Author Archives: Woodsbum

Debris Huts

by Woodsbum

Considering the “Arctic Freeze”, “Polar Invasion”, “cold front that made me shiver in my Jockeys”, or whatever you decide to call it that just rolled in, I decided that a quick post on making a debris hut might be a good idea. For those of you who do not know what a debris hut is, just think of a framed in structure with lots of leaves and branches over the top for insulation.

Here is the structure of one that we use when the bad weather comes in and we get stuck up in one of our camping areas. As you can see, my lazy hound likes it.

Debris Hut Frame

I first found this structure while hiking up in the hills. Later on I found that this has been used quite extensively by several trail crews and hikers that get caught in bad weather. There are piles of downed boughs and debris from previous users of the hut not far off. During the summer months, however, it seems to be more used for people to put a tarp over one side while leaving the other side open for ventilation. Although this is not the best example of a debris hut, it does give you a real world picture of what these types structures can be used for as well as their versatility.

Because I have never felt it necessary until now to have pictures of the building process, I am going to borrow a bit from the Internet. Here is a link to Wiki-How’s page on building them. I would like to toss out that the biggest reason that these type structures fail is due to a poor ridgepole and supporting structure. Many times I have found my friends scrambling to get out of their collapsed structures. Even though I find it humorous, they do not and in a real survival type situation this type thing could be bad.

This video is done by a very skilled bushcrafter that I know from BushcraftUSA. There are dozens of these type videos out there, but considering I know him from the Internet I felt that his was the best to use.

There are numerous variations of these type structures that are only hindered by your imagination. The important thing to remember is that you will need some strength to the frame and lots of insulation on top to ensure you don’t get cold/wet.

I hope everyone found this post informative. If you want even more resources on woodman structures, I suggest you get this book. About any type structure you would want to build is covered in this book. It also goes over such necessities as heating and waterproofing. It is truly a great resource.

Shelters, Shacks and Shanties

Smith and Wesson Model 13-1 – Great Find

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by Woodsbum

Because I got so lucky and ended up getting a very fair price for a wonderful firearm, I decided to do a quick write up on it. I felt that this was important because it seems that everyone is so engrossed in automatics and tactical firearms that many phenomenal pistols get overlooked and ignored.

Here is my newest bush pistol, the Smith and Wesson Model 13-1.

Smith and Wesson Mod 13-1

I am almost a little embarrassed to admit, but I almost passed on this pistol. These pistols are the old military and police models that remind me of the 1980’s TV shows like TJ Hooker. It doesn’t fit my hand very well, and I am not fond of that little bump at the top of the handle. Overall, it just isn’t that pleasing to my eye. Then I handled it and started to think more logically about this little gem.

First off, this pistol has fixed iron sights. There are no adjustments to ding up and where you point it is where the bullet seems to go. Secondly, the entire cylinder swings out for the allowance of speed loaders to be used. Speed loaders are about $10 – $15 per loader, which is more than cheap enough. There is even an extractor that almost dumps the spend cases from the cylinder. Third, this is a .357 so I can also shoot .38 for cheaper plinking. Fourth, it is a revolver that mechanically allows all 6 cylinders to be loaded without the firing pin resting on a cartridge. You have to pull the trigger all the way for the hammer to go completely forward to strike a primer. I can now carry all 6 cylinders loaded without worrying too much. Lastly, the action is incredible for both single and double action. I swear it is the smoothest action I have ever used in a factory pistol except for the Python and Anaconda. It is incredible and the double action is smooth enough to not seriously through your aim off. It’s great.

Here it is from the other side.

Smith and Wesson Mod 13-1

My entire thought on this pistol was to get it all rigged up for use as a bush pistol. As such, I ordered an old military M-3 style holster and borrowed a set of oversized K frame grips until I get the ones I want. Here is what the holster looks like.

M-3 .38 Holster

Here are the old, borrowed grips I threw on there for now.

Butler Creek Grips

Now back to my thoughts…… I already have a single action .44 mag that I built a cross draw holster for. It is an absolute nail driver, but it is a .44 mag. Both the pistol and the ammunition is heavy if you carry much of it. By getting something a bit smaller in caliber and a considerably lighter pistol, I will have a much easier to carry package. Even if I only carry a few .357 and mostly use .38 I will be much farther ahead with consideration of weight.

