tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45451707918223773272024-02-20T09:53:02.291+00:00 Getting there slowlyStuart Darthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10204212672267265403noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4545170791822377327.post-36126688036684629412014-08-22T11:31:00.001+01:002014-08-22T11:31:25.706+01:00New blogSo I decided to start a new blog, I've enjoyed writing this one, blogger's been a great introduction to blogging for me but now I want something that'll do a little bit more. stuartdart.wordpress.com is my new blog/website, I've moved some of the content over from here already, and a little bit more of it will be going too, but I'll leave the posts up with links to the relevant pages on my new site so you'll still be able to find all my old content via this blog.<br />
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Thanks for reading, I hope you've all enjoyed your time here, I certainly have, and I hope you join me on my blog.<br />
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The address again: <a href="http://www.stuartdart.wordpress.com/">www.stuartdart.wordpress.com</a><br />
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Bye for now,<br />
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Stuart.Stuart Darthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10204212672267265403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4545170791822377327.post-66395580720466201232014-01-23T12:10:00.000+00:002014-02-04T22:24:14.762+00:00Motorcycle emptinessNot a great deal to say here really, just wanted to share a few photos of a place I found whilst out for a wander yesterday, a little hidden gem of a place. Probably not the style of photograph that people would expect from me, but I love to see scenes like this. I find it somewhat comforting to know that no matter how hard we try to ruin the planet with our junk and carelessness nature will always be there fighting back, and given enough time she'll always win. We're not as important as we think we are.<br />
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Anyway, here's a few photos of rotting motorcylce parts for your viewing pleasure, as always, feedback's greatly appreciated.<br />
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Thanks for looking,<br />
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Bye for now,<br />
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Stuart.Stuart Darthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10204212672267265403noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4545170791822377327.post-37573465035139361252014-01-19T14:25:00.000+00:002014-01-19T14:25:03.282+00:00My new jobHello all, and sorry for the prolonged period of silence, I know it's no excuse at all but I've been pretty busy since the middle of last Spring with my new job. Believe it or not (I'm still unconvinced) I'm now a professional bushcrafter!<br />
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Early last year <a href="http://paulkirtley.co.uk/" target="_blank">Paul Kirtley</a> of <a href="http://frontierbushcraft.com/" target="_blank">Frontier Bushcraft</a> most generously offered me the opportunity to work with the team at Frontier as an assistant, and I jumped at the offer. My first season was fantastic, having an opportunity to simply get out in the woods with a great team of people and share a little of our collective knowledge and enthusiasm for the subject was amazing. I worked in education for a while when I was in my early 20's, and I really enjoyed it at the time, somehow though I'd forgotten how personally rewarding I found it. At the risk of sounding horribly pretentious, the feeling that I can, in some small way, empower other people is an amazing one, and Bushcraft is a great subject for the purpose. Simply taking a group of people out into the woods and showing them how to pitch a tarp to keep the rain off and make a simple fire to brew up on, and seeing how much a basic understanding of those simple skills does empower people, is a wonderful feeling.<br />
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I really never expected to work in education again, and I certainly never expected to make any kind of money out of Bushcraft, but here we are, paid work with a top Bushcraft school, and, as you've probably already guessed, I'm absolutely made up about it.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiruASd6ff_7vhX0USptD8eZy3d_cjNclNu9n7fTDyhwZTWOs_t_D8UVpCkVXhzgtYEDOVA3xdWume1wvfeNwN9mquuG5QfIFmhMzmlStb3i7LLXw6_4BWDI6zJPaaZfPYlAGE_Z8wsEgw/s1600/me+smiling.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiruASd6ff_7vhX0USptD8eZy3d_cjNclNu9n7fTDyhwZTWOs_t_D8UVpCkVXhzgtYEDOVA3xdWume1wvfeNwN9mquuG5QfIFmhMzmlStb3i7LLXw6_4BWDI6zJPaaZfPYlAGE_Z8wsEgw/s1600/me+smiling.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Well chuffed with my new job!<br />
(photo courtesy of Austin Lill)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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So, the purpose of this blog was twofold, firstly to explain my prolonged period of silence, and secondly to say thanks to Paul and the team at Frontier for a great start to a new job and a wonderful first season, thank you all for making me so welcome, I feel both honoured and proud to be part of the best bushcraft team around.<br />
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All the best,<br />
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Stuart.Stuart Darthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10204212672267265403noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4545170791822377327.post-81206463352833093752014-01-19T13:44:00.001+00:002014-08-21T10:56:49.700+01:00Mobile phones for the outdoorsI've moved a lot of content over to my new blog, this page included. If you want to read my mobile phone article you can find it <a href="http://stuartdart.wordpress.com/2014/08/21/mobile-phones-for-the-outdoors/" target="_blank">here</a><br />
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All the best,<br />
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Stuart.Stuart Darthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10204212672267265403noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4545170791822377327.post-62698090984421733382013-08-15T14:37:00.000+01:002013-08-15T14:37:25.116+01:00Not the Ashover showYesterday saw the <a href="http://www.ashovershow.co.uk/" target="_blank">82nd annual Ashover show</a>, an event that brings approximately 16,000 visitors into our usually idyllic little corner or rural Derbsyhire.<br />
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So we went climbing for the day.<br />
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It was our usual exploring team, Gemma, Rocky, and myself. Not much else to say really, just wanted to share some of the cracking photo's that Gemma took of Rocky and I being adventurous. Enjoy.<br />
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Surveying the first route of the day.<br />
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Rocky opted to lead, he usually does, he's the better climber of the two of us.<br />
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Placing some kit.....<br />
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....and more.<br />
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Starting to make some progress.<br />
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Shortly after this shot was taken Rocky's handhold gave way leading to a fall, it's the first time he's fallen on my belay so it was kind of nice to get it out of the way. It would've been even better if part of the rockface hadn't come down with him, a little too exciting for a second. No-one was hurt though which is the important bit, and we both feel a little more confident about climbing together too.<br />
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After retrieving the kit we decided to move on in search of a different spot.....<br />
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...."down there maybe".....<br />
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....."I'll have a look"......<br />
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......"yeah, this'll probably do"......<br />
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After a little bit of a trek around and down we chose a route and got it rigged.<br />
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Rocky setting off up the climb, checking as he went for loose rock as it all looked a little bit sketchy....<br />
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....too sketchy. Shortly into Rocky's climb a seemingly solid piece of rock broke away, a rock that we'd both checked and decided was safe. If that rock came away so easily then there's no telling what the rest of the face would be like so common sense prevailed and we called it a day. We lived on to fight another day.<br />
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All in all a cracking day out, we didn't manage a great deal of climbing done but we checked out a couple of spots that we've been eyeing up for a while, and explored a little bit more of Derbyshire. Best of all we avoided ending up in the beer tent with the prize winning local heifers. Happy days.<br />
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Bye for now,<br />
<br />
Stuart.Stuart Darthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10204212672267265403noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4545170791822377327.post-486618757503971682013-04-01T13:01:00.000+01:002013-04-01T13:01:54.460+01:00More snowy adventuresI've been away from home with work for a week, so when I got back Gemma and I went for a bit of an explore around our local area to do a bit of sightseeing (and to play in the late snow that we've just had too). The area where I live is a bit of a tourist trap in the summer, walkers, cyclists, daytrippers, etc. all head into <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashover" target="_blank">Ashover</a> in the warmer months to soak up the peace and tranquility of the area and have a pint in one of the local pubs. It can get a little bit crowded at times, way too busy for my liking, so we try and make the most of it in the winter when there are far fewer touristy types around. The route was very much left up to chance, so the walk was more or less aimless (although far from pointless), although we did have the vague idea in our heads that we'd like to walk across the "Roman" bridge.<br />
