Bamboo No Bargain 2022

 Bamboo No Bargain 2022

After constant nagging from my boyfriend I decided to by some new Soap Dishes. He was complaining about lack of Drainage. This is an irony that I was to see later.

Bamboo Mould

 

First of all they arrived Broken. I hadn’t decided to make a project of it at that point. I had bought 2 Soap Dishes. They were not as I thought a complete set with Top Bottom and Grill Centre. I naturally complained.

I was refunded but thought rather than try ordering again I merely Glued the parts back together. The Grill is not shown in the photograph.

More Mould

 

Even though I had repaired them I hadn’t realised that they hadn’t been treated. Therefore Mould had started to build up event though it was only a day or two of usage.

New Drill Set

 

Realising that these Dishes not only were not treated but also had no Drainage holes my boyfriend couldn’t wait to play with my new Drill Set and add some.

Five Spots

 

After a quick wipe down. We got a Pencil and Measure and drew Five Spots to indicate where to Drill. It reminded us of a side of a Dice (yes puritans Dice not Die because we did both Bottoms)

Drilled Holes

 

My boyfriend did the Drilling. Using the Smallest Drill Bit he could he Drilled carefully into the Bamboo. We could always widen them later if need be.

Drilled Holes Inside

 

The Drilling cause the Bamboo on the Inside to pucker. This would be sorted by the Sanding. This was my next job after another wipe to get rid of excess dust.

From Summer to Santa Memories 2019 Part 1

From Summer to Santa Memories 2019 Part 1

It is amazing what you find when you have a sort out. I came upon a couple of projects that I had completely forgotten about. These are projects that I did before I had even heard of the word Blog. Therefore I apologise for lack of Photographs

The first project is a Fire Starter Kit I made for a friend’s Birthday. She was in to back to nature, woodlands and pre-modern inventions.

Fire Starting Kit

As you can see this in the above picture this is the finished item. The material was sourced locally. I needed one thick Branch, two long Twigs, some String, Drill and Sandpaper.

First of all I stripped the Twigs of their Bark. This gave them a chance to dry out a little. The Twigs were Willow but I am not sure what the Branch was made of.

I then marked three section where I was going to bore (for different sized Twigs). I selected a Drill Bit slightly larger than the Rubbing Twig. I Drilled down so far which was not easy as Branches tend to roll. I then changed Drill Bits and laying the Horizontally I began to remove the Wood at the Side to make a Notch.

I then smoothed out the Notches with the Sandpaper. I then strung the Horizontal Twig so it could be used as a Bow. I had to leave a little slack so it could be wound around the Vertical Twig in a Loop.

It was then ready to use. I got some dry material put it in the Bore Hole and started to use the Bow. The material started smouldering so I pulled it out on to other dried material and gently blew on the Embers until the Fire took hold.

Thus one ready to use Fire Starter Kit. I was quite impressed until I asked my then boyfriend if this was what he had used in the Army? He replied ‘No we used matches’. I walked right into that one.

The link below shows a similar Kit.

I dedicate this Blog to Karl who sadly passed away ten years ago.

http://www.jonsbushcraft.com/bowdrill%20tutorial.htm