Bushcraft Camp Update 14 - Tunnel, Fire Pit Upgrade, Blacksmithing, Wood Mallet Carving

Description

This time at The Bushcraft Camp, we dig an air tunnel for the fire pit, do some Blacksmithing, and carve a wood mallet using an axe and a knife. Building this super shelter in the woods has been a great learning experience for me. From the simple building projects such as the walls, to the more complex and large builds like the hunter tower with ladder, and the large primary shelter. In a recent trip to the Bushcraft Camp in the Snow, I let you know about the issues we were having with smoke from the fire. Taking some of your ideas on board, we decided to raise the tarp roof by around 4ft, and to put a steep angle on it so that the wind would blow the smoke out of the camp. Following this, using a folding shovel, we dug a small trench and put down a piece of pipe to act as an air tunnel and draw air towards the fire and thus create less smoke. This made a huge difference, but we took it a step further. Dad built a diy forge in his back garden, and used an angle grinder and a car wheel to forge legs and create an epic metal firepit. This has solved the smoke issue. As I was spending quite a bit of time at the camp, I used my axe and knife to carve a wood mallet for driving in wood stakes and supports into the ground. I fire-hardened this in the fire pit to make it more durable. I hope you guys enjoy this video and thanks for joining us on the adventure - back at camp soon! - Mike

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Tags: bushcraft,bushcraft camp,camping,camp update,air tunnel,shelter,fire pit,hunting tower,alone,supershelter,solo camping,log cabin,blacksmithing,carving,solo overnight,primitive technology,cabin,survival,camp update 14,bug out camp,bushcraft shelter,super shelter,bushcraft log cabin,firepit,grill,alone in the wild,wilderness,minecraft,fort,survival skills,dog house,dog,natural shelter,wild camping,woods,forest,ta outdoors

Video Transcription

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homes in it just to retain that retainer [Laughter]

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so this is just a little mallet that I made fire hardened it a bit not too much really I probably prefer to do it in ash instead of there's a bit too much flame and heat there I would have done it slower over the ash but it's just a bit of pine it's soft wood so really it's not ideal for a mallet but it kind of looks like it's been turned on a pole lathe

that's just been done with an axe and a knife I've added a swell knob or an end knob at the end there so that when I'm swinging it if it slips then my hand that's sort of swell on the end of an axis for as well my hand it shouldn't slip out of my hands as I'm swinging it but yeah so just something a little crafty fairly easy to make can be quite time-consuming but just using that about the fallen tree that was already falling down just using the resources that around you give it a go so I hope you enjoyed that little kind of long intro segment it was nice to just work and get things done but welcome to camp update 14 now and we've made some slight changes it's more the whole update this one's really been focused on the fire pit as you know from one of the previous videos I did where I was here in the snow I asked you guys about the smoke situation because it was it was so smoky where I've built all these walls in the camp there's just no airflow and we had the tarp quite low and we got smoked out quite a bit to be honest so I asked you guys in the in the comment section to get back to me and give some feedback and we've taken on board some of those ideas and applied it now in the camp first thing we did was raise the top wasn't it yes we've raised the tarp now I mean four feet higher than what it was before grapery three feet three feet higher and at an angle so that the smoke can come up and out and the wind can come under it and blow the smoke away really because that was that I think the main issue was the tarp was so low and above our heads and an apex that we would just skip the smoke was just circulating I had no airflow and nowhere to go so that was almost an instant problem solved when we did that the next thing we did was dig a trench now I was gonna dig it behind the wall over here which is behind the camera there I was gonna dig it under that wall however if I just show you now quickly as you can see by dad's feet there is tree roots everywhere all along here and there's a big big old Scots pine tree there so I couldn't go through here and I was eventually I'll ask you guys about removing this wall completely and putting the fire pit outside the camp all of you pretty much everyone said don't do that because it defeats the object of having a fire in a camp really doesn't it yeah so we kept the fire pit in so instead of going that way where the tree roots are we actually went diagonally over there and out the back of the primary shelter that's where the pipe we laid a pipe and that's now allowed some airflow that comes in here which is by this rock and what we put in the front of it and we've done the same the other side we're hanging at the moment on the ORS crane which works still I've put a new support stake in and fire hardened it a bit just to make well just to draw out the moisture to make it a bit more prolonged so it's still working really well this black handle is very hot that cat is gonna blow really pumping steam out makers tea we'll get right back to you having a tea break guys apologies go fashion English cup of tea hmm posh sugar yeah sweet yeah so um where do we get tea we got a pipe so blocking the road we've blocked it up for the rodents we also got I don't know if you saw there was a segment where we got a stick hopefully eliminate now we've got a stick which was smoking we place the stick near the pipe to check if there would be any draw which is air getting sucked in through the pipe and you can see quite clearly really the smoke was coming in there was drool there now in hindsight if we had a bigger pipe maybe it would obviously increase the draw and it would probably pump more air in here however it would then mean we'd have to dig a deeper trench which we wouldn't have been able to do because there's so many roots there's a big tree in the three big trees in the middle of the camp so this is what we've got you know we're working with what we got here but it works it's all sealed it's underneath the floor we know there's drawl there if we put our hand down here at the front we can feel the cold air coming out now on to the fire pit itself which really is the main focus to camp update 14 you may have noticed it's built out of what a car car wasn't no it's not you may have noticed you will have noticed get it somehow that you will have noticed so it looks a bit different so it's completely different I didn't actually have anything to do with this dad what he watched the video where I uploaded about the the snow and me having the problems in the camp dad knew about the problems with the smoke in the camp anyway so he he got himself a bit of DIY didn't you dad or Gillian DS yes I went scrounging around the local tire place and got myself a car wheel and they want to do this tell you about the carriage and sat there looking at it thinking I know you I've seen you before where people have a great big lorry will I was about ten guys random Lumberjacks they've got cans of beer and they're throwing logs on I thought we need a miniature version of that you had you had an Alex Steele moment I had an Alex steel moment and I can't get out of my head and probably Alex won't be a to get out of his head when you see Alex yeah apologize is the best I could do so I'll try to make a forward so what so what you're gonna see in the minute is dad's actually filmed this himself with his camera let's get this is a five-minute segment about five minutes if you want to watch it by all means do if you don't skip ahead five minutes and we'll be back at the camp because we've got theory time coming up as well but this is what dad filmed he made we've got sparks we've got angle grinders you got a marine tools we've got a DIY coal Forge that dad built in the garden cut all the wood and everything so I hope you into it watch this segment and then join us back here in a minute in five minutes time we've got no neighbors by the way now [Music]