In the end the route we took followed more or less the flat space between the young river amber and the slightly raised embankment where the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashover_Light_Railway" target="_blank">Ashover Light Railway</a> used to run.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJEkSO_s16Durh2q0UU4xW45AGtsTkTsC_pnORAaB6Eq_he71wF2RtSQGqrI8y57le7F_indYFD-RkGDpqyC8TGbaOe3sJxlYeO2cWpS0WGu4XttPWv4Dx2max-lLcLzSDBQEDZKPXemU/s1600/DSCF1016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJEkSO_s16Durh2q0UU4xW45AGtsTkTsC_pnORAaB6Eq_he71wF2RtSQGqrI8y57le7F_indYFD-RkGDpqyC8TGbaOe3sJxlYeO2cWpS0WGu4XttPWv4Dx2max-lLcLzSDBQEDZKPXemU/s400/DSCF1016.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ashover Light Railway embankment</td></tr>
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The river was running too deep for us to use the usual crossing points, stepping stones aren't much fun when they're under a foot of icy cold water, so instead we made use of some fallen trees.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stepping out</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption">Getting brave</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Time for a re-think</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption">"You get pooey hands doing it this way"</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption">Making progress</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Victory is mine!"</td></tr>
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We carried on along the riverbank for a little way, watching the birds, trying to spot tracks, trying to name the plants we spotted and photographing the ones we couldn't.<br />
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Gemma found a new spot for sitting and watching the world drift past...<br />
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...whilst I got some pretty pictures of Ashover and the snowy hills around us. It felt strange to be looking up the hills to take photo's, we usually head up one side of the valley or the other when we go for a bimble, heading along the valley bottom made an interesting change.<br />
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A little further on we came a cross a slightly unexpected warning sign, presumably something to with one of the many old quarries in the area. The railway line that we were following was built to service the quarrying and mining operations that took place in the area. The start of our path was in one worked out quarry, this was at the entrance to another old quarry and (after a nosey around a little cave that we found), marked the point where we turned around and headed back to find the "Roman" bridge.<br />
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I have no idea whether or not this bridge is actually Roman or not, it looks pretty old to my untrained eye, and the quality of workmanship is really good which is something I'd associate with Roman building, but I really don't know for sure. Roman bridge or not, it's a pretty little thing anyway.<br />
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We had a phone call shortly after the bridge and had to head back home, we still managed to find time for a couple more totally unnecessary river crossing though, and amazingly neither of us got wet.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBXmcdo_5DzO0IkopL21icaCqfRW4-tUdgEqdc_Pke-bVd3oaKFrkGrRU9hp0DnZk_LNtYgbTqE37FbnsAVhsUhDfkhGw9SmWBH2Nh9YRAb5Kw_qaTkQbRMctPvPndXRbVuhdXRN5jrDE/s1600/DSCF1072.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBXmcdo_5DzO0IkopL21icaCqfRW4-tUdgEqdc_Pke-bVd3oaKFrkGrRU9hp0DnZk_LNtYgbTqE37FbnsAVhsUhDfkhGw9SmWBH2Nh9YRAb5Kw_qaTkQbRMctPvPndXRbVuhdXRN5jrDE/s400/DSCF1072.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spot the nutter!</td></tr>
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We had a great day out without ever going further than am mile or two from home and managed to find all sorts of things that we didn't know about before. The Roman bridge was new to me, the quicksand warning signs were something of a novelty, river crossings were great fun and just a little bit exciting, and the views of Ashover were as pretty as ever.<br />
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Local exploring is a great way to have a little micro-adventure, you should give it a go yourself, just try to remember that aimless doesn't have to mean pointless and enjoy yourself. If you're completely stuck for somewhere to go adventuring, or need someone to explore with then get in touch, you'd be more than welcome to join us on one of ours.<br />
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Bye for now,<br />
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Stuart.Stuart Darthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10204212672267265403noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4545170791822377327.post-52809979800771939622013-02-03T13:03:00.001+00:002014-08-21T11:04:41.040+01:00Cordage<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.790000915527344px;">I've moved a lot of content over to my new blog, this page included. If you want to read my mobile phone article you can find it <a href="http://stuartdart.wordpress.com/2014/08/21/cordage-1/" target="_blank">here</a></span><br style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.790000915527344px;" /><br style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.790000915527344px;" /><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.790000915527344px;">All the best,</span><br style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.790000915527344px;" /><br style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.790000915527344px;" /><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.790000915527344px;">Stuart.</span></span><br />
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<br />Stuart Darthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10204212672267265403noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4545170791822377327.post-84693000077601441502013-01-30T12:22:00.000+00:002013-02-05T13:56:05.879+00:00Derbyshire SnowVery little to say here I'm afraid, just wanted to share a few of the photo's that I've taken in the recent snowy weather. Please feel free to pick fault, it's a skill I'm trying to improve upon and all feedback is helpful.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLfbdj7EWbqjowfFDYVUpeezndh1K4TVUsn6JpBdZEo-DGho3ULr8p1v7VRURQMaes51-jzhl2sUElbzFdWfC8OR0egA8Bgn1W2VKbz5GJ2SQRJdfkO1m301bHrNGNtLSF4hMOOqLlsq8/s1600/DSCF0734.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLfbdj7EWbqjowfFDYVUpeezndh1K4TVUsn6JpBdZEo-DGho3ULr8p1v7VRURQMaes51-jzhl2sUElbzFdWfC8OR0egA8Bgn1W2VKbz5GJ2SQRJdfkO1m301bHrNGNtLSF4hMOOqLlsq8/s400/DSCF0734.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9PPzhv8OTrHU8_nYT8b5yZ3e9Bp1gqsC8u8EVnGz98cvEms3ZYPm34sGW4OjK72XX0myfr40cpIJ0ftlpQ4QP9pbDE2i3sq7LDJB7jandd_-JwLD8JTvopyOjvbCCFnXtRyQBNRMIrxo/s1600/DSCF0868.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9PPzhv8OTrHU8_nYT8b5yZ3e9Bp1gqsC8u8EVnGz98cvEms3ZYPm34sGW4OjK72XX0myfr40cpIJ0ftlpQ4QP9pbDE2i3sq7LDJB7jandd_-JwLD8JTvopyOjvbCCFnXtRyQBNRMIrxo/s400/DSCF0868.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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For anyone who's interested, the original images are all in my <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuartdart/" target="_blank">Flickr photostream</a><br />
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Thanks for looking,<br />
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Bye for now,<br />
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Stuart.Stuart Darthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10204212672267265403noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4545170791822377327.post-66062967247400788822013-01-21T21:59:00.001+00:002014-08-18T19:51:52.739+01:00A Winter Walk<div style="text-align: left;">
It's been a little while since I've posted anything on my blog, so I thought I'd share a few photo's of the little snowy walk that Gemma, Rocky, and I went on today. We walked the same route that Rocky, Pete and I took back in October (you can read about that <a href="http://stuartsgettingthereslowly.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/a-weekend-away.html" target="_blank">here</a> if you like), up and down the hills and valleys near Ashover. The only real difference being that this time the crawling uphill under the undergrowth was made even more fun by a good covering of snow, happy days.</div>
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The intrepid three about to venture off into the snowy wastes</div>
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Stepping stones over the infant river Amber.</div>
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I've been wondering about this wall since I first walked past it, there's a few of them in the area, they look like up-ended flagstones. Re-cycled road maybe?.....</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEQ8MwxtcRoORQWXl9LocvkC8k1XRYt1UxYXUieNCwbX2rkO_smebZTjvtyHMX7WViRcNn8qjnkAG0d27j7eEcwKaPa6WAovZynKM1if7iLtct6KknefED4ADh1d8YmEgo98HLw8AUa3w/s1600/DSCF0640.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEQ8MwxtcRoORQWXl9LocvkC8k1XRYt1UxYXUieNCwbX2rkO_smebZTjvtyHMX7WViRcNn8qjnkAG0d27j7eEcwKaPa6WAovZynKM1if7iLtct6KknefED4ADh1d8YmEgo98HLw8AUa3w/s400/DSCF0640.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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......The same wall from the other side. If anyone has any ideas about this stone fence I'd love to hear them. Comment below.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMGIkrBV6nh4LCW4di0m-mYuJeJAW3zfBkUVnNRTl2bDF4K-4oRQXw7bpzmcDZuyBDZoM7Sw_-qU0YbLze8tYzkUskatAIGIKS33_m4m6xORsskVCGHCpvnFxO0SfUt61Q_PAXhfkr2iE/s1600/DSCF0641.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMGIkrBV6nh4LCW4di0m-mYuJeJAW3zfBkUVnNRTl2bDF4K-4oRQXw7bpzmcDZuyBDZoM7Sw_-qU0YbLze8tYzkUskatAIGIKS33_m4m6xORsskVCGHCpvnFxO0SfUt61Q_PAXhfkr2iE/s400/DSCF0641.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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Rocky and I having a little breather and losing a layer or two after the climb out of the first valley.....</div>
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.....before heading off down into the next one.</div>
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We weren't heading this way..........</div>
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....nor this.</div>
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I can't believe he's got butter! (sorry)</div>
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<span style="text-align: start;">Starting to head up the nice leisurely footpath, again......</span></div>
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......but this looked much more appealing, again. We'll never learn.</div>
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The hill took way too much effort to stop and photograph anything, pretty much like the last time we climbed it, but with a cherry on top (well a foot of snow anyway). Somewhat surprisingly we got up there quicker in the snow than we did back in October when it was relatively dry, I'm sure the much smaller bags were a big part of that but we were still both surprised and pleased by our progress.</div>
