Knife Sheath

I just finished making a sheath for the Mora Belt Knife that I made a couple of months ago. I first made a paper pattern then traced it onto the back side of the leather. After cutting the piece out I wrapped it around the knife using small clamps to keep it in place. Wrapping leather around a knife is a bit trickier than I originally thought. You have to take into account the transition from the flat blade to the wider and rounded handle. When I was satisfied with how it looked I used contact cement to glue a third piece of leather in between the outer cover, along the edge where the stitches were to go. This extra piece will protect the stitches from being cut by the blade. The whole thing was stitched together then Sno-Seal finish was applied at the very end.

I used Sno-Seal to water proof the leather. Sno-Seal is made from bees wax and is nontoxic.

I used 4 - 5 oz leather, a heavier leather could have been used but I wanted to keep it as light as possible.

The snap closure in the front allows the sheath to be added to a belt without having to remove the belt in order to thread the sheath on.

Here you can see how the leather conforms to the handle with some heat and firm pressure.

The Sno-Seal changes the color quite dramatically. On the left is a left over piece of leather. Personally I like the color of the leather after treatment.

Zoe's hot tent

I realize it has been a while since my last post, school work has kept me busy but I have managed to make a hot tent for winter camping. After the stupid "F"ing cold of our New Years Eve trip last year Zoe informed me that she requires a tent with a wood stove. Well, I made her one. A tent that is, it’s based on some photos that I found on the internet. I didn’t have any plans or drawings to work from so, drawing on my experience as a graphic designer I made up my own plans using Corel Draw. Before I begin many of my projects I design them first on the computer. After making many, many, many small paper models I made a 1:25 scale model from an old bed sheet to be sure of all the dimensions. Some of the design features are the silicon stove jack, zippered vents front and back with no-seeum netting, 12 inch snow flaps, large zippered door, and many guyline anchor points. I had thought about more neutral colors like green, blue or tan but bright colors can lift a person’s mood on the days that we are forced to stay inside for hours on end due to blizzard conditions. It has many inside tie loops for hanging mittens to dry or to hang a candle lantern. The front pole is made of metal and is adjustable; in the future I intend to make a carbon fibre pole which should save some weight. The rear pole is an adjustable hiking pole. The first time we set it up nothing seemed to fit properly, none of the panels were taught and some of the snow flaps didn't even touch the ground. I thought I had screwed up but after about 45 minutes of adjusting and head scratching, it finally looked like a tent. I’m happy to say that it now only takes about 10 minutes or less to set up.

I choose to use 7.5 oz coated rip stop nylon rather than the traditional cotton canvas for a number of reasons.

Nylon pros:

· Water resistant for use in spring and fall damp weather conditions

· Shouldn’t leak when snow melts on the warmed material

· Wind proof

· Rot resistant

Cons:

· Doesn’t breath so condensation may be an issue

· Melts

· Spark holes

Cotton canvas pros:

· Breaths

· Less condensation

· Bright color

· Spark resistant

Cons:

· May leak when snow melts on the warmed material

· Rots

Specs:

Length 139”

Width 113”

Height 80” (front pole)

31” (rear pole)

Weight not sure yet, haven’t weighed it

View of the large door

One of the many guyline anchor points. (13 all together)

Front view, Zoe is standing near the back of the tent. This image shows the stove jack cover in place.

Side view, shows the modified tipi design

The front vent has no-seeum netting and zippered closure from the inside.

The silicon stove jack with the cover rolled up and secured with velcro. Now all we need is a stove.

Thanksgiving 2011

Our camp site is on the west shore right where the channel opens onto Crean lake

For this years annual Thanksgiving canoe trip we paddled to the camp kitchen on Crean Lake in the Prince Albert National Park. The group from left to right; Zoe and Taiga, Dave, Karen, Cathy, Cathy, Shaun, and Valery in front centre

Taiga is 5 months old and had lots of fun on her second canoe trip.

The first day (Saturday Oct. 8) was VERY windy. Environment Canada was forecasting winds of 30km/hr gusting to 50km/hr. Here we are stopped on the lee side of a point for a break from fighting the head wind. We ended up eating lunch here. It may have been windy but at least the air temperature was warm and it stayed that way for the entire weekend.

Taiga is very well behaved in the canoe, she usually just goes to sleep. Her PFD is getting too small for her. She is a lab and is a very good swimmer, she only has the PFD because it has a handle that makes it easier to haul her back into the canoe if she decides to jump ship. (which she hasn't done yet)

The evening of the first day saw the wind die down. This photo shows the view from my tent the following morning, fantastic! When I got up the temperature was 3 degrees C. Frost on everything was evidence that the temperature dropped to below freezing that night.

On the second day we set out in the canoes to explore an area called lost lake. It's a lake that is pretty well hidden from the main lake and separated by a small beach. We found an inviting beach that made a great lunch spot. There were many wolf tracks (large and small) in the sand. Notice the interesting purple sand.

Here Shaun is very serious about taking a photo of our wood pile.

When we returned from searching for lost lake Valery set to work setting up his sauna and heating large rocks over a fire. Water is poured over the rocks to produce the steam and heat. After a good soak we jumped in the lake for a cool down. I didn't take the inside temperature of the sauna but the lake water was 11 degrees C.

We usually have a large potluck style thanksgiving meal. This year it consisted of chicken cooked in a dutch oven, cauliflower, beans, mashed potatoes, baked sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, and apple crumble, all accompanied by lots of wine. Everything is baked fresh in the woods even the pies!

Here Taiga is ready for bed tucked into her blanket inside the tent.

Shaun's rather unorthodox but effective method of packing his dry bag.

On the last day the wind had completely died and the lake was calm and warm. We took our time paddling back to the vehicles. The distance that had taken 4 hours to paddle in the wind now only took us 2 hours. We stopped to rest, we stopped for lunch, and we stopped for a second lunch.

Varnishing Snowshoes

Ojibway style snowshoes

While the warm weather holds I thought it would be a good time to do some maintenance on my homemade wooden snowshoes. The photo shows my snowshoes (long set) and my mom`s snowshoes (short set) which she just finished building, hanging to dry after a thick coat of varnish was applied. We put down a double layer of poly to keep the mess contained then using a good brush we liberally applied the varnish. We used a good quality spar varnish which should provide an adequate protective coating.

I woke up yesterday morning and felt like making a canoe paddle, so I went out the my shop and prepared the pieces. I had an extra cedar / ash shaft made up from the last bunch of paddles I made so I used that and laminated walnut pieces on for the blade and top grip. I left it to cure over night. The following day (today) I did the shaping. Everything went well, I haven't played in my shop very much since I started back to school so I took my time and really enjoyed the carving process. For this paddle I choose what I call my Trapper blade design with a modified northwoods top grip. The cedar/ash shafts are very light and with the addition of the walnut blade I was concerned that the paddle would unbalanced so I decided to add the northwoods grip because it would provide more weight on the shaft and thereby balancing the paddle. I'm happy to say, it worked! The finish is oil.

Close up of my logo and the interesting light and dark grain in the walnut.

Here's a look at the modified northwoods top grip. This grip is 11" long

I cut two strips of wood off of a larger 8/4 piece of walnut that I had. I book matched the grain patterns but as I carved away the material the lighter grain pattern on the one side became less and less. I ended up with a paddle with an asymmetric grain pattern.