Where's the validation? An Opinionated Observation...

January is never easy for me to find field time, in fact the first month of each new quarter is always very busy at work. This one was especially bad in light of an unexpected promotion which is intensifying the amount of time my focus is required for work.

When this happens and I find little opportunity to get out I turn to others, those who spend time outside, to live a bit vicariously through them. I appreciate the ability to do this, especially when there's actual field time that validates opinions, which brings me to my point.

Look around, it'll become glaringly obvious as to which 'opinion' is worth hearing or reading. I've got nothing against opinions, I do find it comical however, when there are hundreds of reviews of outdoorsy products and zero validation of said opinions through actual use. I know others have written about it before but it's now at a fever pitch. If you're going to review products, espouse opinions, do your readers a favor, at least get outside from time to time and validate your opinions.

You might be able to turn a phrase, and take a nice picture from time to time, but if you're formulating your opinion from behind your desk, you're just a poser. Where are the trip reports? Where's the field time needed to validate the experience or the opinion? Five minutes outside with a product you are reviewing does not constitute real field time.

I'm not saying you can't formulate an assumption based on prior experience, I am saying don't hand it down like gospel unless you have actually done it.

The end goal is the experience of a thing. The overall experience of an endeavor is what we're all after, an experience is either bad, okay, or good. Experiences become memories. How we choose to do something can be just as important as the doing in and of itself. Opinions vary as to what's practical and what isn't practical, largely those opinions are based upon having done it. When one hasn't done it, the opinion as to whether or not something is practical is an opinion without merit.

Did this need to be said? Maybe, maybe not, after having spent the last several weeks getting my 'field time' by way of reading about others, for some it stood out like a sore thumb. There are doers and there are posers. If you're going to speak as if you're an expert on something, you should at least be able to show your 'expertise' in the field. Everything else is just hot air and wasted digital bandwidth.

Yes, that's the opinion of this Grouch.

Bringing the Whelen into the 21st Century

Anyone who knows me or has spent much time reading my rambles knows what a fan I am of Col. Townsend Whelen's writings. He was a consummate woodsman, his writing top notch and  his experience in the 'back of beyond' was quite extensive.

His camps were primitive but functional affairs, preferring a bedroll under a lean-to tarp of his own design to any tents. His belief was the tarp was good enough down to twenty below, he liked an open air camp. His lean-to design which he called a "Hunter's Lean-to" ultimately went into production in 1925 at Abercrombie & Fitch, which at the time was one of the premier outfitter of outdoors gear, my how things have changed! They sold it as the "Whelen Lean-to" and it has been known as such ever since.

The Whelen Lean-to is still available, usually from custom tent makers and some specialty shops, variations of it exist in lighter materials but the limited selection that is out there is typically made of lightweight canvas.

Over the years I've toyed with making one and finally decided it was time. I didn't want just an average one though, I wanted to really bring the design forward, mating it with modern reliable materials. If Whelen were alive today, I like to think he'd approve this version. Typically I am a huge fan of traditional canvas, in this case, using that material results in a very heavy product. So much so that it won't work for backpacking and is instead relegated to canoe trips and so on. I wanted the shelter in a light enough, compact enough end product that backpacking it wouldn't be a challenge.

I looked around for a long time for what I thought would be an ideal material. The first tries just didn't work for me. Finally, after researching the latest material types that were both rugged and lightweight, I settled on 70D Nylon, coated with 1-1.25 ounces per yard of urethane, providing great protection from the elements. It's also fire retardant, while an ember might burn a pin hole in it, it will not ignite, if you hold a flame to it, it'll burn but as soon as you remove the open flame it extinguishes. It meets with CPAI-84 fire protection standards. I was exposed to this material by way of the BUSHCRAFT OUTFITTERS Multicam 10x10 tarp. I wrote about them here. So I tracked down the manufacturer and order the material.

I also didn't want white, or blue, or orange, or any other typical color, in fact I wanted something very specific. I wanted Multicam. The Multicam camouflage pattern is pretty slick, it blends into almost any environment.

All seams are double stitched, some are triple stitched at high stress locations. I used Mil-Spec size 69 polyester thread designed for use in awnings, backpacks, boat covers and other heavy duty out door use products. Both the multicam material and the thread are USA made products. I did all of the work on my 1948 Singer 15-91 sewing machine.