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At the top it was time to replace those lost layers.....</div>
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.....which gave Rocky an opportunity to be Rocky (he's a pillock but we love him).</div>
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A tarp was set up to provide a little bit of shelter from the wind whilst we had a spot of lunch and a brew......</div>
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.....and had a look round for some nice photo opportunities......</div>
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.....unfortunately, after this shot the batteries succumbed to the cold. </div>
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After a couple of burgers and a bit of soup for lunch we filled our flasks for the walk back, packed away, and headed off home. The walk back took a slightly different route, including a detour to look at some caves and scout out a possible new climbing spot for the summer. All in all a cracking day out in the beautiful snowy Derbyshire coutryside.</div>
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Bye for now,</div>
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Stuart.</div>
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Stuart Darthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10204212672267265403noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4545170791822377327.post-8567352323642013352012-11-05T21:39:00.004+00:002012-11-05T21:39:53.443+00:00A Weekend Away A couple of weeks ago my mate Rocky asked me if I fancied a couple of days out in the Peak District camping, chilling out, watching the fire, and maybe a little climbing if the weather was good. A bushcaft friend of mine, Pete, has been thinking of getting into climbing for a while so I thought it would be a great opportunity for him to have a go and invited him along too.<br />
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In the end we decided to go to a spot close to home, not quite in the Peak District but close enough. The location we chose was a little woodland on top of the glacial valley overlooking <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashover" target="_blank">Ashover</a>. It's a great little spot where I've camped quite a few times, and Rocky and I have climbed there before, but it was Pete's first visit.<br />
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After quite a late one the night before and with a last minute trip to pick up supplies we didn't set off to the camping spot until early afternoon. That shouldn't have been a problem though, we only had a couple of miles to walk and although we had a few hundred feet of altitude to gain it was all along a nice even path that snakes it's way up the hillside. The best laid plans and all that. After about twenty minutes of walking we reached a spring that we wanted to check out as a possible water source, so a quick break for a drink and a smoke whilst we had a good look at the spring seemed like a good idea. Once the rucksacks were off our backs, and we'd had a few minutes to sit and cool down we all started to get a bit more active, the winding path no longer looked so interesting, the really steep muddy hillside completely covered in overgrown Rhododendrons however looked like a great idea. So the suggestion was made that maybe we might want to try the slightly trickier route straight up the hillside, a quick vote was cast, and the decision was made. Onwards and upwards it was. Crazy.<br />
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Looking back the way we came, nice easy walking along a clearly defined path, bliss....... </div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">.....And the way we were going, straight up a muddy slippery hill over fallen trees and under low growing Rhododendrons, hellish.</span></div>
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I didn't take any pictures on the way up the hill, it was simply too much like hard work to stop and photograph anything. This is Rocky crawling up the last little section to the top, we had to resort to taking our packs off and pushing/dragging them like this on a few occasions. Good times. </div>
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I'm not entirely sure what this expression portrays, quite possibly "I'm going to kill whoever's stupid idea this was".</div>
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Once we'd made the top it was time to put the bags down and rest our legs for a bit. You can just see the very last bit that we had to climb up behind Rocky and Pete in this picture, it was ropes and teamwork for this last bit. </div>
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The walk in had taken us about two and a half hours, and we'd covered a little over a mile. I've had gentler strolls. Once we'd reached our chosen camping spot we only had a few hours of daylight left so we got a fire going and settled in for the evening.<br />
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With the fire lit and a quick pot hanger knocked up it was time to get a brew on </div>
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One of the problems associated with any kind of outdoor activity at this time of year is the lack of daylight hours. Sunset was at about 16:30 on Friday night which left us with very little choice other than to sit and watch the fire and drink wine, no real hardship. One of the advantages of darker nights is that the local wildlife gets out and about a lot earlier in the day so you've got a much better chance of spotting things. During a wander to the facilities I heard lots of rustling in the undergrowth so stopped and listened to try and work out what I was hearing. At night time in the woods sounds seem to get amplified out of all proportion, the rustling in the undergrowth that had stopped me in my paces at a good ten yards distance turned out not to be bears but wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus), who appeared to be completely happy with our presence, one of them even let me get close enough to take this Photo:<br />
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The next day was spent enjoying the views.....</div>
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.....and a little bit of campsite improvement. I bodged together an adjustable pot hanger, the crane's a length of birch and a bit of old camping chair that I foraged, and the pot hook's whittled from a bit of seasoned sycamore, it did the job nicely.</div>
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Pete got to have a bash at a bit of rock climbing, which he thoroughly enjoyed even though the lack of suitable footwear hampered his success, but I failed to get any photo's. The second night was more or less a repeat of the first, and then a quick tidy up and a stroll home<br />
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All in all a superb weekend, great weather, good food, superb company, and even a little adventure to start it all off. I even got to try out my new sleeping set-up, which worked really nicely, I shall write about that soon.<br />
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I'm looking forward to the next one already.<br />
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Bye for now,<br />
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Stuart.Stuart Darthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10204212672267265403noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4545170791822377327.post-61360353973418080632012-10-25T17:06:00.000+01:002012-10-25T17:06:11.684+01:00Bivvy bag modificationOne of the best pieces of "bargain" bushcraft syle camping kit available at the moment is the British army issue Gore-tex bivvy bag.<br />
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If you're wondering what a bivvy bag is it's simply a windproof and waterproof sleeping bag cover, designed to be used instead of a tent/groundsheet. They work brilliantly in conjunction with a lightweight tarp to keep any dampness from travelling up into your sleeping bag and add a little bit of extra warmth too.<br />
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I like the army issue bivvy bags as they're incredibly hard wearing and really cheap, if you shop around you can get pick up good used examples for £20-£30, an equivalent Gore-tex bivvy from a manufacturer like Rab or The North Face would set you back at least £100.<br />
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One of the things I'm not so keen on is the design of the bag, they're made to be as waterproof, and squaddie proof, as possible, and as such they have no zips or openings other than the main opening at the hood end. This means that they can be a bit of a struggle to get in and out of, especially when it's cold and wet and you're tired, exactly when you need it most. I decided to try and remedy this problem by fitting a zip to my bivvy bag, hopefully this will make it a bit easier for me to get in and out of my bivvy bag and therefore make the thing a little bit more practical to use.<br />
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The zip and the pieces of webbing that I used to reinforce/neaten up the ends of the zip, came from an old tent that was way past it's best, as did the toggle that I fitted simply to stop the zip from coming undone in the night. I'm quite pleased with how this has turned out, although I'm not sure if it's finished yet, I may end up fitting a flap to cover the zip, a few trial nights out will make that decision for me.<br />
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The zip is about half the length of the bivvy bag, plenty long enough to make it nice and easy to get in and out of the bag and short enough to leave the bottom portion of the bag still completely sealed against the elements.<br />
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A couple of pieces of old webbing were used to reinforce the bottom end of the zip......<br />
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....and to tidy up the top end ends too. I also added a toggle and elastic loop to the inside to stop the zip from coming undone during the night.<br />
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The original drawstring closure stays in place at the top of the bag but I've made it a little neater by using a cord lock in place of the original bead.<br />
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All in all quite an enjoyable and simple project that will hopefully improve an already great piece of kit for a total cost of, well nothing really, just a the cost of the thread and the electricity to run the sewing machine. Best of of all, I managed to recycle some bits of old tent that would otherwise have been thrown away, win win all round.<br />
