The pocket fishing kit

Here’s the tutorial I promised last time.

The snuff container that I used has three separate parts; the top where used snuff bags are placed and the two main parts that hold the fresh snuff.

In the top section of the container you can store hooks, weights and spinners.

You now need to buy a fishing line that is on a reel that fits inside the snuff container

To make the roller for the reel I used a dowel, a plastic picture hook and a thick plastic washer.  I glued the plastic washer to the underside of the top half of the container.  I sanded down one end of the dowel so that it fitted into the plastic washer and screwed the picture hook on to the other end of the dowel (remove the three nails that are used to fix the picture hook to a wall).  In the picture below, the line and reel fit on the dowel, between the picture hook and plastic washer.

I drilled a small hole in the side of the container (where the line comes out) and then installed a brass eyelet in the hole to prevent the line cutting into the plastic container.

The pocket fishing kit was then completed.

Birch bark container tutorial

I was hoping to get out and about this weekend and do some stuff for the blog, but Teres was taken into hospital on Thursday and now I have bronchitis.  So I have made a tutorial for making Birch bark containers.

I begin by cutting out two identical wooden disks to use as the top and bottom of the container and then role the bark around and mark and cut out a piece of bark.  This particular piece measured 30cm x 9cm.  On the outside of one end of the bark I thin the bark down to a wedge shape and I do the same on the inside of the bark at the other end.

Then I make to lines of holes in each end, about 5mm between each hole.

Form a tube with the bark, making sure the end thinned down on e inside sits over the end thinned down on the outside.  I use a clip to hold the two ends together and then use sinew, false sinew or dental floss to begin sewing the bark together.

Now draw a line around the side of each wooden disk (use your finger as a depth gauge)

Then draw a line around the underside of each disk

Use a knife or sandpaper to remove the wood between these two lines to give an angled edge.   This makes it much easier to insert the top and bottom disks into the bark tube.

You may find that one of the disks is a little too small and does not fit tightly into the bark tube.  In this case you can take a thin layer of Birch bark and glue around the edge of the disk (use an elastic band to hold the bark in place while the glue dries).

Use a knife or sandpaper to remove excess bark and it should look like this when completed

Put some glue around the edge of the bottom disk and push into the bark tube and then push in the top.  To help strengthen the top and bottom, cut two strips of bark (I use a pair of serrated scissors that I bought from a Dollar Store to give a decorative edge, but I have also done this using a knife) and glue around the top and bottom.

Drill two holes in the top and thread a piece of leather through and tie a knot on the inside of the lid.

Now the container is completed.

Signal fire

It is snowing again today and the temperature is 0 degrees with a cold north wind!  Spring is going to be very late this year.

Recently I demonstrated an emergency signal fire to a group from Austria.  It was only a small version but still worked very well.  This type of fire is used to help emergency services locate your position from the air.

Firstly I dug a hole in the snow and then laid two pieces of Birch across the hole.  Across the two lengths of Birch I laid a large amount of small, dry, dead Spruce branches.

Over theses dead branches I thatched a thick layer of fresh, green Spruce branches.

Finally I pushed dried grass and Birch bark up underneath the pile as a fuse to light the fire.  Once the grass was lighted, smoke began to appear very quickly

Soon there was thick smoke bellowing out

Unfortunately at this point the battery ran out in my camera, but here is a picture of a larger version made in Canada 2006.

Reindeer horn knife and sheath

For the first time I have lost a series of pictures I took while making this knife

but I do have pictures of making the design on the handle and constructing the sheath.

Teres designed a scene for me and I drew it onto the knife in pencil.  I then used a small craft knife to cut into the horn following the pencil design

I used a pencil eraser to remove the drawing and then rubbed a small amount of charcoal into the cuts to reveal the pattern.

To make the sheath I first cut the piece of horn in half

I drew around the blade and then used a small file to remove horn on both halves, until the knife blade sat comfortably inside.  I glued the two halves together and then shaped.

After soaking the Lapp leather I wrapped foil around the knife handle to prevent the leather colour running into the handle and then wrapped the leather around and stitched the two edges together

Here is the completed sheath

I will explain about the design on the sheath next time.

