TweetFort Mandan, Upper Missouri River, present day McLean County North Dakota 6th March, 1805 a Cloudy morning & Smokey all Day from the burning of the plains, which was Set on fire by the Minetarries for an early crop of Grass as an endusement for Buffalow to feed on– the horses which was Stolen Some time ago by Assinniboins from the minetarries were returned yesterday– visited by Oh-harh or the Little fox 2nd Chief of the lower Village of the…
TweetHave you ever lost camp tools in the bottomless night of a moonless, moist Midwestern woodland?–find them with glow cord lanyards. Tools dropped into deep taiga snow pack?–spot them easily using glow cord snow flags. Tripping over your own tent guy lines at night in your local state park?–see your glow cord guy lines every time. Trouble returning to your wilderness stealth campsite after dark?–find it quickly by stringing a glow cord streamer high over a branch limb, and leave…
TweetTesting utility and durability of the Becker BK-2. Is the BK-2 a good choice for a wilderness survival knife? The Becker BK-2 Campanion knife manufactured by KA-BAR® is one of blade designer Ethan Becker’s earliest big successes in more ways than one. The BK-2 is a big horse of a knife and it has long been a big seller. In the hands of a skilled outdoorsman, it’s a heavy weight performer for woodcraft–like a big draft horse in the reins…
TweetThe Felco 600 folding saw is my choice for a small fuel gathering and shelter construction backup tool. It’s a commercial grade tool used by many professional horticulturists for daily use in arboretums and for landscape maintenance, due to its design and durability. Important features: Felco’s unique patented conical blade design is thickest at the cutting teeth, thinning upward. This design ejects sawdust and reduces binding. The blade metal and tooth geometry hold sharpness and cut deep with ease on…
TweetMaking paraffin-dipped wood matches, their utility. This is an old standard. I first made wax-dipped matches while a young boy scout long ago. Wax-dipped wood matches and wax-dipped egg carton section fire-starters were standard equipment for scouts, then. Today, I used a “household paraffin wax for canning, candlemaking and many other uses” to prepare kitchen matches for outdoor use. I purchased the one-pound box inexpensively at my local grocery store, just $4.29. The matches I used, “large kitchen matches”, “extra…