Saturday 9 February 2008

Free Range Camping And Hiking In The UK


I saw this internet petition on Aktoman's blog and thought I'd sign up and ask you to consider doing the same.

If you're in Blighty or are an expat please take a moment to sign your name to this petition.It is important that we win back any and all of the liberty's that we've seen eroded over the last few years.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to legalise wild camping in England and Wales.


I'm not sure it will do any good, but as a point of principle I feel we should make an effort to be heard as its us who will lose out if we don't make the effort now.

Thanks for reading (and signing up)
SBW

Witch Blades? Nice Work If You Can Get It!


As you know I usually shy away from the 'draw queen' end of the knife making world.
But rules as they say are made to be bent until they're broken.
Having done a bit of school boy forge work myself in the past, I'm a huge admirer of the work these guys do, but fear of loss or damage, and the kind of money that they have to charge for the time they put in, stops me from buying this kind of tool.

Somewhere along the way, surfing the internet, I came across witchblades where the design ethic sits so perfectly between 'artisan recycler' and the 'serious craftsman' that I thought I'd share it with you.
The top half of the blade is from an old railroad spike and the cutting edge is made from a Damascus steel that the maker Rik Palm beat, twisted, and wielded himself.
Rik has published some pictures of the process here and some excellent pictures of what it takes to make Damascus here.Have a look at the gallery where there are too many neat design ideas to shake a stick at. I particularly like the maggot knife and this totally authentic Nessmuk, with it's blade forged from an old file. Without wishing to sound like some new age loon claiming to 'channel' the spirit of bushcraft's grand old man of letters, I reckon it's pretty much what the old chap would have been looking at when he did those drawings of his perfect camp knife.

Thanks for reading
Bushwacker