Here’s some advice from Wade Bastian on the Appalachian trail gear he carried on his hike. Wade set out onthe 2200 mile trail withfellow Eagle ScoutBucky Kellorgin February. As planned, Wade interrupted his hike to spend the summer employed as a peak steward in New York’s Adirondack mountains (he’s stewarding a peak in the photo above). Bucky completed the trail in July, here he is on Katahdin with fellow hiker Brightside...
Sturdy, reliable tools are important components of any camping kit and make great gifts for Scouts or Scouters. There are cheaper alternatives to some of my choices, but I have chosen tools that I think are a are great value for cost. Pocket Knives There is not one absolute best pocketknife for every Scout in every situation, but any one of the three Victorinox Swiss Army Knives below are an excellent choice....
Here’s a handy one-page reference that highlights care and sharpening of axes and hatchets. A good quality new hatchet will cost more than lower quality tools, but they are worth the investment. Many highly touted hatchets and axes on the market are upwards of seventy to a hundred dollars, and I suppose they are probably worth the cost but they seem over-priced to me; there are some excellent tools that will do the same work for less than $40....
Marbles Camp AxeGreat fit and finish for a very good price. The marbles is a bit larger than most camp hatchets or axes and it’s a quality product. Aailable at Amazon Sarge Boy Scout KnifeNO LONGER AVAILABLE Marbles Back Pocket Dual-Grit Tool SharpenerGreat tool for maintaining axes, hatchets and pocket knives this coarse and fine grit carborundum stone should be in anyones camping tool kit. Available at Amazon
My first impression of the Lansky Blade Medic was a little cynical. Another knife sharpening gadget? No thanks. As a professional woodworker I have sharpened hundreds, if not thousands, of blades, chisels, knives etc. over the years. I’ve shown a couple of hundred Scouts how to use and sharpen a pocket knife and I’ve tried out many different sharpening methods. The Lansky Blade medic features two ‘crock stick’ sharpening tools, one in ceramic, one in carbide....
What’s the best Scout pocket knife? I am not sure there’s only one absolute best pocket knife for every Scout in every situation, but the Victorinox Hiker is an excellent choice and here’s why: COST A decent knife will last a lifetime (really!). Because a Scout will likely loose a knife or two along the way long before it gets worn out parents are tempted to buy a cheap pocket knife....
Scouts and whittling evokes a vivid boyhood memory of sitting on the back porch steps whittling a green stick with a steak knife purloined from my mother’s kitchen. Since then I have always had one kind of pocket knife or another and whittled when the opportunity presents itself. Sometimes it’s nothing more than reducing a stick to a pile of chips, sometimes it’s carefully shaping the links of a chain out of a single piece of wood....
Scouts who have earned Eagle during my tenure as Scoutmaster receive a custom engraved Buck knife. I take the knife to an engraver in our mall called “Things Remembered”. I buy the Buck 110 lock-back because the bolsters are flat brass (not curved like others) and this makes them suitable for engraving.. When I first started doing this the Buck knife 110 was about $20 but they are up to $35 or more now....
Interesting article from Robin Wood on making axe handles. First wood selection. The perfect wood is nice straight grain ash fairly fast grown, if it gets more than 6-8 rings per inch it is much more brittle, 4-6 rings per inch is perfect. Having said that a hewing axe like this is nearly always used one handed and the handle does not get the same stress as a felling axe so I would use pretty well whatever wood you have though with a preference for more fibrous species, ash, oak, elm etc....
Splitting wood with a retaining chain and bungee cord: This splitting firewood video features a wicked-good looking splitting axe by Fiskars. It looks to me like their X series splitting axes that come in 17″, 23 1/2″, 28″ and 36″ lengths. The geometry of the axe head creates a wedge whose top curves outward sharply – looks very effective. Fiskars splitting axes on Amazon Fiskars 7856 X11 17-Inch Splitting Axe...
Bill Macfarlane is blogging about an unusual quest; Years ago, when I was a Boy Scout, I would wait impatiently for the next issue of Boy’s Life just so I could see the Whittlin’ Jim “Slide of the Month” feature. But try as I might I could never make one of those slides. (I have the scars to prove it!) ….Flash forward 40 years and I discover a couple of links to the original Whittlin’ Jim patterns....
I have had a few different multi tools over the years but none of them compare to the Leatherman Wave. I read lot’s of multi tool reviews and the Wave came out on top in each one. The wave is solidly built an each component functions extraordinarily well. I blanched slightly at spending around seventy bucks for mine, but it has proved it’s worth many times over. I carry the Wave at work and when I am out in the woods and it has yet to let me down....
Not the actual stitches mentioned below Knives for Scouts or knives vs. Scouts? In the battle between knives and Scouts the infamous record for my Troop is eight. Stitches, that is. Minor knife cuts are reasonably rare and I can recall only three trips to the emergency room because of a knife in twenty three years ( about 1000 days and nights camping) of being a Scoutmaster. Knife safety is comprised of training in common sense augmented by careful attention....
I have been using a pruning saw for camping like the Corona RS-1720 instead of bow saws to cut firewood. There are any number of similar brands and styles available but Corona has an excellent reputation for fine tools. A number of sportsman’s saws made along the same design are available, they are more expensive, shorter and straighter than pruning saws. The shape and length of a good pruning saw will cut a large stack of firewood much quicker than a sportsman’s saw....
Many of us have only seen a tree chopped down with an axe in the movies, or on TV and fail to recognize the danger or finesse involved in felling even a small tree: A tree can be hacked down in a haphazard, laborious fashion or it can be dropped easily and quickly exactly where you want it to go. Fayette R. Plumb Inc. engaged ‘America’s Champion Chopper’ Peter McLaren to write an axe manual for their product- the redoubtable Plumb Axe....