Huge Sycamore

And I mean huge! I have personally measured thousands of Sycamores. This is the biggest I have ever seen. Girth of 5 metres.

I have named him ' King Mega-Acer the first'
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A dander up Carnmoney Hill

I live in the shadow of an ancient inactive volcano.

There are lots of interesting things to find on the steep Hazel covered escarpments.

Pignut, delicious!

An old gnarled hedge row Ash

The ancient flint mine

The layers of flint are still visable

A fern grows in a mossy niche on the chalk cliff.

Wood sorrel. Looking  abit worse for wear. Still  nice to eat.

Jews ear. An edible fungus. One of the few I know for certain.

The cave hill overlooking Belfast.

The famous Harland and wolfe cranes

Boiling up water in a discarded beer can.

Sheep sorrel.

An early mature Oak. The thicker branches grow on the South side.

Some drainage works have been carried out. The result is that alot of flint has been brough to the surface. The place is littered with hundreds of bits like this. I had great fun knaaping a few blades.

Spear thrower practice.

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Netting needle

Now to make a net!
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Leister harpoon

I had a bit of fun building this and I hear they are effective.

Find a curved piece of hazel and split it as shown. Then tie them to a central spike. Put some barbs on and away you go.

All these things are good to make because they develop all sorts of skills. Wood lore, knife craft, binding, cordage.


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Antler detachable harpoon point.

This is something I have wanted to make for a while.

The antler harpoon point is attached to a peice of elder with string so that when it spears a fish or frog it comes out and the string absorbs the struggle!

I am really pleased with this one.

Antler Needle, Fishing hook

Hi have been working on a few Antler project recently. It is very hard to work.
I got a few tips from Torjus Gaaren who I think is an expert! thanks Torjus.

Here is what I have managed to produce. I really love making this kind of thing.

Glass arrow head

Hi,

I was wandering through the woods as usual today and found a thick glass bottle bottom.

I had a go at knapping an arrow head/ sprear head and this is what i ended up with. All I used was a small hammer.

A very fast harpoon.

This is the fastest harpoon to make. Just get a bit of wood like Ash and split it twice in a cross shape. wege the splits open and sharpen the points up. Lash it securly to stop it splitting further before you start and then reinforce when you finish splitting too.

Harpoon point update

I have added a few cactus spines to my harpoon point. and constructed a fishing hook from a peice of juniper and a catus spike.

the cactus spines are very strong and flexible. It is all bound up with hemp.

Primitive tools

Hi,

I have been working on a number of primitive tools. The first picture shows a seasoned Yew Harpoon point, bound onto a Box shaft with hemp fibres, which are excellent and very strong. I am going to add a number of bone spines on the back with pitch glue.

The second picture shows a Hoko knife with a juniper branch, which is a direct result of my recent flint knapping practise. The entire knife is constructed with the help of stone tools only.

When i was binding it I caught my thumb on the blade and opened a very deep cut so am in no doubt of its effectivness for the likes of game prep or general light cutting duties.

Cheers