Well, there's a first time for everything.  And this is my first ever blog. I've only read a few before.  We'll see if this "old dog" can learn a new trick.

 I spent most of yesterday making 56 iron and 6 brass fish hooks - based on originals dating from the mid to late 1700's.  Most were made without barbs, but all were made "blind eye" - with the end flattened/flaired instead of with a loop eye.  These are for a museum trade

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This is the first time I've even considered writng a blog about myself, and what I get up to, on a hopefully regular basis, so I thought I'd just let you know what I'm up to at the moment.

For starters, I'm in the process of making a smoker, along the lines of the ones made by Mr Dick Strawbridge on "It's not easy being green".

It starts off with an old container, on the show Dick uses a 40 gallon drum, but on a walk along the Bristol channel coastline

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just a note to all those going on the moot at the weeknd hope you all enjoy  i shall be going to the next moot that being organised im unable to atend this years one because of  transport arangments as my friends are going afurther afield after the moot so the next time i hope to meet up will all of you and i hope to see the photos of this moot on yor return tony and timon

regards

TRistan  

 Had a wander through the woods today - thoroughly nice. They are felling up there right now so I headed in a differnt direction and came across a couple of fallen birch trees.

 Too good an opportunity to miss so I cut some sections to make a dipper. Warm work mind you (as the photo above shows)

 Nice day and saw some

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Right, so this must be it then. I can't promise to make entries daily, or even regularly - but its probably about time I explored another avenue to see what goes on.

My Bushcrafting takes place in fits and starts, as theres a familly and a household to run, animals and land to maintain let alone the vehicles and whatever else makes my time precious.

Theres some bushy bits I'm comfortable with such as firemaking, knotwork, even a bit of forging and bladesmithing, but that in

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I'm a wanabe mountain man.... all that's missing is the mountains.

As time goes by, and I get older and more crabby I'm leaning more and more to the primitive side of bushcraft and further and further away from modern man made kit.

The mountainman period of American history rings my bells and it is toward this period that I find myself drawn.

I used to be into medaeval living history (still am to some extent) but smoking wasn't invented in 1475 so doing events

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My wife and I went for a walk on the marshes and along the Waveney river yesterday. We stopped to brew some coffee. I used my newly made "candle" stove, using candle wax and corrugated cardboard for a wick. Worked quite well. The only down side being the amount of soot! We saw swans in flight, grebes and lots of little birds in the reeds.

In the afternoon, I made some charcloth:

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Lately myself and a freind have been inspired by GreenPete's video on how to make a knife. We have been collecting some right odds & sods; we gathered stuff like.. old files, sausepans, frying pans, pipe, hair-dryer motor, battery, angle-grinder etc. We have made our own little custom forge to heat our steel up and then quench. We're taking it steady and basically going through the process that greenpete

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Well here I am, writing this on a sunny evening in Montevideo.

Yes, graham's out in the world again. It's not particularly Bushcrafty, but it's a lovely country. In a day or so I'll be sailing for the Falkland Islands and chances are fairly high that I'll get to do some whale spotting on the way. fortunatly for you lot I've got a new camera so If I spot any I'll be trying to get some pics up (although it'll depend on the internet access I have on the boat

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