Jedi Bush-trackers...

Wescli Wardest wrote: That is awesome! I have one I made out of leather, but I would love to know how you made it out of paracord.

Also, I made an adaptation so that my slingshot could fire arrows. I will have to get pictures or video or something. It works really, really well!

I've always wanted to try an atlatl myself. Haha. That's somewhat similar to the idea of launching an arrow with a slingshot.

Cutting devise…
I would like to talk about cutting devise for a while. I mentioned earlier that I do not believe in a one knife for everything concept. What I mean by that is I do not think that one knife will be great at everything. If you can only carry one knife, make it as versatile as you can, but if you have the option, carry a few.





I always carry a little 2” blade, high carbon steel pocket knife. When I go camping I will take my Gerber multi tool and a slightly larger 6” fixed blade knife that I made (high carbon Steel). There are particular design qualities that I want in a blade for various reasons. And we can go over that.





This is one I just finished making to replace my old one. It has a 6 inch fixed blade that is welded to the hollow steel handle.

The reason I decided to go this route is so that the blade is large enough to baton and the welds won’t give way after repeated use. The Scandi grind is probably my personal favorite. And with the large open eye in the pommel I can tie a lanyard to it very easily... and it balances out the weight.

The spine of the blade has a crisp edge to the side and works really well at throwing sparks off the ferrocerium rod.

I could actually go on about blades quite a bit, but I’m sure most reading this already have their own ideas on what they are looking for. If you don’t, we can talk about it on here or you can PM me. I am always open to questions.



PS. I have wanted to make an atlatl as well. This last spring I was showing my daughter how to make arrows by finding stuff in the woods and making them on the spot. And right there I thought, I should try my hand at an atlatl. I haven’t gotten around to it yet, but I bet it would be cool.

I'm more of a fan of the zero impact type of bush experience. Carry what you need in, and carry what you'd leave out... sort of thing. Of course I have not done this in ages so I'm feeling very hypocritical typing this. While not really survival, more observation and discovery orientated, you still gotta be prepared in case you get injured or lost.

I got a Pentax K5 a couple of years ago for the specific purpose of getting back to nature and taking pics, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. This idea of Jedi Bush-tracking is gold, thanks. I'm going to organize some notes around the concept merging the study of animal behavior into survival skills.

I had no idea what a Scandi grind was, so I looked it up. Here it is, for easier reference:

Also called a "Sabre grind — the bevel (the slope to the edge) starts at about the middle of the blade, not the spine. Also named "Scandinavian grind", it produces a more lasting edge at the expense of some cutting ability and is typical of kitchen knives. Also sometimes referred to as a "V grind", made with strength in mind and found on tactical and military knives."

Also, I'm curious, why did you paint the handle with epoxy? Because it's more durable than other types of coating materials?

When you say "open pommel", I'm assuming that is short for "open eye [...] pommel", which you use later in your post?

What kind of welder did you use to do the welding?

Just as a public service type of thing, I would like to mention here that (especially as a Jedi) it is important to be aware of any local, state, province, or country laws, etc governing the type and/or length of blades that are legal to carry or conceal, or under what other conditions. Municipalities can sometimes have knife laws of their own, which tend to be more restrictive than those for the state in which they reside.

Wescli Wardest wrote: That is awesome! I have one I made out of leather, but I would love to know how you made it out of paracord.

http://slinging.org/index.php?page=5-strand-woven-paracord-sling-tutorial---jeffrey

I started with a set up much like this, but I made it a 7 strand by adding an extra bend. I also improved the cup shape by shortening the to outer most strands slightly before I started weaving.

I ran across these on YouTube. The material is pretty good. It may feel a bit basic for some, but I like revisiting the basics sometimes. Reminds us not to overlook the little stuff, like safety.

They're nothing fancy, just knife selection and maintenance. But, those are two things I feel are very important.

With all tat said, here we go... enjoy.

And my absolute favorite bush crafter has a video on knives and knife selection.

I really don't think anyone does it better than Dave. Just my opinion.

Has anyone had any luck making cordage from natural material? Mine comes out so so.

Oh my goodness… I know what you mean!

I think that it’s mostly that I haven’t spent the time to get really good at it. The only times I have made cordage from plant material it is… well… not pretty.

Working with animal fibers is a different story. Whether it be animal hair/wool (still not perfect but much better), making sinew or some kind of lace/cord (from hide) I have had much better luck.

If anyone has any tips on plant fiber cordage making… I am all ears!

Wescli Wardest wrote: Oh my goodness… I know what you mean!

I think that it’s mostly that I haven’t spent the time to get really good at it. The only times I have made cordage from plant material it is… well… not pretty.

Working with animal fibers is a different story. Whether it be animal hair/wool (still not perfect but much better), making sinew or some kind of lace/cord (from hide) I have had much better luck.

If anyone has any tips on plant fiber cordage making… I am all ears!

Here is a blog post with old "boy-scout" style diagrams.

Making rope from plants