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Bye for now,<br />
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StuartStuart Darthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10204212672267265403noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4545170791822377327.post-16384865160445671702012-10-22T18:20:00.001+01:002012-10-23T10:43:51.790+01:00BCUK axe and campcraft weekend (Part One)<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj06hzrMx_rtYuAxvIToRZKvqDOTOUaDeZlEvXCePebUyjUXo4QUxA9K7Ru74-a8yawU8FTlRw8wd_P02thRu6xmSIqM4sj_SLATwi1uJb_YUJk5sYHKpRckXgNQc98bJpS-PwvXDEpRW4/s1600/PK-Weekend-Camp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="85" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj06hzrMx_rtYuAxvIToRZKvqDOTOUaDeZlEvXCePebUyjUXo4QUxA9K7Ru74-a8yawU8FTlRw8wd_P02thRu6xmSIqM4sj_SLATwi1uJb_YUJk5sYHKpRckXgNQc98bJpS-PwvXDEpRW4/s400/PK-Weekend-Camp.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Image courtesy of Gary Waidson <a href="http://www.ravenlore.co.uk/">www.ravenlore.co.uk</a>) </td></tr>
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Over the second weekend in October this year I was lucky enough to be invited along to a weekend camp organised by Steve "Mesquite" Harrall via the bushcraft uk forum. The camp was held at a private wood in Warwickshire, not too far from Coventry, courtesy of Damian at <a href="http://www.woodsmanbushcraft.co.uk/" target="_blank">Woodsman Bushcraft</a>.<br />
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As well as organising the logistics of the weekend for us Steve had arranged for Paul Kirtley of <a href="http://frontierbushcraft.com/" target="_blank">Frontier Bushcraft</a> to come and give us some tuition on axe useage and camp craft techniques. This weekend was the first time I'd met Paul, in fact it was the first time I'd received any kind of formal bushcraft tuition at all, but both Paul and his tuition were pleasant surprises.<br />
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I've met a few bushcraft instructors over the years at various events and found them generally to be a little lacking as teachers. The instructors I'd met previously generally fall into one of three categories;<br />
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<li>There's the bushcraft bore, these types take it all way too seriously, they've obviously got a real depth of knowledge and a willingness to pass on that knowledge, they just don't appear to have any tangible personality. </li>
<li>Then there's the bushcraft bully, again these types appear to have quite a good depth of knowledge on the subject but that knowledge seems to have instilled in them a sense of arrogance (these are my least favourite types). </li>
<li>Finally there's the enthusiast, these are great people to be around, wonderful personalities, no sense of arrogance, great sense of humour, but unfortunately no real depth of knowledge or experience, this last type have usually done a course or two and gained some kind of vague qualification but just don't have an enormous deal of knowledge to pass on, I'd more than happily go for a weekend camp with these people, I just wouldn't pay them for the privilege. </li>
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As I said previously, Paul Kirtley was a pleasant surprise, he manages to combine an obvious wealth of knowledge and experience with a great level of enthusiasm for the subject, and a proficient and well considered teaching style with a sense of humour and nicely laid back attitude. In short, he came across as a person first and a bushcraft instructor second, I'd readily recommend Paul and Frontier Bushcraft to anyone looking for some formal tuition in bushcraft. He's also more than capable of staring a piece of string into submission.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Image courtesy of Chris Leeland)</td></tr>
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The main project over the weekend was the construction of greenwood benches. The idea behind the construction of these benches was to demonstrate a variety of green woodworking techniques, but of course there was also the added benefit that we ended up with some nice seating to give back to Damian as a thank you for the use of his woods. The first stage in making the benches was to collect the materials that we'd need. A couple of recently fallen Beech trees (Fagus sylvatica) were selected and Paul offered some instruction in the correct method of removing the side branches as we only needed the main trunk for this project. This process is variously referred to as "limbing" or "snedding", put simply it means tidying up the trunk.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Image courtesy of Steve "mesquite" Harral)</td></tr>
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<span style="text-align: justify;">Once Paul had demonstrated the correct technique it was time for the rest of us to have a go, many hands made very light work of the job and in no time we had a couple of nice clean Beech trunks to work with.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Image courtesy of Steve "mesquite" Harral)</td></tr>
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In these two photo's you can see my mate Pete and I using a <a href="http://www.gransfors.com/htm_eng/index.html" target="_blank">Gransfors Bruks</a> Scandinavian forest axe that Paul had kindly provided for us to have a play with. It's a thing of beauty and I think that Pete and I both fell in love with it straight away, so if anyone's stuck for what to get me for my birthday........<a href="http://www.greenwood-direct.co.uk/default.cfm/loaddoc.180" target="_blank">here's a link!</a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdQVJmXDYSTDZrcx-DJBdC_dEthhC1IwM8zZADJR8UkUaC3skEwBbsFUo7tpKZobzdqIDYewtENqpeL5cazMfn9uWS7jurLMJxlZ_40gW001vkvBsD4WUAkSwQkxXMd2JF9o9CJDLU_14/s1600/P1030036.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdQVJmXDYSTDZrcx-DJBdC_dEthhC1IwM8zZADJR8UkUaC3skEwBbsFUo7tpKZobzdqIDYewtENqpeL5cazMfn9uWS7jurLMJxlZ_40gW001vkvBsD4WUAkSwQkxXMd2JF9o9CJDLU_14/s400/P1030036.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Image courtesy of Steve "mesquite" Harral)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOJZ0_hl5Pq5i_sIgmy0FcIFeZJ7E8blbXLqQdltXYbKhwIt9mIor4YFZGh0-l2B-vsXGG9ZtpQhCXlbUGHrN1d53wxrXBe86g8-0dsj_h3IvnfWnNKT5DuzHEDKBR4C98GELD2nYEGwk/s1600/P1030038.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOJZ0_hl5Pq5i_sIgmy0FcIFeZJ7E8blbXLqQdltXYbKhwIt9mIor4YFZGh0-l2B-vsXGG9ZtpQhCXlbUGHrN1d53wxrXBe86g8-0dsj_h3IvnfWnNKT5DuzHEDKBR4C98GELD2nYEGwk/s400/P1030038.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Image courtesy of Steve "mesquite" Harral)</td></tr>
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<span style="text-align: justify;">After we'd limbed out our Beech trunks the next step was to divide them up into workable sections, what we were looking for were long straight sections of the trunk with as few knots as possible to make it easier for us to split them down. We started out by using a chainsaw to section up the trunk but modern technology quickly failed us and we had to resort to good old fashioned manpower. Thankfully there were enough of us to get the job done pretty quickly and without it being too much like hard work.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQzmVHv52eaISHMGERvO4yxmjsT3dIUaFj-UU8F23rcoFjI6lYjWVziDzYOzvz45f5wEef44thsZtc0xYnfLvHoQ0xP2wTfiKrOFoCeBdaJARrRtetkeyOgsAL_ZV-bRshQuIxWIzyuKI/s1600/P1030040.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQzmVHv52eaISHMGERvO4yxmjsT3dIUaFj-UU8F23rcoFjI6lYjWVziDzYOzvz45f5wEef44thsZtc0xYnfLvHoQ0xP2wTfiKrOFoCeBdaJARrRtetkeyOgsAL_ZV-bRshQuIxWIzyuKI/s400/P1030040.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Image courtesy of Steve "mesquite" Harral)</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzGyv4-Zo_dKMaAPt0vhFxkixypbntlTP5d6u0hz8fUXU0fQhBmiQkYeILXPk5I36hmYNvMIt8RRyyY832cOlRO-o5b-vqviw6-2W4bp97mmSzaVcWZ5-2HDAOXF7c_nScadHCCsq0Q9k/s1600/L1110520.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzGyv4-Zo_dKMaAPt0vhFxkixypbntlTP5d6u0hz8fUXU0fQhBmiQkYeILXPk5I36hmYNvMIt8RRyyY832cOlRO-o5b-vqviw6-2W4bp97mmSzaVcWZ5-2HDAOXF7c_nScadHCCsq0Q9k/s400/L1110520.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Image courtesy of Paul Kirtley <a href="http://www.frontierbuschraft.com/">www.frontierbuschraft.com</a>)</td></tr>
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The next stage in the process was to split our logs in half to start creating the seats of our benches. We accomplished this by first making "gluts", or wooden wedges, out of Holly (Ilex aquifolium) which we could then use, along with an axe, to split the green Beech along the length of it's grain. I'll probably write about making and using gluts at a later date, but for now here's a few images of us and our gluts to give you some idea.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWffR2XutbOwuEHagUE9aHO0WuQrtamC_nykbQ3VYoOWCGEWZ2fAml_C_StoqFWg6mArKK6tycm-yG3yUGWw1Me31zauBMBU4-WPIpzupWdhBnmn6woN_4JwXHeT6UVA5D7WM8hmMlhVM/s1600/L1110563.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWffR2XutbOwuEHagUE9aHO0WuQrtamC_nykbQ3VYoOWCGEWZ2fAml_C_StoqFWg6mArKK6tycm-yG3yUGWw1Me31zauBMBU4-WPIpzupWdhBnmn6woN_4JwXHeT6UVA5D7WM8hmMlhVM/s400/L1110563.JPG" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Image courtesy of Paul Kirtley <a href="http://www.frontierbushcraft.com/" target="_blank">www.frontierbushcraft.com</a>)</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg74_DveGvfyXLVG2PuwIVy0wg_pfQMWghK_gT_fFPfrSnqXbjzYyy_nFxMlRixUOPBdg7_4JjPBpv5jOmJ4aiYGlwm9t99Ddh6_J6ejW5JEQBRx_TYhgcTZb-6tsvI-2NswUWGfujns6Y/s1600/L1110566.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg74_DveGvfyXLVG2PuwIVy0wg_pfQMWghK_gT_fFPfrSnqXbjzYyy_nFxMlRixUOPBdg7_4JjPBpv5jOmJ4aiYGlwm9t99Ddh6_J6ejW5JEQBRx_TYhgcTZb-6tsvI-2NswUWGfujns6Y/s400/L1110566.JPG" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">(Image courtesy of Paul Kirtley <a href="http://www.frontierbushcraft.com/" target="_blank">www.frontierbushcraft.com</a>)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGjNAAPzXCHmarZoV17K-npOACnQaRgbqhYWxlA46xPWPM-HXA2hLmjLImxOdGdQWZ1jMdNikHYnEHjfSFuDJI41HerhFJ8fG7l8T5ckzghEryab1p0pgDecnLcfcycCA-xe4sxXMgSSQ/s1600/Axe-Crew.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGjNAAPzXCHmarZoV17K-npOACnQaRgbqhYWxlA46xPWPM-HXA2hLmjLImxOdGdQWZ1jMdNikHYnEHjfSFuDJI41HerhFJ8fG7l8T5ckzghEryab1p0pgDecnLcfcycCA-xe4sxXMgSSQ/s400/Axe-Crew.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Image courtesy of Gary Waidson <a href="http://www.ravenlore.co.uk/" target="_blank">www.ravenlore.co.uk</a></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg2SbOVF_CQ8QoGidH-9WsCR2suJH9dLqUPGaUmd_M1LedBKs1BD8uRo_Qh9dEVXqVZH-tI5qER-18kKAXXMx7-7X6QbIT4hzbokfJD_C3bZsocuGLaxlpBMRZFMrhapC-uZBNYMNtrqo/s1600/L1110586.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg2SbOVF_CQ8QoGidH-9WsCR2suJH9dLqUPGaUmd_M1LedBKs1BD8uRo_Qh9dEVXqVZH-tI5qER-18kKAXXMx7-7X6QbIT4hzbokfJD_C3bZsocuGLaxlpBMRZFMrhapC-uZBNYMNtrqo/s400/L1110586.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Image courtesy of Paul Kirtley <a href="http://www.frontierbushcraft.com/" target="_blank">www.frontierbushcraft.com</a>)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyqxyKuSCKq5VBbTmQSgPC3l52tS7hRgmYFx9yNj1kb81ZzqC5d7oyMUDZHU3aaO477dVv5hQmRXI4rHfC-GeQCR2By7NBsND4EakBirUMSlfy_KI7VZJenexldOXpskRacqvs8-7kaRU/s1600/L1110596.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyqxyKuSCKq5VBbTmQSgPC3l52tS7hRgmYFx9yNj1kb81ZzqC5d7oyMUDZHU3aaO477dVv5hQmRXI4rHfC-GeQCR2By7NBsND4EakBirUMSlfy_KI7VZJenexldOXpskRacqvs8-7kaRU/s400/L1110596.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Image courtesy of Paul Kirtley <a href="http://www.frontierbushcraft.com/" target="_blank">www.frontierbushcraft.com</a>)</td></tr>
