cattails,flint and steel.

Ash burl bowl

ive decided to put my bowl up for sale...
Rustic Ash Burl bowl on eBay, also, Woodworking, Crafts (end time 09-Jun-09 18:26:46 BST)

sap and fire carrying...

There i was happily walking along my trials when i decided to stop for my ciggy and tea break,what happens my lighter broke,i always travel light so only had my steel flint and char on me to light fires(my preferrred method),so i looked around for a way to light my roll ups..Its not rained for a while so i was lucky..i salvaged a birch poly pore an old net,king alfred cake,and some burdock leaves,and a couple of elastic bands..i lit my char,blew it onto the polypore and hey presto a smouldering ciggarette lighter,wrapped up in green leaves to stop it burning too quickly ,put in the net and tucked under my belt,and i was off.So there you have a woodsmans ciggy lighter..luckly no one asked me for a light.he.he..


I always see cherry birch sap oozing out from damaged trees,ive experimented with it to see if i could light it etc,but no luck.Any way asking around i found it has wound healing properties and has been used for many years..i got some and put it on a cut and it actually dries like second skin,forming a natural salve to protect an open wound..I also can see it being used to fletch an arrow,just run the sticky sap down the shaft and it would hold/not stick the feathers on while you tie them..its worth grabbing some and put it in your kit/medicine bag.It dries hard and non sticky,just put it in hot water when you want to use it..

A day out carp fishing...

pagan alter

i love nature,and i also have a special relationship with it.,i blend my nature with the intention of respect and honour to all living things,and of our ancestors long ago...i rebuild things and change them alot,change is a good thing..today i rebuilt my alter,its nice to have one of these in a special place,you dont have to be a new ager etc,its just a nice symbolismn of nature,put on it what you want,make it special,every new or full moon light a candle on it,make it yours,its a good way to give back what we take...

another week

Its been a busy week,lots happening out there,yesterday i heard a cuckoo twice,but the foilage was to dense to see it,I went onto a golf course and saw alot of steam rising from a paticuliar area,i thought it may have been deer,but on stalking down to it a doe roe deer appeared on the far edge andstarted feeding,the sun was right in my eyes and my attempt to film it was thwarted..one day i will get a good camera,she got wind of me a few times but the german flectarn worked well..the deer have been moving around alot more since the weather has improved,but ive not seen any srapes latelty...on the flint side of things im curently roaming a farmers field and im finding bits and pieces..im not sure of the tools id,but they may be primative farm tools,one being a hoe.
and another being a sickle blade used for cutting wheat etc..ive been trying to put my mind set into the ancient people who roamed and must have settled into this area,i find a good way to do this is to leave metal tools at home and take only stone and antler,i made a series of videos covering my tools and talk about this more.I also managed to make a small functional knife,i based it on otzi the ice mans shape...traffic was terrible i waited ages for this snail to cross the road...these are roman snails,they go whiter due to the high chalk levels...
i came across a badger raid on an underground bees nest,this was easy to work out as the trail of dead bees on the ground as the stung the badgers thick hide and died..
im getting better at pressure flaking and have produced a point,my new antler flaker works very well although roe antler will not last as long as red deer etc..
here are my videos enjoy..

flint,bird point,dog rose arrow..

made a nice light arrow....not been posting much as im out alot more and find sitting at a computer harder when the weathers nice..but im still doing my journal,i found a good worked flint scraper on a farm field.....The roe deer are moving around less ,im still waiting to stumble upon young...our weather although warmer is still a bit overcast and rain always threatens,but the birds get up every morning to sing,they dont complain so why should I?...The beech woods are cold,the lack of light is quiet depressing so im not staying around the campsite much now,anyway there is more to see and forage now,so being static is quiet boring..im still working on my percussion strikes on flint,ive found a few bits of jasper which shattter well,but the flake i produced had too large a bulbous edge,visited a pond which ive not been near for nearly a year,its been managed by conservationists,it look ok more light around it,so newgrowth will take place,i was actually searching for cattails but thier not there....more later....