Mondays I have several hours between when office hours end and when I have to be back at work. So today I decided I'd hit the woods for a bit and enjoy a break in the rain. One goal for the trip was to hunt for some chicken of the woods mushrooms as I've found them in this area before. Unfortunately, none of the spots I've previously found them yielded results, but I kept my eyes open and saw a lot of interesting fungi and living critters along the way to my intended destination. I took plenty of pictures and plan to pour over the field guides for the specimens I couldn't ID. Don't take my word on any of these, and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Turkey Tail, Trametes versicolor, is always abundant in this area. A few berries from a very stunted poke plant. I'm blanking on these, but the water droplets caught my eye. I saw plenty of arachnids from the creepy little Spined Micrathena spiders to the more common Orbweavers. You know it's wet when the slugs seek high ground. Unknown fungi #1 Unknown fungi #2 I ended up at an old fire ring along the trail and dropped my gear. The order of business was to find some dry wood. I just started snap testing anything that looked like it had a chance. Then I came upon a branch sticking off a log that refused to snap. I thought that had to be a good sign and chopped it off with my hatchet. It seemed that outside of the thin bark layer it was pretty dry. I used the saw on my Farmer to cut it to length and the inside proved my initial impressions right. More below...
I used the Gibson Axe I'm testing to include in OutdoorX4's upcoming gear issue to split that smaller stick into smaller pieces after I flattened out a work surface on a nearby log. I'm a fan of this splitting method for smaller pieces of wood. Today was a perfect example of why I keep a contractor trash bag and another smaller trash bag in Finn Bag. I loaded up the Fire Box Nano fire torch style. I doubled up firestarters and used a wax section of jute and the good ol' vasoline soaked cotton ball. And then some slivers of fat wood. I didn't want to have to take another shot at this. The self-timer on the iPhone is handy for catching these ferro rod shots. As I hoped it took off and I babied it for a minute or two. I had wanted to enjoy some pine needle tea with my ham sandwich, but can you believe I didn't pass a single pine on the hike in. Regardless the cup made for a quick method to toast the edges of my sandwich and heat up the contents. On the hike out I thought this game trail looked rather ominous with the fog settling. I headed back to the truck utilized the self-time one more time to capture the size of this tree that has fallen across the trail. I'm a strong believer in gear maintenance and I applied some @RedEyedHog B Fat to the blades as soon as I got back into the truck. It does a great job of keeping the steel relatively spot free. So far the axe is impressing the heck out of me. Next up I'll be doing some carving with it. Thanks for checking out my thread and I hope to get out for some more Monday evening outings.
Great report, I like your kit. Makes me really itch to get outdoors again. I haven't hit the local woods in almost 3 years.
Thanks @Mudman , I feel like I’ve got this old shoulder bag dialed in with what I want, and not too much extra stuff. I keep enough empty space that I throw in some fishing stuff or a layer so I can have have the other gear ready to go. Sometimes it’s tough to get out. Until a few weeks ago I hadn’t been on the bike since late last year and that’s unheard of for me.
Awesome time! Jealous of the axe can’t wait to get it! Is that bag the Finnish gas mask bag that is so popular?
Sure is. I’ve carried this bag a lot of hours on the water, on quick trips, and even over my shoulder with a larger pack on a few longer outings. They come in a few different designs but I like the heavier canvas of this one.
Very nice. I have heard great things about the Finnish bags. They are almost identical to the US WWII canvas one. I’ve used those and they are huge when you start packing them. So what’s your honest opinion of the carving axe? I can’t wait to order mine.
If I'm thinking of the same bag this one is a bit shorter, but thicker. One of my favorite features are the slip pockets on the front. I've found boxes/tins for a simple FAK and possibles that fit in them perfectly. So far it has impressed the heck out of me. It came literally shaving sharp, I've experimented with several grip options with it, and on this outing it performed just as I had hoped. It's obviously not a large splitting ax, but I expect that for general camp use and carving it will becomgo-too to tool.
Those gas mask bags are great. I used nice reproduction ones when I was a reenactor. I used it for food and cooking the folding esbit stove fit great. Does the Finnish version have the shoulder strap and belly/leg strap? I always wore it on my thigh and it was very comfortable. Awesome on the axe I am super excited! Can’t wait. Right now I carry the 19” handles woodcraft by council and their velvicut hatchet. The issue is the heads have a weight difference of a quarter pound. I am excited for this guy, do you know the overall weight?
Yeah, the Finn bag has th strap. I run it behind the pull dots on the front of the bag most days. When I’m fishing I wear it around my waist to keep it from swinging around too much. I don’t know the weight right off, but I’ll see what I can find.