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what do you see we still got a little bit of smoke as we put a bit more wood on there but I put it up on legs to raise it again to get some oxygen and you saw me in the film cutting splits in the side for oxygen and then literally today we got like a pizza or baking trays in place a baking tray circular one cut it down with some tin snips punch some holes in it could before I put a mesh grille in there and it burned like you would not believe but fast very large yeah we actually had it Bernie it was too efficient yeah the thing was too efficient it was great for smokeless fire but not great for if I was doing an overnighter and I needed a bed of embers so actually what we've done now is we kind of met halfway and we've punched some holes in but we've still got a solid base a major improvement Oh usually we'd be completely smoke obviously there's smoke it's a fire there's gonna be smoke eventually you're gonna get smoke depends on type of wood we've got loads of pine around us pine is generally quite a smoky wood which then we had a lot of rain as well burn loads of rain so it's all pretty done but then behind you we got I found something from an old oven that was on a on a skip being dumped and I thought ah stainless steel I think it is a proper grill that you actually cook on in an oven Bend the angles on it so it fits exactly over the side of that there so we can cook then do you can cook on it any deed it does work it has been tested and we're gonna have some hot cross buns as well and then theory time well that's pretty hot going on there very Wow quick we're just smacking today it can't be a bit of butter I once saw a video where my son had butter and a bit of a roll or something yeah can we uses some strawberry conserve other other other flavors are there particularly like on the only lignum steal an oyster thanks for noticing pincer yes this is one Mike made without X it was not it was when I made with Alec yeah it was it was a collaboration knife oh one tool steel I've been using that today I love it and it's Jam yeah oh one Jam still I made homemade jam watch guys yeah Scarlett dams and jams and Jam gardening magazine oh yeah yeah I mean when you get to the autumn you can get all the fruits and you know tell us what your favorite Jam is or preserves yeah so we're coming onto the theory time in a minute guys but we're actually gonna do a shout out and well that's gonna do a shout out cuz he reads the comments as well we go through all those comments getting always off ideas that don't we yeah you guys come give suggestions if we can get through them you know put on there's not three or four thousand so this is a shout out for Jennifer eagle are you in there Jennifer eagle jennifer eagle what's a shout out she comes from South Dakota

hi Jennifer how I know but it's South Dakota we went up that way some way didn't we I remember we went to what did we go Drumheller I was that dumb guys no Graham Heller yeah then they had these big huge vaguely yeah yeah hoodoos they're called yes the ASI wind yeah they went off we went to Vancouver and we traveled across Canada they didn't we laughing Thompson Thompson River that was amazing I see any time I've ever done what water rafting remember that wait there's there is this I don't know what cuz they grade it obviously don't know they grade it depending on the on the current and speed and height of the river at a time it was pretty it was fairly rough on with a but nothing like what it could be and there's

this wave that was honest to god it was like a back wave that was about 3 3 4 feet high then it was good and it was cool with the bad Bambi zombie I remember it the Thompson River was it Thompson River yes that was an amazing trip over the Rockies went part Lake Louise did all the usual tourist AC just some rainbow trout fishing yeah you know around the area as well and they went to BC for yes the giant sturgeon thank you the treasure example makes us a little bit sad and anyway another one it's interesting I found this we're not gonna have trouble pronouncing this Steve not milk row not meal Pro right now your names just the one he says he must have picked up a mic mission is something at one of Mike's films right do you have problems sleeping after Eddie editing videos or being on games etc too much now he said I don't know about this cuz I'm not on the games than I do edit but it's during the daytime look for yellow lenses and he said these are lenses which are blue light blocking lenses okay and he says they stop the blue light spectrum from the LED backlit screens like photos I'm saying is a signal to your brain which then does chemicals which keeps you I can't sleep so there look for some yellow lenses thank you very much that was interesting tip so we do look at all the tips and comments on that and yeah there might be something there listen we're passing on T dices having you guys mics on a machine way too much anyway you know a lot of you guys would be on gamers when you're doing gaming and that it's a probably know about it but you know you come off those screens every twenty minutes I say they say every 20 minutes you're meant to give your eyes a rest but trust me I don't come off the hours of time sometimes yeah