The other thing I wanted to do was cut down the length and size of my bush pistol. My .44 has a heavy frame and a 6 inch barrel. Even though that is not too bad for someone my size (6’4″ and the size of a small black bear) it does get unwieldy after a full day of trampling through the brush. By even cutting down a few pounds and 2 1/2 inches of pistol length it will make a difference after a hard day of hiking.

I did think about just using one of my semi-automatic pistols like my Glock or Beretta. The problem with that was the whole idea of having something that I could get completely nasty and dirty without creating doubt as to whether it would fire. I also wanted a pistol that could double for hunting if need be. By getting a .357 and 4″ barrel, I could quite easily take a deer if I needed to.

After really considering the possible scenarios and using some logic that skirted around my dislike of the frame/shape of the pistol, I did get it and have been quite happy ever since. This really taught me a valuable lesson that I would like to pass along to my readers. Just because you might not like the “old school” look of something, don’t discount its usefulness. This 1970’s pistol looks exactly as such, but it really is a diamond in a pile of cut glass. It’s smooth, dependable, and tough enough to take anything that I might dish out. Most importantly, however, is the fact that I found an old pistol that was unloved and have now given it a good home…… Poor little lost pistol!!!

Now get out there and find your own bush pistol.

Knife Sharpening – Leather Strops

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by Woodsbum

One of the many questions I get is about knife sharpening and how I get my knives to hold an edge as long as they do. To help you guys out, I am putting this post together about strops and how to get a great edge without too much work.

Strops have been around for a long, long time. The most common place that people run into them is with straight razors or wall hangings at an old-time barber shop.

Use of a leather strop for sharpening is a bit different that what people are used to, however. In honing or sharpening a blade, little pieces of metal are actually scraped away and thus creating an edge. In stropping, none of the metal is removed. Stropping realigns indentations in the metal instead of removing it. Most commonly a compound is applied to the leather to aid in the polishing. Variations of polishing compound from very fine to course can be applied. Personally, I have 3 that have green, black, and white compound applied.

My strops come from Flexxx at Flexxxstrops.com. You can contact him for current prices. For the compound, I use Bark River Knife and Tool compound. I have linked to their site with their US retailers.

The best way to explain would be through video. I have linked a video that explains the overall concept quite well and even includes some close up video of the knife edge. It truly explains in 13 minutes what would have taken me pages of pictures and arrows.

Happy Stropping!!!!

Washington Initiative 591 – Protect Our Guns Rights Act

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by Woodsbum

Since I did a post last week about Washington State’s I-594 and what the initiative really was about, I figured I would do one this week about the counter-initiative that was proposed and is being voted on. This is the I-591. This proposed legislation is only 5 sections long or a total of 3 pages to include the signature sheet. Although I posted a link I will include the whole initiative so it will be easier for you to catch up.

Sec. 1.

A new section is added to chapter 9.41 RCW to read as follows:

It is unlawful for any government agency to confiscate guns or other firearms from citizens without due process.
Sec. 2.

A new section is added to chapter 9.41 RCW to read as follows:

It is unlawful for any government agency to require background checks on the recipient of a firearm unless a uniform national standard is required.
Sec. 3.

The provisions of this act are to be liberally construed to effectuate the intent, policies,

and purposes of this act.
Sec. 4.

If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.
Sec. 5.

This act is known and may be cited as the “Protect Our Gun Rights Act.”

This is it… The whole initiative. Nothing more and quite simple….. In reading it it only does the following things:

Keeps government agencies from just coming in and taking a person’s guns without having a lawful, legal proceedings to do so.
Makes it unlawful for any government agency to require background checks that the whole country doesn’t adopt as a standard.

There really isn’t much else there. The real question comes down to this:

What does the potential law really do?