I finished my prototype last night and wanted to get it set up. I needed to mark exactly where I wanted ties and grommets and lashing points. While I did use the designs published in Whelen and Angier's books I varied the design at some points. Because of this the exact placement of those points have to be changed. The best way to determine optimum use was to set it up and mark it.

I also sewed up a bag for it out of the left over material, complete with para-cord draw string closure. When weighed the shelter and the bag came in at under two pounds!

This is what the set up process looked like and what my version of the Whelen Lean-To looks like at this stage. I still have some work to do but I'm getting closer.

Some of the additional options I'll have, are a mosquito bar, it hangs where the ridge line is, internally, and seals the front from insects in summer use. Also, a winter bar, it incorporates Kochanski's supershelter idea, you'd be able to lower a clear plastic sheet from the same location as the mosquito bar. This allows radial heat to enter the shelter from the fire in front, and holds it inside. Using the same principle I got my last shelter up to 81 degrees with an outside temperature of 9 degrees.

Those two options mean the Whelen Lean To becomes a year round shelter for me. I've wanted one of these for ages, that would be light enough to backpack with and incorporated some options that the original did not. I've learned quite a bit through this project, enjoyed it quite a bit. Now if I can just get some field time in to do some proper testing I'll be a happy camper indeed!

Update to the Bushcraft Project Area

I had some time to kill after work today so I went down to the project area to piddle and knock out a Buchclass elective. I carved a seat complete with cupholder out of a section of that large pine log.

I cleared some more of the area, limbed the pine trees that were down in the immediate area and then peeled them for future use on the Trapper's cabin project to come.

Some of the work done today.







I stepped up a size on tools, though I am still using the Nessmuk and the improvised buck saw I also incorporated a full size double bit axe and my Wetterlings Hunter's axe. Still did the regular limbing with the Nessmuk though. Used the big double to cut that large pine into sections.

This is the first section I cut out with the double. I'm going to carve the face of this and fabricate my own miniature totem-pole out of it.



The second section I chopped out, it's about to become the first piece of furniture for the project area.







While I was peeling the logs for the cabin I realized they are just loaded up with fatwood, one of them is darn near solid fat wood for four or five feet!







Didn't have a lot of time today but wanted to do a quick update.

Here's the video of making the bench seat with cup holder.

More to come.

New Dedicated Bushcraft Project Area

I wanted to create a dedicated bushcraft/piddling area near the house, I want to create the initial area and accouterments using just the Nessmuk double bit and my improvised bucksaw. I'll use the area for general bushcraft as well as BushClass lessons from Bushcraft USA. This is the first of a series that should last many months with a planned conclusion of December 2012. I'll update it each time I complete a section or project.

Some of the projects I am planning for this area include:

Multiple Bushcraft Tools and Smaller Projects
Wood processing Station
Camp furniture
Trapper's Cabin
Improvised Well for water collection
Vegetable Garden
Smoke House and Rock Oven
Hide Tanning Station
Others to be announced.

Some of the projects will obviously be seasonal, and others will require more complex or larger tools. I will however limit the tools to hand, no power tools.

The way that I do things is my own way, they may or may not be the best way. I'm no expert, no guru, just a guy with an affinity for this sort of thing. Nothing more and nothing less.

This first video includes roughing out a working table top from a large downed tree that crosses the project area.

Gear for the first day of the project, pack, bucksaw, Nessmuk double bit.

This is a general view of the area, you can see the large log on the left with all of the limbs, I used the Nessmuk to limb that entire area that I intend to use. I also used it to clear the scraggly brush and whatnot.

While I was limbing the log, I discovered huge areas of fat wood, definite plus!

Better view of all the limbs and brush that has to come out. The video shows the progress. The little Nessmuk worked fashionably well. The handle is thin though, and it's going to take some getting used to.

Finished out the couple hours I had to work on this with a good smoke. The roughing out of the work table, clearing the area and further details can be found in the video.

Thanks for looking!

Piddling

Piddling, not an oft heard term, at least for me, but a word I use frequently. Whiling the hours away in camp, or burning time with new tools.

So I did some piddling with some new tools. I'm ecstatic with the double bit axe and the Voyager tomahawk, I had to do something with them and getting back into the woods just wasn't an option. Making shavings was the next best thing!