Did it...sort of. With the wind blowing I managed to get some wood scrapings glowing and smoking but I never got it into a full-blown fire. It's good to know, however, that my theory was at least partly correct.

Found a tree just covered in tinder fungus too. I harvested some for later use. After trying to catch a spark it seemed to be a bit wet and putting it in a zip-top bag proved that it was still holding some water as the bag quickly filled with condensation. I opened the top so the water vapor would escape and the fungus will probably be more willing to smoulder today.

The planer board line worked just fine for guylines on a shelter. The bright orange color made it very easy to spot them. I've got the 200-pound test line from Bass Pro and it does a good job of holding a knot. It will be going on the permanent gear list.

The knife of choice today was a Dozier Delta Traveller made exclusively for Billy Cochrane of VintageKnives.com and was an excellent choice as it threw more and larger sparks from my firesteel than any other knife I've tried. Of course that meant my firesteel took more abuse than usual yesterday. We're probably down to 10 years now.

Cooler temps, threats of rain, and the Easter holiday put a crimp on visitors to the woods and it was remarkably peaceful out there. I wouldn't mind spending an extended period in similar circumstances.

A few more pics for you:

I think the plant might be wild strawberry but need to review my plant books before committing to that.

We've got an ember but can we get it from here to a flame?


Thanks for reading,

B