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The gluts did the job quite nicely......</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib4O8qnskmHjHJLNqoIVebF9zAo1OQ2sdB_1ahXxwGEB0w1mK8CYtPEeP4MnQtcqi6_WZJ6y5DOVHPYUxViUjOawnIGwDQVZPMv0VkvGG_6mNm5Mu5BFqbjD-1KKEaXOfhg61qG7qNSvc/s1600/L1110599.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib4O8qnskmHjHJLNqoIVebF9zAo1OQ2sdB_1ahXxwGEB0w1mK8CYtPEeP4MnQtcqi6_WZJ6y5DOVHPYUxViUjOawnIGwDQVZPMv0VkvGG_6mNm5Mu5BFqbjD-1KKEaXOfhg61qG7qNSvc/s400/L1110599.JPG" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Image courtesy of Paul Kirtley <a href="http://www.frontierbushcraft.com/" target="_blank">www.frontierbushcraft.com</a>)</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
.....and then it was time to smooth the split sides down a little to remove any splinters that may otherwise end up giving someone a nasty surprise when they sat down.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_ANVhIUZ2yKzMqzh_SPXzeuag_18Vmdn4oa6qVnaWxabRXFn4hjRI59yCk_aZ_b-loBVEQS5WNndhi5TvxkxIkLNv5vAgbe0wsUud74vPiBicfnjPpuc3M3GuZSHGT3drNWbt-aYRAXw/s1600/L1110589.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_ANVhIUZ2yKzMqzh_SPXzeuag_18Vmdn4oa6qVnaWxabRXFn4hjRI59yCk_aZ_b-loBVEQS5WNndhi5TvxkxIkLNv5vAgbe0wsUud74vPiBicfnjPpuc3M3GuZSHGT3drNWbt-aYRAXw/s400/L1110589.JPG" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Image courtesy of Paul Kirtley <a href="http://www.frontierbushcraft.com/" target="_blank">www.frontierbushcraft.com</a>)</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
Once we'd worked most of the larger splinters out of the seats of our benches it was time to fit some legs. These were simply pieces of Birch (Betula sp.) that were sawn to length and then fitted into holes that were drilled through the seats of our benches. <br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTok5r6tBtUGKBUXGphPkuh7yDTQCvB5lWyF6gjaZguen3dd7dEQ_ByBL281Aa3D65q6T9YWzZnX9VD9IanHPsjFVzKBOXtarqA2FLR-vVdk3Qq7rm21v_eeZQBy2JW276A77VpARZIhU/s1600/L1110610.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTok5r6tBtUGKBUXGphPkuh7yDTQCvB5lWyF6gjaZguen3dd7dEQ_ByBL281Aa3D65q6T9YWzZnX9VD9IanHPsjFVzKBOXtarqA2FLR-vVdk3Qq7rm21v_eeZQBy2JW276A77VpARZIhU/s400/L1110610.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Image courtesy of Paul Kirtley <a href="http://www.frontierbushcraft.com/" target="_blank">www.frontierbushcraft.com</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhv6ap06TsQshK0mZVOy6B70g8mLI3uxcUP-x-XJp3m_Wa2_kGbOPdW2z2DyZZ3oFPUJFov8RFaXzHMBejBEx1uCg2ht_m5lpT0_w8Jy818HMWA_-3dTziYEbAXUm25Dok9Bs3oyvFk4o/s1600/L1110612.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhv6ap06TsQshK0mZVOy6B70g8mLI3uxcUP-x-XJp3m_Wa2_kGbOPdW2z2DyZZ3oFPUJFov8RFaXzHMBejBEx1uCg2ht_m5lpT0_w8Jy818HMWA_-3dTziYEbAXUm25Dok9Bs3oyvFk4o/s400/L1110612.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Image courtesy of Paul Kirtley <a href="http://www.frontierbushcraft.com/" target="_blank">www.frontierbushcraft.com</a>)</td></tr>
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All that was left then was knocking in some hardwood wedges to the tops of the legs where they protruded from the seats to tighten everything up and hold the legs firmly in place, for this I used a couple of pieces of well seasoned Birch, other's used the Holly that we'd made the gluts from earlier,....<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirk20aPzJSUzoYv3_YffX0gkXI4ZKnXcAYHysWqIC-njbZoggt1k4wviDJKkYvxGWNBESVJaBE5eogHU61nh7PeNkndjxx9_WkLiCSu2lnmqY2T9Drzo6es6Ayb3CiNPX4hEU1IUWfBGE/s1600/L1110623.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirk20aPzJSUzoYv3_YffX0gkXI4ZKnXcAYHysWqIC-njbZoggt1k4wviDJKkYvxGWNBESVJaBE5eogHU61nh7PeNkndjxx9_WkLiCSu2lnmqY2T9Drzo6es6Ayb3CiNPX4hEU1IUWfBGE/s400/L1110623.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Image courtesy of Paul Kirtley <a href="http://www.frontierbushcraft.com/" target="_blank">www.frontierbushcraft.com</a>)</td></tr>
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....and then sawing off the bits of leg that were left protruding from the seats.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsXsROaQL6lWQXNTXwD1awkfqPUg8n86nBLYSzw7UVRxfY-3L5vc63n4_TEJou0exFM3JUBiUDDo85yS5gamuC0GGZkgyL70EI7c8B8ENbNp64gm7vWkHWEG_KPL-teCpeERFMpsKWir8/s1600/L1110619.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsXsROaQL6lWQXNTXwD1awkfqPUg8n86nBLYSzw7UVRxfY-3L5vc63n4_TEJou0exFM3JUBiUDDo85yS5gamuC0GGZkgyL70EI7c8B8ENbNp64gm7vWkHWEG_KPL-teCpeERFMpsKWir8/s400/L1110619.JPG" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Image courtesy of Paul Kirtley <a href="http://www.frontierbushcraft.com/" target="_blank">www.frontierbushcraft.com</a>)</td></tr>
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Et voila, the finished product<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR4Tg-6B6vvXkXE1Ldl_trukkO7fHg1yv6BffWxmMgvUocfQLCL4A-UN42l8Dv5IypGH-5LCgP1G3kI-IGUZBpLJHe9GRjsH3wQZHlyh7UQOOyB4tMtpXv_SHMxmgfrHo7kqpjNM-iBHk/s1600/IMAG0169.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR4Tg-6B6vvXkXE1Ldl_trukkO7fHg1yv6BffWxmMgvUocfQLCL4A-UN42l8Dv5IypGH-5LCgP1G3kI-IGUZBpLJHe9GRjsH3wQZHlyh7UQOOyB4tMtpXv_SHMxmgfrHo7kqpjNM-iBHk/s400/IMAG0169.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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We got up to loads more projects over the weekend but it takes longer to write about them than do them so this little trip report's going to be in a couple of parts, look out for the next one if you enjoyed this first installment.<br />
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Bye for now,<br />
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Stuart</div>
Stuart Darthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10204212672267265403noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4545170791822377327.post-61360414142477806462012-10-22T17:30:00.002+01:002012-10-23T10:43:29.955+01:00Tarpology Two<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxyErQ_l9ynFas-0k5nD_xP7heAibkhS-Ua8mEV8hh41t7FbrCDAhn4S7ZVK-Vhy1wEi2EnrU_uoqHl1fr76iA66IrztvUvIjzW03BjDIV6tRkQNt_F35Nfr8nybPqBAH9YuBWFXiZvLA/s1600/PK-Weekend-Camp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="85" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxyErQ_l9ynFas-0k5nD_xP7heAibkhS-Ua8mEV8hh41t7FbrCDAhn4S7ZVK-Vhy1wEi2EnrU_uoqHl1fr76iA66IrztvUvIjzW03BjDIV6tRkQNt_F35Nfr8nybPqBAH9YuBWFXiZvLA/s400/PK-Weekend-Camp.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Image courtesy of Gary Waidson <a href="http://www.ravenlore.co.uk/" target="_blank">www.ravenlore.co.uk</a>)</td></tr>
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<span style="text-align: justify;">During a recent weekend away with some friends from </span><a href="http://www.bushcraftuk.com/" style="text-align: justify;" target="_blank">BCUK</a><span style="text-align: justify;">, Paul Kirtley of </span><a href="http://www.frontierbushcraft.com/" style="text-align: justify;" target="_blank">Frontier Bushcraft</a><span style="text-align: justify;"> took time out to give us a few hints and tips for setting up larger tarps. These larger types of tarps would most likely get used in a base camp situation, or to provide large sheltered communal areas for groups of people. One of the problems associated with using big tarps is that they can be quite heavy, especially once they get wet, so the methods that get used for setting up lightweight tarps </span><a href="http://stuartsgettingthereslowly.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/tarpology-one.html" style="text-align: justify;" target="_blank">(like this)</a><span style="text-align: justify;"> just aren't up to the job. Heavy tarps call for a lot more load bearing ability on the ridgeline to prevent sagging and to enable the tarp to be set up tautly enough to properly shed rain. To get that load bearing ability two things are needed; a much stronger ridgeline, and a method of tying up that ridgeline that provides more mechanical advantage to provide lots of tension. </span></div>
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The method that Paul demonstrated is one of the best known, and has been described and illustrated extensively in the past, I just happened to have access to some pretty good photo's of Paul's demonstration so thought I'd share them.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfFTDeNlBEPRTnvgoGGt0Ltcru8pkyyvTQHigjz_g0bt13sV90AWsY4g24HK8pcZsFz3j7BR2_t4G1Hzn_JbFagEmOsBO69fgUWy79XvC8yYnCdcilNQtBExm1L62qn7dCURULHaRp2Z8/s1600/CIMG8306.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfFTDeNlBEPRTnvgoGGt0Ltcru8pkyyvTQHigjz_g0bt13sV90AWsY4g24HK8pcZsFz3j7BR2_t4G1Hzn_JbFagEmOsBO69fgUWy79XvC8yYnCdcilNQtBExm1L62qn7dCURULHaRp2Z8/s400/CIMG8306.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Image courtesy of Chris Leeland)</td></tr>
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The rope that Paul used for this demonstration was 11mm static kernmantel rope, the kind that cavers and tree climbers use a lot, dynamic rope (the kind that rock climbers use) wouldn't be suitable for this method as it's too stretchy. Thinner static rope would be fine, 9mm kernmantel rope has a breaking strain of over 3000kg, even with the mechanical advantage provided by the tensioning system, 3 tonnes+ still takes a lot of breaking. The karabiner is just a standard screw gate type. </div>
