Stories of family, creativity, and diverse distractions.

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Posts about making your own camping gear.

Feathers and Fibers and Fur, Oh My! Understanding Fly-Tying Materials

In this post I gave a brief introduction to the tools of fly-tying. And I mentioned that flies are made of thread, fur, synthetic fibers and feathers, all tied to a hook. Today, let’s look a little closer at those materials.

Tools of the Trade: Fly Tying Tools

Michelle and I like to fly fish. “Flies” in this sense are fishhooks decorated with thread, fur, yarn, and feathers to resemble natural creatures that fish like to eat. That often means bugs of some sort, but it’s possible to tie flies that simulate minnows, worms, leeches, and even frogs and mice.

Some typical flies, with a dime for scale. These simulate bugs in various stages of life.

It turns out you need an awful lot of flies. There’s a huge variety of things that fish might be eating, and it’s important to use a fly that resembles the things the fish are eating at this moment. So you need a huge variety of flies.

Keeping dry in the woods – a coat (or two) for Jaxon

As you saw in my post last Monday, we like to take Jaxon hiking in the woods with us. Since he is a short hair, we thought is was important to get him a coat to help keep him dry and warm. We found a very nice coat that fit him well. Unfortunately it didn’t stand up to the wear and tear of a dog running through the woods.

This coat was purchased for Jaxon, but it quickly became damaged as we hiked about. The hook and loop closures frayed and had to be repaired numerous times.

It’s time to go walkies! Hiking with Jaxon.

Our dog Jaxon loves to hike with us. I needed a leash that would work while hiking, sometimes with a large pack on my back. Since I use two trekking poles when I am on the trail, my hands needed to free.

Jaxon with his pack on a backpacking trip.

Things Were Going Great Until It All Caught Fire

In some recent posts I’ve detailed the process to build an alcohol stove from old beer cans, along with a pot support, windscreen, snuffer and fuel bottle. The only thing left to do, really, is try it out…

The Last of the Alcohol Stove Accessories: Windscreen and Fuel Bottle

In this post and this post we made an alcohol burner to use as a backpacking stove. We’ve also made a snuffer and a pot support. But before we can call this stove project done enough to play with, we need to make a windscreen, and find a fuel bottle. I promise after this we’ll get to set it on fire!

Let’s make a pot support for an alcohol stove

In this post and this post I detailed making an alcohol burning backpacking stove from a couple empty drink cans. In the last post we added a snuffer. Today, it’s a pot support. Let’s get to work!

Let’s Make a Snuffer for Our Alcohol Stove!

In this post and this post I detailed making an alcohol burning backpacking stove from a couple empty drink cans. But in order to cook with it we’ll need a few accessories. Today we’re going to make the snuffer, which we can use to put the stove out when we’re done cooking. Let’s get to work!

Let’s Make an Alcohol Stove – Part 2

In last week’s post, we started to make an alcohol stove, and got as far as finishing the bowl and burner ring. Today we’re going to make the inner wall, put everything together and seal it up.

Let’s Make an Alcohol Stove

In a previous post, I talked about what I like about alcohol stoves. One of the things that I mentioned is that you can make your own, out of items found easily at hand. So today I’m going to show you how to make your own alcohol stove out of a couple aluminum beverage cans.

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