any weary time what we thought and we have noticed is for what two years yeah on what the father and son yeah not videos most a lot of comments come through about cuz I'm I'm a fairly old I'm 26 video I am 28 this year and not many twenty eight year olds spend time with their dad really don't they because they maybe they moved out of the house I've moved out the house but you know they've yet you move far away obviously there's other issues and things that can come up but you don't see many people my age really doing things with their sharing time and I think what the problem is and I generally think this is a problem with

so I did today older guys were my age 46 slightly older yeah but I think they would agree with me that my say one of the main helps of figures would have been the grandparents if you're a daughter you would have had your grandchildren and the grandmother your mother would have taken care of the kids brought the map showed them cooking skills that type of thing it doesn't seem like you get that nowadays and the same with the young men you've got lads now unfortunately through family with issues or whatever societe Generale's my says they just break up some don't speak to their parents for years when we have these letters come through we get loads of comments somebody's come through like that but because we are a close family organism a daughter mum wife we know we're very lucky we are lucky but it sort of seems normal it's not till we read these commas you realize hey is it Society has changed yeah and I think there's a lot of missing information coming down from old fogies like me passing information down rightly or wrongly to the younger generation notice that my son but the next wall mount on that point as well I completely agree with you but I think the other issue is is that the grandparents tend to have that old-school manners and politeness respect what has happened to respect for elders now respect for the ell goal is to finish it's gone I honestly it's shocking when you see the respect that elderly people are lack of respect that elderly people get your teacher

you've seen the a around the school man it's unbelievable and I think like it could be linked to that that grandfather grandmother figure it's there to teach the child respect you know you learn it through your grandparents and but your man your mum was quite hard on that you know man oh wise pretty hard on us they were that's it yeah and your granddad was yeah man alive he's like the monkey on the shoulders of my driving force you know all the way through business and work and that's why I get that do not stop working just keep grafting and that's why they'll just keep grinding it all out but then do many harm honestly if you've got the health to do it fine some people don't but if you can do it do it but here's here's the kicker guys I think it happened around about the 70s when there was a generation that started having their children later because the husband and the wife worked they both work now when I was a kid the mums didn't work the dads worked and it was sort found upon to have all a wife my god your wife works my mum work but I mean it's the way it was now yeah and I think that's what it was so there's a generation gap that staggered off see when always young kids got married and engaged and kids by nineteen well if you move that up the scale they obviously would have had grandparents or those grandparents were younger

nowadays I don't think those were grandparents like 28 29 30 30 s now as well that's it people get married much later they have their kids much later so they're missing the third generation of knowledge they've just got their parents well heigh-ho hang on we all know people let's say between 30 and 50 nowadays they're at the grindstone working they've you know if they're gonna find and make time for your kids yeah we're fortunate or not time to do it yeah but a lot of people don't so let us know your thoughts on that because we are aware of a lot of people coming down saying you know well I wish I had what you've got yeah we can't make it happen but maybe you got some thoughts on is that the issue the not difference I'm Graham yeah it's the lack of grandfather's grandmother's parsing the information could be workouts I find the matriarchal figure exactly always a head of the family figure that's sort of fading away and we're losing it and paying a price for societies you let us know so basically what's that what that's saying is all people out there my age you need to get help some kids will say you got to kiss my boots boy you gotta have a little respect they're gonna kiss my boots they're you know what I drawed in on the way up there guys thanks so much for watching this episode really appreciate it thank you to everyone who comments on the videos we deep you know as you can see we do read them if you not subscribed already and you do enjoy the videos do hit the subscribe button if you don't like the videos and you don't like us don't subscribe don't subscribe or yourself yeah we don't wanna force we only want people on the channel that enjoy the videos if you don't enjoy them there's no point complaining go somewhere else

you don't want something else a lot of people out there different types of people they generally younger people as well they need a rubber band it goes notices through from one ear to the other ear you pull it over your head and you stretch it into your tree how'd he do this you smile for me I mean I see somebody chippy choppy's yeah they never have any fun we do have a good love what you see on the camera shows exactly how it is in real life if we didn't have the camera there that's exactly take you too seriously just get the rubber band here rub around their stretcher okay oh no honest on a disclaimer no please don't do that thanks so much for watching guys and we'll see seen in the next episode it might be a lady to Michael for me it's ideal if I chop your leg off or something at least I can use it for a wooden leg I know they'd call me peg leg foolin

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