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One end of the rope is secured to a tree with a timber hitch. In all honesty this is a method that had never occured to me to use before but it's one that I will be using in the future as it's ideally suited to the purpose. It's really easy to tie, it won't slip under tension, it won't come undone when the tarp's flapping wildly in the wind, it won't swell up and jam when wet, and it's really easy to untie when you come to pack away, it was one of those "why didn't I think of that" moments.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPXIsg4cOv_Xj27NFgTak31IofJfwJOWYL7QSOx6uyP5Cbi-7qgNTXt0vsgeqFkIgLiqz0vwLv69oJpHG_Rx2bYHELQ7k6II-KqiNoKpOx60amAbuJrsy2ARPpgjJTIgb0jPzXQSFbGGc/s1600/CIMG8318.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPXIsg4cOv_Xj27NFgTak31IofJfwJOWYL7QSOx6uyP5Cbi-7qgNTXt0vsgeqFkIgLiqz0vwLv69oJpHG_Rx2bYHELQ7k6II-KqiNoKpOx60amAbuJrsy2ARPpgjJTIgb0jPzXQSFbGGc/s320/CIMG8318.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Image courtesy of Chris Leeland)</td></tr>
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The other end of the rope is passed once around another tree and secured and tensioned using a variation of the trucker's hitch. The first stage is to make two bights in the rope, creating an "S" shape, much like tying a sheepshank. Stage two also mirrors the sheepshank; a loop is made in the standing part of the rope and the bight of the "S" nearest to that end is passed through it, being careful to ensure that the loop is twisted in the right direction and that the bight passes through the loop from the correct side. You've now got something resembling half a sheepshank. Hopefully the images below help to clarify things a little. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEgWkNr3pFy6i06ojh_0ATsJZpJfOal0OPFdPWxRH1neslMh_tfK6w59ycB0uLjz_DeNNfhBAA9EP0IDXwD_JVss0TbGaVfsdhBEv_w4pvt7yb2NIWaq4QpT9DMg-q0_AiSLiDkiGMIBQ/s1600/CIMG8310.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEgWkNr3pFy6i06ojh_0ATsJZpJfOal0OPFdPWxRH1neslMh_tfK6w59ycB0uLjz_DeNNfhBAA9EP0IDXwD_JVss0TbGaVfsdhBEv_w4pvt7yb2NIWaq4QpT9DMg-q0_AiSLiDkiGMIBQ/s320/CIMG8310.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Image courtesy of Chris Leeland)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilLAqr71lzOjW2kYt85ayvCof0kJvRmm24LQ96Zqb2H93DQjmgGp2mY7eHafEmpWzsya4IkEYPB5PPU5VPSL30-TNcEXV6U5Thlw1dqlnFt6nT_PAkoCSQMMOs48rGzQwU0jrHkq8eomw/s1600/CIMG8311.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilLAqr71lzOjW2kYt85ayvCof0kJvRmm24LQ96Zqb2H93DQjmgGp2mY7eHafEmpWzsya4IkEYPB5PPU5VPSL30-TNcEXV6U5Thlw1dqlnFt6nT_PAkoCSQMMOs48rGzQwU0jrHkq8eomw/s320/CIMG8311.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Image courtesy of Chris Leeland)</td></tr>
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A stick is then placed through the bight and the bight is pulled tight against it. Although not strictly necessary this provides a little extra security and helps to ensure that the hitch doesn't collapse under tension.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5p5Qx5MCEroRH1UnXzDmt9QyPfOYLE9lN7c5G7_69j-iWEw868QAmvQBu6WfDIMMLNln6xugI9VHOQPkyz52RfWAgCwirjmAcNkbgFw7RZCesgWapIqckgZ7nXBgKrOGxFBcUnMpbK2M/s1600/CIMG8313.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5p5Qx5MCEroRH1UnXzDmt9QyPfOYLE9lN7c5G7_69j-iWEw868QAmvQBu6WfDIMMLNln6xugI9VHOQPkyz52RfWAgCwirjmAcNkbgFw7RZCesgWapIqckgZ7nXBgKrOGxFBcUnMpbK2M/s320/CIMG8313.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Image courtesy of Chris Leeland)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsH23hpFYKZTJUSvN96gu-Q-1f8wpBvftLejLG_p1Tr2lQwEW8kXWXZQCnTwXyNxLLvkTO7PRdqoXjQLfOnwfZ4SR5zBmibufX4NTEbAtQA0CG0FC3O3mFEVy2w4Uckjpukp9_X0o9IWw/s1600/CIMG8314.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsH23hpFYKZTJUSvN96gu-Q-1f8wpBvftLejLG_p1Tr2lQwEW8kXWXZQCnTwXyNxLLvkTO7PRdqoXjQLfOnwfZ4SR5zBmibufX4NTEbAtQA0CG0FC3O3mFEVy2w4Uckjpukp9_X0o9IWw/s320/CIMG8314.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Image courtesy of Chris Leeland)</td></tr>
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Stage three is to insert a karabiner into the bight that's pointing towards the live end of the rope, the main purpose of the karabiner is that it greatly reduces the friction on the rope whilst it's being tensioned, an added bonus is that, especially when using long ropes, it makes the hitch much simpler to tie.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj32Y246LjbzHLkFb8y4SXirglKCb87xlDv0KBl_gWVnWbtnGr4NuEmOFIrDobPSuNQ1alLkpmfLtaklFRald2HbVROm5mW1Gq3JMWiIQ1x0PRxHbv0WlOJX-DuZKoYWVsB_BbVRpfy_0I/s1600/CIMG8316.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj32Y246LjbzHLkFb8y4SXirglKCb87xlDv0KBl_gWVnWbtnGr4NuEmOFIrDobPSuNQ1alLkpmfLtaklFRald2HbVROm5mW1Gq3JMWiIQ1x0PRxHbv0WlOJX-DuZKoYWVsB_BbVRpfy_0I/s320/CIMG8316.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Image courtesy of Chris Leeland)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEC8SfkNvbT99vV36Wfp-0cbzVI6zeoB1HJbj9JnJXQZ1-3w4-sG_7LrlorIFfzYNbPaCiex3txgu61bjQaVbxG-qnJQwm4SOBduBgGFCZIsdNbR2eHwUHKLvVYSSbp6rOE2_vnVO4mYw/s1600/CIMG8317.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEC8SfkNvbT99vV36Wfp-0cbzVI6zeoB1HJbj9JnJXQZ1-3w4-sG_7LrlorIFfzYNbPaCiex3txgu61bjQaVbxG-qnJQwm4SOBduBgGFCZIsdNbR2eHwUHKLvVYSSbp6rOE2_vnVO4mYw/s320/CIMG8317.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Image courtesy of Chris Leeland)</td></tr>
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All that's left is to apply tension to the live end of the rope and to tie it off however you see fit. I don't have a photo of the hitch being tied off at the moment, I'll add one as soon as I can.</div>
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Bye for now,</div>
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Stuart</div>
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Stuart Darthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10204212672267265403noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4545170791822377327.post-80100900230286578682012-08-27T22:35:00.000+01:002012-10-23T10:43:00.952+01:00House Martins<div style="text-align: justify;">
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I'm lucky enough to live in a house that's ideal for House Martin (Delichon urbicum) nests, and the House Martins are considerate enough to have built their nests right beside my bedroom window. One of my greatest pleasures in life is laying in bed with my morning cup of coffee and watching the House Martins feeding their chicks, it's blissful. My girlfriend was lucky enough to get these pictures a little while back. Enjoy.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4Ivl3znrHhdb9hOpDFZunsvuwE0Y-N4SAi4nn-CyX1I5_WmCP-U5XyjpDXoJE_LJ6J0lNzjYjEHvC5K5Cp3sBxOdsWCCebvQEfxI0aFbRahwLrdpTb1ql2UxYkivgWm1iAtUFqE21V14/s1600/CIMG5982.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4Ivl3znrHhdb9hOpDFZunsvuwE0Y-N4SAi4nn-CyX1I5_WmCP-U5XyjpDXoJE_LJ6J0lNzjYjEHvC5K5Cp3sBxOdsWCCebvQEfxI0aFbRahwLrdpTb1ql2UxYkivgWm1iAtUFqE21V14/s640/CIMG5982.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi03c2LH8FU8tzmANYE4nMnw5B7ylpMeMhsbrRtyYMHNZ6EhoDW0kILJ3XT40PqhA84a5nHU-luoODtFPYrsA1jeFxYDmRii7pg1CEXf_bXqauLZonrJtKbYqMbxsJIxJepBMoWQaYJu7A/s1600/CIMG5986.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi03c2LH8FU8tzmANYE4nMnw5B7ylpMeMhsbrRtyYMHNZ6EhoDW0kILJ3XT40PqhA84a5nHU-luoODtFPYrsA1jeFxYDmRii7pg1CEXf_bXqauLZonrJtKbYqMbxsJIxJepBMoWQaYJu7A/s640/CIMG5986.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqqmrVVKmA5gajG2DdNwl-4dmlg5f7XgQoraY7bwcUW0ZBqxLOKyaKsYMb3vD5pJk7tQmQ6wvH2Zvav6OEvJlDp_FuwAEly2S98o1hJnxHwpAOwyiKe81FupUFuuckLwQR_JocpvLa25Y/s1600/CIMG5979.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqqmrVVKmA5gajG2DdNwl-4dmlg5f7XgQoraY7bwcUW0ZBqxLOKyaKsYMb3vD5pJk7tQmQ6wvH2Zvav6OEvJlDp_FuwAEly2S98o1hJnxHwpAOwyiKe81FupUFuuckLwQR_JocpvLa25Y/s640/CIMG5979.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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Bye for now,<br />
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StuartStuart Darthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10204212672267265403noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4545170791822377327.post-59752888064017199122012-08-26T16:02:00.003+01:002012-10-23T10:42:33.661+01:00Spoon carving<div style="text-align: justify;">
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There's something really satisfying about carving a spoon, I guess it's got something to do with how familiar a spoon is (it's one of the first objects that we learn to recognise as babies, for a good while everything that we eat comes on a spoon, I'm sure that has to leave some kind of lasting impression on us). There's very little more that I can say about my wooden spoons to be honest, they're spoons, made of wood! At some point in the future I'll probably write a little about the process of making a spoon and some of the tools involved, but for now, here's some of the spoons that I've carved. enjoy.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY7SOMEP03tE0mfSPugXktsFFLERCjyXfc-4Bqhw6muAEs9-yOjVi-6tZnsCFUAacwVR7LCsKb3qWaoW89MQazRLP0E38y9oKEAY8zSR_ZitXzI62zfW1Zk3I3v4E_gdR6C5U0MTbfxc8/s1600/CIMG6094.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY7SOMEP03tE0mfSPugXktsFFLERCjyXfc-4Bqhw6muAEs9-yOjVi-6tZnsCFUAacwVR7LCsKb3qWaoW89MQazRLP0E38y9oKEAY8zSR_ZitXzI62zfW1Zk3I3v4E_gdR6C5U0MTbfxc8/s400/CIMG6094.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">L-R apple, leylandii, oak</td></tr>
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Bye for now,<br />
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StuartStuart Darthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10204212672267265403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4545170791822377327.post-65596047147961686102012-08-24T13:13:00.001+01:002012-10-23T10:42:03.140+01:00Kolrosing a Mora 120<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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Kolrosing is a decorative handicraft from Scandinavia, the basic process is as simple as you like but the results are great. A bushcrafty friend of mine showed me the Kolrosing that he'd done on his mora woodcarving knife and I really liked how it improved the knife. Mora 120's are superb little knives, the blades shape really suits the kind of woodcarving that I do and it takes and holds a nice sharp edge, and the handle shape is lovely and comfortable right out of the box. The price is pretty good too, I think I paid £12 for mine (I've seen them even cheaper since), and, as with any good quality knife I fully expect it to last longer than I do. The only real downsides to the mora 120 are that the sheath that comes with it is more or less useless and the knife itself is the plainest most boring thing you could ever cast eyes upon. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">standard mora 120<br />
(image courtesy of www.knifereviews.co.uk)</td></tr>
