Fox River Testing

I got into the woods for a while today. While I was out I managed to test a custom Fox River I had made by Jimmy and Steve at Bark River Knife & Tool several months ago. This knife has been used a bunch already both in the kitchen and in the woods. Today, however, was the toughest testing it has seen to date.

It was a light day for packing and my gear consisted of my basha, some cordage, a Nalgene bottle, a 10cm Zebra Billy, my Hoodoo Hone, a spork, and my Fox River. I also had the usual SwissTool on my belt and firesteel/whistle/compass/LED light in my pocket on a keychain. You can see most of the items listed in the picture.

First, I carved a digging stick with the Fox River. I dug a pit approximately 18 inches long by six inches wide by six inches deep and built my fire just above the pit. When I had some nice coals, I scraped everything into the pit and began to feed hardwood in to keep the fire going. I filled the billy with water and set it on the bed of coals. Then I used the Fox River to carve a pot lifter/fire poker.

While the coals were heating up the water I used the Fox River to cut up some weeds to clear the campsite. I got the basha pitched lean-to fashion and sat on the ground in between trips to find more wood to burn.

After digging those weeds out of the dirt I found the edge on the Fox River had been pretty well beat up and needed some attention. I used the hone (sandpaper over mouse pad) to resharpen and the knife performed flawlessly the rest of the day.

I brought a good selection of gear as I managed to use all of it on this trip.

Thanks for reading,


B