those big wooden spinning tops that you throw upside down,we also made fire arrows and fired them off the cliffs into the sea.got some beautiful blowpipes and darts from a French gunshop,proper hunting pipes for small birds.incidentally,a bit of 3/8 ally tube makes a perfect blowpipe for those coloured pushpins for notice boards.we hung a dartboard at one end of the van and fired at it from the other end,if you don't have a dartboard a picture of George Osborne will do the job.very satisfying That same blowpipe is also great for getting your fire going. Once the embers are glowing a nice blast of air from a blowpipe gets it burning and you get to keep your eyebrows.
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