What did you do in the shop today?

[Frosty]

Nah, it isn't humiliating unless you keep making the same mistake over and over. 

Those look pretty good from here. What isn't right?

Frosty The Lucky.

[Daswulf]

Look like a V shape inner not quite box jaw, tho my idea of box jaw may be a narrow one. 

They look usable and the boss and rivet look ok to me. I have a pair I didnt make a bit similar. Good for smaller round stock.

[Ted Ewert]

1 hour ago, Frosty said:

Nah, it isn't humiliating unless you keep making the same mistake over and over. 

They're OK, and work fine, but it took me 6 hours to get them done. I guess I set my own expectations higher than my abilities. It also took a lot of 120 volt rasping to get them looking the way they do.

I haven't gotten to the point where I feel confident and relaxed while making these things. It's a bigger deal in my head than in reality. I see all the imperfections but they're minor really. 

If all else fails, I can always weld some roots on and turn it into a candle holder.

1 hour ago, Daswulf said:

Look like a V shape inner not quite box jaw, tho my idea of box jaw may be a narrow one. 

They look usable and the boss and rivet look ok to me. I have a pair I didnt make a bit similar. Good for smaller round stock.

You're right. I didn't know what else to call them. I saw someone using a similar pair in a video and decided to make some. 

Those jaws were difficult. I used chisels, V swedges, and a piece of square stock. The profile at the end turned out slightly rectangular. A press would have made short work of it.

[Daswulf]

I wont lie, a press would be nice but much can be done without one. 

Yeah, I think the term might be "V bit tongs".  If they work, they work. Keep on working at them and you'll have a lot of them lol. Eventually you might want to use them to make other stuff. 

[Frosty]

1 hour ago, Ted Ewert said:

If all else fails, I can always weld some roots on and turn it into a candle holder.

That's the spirit Ted. "We don't make mistakes we have happy accidents" Bob Ross.

Stop trying for perfection till you get the "mechanics" right. You have the reins and bolster looking good, work on the bits. Worry about getting all the scale and cosmetic imperfections clean and shiny later. Smooth and shiny doesn't hold stock for you. 

I'd call those V bits. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

Every apparent failure is just a step toward eventual success. 

[Jobtiel1]

Well what do you know, I needed some flint for the new striker, and thought to have a look in the gravel paths in the front yard, and fished out multiple large chunks. tried my hand at knapping, and have some reasonable and a few good pieces to use with the fire striker.

In the shop I made a few more items that will go in an online shop soon. after moving in two weeks I will make a few fire strikers for the boy scouts when we go to summer camp, maybe teach the older ones some advanced fire starting techniques.

~Jobtiel

[ThomasPowers]

Hmmm when I was in scouts "advanced" fire starting techniques involved dangerous flammable liquids...

[Jobtiel1]

That's what we do, and the kids keep wondering how we get our fire going so quickly ;). But we teach them without, never know when you might need the skills.

[JHCC]

The best emergency fire starter is still the disposable lighter. Even when the fuel runs out, you can still use the sparker.

[ThomasPowers]

As I have a liking for fire; I was often the first person out on COLD campouts, (Coldest we did had an overnight low of -21 degF). I found it humorous that everyone was buried in their sleeping bags till I lit a match and then I was surrounded by folks who didn't even wait till the fire was started well.  I remember one fellow who didn't understand heat transference and actually lit the bottom of his sneakers on fire a short while before he was dancing frantically to get them off and expose his feet to the frozen ground...Ahh the days of our Youth!

[Jobtiel1]

The lighter is definitely the best, we teach all of the kids to start fire with no more than three matches, but within a year of being in out group they usually do it with one. We always try to teach them the more primitive stuff too, only using wood that they can forage, no pre dried stuff, or cooking without any sort of pots and pans. They like it, and we like to see what they come up with.

Coldest that I've camped in was -10 C, not as cold as -20 C what Thomas said, but still too cold for me. Was after a beach party in January, fun times, and a lot of frozen clothing in the morning :). Nearly everyone here burned their 'jollies' (those plastic/rubber garden shoes, they're handy 'cuz they float) at least once around a fire here.

I only joined the boy scouts when I was 18, so no learning that stuff as a kid. But my father took me splitting firewood since I was 11, and wood stove lighting taught me firestarting too. I am however not very good in the more primitive ways, so now I want to learn together with the kids how to start fire with flint and steel and maybe even a bow drill. At least if they're interested. I also plan on baking bread in dutch ovens with them.

~Jobtiel

[ThomasPowers]

-21 deg F == -29.44 deg C   And as I remember it; it's a lot more fun in memory than while living through it.

I have 4 of my 8 grandkids moving back near here soon; only an hour away and my Daughter has asked if I can do some camping with them and show them the ropes so to speak.  Well probably have the older ones forge their own strikers and find some microcrystalline quarts in the arroyo out back to use them with.  Then out to camp by the Gila cliff dwellings and hike to the hot springs!

