Update on walking stick or staff

The staff project is going very well. I had to apply wood glue to the ends every day for nearly a week to seal any new cracks. For the past two days it has held up well and there are no new cracks showing. The glue and the fact that I left the bark on has done a great job of keeping it intact. I have included a photo that shows a mulberry rabbit stick that I got about the same time. I de-barked it and let it dry out. You can see the horrendous cracks that developed. These are all along the length of the stick. Its still a good "down and dirty" type of quick build stick but it shows what happens when you hurry things. Patience is a virtue. Had this been a bow stave it would be ruined.

Knowledge is power part 2

I found a terrific place for all kinds of related information. Its a post at The Survivalist blog. I have a link to his blog in my links column to the right and if you click on this posts title it will take you to that article. As always, no matter how many books or how much stuff you read on the net, unless you actually do it hands on its worthless. Once you build a fire from a bow and drill or make cordage from dogbane, the skill sticks where it counts. In your head. Practice, practice, practice!!!

The staff

I subscribe to Backwoodsman Magazine and have for many, many years. Its the best outdoors magazine there is in my opinion. This latest issue had an article about the versatile staff. One thing I read makes a lot of sense and that is if the staff is taller than you are there is a lot less chance of trying to impale yourself in a fall. Good idea! So, anyway, I managed to rescue this from the tree shredder about two weeks ago and its a mulberry sapling about 6'8" long and 2" diameter. I'm 6'2" so this is fine. I've been coating the ends with wood glue to keep it from cracking and I plan to leave the bark on. It seems to want to crack a lot so I give it a good coating every day. I imagine I'll be doing this till it stops since its green and wet. I'll be sure to post any further modifications in future posts.

Fire

On Sunday I started another series of survival/preparedness class's. I gave a lesson in alternate navigation and time telling skills and one of my favorite skills, fire. We made a bit of char cloth in a mini Altoids tin and I showed how to start a fire using a bit of char cloth and a ferro rod to set it off. That way you can save the petroleum jelly cotton balls (PJCB's) for more inclement weather. I recently read a post over at Bushcraft USA about the little item pictured below. Its called a tinder tube. Here's how it works and its very simple. Get some 100% cotton rope like clothes line and a short piece (about two inches will do fine) of brass tubing. Push the rope through the tube and tie a knot so it isn't pulled through. Take a lighter or match and char the end of the rope. Now, pull the rope back into the tube about halfway and hold your finger over the end. This snuffs the burning ember. Now you have a new way to start fires. This works with flint & steel or ferro cerium spark rods. One spark will start the whole tip to glowing. Its simple and it works.