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Anyway, I decided that seeing as how this is a Scandinavian knife a little Kolrosing on the handle would be just the thing to pretty it up a little. I went for a couple of fairly simple knotwork designs as it's easy to build up composite designs with knots, so the overall effect looks a lot more involved and complicated than it actually is. These knots are usually known as celtic knots but there's no real reason for that, yes the celts did use knotwork designs in things such as jewellery but then so has just about every culture on the planet, especially those with northern european links. I guess "generic northern European neo pagan knotwork" just doesn't have to same ring to it. I don't think it's finished yet, there's a little bit too much space left I think, time will decide that for me. Anyway, this is what I've got so far, feel free to let me know what you think.</div>
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Bye for now,</div>
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Stuart<br />
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Stuart Darthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10204212672267265403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4545170791822377327.post-24330365051625000132012-08-23T14:06:00.001+01:002012-10-23T10:30:33.348+01:00Kiridashi<div style="text-align: justify;">
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Earlier this year I decided to try my hand at knife making and decided on a Kiridashi as my first project. "What's a Kiridashi" I hear you ask, well it's a Japanese style of knife, made from one piece of metal (so the handle and the blade are made from the same piece of steel), usually without any additional handle material (although you quite often see them with a simple cord wrap), and with a chisel ground edge. They're used as woodworking knives by Japanese carpenters and woodcarvers, sometimes designed as a utility knife, something like the British tradesman's "Stanley" knife, and sometimes designed with a very specific purpose in mind. Mine was designed purely around the material that I had in the workshop at the time. I made it from one half of an old pair of garden shears that had been rusting away in the shed for years and were in desperate need a new lease of life. This knife was made using only hand tools and hardened and tempered in a home made charcoal forge with an engine oil quench.</div>
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I'm pretty pleased with how it's turned out, although I've never done any knife making before this I do have quite a bit of experience of working with hand tools and working with metals and I think the skills and techniques that I've picked up over the years really shone through here. I made mistakes, and there's bits and bobs wrong with the finished items but it's all a learning experience and hopefully I can take forward what I've learned and do an even better job next time.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kiridashi resting on a fox skull</td></tr>
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Making this little knife was a really fun and satisfying project, and remarkably straight forward to do. I think I'll be trying my hand at some more knife making in the future, maybe something a little more involved next time.</div>
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p.s. sorry about the poor quality of the photo, I'll try and update it as soon as I get a better one</div>
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Bye for now,</div>
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Stuart</div>
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Stuart Darthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10204212672267265403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4545170791822377327.post-10644404565456451242012-08-23T00:07:00.000+01:002012-10-23T10:29:43.880+01:00Tools<div style="text-align: justify;">
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I like tools, all sorts of tools. I like big heavy duty tools and little delicate tools. I like power tools and I like hand tools. I like multi-purpose tools and I like highly specialised tools. I like tools that I use every day and I like tools that I can't for the life of me work out what they're for. I like old fashioned tools and I like modern tools. I like tools that work first time every time like a dream and I like tools that need a day of tinkering to get working. I really like tools. Most of my hobbies involve tools of some sort, some of them pretty unique to that hobby but some of them that seem to cross over all of my hobbies. So I think that I'm probably going to be posting quite a few bits and bobs about tools on here, here's a couple of my favourite tools to get started.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPEQZtGI3vyZgD9NsSkwSgthMFifsCMqiNGlrsWjrMO6XXJgjy8GdjMjYIkn-F97uehYgIHmzIYpdpYY482i-RmNTpMT1EVqfbYedzF-yqzjAwTgEHmqk2Yq_PxeeARG80eN-Erw3nE1A/s1600/2cmqc5x.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPEQZtGI3vyZgD9NsSkwSgthMFifsCMqiNGlrsWjrMO6XXJgjy8GdjMjYIkn-F97uehYgIHmzIYpdpYY482i-RmNTpMT1EVqfbYedzF-yqzjAwTgEHmqk2Yq_PxeeARG80eN-Erw3nE1A/s400/2cmqc5x.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gransfors Bruks small forest axe and "Cegga" custom axe</td></tr>
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Bye for now,<br />
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StuartStuart Darthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10204212672267265403noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4545170791822377327.post-34278085229884968412012-08-22T23:58:00.001+01:002012-10-23T10:40:54.639+01:00Tarpology One<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
One of the things I like about bushcraft style camping is the use of tarps as shelters. A tarp at it's simplest is a sheet of fabric, which can be made of either synthetic or natural fibre, with webbing loops and/or eyelets around the edge. Tarps are used mainly for shelter but they are a truely multi-purpose item, they can be used for wrapping kit, carrying, water collection, foraging, coracle making, etc. I like using tarps as shelters because of the flexibility they give me, and also because of their light weight and low bulk.</div>
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The classic way to pitch a tarp is between two trees, with the ridge more or less horizontal and the four corners stretched out to give a good pitch to the roof. I probably use this set up more than any other as it has some great advantages. </div>
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I can get into or out of my shelter from any direction so I don't churn up any one bit of ground, I can see out in every direction so I can watch the world around me, I can hang a line under the ridge to hang all my kit from, plenty of fresh air gets through it, it provides lots of shade, I can sit up, and I can cook under my shelter. The downside to this set up is that it does very little in the way of keeping the wind out, so if it's windy and raining you have to be careful not to get wet, for that reason I nearly always use a bivi bag with this set up.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgelx8RSQ-NEATEvyZ9EFOWjmXjdxV6LarwS2VGJA7LUgjot78zwhAF7xxIEbrwQQ78dGBWorXfmVBM1MR7FoOzHux-Cg5BCGz6z1X-ixXJ_z3ok9TrLhnRLGT5arkXa2ryqQKHB1IhQk/s1600/my+set+up.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgelx8RSQ-NEATEvyZ9EFOWjmXjdxV6LarwS2VGJA7LUgjot78zwhAF7xxIEbrwQQ78dGBWorXfmVBM1MR7FoOzHux-Cg5BCGz6z1X-ixXJ_z3ok9TrLhnRLGT5arkXa2ryqQKHB1IhQk/s400/my+set+up.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Classic" tarp set up at a BCUK meet at Spitewinter</td></tr>
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One way to make the "classic" set up more weatherproof is to lower the ridgeline slightly and to peg one side of the tarp down to the ground. This set up is a lot less drafty than the "classic" set up and works better when there's a combination of wind and rain, and this is just the shelter that I would choose for those conditions. The open front still allows plenty of options for access and lets me have a view out of one side at least.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Open fronted set up on my birthday 2011</td></tr>
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A natural progression from the open fronted set up is the low profile set up, with this shelter the ridgeline is even lower with both sides of the tarp touching, or almost touching, the ground. This set up is better still at keeping the weather off and does a good job of retaining your body heat through the night. </div>
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The disadvantages of this shelter are the same as with the open-fronted set up, only more so. The view is more or less non existent, access is severely restricted, there's not much space inside, etc. I only really use this type of shelter for quick overnight camps where I'll be striking camp first thing in the morning so only really need a shelter to keep me and my kit dry whilst I sleep. </div>
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It's probably the quickest and easiest of set ups that I use regularly, the shelter below was set up at about 2a.m. on a really frosty winters morning with a belly full of beer and lots of "helpful" advice from friends. Even facing such difficulties it was still only a five minute job to set up. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Low Profile set up on my birthday 2012</td></tr>
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An even more weatherproof set up is the one below, this time the ridge of the tarp goes straight down to the ground at the back of the shelter (no ridgeline's used for this one), and the back corners are stretched out tight so that one side of the tarp is flat to the floor. With the back of the shelter into the wind, and with the tarp pegged tightly to the ground this set up will keep off all but the very worse of the British weather. </div>
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As you can see from the pictures below I can use this set up quite easily without trees as long as I've got at least one pole, here I'm using my walking staff. the combination of tree-free set up and good weather protection makes this my set up of choice for a night on the moors. </div>
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The downsides to this set up are; not a great deal of space to sit up, it can get hot and stuffy inside, condensation invariably forms on the underside of the tarp, you can only get in and out one way, there's not much of a view, and it needs lots of pegs (15 in total but it'll work with 9 on good ground). The feature of this set up that makes it superior to most others is the fact that in the wettest and windiest of weather I can still have warm and weatherproof shelter in a couple of minutes, and that could possibly be a life-saver one day.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Front yard tarpology (the neighbours have got used to me!)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An idea of how steeply the roof slopes, it's only about 12" from the ground in the middle</td></tr>