Weather is strongly correlated to altitude here in NM and so being more than a mile high will make things a bit more temperate sooner than down here in the valley.

[Jobtiel1]

Sounds like a great time with the grandkids! Makes me remember the times with my late grandfather, who used to teach me al about foraging sea culture on the beaches and rocks. He taught me how to open oysters and the like too! And most of my fish gutting skills come from him too, although it's been a while since I've done that and was never any good at it anyway. Maybe I'll try and do some ocean fishing soon as the new house is practically on the beach!

[JHCC]

I taught myself how to make a fire drill when I was living in the Bronx, in New York City. The thrill of seeing that first flame was awesome!

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

Flashlight batteries and 0000 - 00000 steel wool is a good fire starter.  Hold the batteries together end to end in one hand while pinching some steel wool on the bottom battery, then take the other end of the steel wool and touch it to the end of the top battery creating a short circuit.  With a 9v battery you just push it into the steel wool.

[Chimaera]

2 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

lit the bottom of his sneakers on fire

I don’t understand how you can rationalize such actions. I mean, I’ve caught my shoes on fire several times, but always by accident (typically stepping on a piece of coal that fell out of the forge).

 

14 minutes ago, BIGGUNDOCTOR said:

With a 9v battery you just push it into the steel wool.

Another pro to this method is that you can also lick the 9V to stay awake. Or just lick the lit steel wool.

[JHCC]

Or heat the steel wool red hot and put it in a container of pure oxygen. That’s always fun. 

[Frosty]

5 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

Hmmm when I was in scouts "advanced" fire starting techniques involved dangerous flammable liquids...

Were you at that Jamboree too!? 

There was a nightly bonfire and we'd sing songs, tell stories, etc. Boy Scout stuff. There was a group of Scouts who were being badged as Eagle Scout so the bonfire was the special event and the scout masters put together a special. It was the biggest stack of wood yet, a good 15' tall and 20' in diameter in the fire pit. Big fire pit and surrounded with large rocks. We usually sat on the rocks a ways away from the fire but tonight was a special event so they'd filled it all the way up. 

The ceremony proceeded, names were called pinned and joined the ranks of Eagles. It was quite an event, I was looking forward to someday. Anyway, it came time for the head scoutmaster to make a speech proclaiming them Eagles and the grand finale was a fire arrow shot from behind us in the "stands" to light the bon fire. Great Idea, the visual was perfect.

Unfortunately the scoutmaster had staked that end of the wire on the edge of the fire pit so the fire arrow hanging below the wire put itself out in the ground about 5' from the bon fire pile.

Welllll, everybody gets a chuckle, the scout master who drove the stake fessed up and started the blaze with flint and steel. 

To make a properly dramatic fire arrow bonfire lighting they'd liberally doused it with accelerants, the fumes collected in the BIG pit and it lit dramatically out a good 20' past the edge of the Big fire pit and I have no idea how high the fireball went. From where I was sitting I could look up through the hole in the center of the fire ball. A perfect fire ring. 

All the scout masters, the Eagles, the Honor Guard, the first 4-5 rows of scouts and many more got singed good. A little burn ointment fixed the few burns.

It was legendary and enough to make Boy Scouts everywhere reconsider making Eagle.

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

And that’s how the Eagle became bald. 

[Daswulf]

Funny to think of the difference between old fashioned wilderness survival vs. Modern day or Urban survival that could be more common today. Tho wilderness survival is a bunch of Excellent skills to learn. 

I worked at a large scout camp for a number of years. I taught at eco-con and taught archery for a few years. 

Oh the stories from those experiences. If I were well off and wasn't worried about the super low pay or had a job letting me off in the summer I'd be working there to this day. I loved it. 

Great story Frosty!

 

[Chad J.]

Started learning my grinder tonight,  turned a nicely shaped spike knife into a letter opener,  the second one ground out a bit better and then put on the high grit belts and worked on finishing a cleaver I had started last year.  Think I'm going to be making and destroying several spike knives before I mess with any of my better designs. 

[Chad J.]

As a kids we had a sandbox in the back yard and plenty of free time and green army men.   I had the bright idea to grind sparklers into a powder,  mix them with gas and make a firy volcano battle scene.   The sandbox disappeared shortly after. 

[Jobtiel1]

That's a good story Frosty! Personally I haven't been to a Jamboree yet, the nationals are being cancelled every time. I hope to be making stories like that too!

~Jobtiel

[ThomasPowers]

My father had stories about the Jamboree held soon after the end of WWII that was in Europe; travelled over by ship, then trains.

Most of my good scout stories are "classified"; though camping at the end of a runway at Wright Pat when the SAC wing came in at 5 am is a "safe one".

As for the fellow who lit his sneakers on fire accidentally---lets just say that someone who wears sneakers to a winter campout; doesn't have many wrinkles in their gray matter!