Salted, air dried Reindeer meat

Now is the time when people here are preserving meat (before the flies emerge) to carry with them when in the mountains or forest.

We used Reindeer rump steak for this demonstration.

Firstly fat and sinew are removed from the meat

The meat is then cut into hand sized pieces and laid onto salt

The meat is then also covered with salt

and put in the fridge for one day to allow the salt to penetrate the meat and draw out the moisture

The pieces of meat are then hung up in the loft for 6 – 8 weeks to dry.  These Reindeer hearts have already been in the loft for two weeks

The off-cuts of meat I mixed with garlic and onions

fried them and then added water and reduced the water to make a stock for stews

Some small pieces of meat I dried near the fire in the cabin for 12 hours.

Making fire from live, green Birch

This will be my final post for a while, until I am settled in Sweden so I thought I would write about a method used to make fire in Lapland from a live Birch tree.  My friend Heiko showed me how to do this during a winter visit in 2007.

Firstly you have to fell a Birch

Remove all the side branches from the trunk

The branches are reduced down to three different sizes

The bark is removed from the trunk and then the trunk is logged up and split

Some of the split wood is used to make a base to build the fire on

A layer or small fuel is placed on the base and the Birch bark is placed on top

More small fuel is added and the bark is then ignited using a fire steel

Once the fire is burning, begin adding larger fuel

and soon you will have a warming which at -30 degrees C you really appreciate!!

I have no idea how long it will take to arrange broadband in Lapland but I will be back as soon as I can…..byeeee!

Large Alder Bur Kasa/Kuksa – Part 2

Unfortunately as I carved into the wood I found a flaw inside

It’s rather more obvious from the outside

Based on previous experience, I was certain that the kasa would crack here as it dried so I decided not to carve any thinner but instead worked on the shape.

Even if it did crack it was worth continuing to increase my knowledge and skills in working with bur wood and carving.  And after another hours work the shape was looking good.

A couple more hours of sanding and polishing with cotton cloth and it was just about completed

I completed it by cutting in some minimal patterning with a knife and then oiled it to lift out the patterns in the wood.  The kasa holds 3/4 litre of liquad.

I had a small piece of bur left over so I also made four year old Emma her first kasa

and engraved an “E” on the handle to personalise it for her

Large Alder Bur Kasa/Kuksa – Part 1

I’ve wanted to try and make a large kasa for some time and after an area of trees had been cleared on one of our reserves I found a large bur on an Alder (Alnus glutinosa) stump, which I removed with a chainsaw.

I removed the outer bark and using my Fiskars hatchet cut cut away faults and flaws until I reached good wood.  Then I marked the size and shape of the kasa I wanted to carve from the bur.

Using my gouge

I began to shape the inside of the bowl and after a couple of  hours work it looked like this

and after another hour it looked like this

I continued using my hatchet to shape the underside

The patterning in the bur is beautiful

and after another couple of hours work the kasa was really starting to take shape

Reed leaf boat

This is one that my mother taught to me and is always popular with children and adults.

Remove a long leaf from a stem of Common Reed Phragmites australis

Fold the leaf a quarter of the way along from one end and then make two tears to divide the fold into three equal tabs

Put one of the outside tabs over the middle one and into the fold of the opposite one (as shown below)

and then repeat at the opposite end

Now the boat is completed

The boat is ready to be floated on water and will blow around in the wind

Split Willow spanner

While out on the reserve the other day I needed to undo a nut and bolt but realised I had left the spanner behind.  It was a long walk back to the workshop so a decided to try and make something out of natural materials.  I cut a piece of Willow about the thickness of my finger

I used a piece of cord to whip both ends of the stick and then split the stick in half (the whipping prevented the split running to the ends of the stick)

I had to prise the two halves apart and put the nut through the gap

I grasped tightly either side and close to the nut.

I was rather sceptical that it would work but I was pleased to find that it did!!  It would not be strong enough to remove a lock nut or rusted nut and bolt.

Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me when I originally made the spanner so I have reconstructed it for the pictures.