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These are the four set ups that I use most often, there are lots more ways to set up a tarp, and sometimes I use some of those too, but these four cover 95% of situations for me. I'll be posting quite a bit more about tarps I reckon, it's a big topic.</div>
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Bye for now,</div>
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Stuart</div>
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Stuart Darthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10204212672267265403noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4545170791822377327.post-44350818031559740922012-08-22T15:07:00.003+01:002012-10-23T10:32:50.915+01:00The Pup<div style="text-align: justify;">
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Just thought I'd share a few photo's of my best mate, Mr The Dog (Ozzy to his friends). He's lived with me now for about six years or so. I have no idea when he was born or how old he was when I got him but I took him to the vet's for some reason or other in November of the year that I got him and the vet said he was about one, so his birthday's been the first of November ever since, this year it'll be his seventh. As for breed, well I'm not too sure about that either. At first glance he appears to be mainly dog, but after you spend a little time with him you start to wonder if there's not a bit of something else in there too! Feel free to share your guesses with me, I'll pass them on to Ozzy, he likes a good laugh.</div>
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StuartStuart Darthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10204212672267265403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4545170791822377327.post-74977430614004038742012-08-22T13:42:00.000+01:002014-01-06T11:40:09.983+00:00Bushcraft<div style="text-align: justify;">
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A lot of my hobbies could be said to fall under the umbrella heading of bushcraft, which isn't a universally known word, even to people who would class themselves as "bushcrafters" or "bushcraft enthusiasts", it's a word without a universally agreed definition.</div>
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Bushcraft, to me, is a relatively new word, the first time I can remember coming across it was seeing a review for a book called "Bushcraft by Raymond Mears" in a magazine called "Combat and Survival". Well the title of the magazine should give some clue as to what kind of books they were reviewing, and at first glance it was clear that "Bushcraft" wasn't about combat. As such, bushcraft was of no interest to me at all, at the time "C & S" magazine was just there to feed my army-barmy teenage fantasies of battlefield glory, just like I'd read about in "Commando" comic books.</div>
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As I got older I grew out of my obsession with all things military but the survival part of "C & S" magazine really started to interest me. I loved the idea of being able to live from the land with the contents of a survival tin, and started trying to learn how to. I spent most of my teenage years trying to emulate my heroes Lofty Wiseman and Eddie McGee, both ex military survival instructors whose books I read over and over again.</div>
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As I started trying to put what I'd read into practice it soon became apparent that the survival that Lofty and Eddie made sound so easy was bloody hard work, and utterly beyond me. I started to cheat. The survival kit got bigger and bigger; rather than building a shelter I took a tent, rather than forage for food I took food from home, rather than finding and purifying water I took a waterbottle, and so on. It wasn't long before I realised that what I was doing wasn't survival at all, it was camping, and I loved it. </div>
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That love of camping and being in the outdoors has never left me, in fact it's grown, I still go camping as often as I can, and these days not just because I enjoy it, but also because I feel that it's something I need in my life now. Spending time living outdoors refreshes me, even though there's much more effort involved in being comfortable when you're camping than when you're at home, that effort somehow leaves me feeling more relaxed, invigorated even. Living outdoors is simple, everything follows a set pattern, cause and effect is really evident all around you, everything simply seems to make a lot more sense.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view from one of my favourite camping spots<br />
Waking up to this is blissful</td></tr>
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Over time my interest in camping has lead me to many other interests in the outdoors. I was lucky enough to spend most of my childhood on a farm so I've always been familiar with the wild creatures that appear in the British countryside but I'd never really had much of an interest in them, they were either something to be shot/trapped/poisoned or they were just part of the scenery.</div>
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As I spent more time out camping I started to be interested in the animals I could see around me, and they became something much more than simply vermin or background colour, they became one of the main reasons I was spending time outside. As my interest in the animals around me grew it spread to other areas too, I started to learn about tracking so that I could better understand the animals I was watching, that got me looking at the plants that were around me, and the weather, which in turn got me looking at the stars, which is the best reason of all to be outside.</div>
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At the same time I was looking at other things to do in the outdoors, I took up rock climbing (living in Derbyshire it'd be rude not to really), and did a bit of canoeing and caving. These things made me realise that all the camping kit I'd acquired for sitting comfortably and wildlife watching was way too heavy and bulky to carry when I'd got climbing/caving gear or a canoe to carry too, so a new hobby appeared, lightweight camping.</div>
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The great thing about lightweight camping is that it's really light, the not so great thing is that it's really really expensive (at least it used to be, it's not so bad now), and the problem with me and money is that I'm tight, really tight, if there's any possible way I can get away without spending money I will. So I started making my own kit.</div>
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Whilst searching the internet one day for cheap lightweight camping ideas I came across a site called <a href="http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/content.php" target="_blank">bushcraftuk</a> (BCUK). In the intervening years since I'd first seen the advert for "Bushcraft by Raymond Mears" the author had become pretty well known as a TV presenter of survival programs, and the word bushcraft had become a little better known, I'd even bought his book in a clearance sale! So searching through BCUK I half knew what to expect, what I didn't expect to find however was that there were people out there practicing those survival skills that I'd given up on years ago, and making them look possible.</div>
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I was inspired, the lightweight camping was forgotten (along with the caving and the climbing) and the youthful dreams of living off the land came back to life, only this time I would be doing it in comfort with a pack full of kit on my back. </div>
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So, what's bushcraft to me? It's being comfortable outdoors, it's making and/or modifying my own kit, it's learning about the world around me and the plants and animals that I share it with, it's about getting round a campfire with my mates and telling stories, it's all of these things and lots more beside. I enjoy many aspects of bushcraft, but do I class myself as a bushcrafter? I don't know, I'll leave that up to you to decide.</div>
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Bye for now,</div>
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Stuart</div>
Stuart Darthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10204212672267265403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4545170791822377327.post-46817068187964271012012-08-21T23:00:00.002+01:002012-10-23T10:31:29.319+01:00RobinJust a little picture of a Robin <i>(Erithacus rubecula) </i>that I took yesterday whilst out walking the dog.<br />
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He was a really feisty little fellow, as Robins generally are. He was sitting in a tree about five feet from me and the dog looking totally unconcerned by our presence, as if he didn't mind us being there at all. In reality he was probably thinking about how to get us off his patch, Robins are really territorial creatures and the males will defend their territory against all comers with no sign of fear and an enviable tenacity. This little chap followed us for four or five yards along the hedgerow before he was satisfied that we were leaving then went back to his perch to keep an eye out for the next intruders.</div>
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Bye for now,</div>
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Stuart</div>
Stuart Darthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10204212672267265403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4545170791822377327.post-64042562317730904632012-08-21T22:40:00.000+01:002012-10-23T10:31:03.996+01:00Eyup mi Ducks<div style="text-align: justify;">
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Well hello and welcome to my little bit of the internet. I'm hoping that I'll be able to use this space to share some of the things that I find interesting, and to let folks know all about my adventures in deepest darkest Derbyshire (and very occasionally beyond). I get to spend nearly all of my time in around the little hamlet where I live just outside of the Peak District National Park, in which I'm blessed, generally doing things which I more or less enjoy, in which I'm very lucky, with people I mostly like, for which I'm thankful. Hopefully, if I can remain motivated to do so, I'll be telling you all about the place where I spend my time, the things I get up to, and the people I share those with. With a touch of luck you'll enjoy reading about them.</div>
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Bye for now,</div>
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Stuart</div>
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Stuart Darthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10204212672267265403noreply@blogger.com0