Rusty Plowpoint
Scout
A few days ago I was looking at Iz Turley's knife site and found his blog. He has a blog post about using Eastern Red Cedar root as cordage. This reminded me of a Ray Mears video I once watched where he made a bush pipe. So today while on a bushclass basic outing I gave it a go.
First I needed a root. So I located a Red Cedar and a strong stick and did some digging. It was amazingly easy to get a root uncovered and harvested. It took all of a minute. I made sure to cover the exposed roots after harvesting this piece.
Here is my harvested root. The burning char cloth is from other experimenting I did on the outing.
Next I found a recently downed Red Maple. I cut a section of this for the pipe body.
I made my first mistake here. I should have made sure to not have any knots in the pipe blank. While this didn't make the mission impossible it did make life harder than it had to be.
I used a bow drill to make the bowl. This is where I made my second mistake. I knew I would be pressed for time today so I grabbed the Red Cedar spindle I had made to try out a bow drill fire. Again this made things harder than they had to be. Also this was the first time I tried to use a bow drill for anything. It took a while to find a rock suitable for a block. Also figuring out bracing and technique took some time. I should probably have taken the time to make a wood block that would have been easier to steady, but I got the job done none the less. I did finish the bowl by carving it out. Having the drilled hole made the carving very easy although I was directly on a knot.
Once the bowl was drilled somewhat I split the pipe down the center of the bowl. Then I used my knife to cut a groove for a stem. This is when I carved the bowl deeper to make the stem down the center of my log. I also held the two pieces together and shaped the outside a bit.
The final step was to use the cedar root to whip the pipe back together.
The glory shot a smoking pipe of Captain Black. I stopped smoking on a regular basis about 10 years ago. This is a rare treat for me. To keep it that way I dismantled the pipe and tossed the pieces in opposite directions after this bowl full.
Big thanks to Iz for dropping the knowlege on cedar cord.
First I needed a root. So I located a Red Cedar and a strong stick and did some digging. It was amazingly easy to get a root uncovered and harvested. It took all of a minute. I made sure to cover the exposed roots after harvesting this piece.
Here is my harvested root. The burning char cloth is from other experimenting I did on the outing.
Next I found a recently downed Red Maple. I cut a section of this for the pipe body.
I made my first mistake here. I should have made sure to not have any knots in the pipe blank. While this didn't make the mission impossible it did make life harder than it had to be.
I used a bow drill to make the bowl. This is where I made my second mistake. I knew I would be pressed for time today so I grabbed the Red Cedar spindle I had made to try out a bow drill fire. Again this made things harder than they had to be. Also this was the first time I tried to use a bow drill for anything. It took a while to find a rock suitable for a block. Also figuring out bracing and technique took some time. I should probably have taken the time to make a wood block that would have been easier to steady, but I got the job done none the less. I did finish the bowl by carving it out. Having the drilled hole made the carving very easy although I was directly on a knot.
Once the bowl was drilled somewhat I split the pipe down the center of the bowl. Then I used my knife to cut a groove for a stem. This is when I carved the bowl deeper to make the stem down the center of my log. I also held the two pieces together and shaped the outside a bit.
The final step was to use the cedar root to whip the pipe back together.
The glory shot a smoking pipe of Captain Black. I stopped smoking on a regular basis about 10 years ago. This is a rare treat for me. To keep it that way I dismantled the pipe and tossed the pieces in opposite directions after this bowl full.
Big thanks to Iz for dropping the knowlege on cedar cord.