In essence, this disallows any political group to push through any personal anti-gun agendas that are outside of what the country considers its standard. If the entire country institutes a 45 day wait on any firearm sale, then WA will adopt those standards. If the entire country writes new laws requiring only a single background check to be conducted and that person has to maintain the validity of that background check or lose gun rights, then that becomes WA standard. Basically, WA will adopt whatever the federal government mandates and nothing more.

The other thing this does is in reference to gun confiscation. WA residents must be allowed due process BEFORE firearms are confiscated. This means that being accused of a domestic disturbance will no longer be enough to have the Sheriff add your weapons to his personal collection. The police can’t just stop by and take your old 12 gauge just because your neighbor got in trouble for something. It would also mean that government officials could not go door to door and take your firearms like was done during Katrina. Ironically, it just reiterates that our rights should not be infringed upon…… Sound familiar?

No matter what side of coin your political views fall on, this initiative does little more than push gun control measures back onto the federal government and ensures that all current gun owners are allowed to use the court system before they have items of substantial value just taken from them. That is it. Makes me wonder why groups like the American Civil Liberties Union have not pushed for this sort of a law in other states. It protects citizens’ rights established in the US Constitution….. Hmmmmm…..

Adventure Sworn Mountaineer

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by Woodsbum

About 11 months ago I was completely floored and blown away by an email that I received from Cody at Adventure Sworn. Somehow I was lucky enough to have won a custom knife from they in a give away from BushcraftUSA. The knife was built to see hard use and be tougher than hobnail boots. So far it has lived up to its purpose.

Let me first give the specifications of this incredible knife.
Model: Mountaineer
Steel: O1 high carbon tool steel, 59 RC hardness
Blade Thickness: 9/64
Grind: Scandi
Overall Length: Roughly 9 inches
Cutting Edge Length: 4-1/4 inches
Handle: Brown canvas micarta, red/cinnamon red liners, brass corby bolts & tubing
Handle Thickness: 4/5
Sheath: Adventure red

Adventure Sworn Mountaineer

Once I got this knife, I immediately started playing with it and using it per its intended use. As beautiful as this knife was, I felt that it was an all out crime to not use the hell out of it. Here it is on its first outing. I was out stalking deer and took a break to harvest some moss to dry out for kindling. At this point I was not too sure if I wanted to actually scuff up the knife. Well after the first fire I made that whole uncertainty disappeared. Not only did it process fire making materials like no other knife I had ever touched to that point, but it felt perfect in my hand. It was an absolute wonder to work with.

Adventure Sworn on its first trip out

I also took it with me during my deer hunt. The next picture is me in my ground blind freezing while I wait for a deer to cross the trail in front of me. Unfortunately, no deer did cross. Playing with my knife was fun, however. It worked quite well for cleaning grouse and rabbit though.

Adventure Sworn out hunting

Fast forward through 11 months of hard use…….. This is what the knife looks like now.

Adventure Sworn Now

As you can see, it has definitely been used quite a bit. I clean it every time I get back from the woods and do an oil soak on the blade each time it gets wet. Unfortunately in the area where I live rust and moss grow on everything. It is very wet and creates a tremendous hardship on people trying to keep their equipment looking pretty. Even with how much I have used and beat this knife up, I have only had to put in on a strop a few times. This knife holds an edge like no other I have ever been around.

When I speak about “using” a knife, I must remind you what that entails. Of course it is used to cut meats and for camp chores. It also does my fire processing. This means that it makes feather/fuzz sticks, batons through wood, whittles spoons and cups, processes game, occasional pry bar, and any other number of required tasks that crop up in the field. I can attest that this knife will take it and ask for more.

If you have ever considered spending money on a custom or high quality bushcraft knife, do it. These knifes are really lifetime tools if you take care of them, even with the hard use. This bad boy will eventually be passed down and will become an heirloom item.

Once I get my GoPro purchased in the next few months, I will post some videos of this guy at work. Until then I will answer any questions I can, but my main point is that spending $400-$500 on a lifetime use item really is not that much different than spending the same on a rifle or pistol. This is really one of the highest quality tools you could ever purchase.

Thanks again to Cody and Adventure Sworn for this incredible tool. I know it will have to go back to their shop sometime next year for a spa treatment, but I am worried as to how I will get along without it while they do their thing……