"Between the velvet lies, there's a truth as hard as steel". I have developed a series of challenges for my Boy Scouts to enhance their skills and confidence with steel. There are three challenges, 1) sharpening, wood gathering/processing for fire, 2) Carving, 3) Shelter building. Members here can play along. Anybody who completes this series of challenges that I am posting will get a "Truth is Hard as Steel" patch. The first challenge is pretty basic: 1. Sharpen your knife, axe or hatchet (you have to stay with the same tool for this whole portion of the challenge though) any way you want and provide photo or video of it shaving hair. You can use a whetstone, sandpaper, a Spyderco system - whatever you want - I just want to see that you can sharpen a knife. 2. Go out into the woods with a camera or video and either cut down a dead tree or cut off branches from a downed tree that you will be able to build a fire from and then process it using your knife, axe or hatchet into pieces of varying thickness for your fire and create shavings or dust from the wood you have gathered to start a fire with. 3. Using a fire steel, ignite your fire using the shavings you created. 4. Sharpen your blade back to shaving sharpness. Here is a helpful video on the fire steel use: So the first video for challenge #1, I am posting is of the sharpening, gathering and processing. Unfortunately for me, the first tree that I found was an oak LOL. Parts of it are very dead, and parts are very hard. Remember you can use an axe or hatchet for the whole challenge too, but only one tool. Photographs or video are required for each of the four segments. Here is the second half of challenge #1. This was tough, 84 degrees and and 80% humidity, it took a long time to light this. My wife's phone actually ran out of video memory and we had to delete video to pick it up again. Persistence pays though!
Challenge #2 - Carving a wood cooking implement: This one's pretty simple - go into the woods, get a thin log or a piece of a thick branch, split it, and make a spoon, fork, spatula, stirring tool, out of of it. You can use an ax, knife, saw, hook -any handheld, non-powered tool you would like. The goal of this challenge is really to familiarize you as a scout with working with wood other than chopping it. Here is a quick vid that explains how to approach it. Challenge #3. Build a shelter using an axe, saw, knife to gather wood, or use wood you find. You must create a horizontal brace that is lashed to two trees (remember when lashing, to start and finish with a clove hitch), and you must lash together a frame for the roof. You can choose to use a tarp/poncho for the roof or go natural and use pine boughs, etc...
So the 3 challenges posted above are the challenge, but my scouts asked for more so I'm doing an advanced series.. Challenge #1: This first challenge is fairly straight forward: Unroll a standard cotton ball (100% cotton) Place in it a small amount of wood ash or rust Roll it up into a tight roll (pencil shaped) Roll it between two boards as demonstrated in the video to create an ember Use the ember to ignite a tinder bundle of natural materials you have found in the woods The first scout to accomplish this wins a prize. Proof of success must be photographed or videotaped. See video link below. Challenge #2: OK - here is the second of three challenges for the advanced level The premise here is that you were in a plane crash, landed in the woods. Your strong arm is injured, so you have to start a fire with only your weak side arm. You have a knife, axe, and saw and a fire steel, no tinder. You have to build a fire. . Post pics or video evidence. Go 166: Advanced - Challenge #3 Spend one night outside with just the BSA Ten Essentials. Those who complete the basic get the patch, when you also finish the three advanced challenges, you get an "Advanced" rocker to wear above your patch,,
Some of the guys did the ten essentials challenge on Friday night. It was about 47 F, I think they learned a couple of things... They had a coyote and Barred owl for company. AN, BD, ES, JA, D
