Waxing Varusteleka 's British surplus DPM hooded Smock

Well,

Right now i am unloading my packs,and storage boxes etc,but at some point i  found a whole piece of Fjällrävens "greenland" wax and my looks went into my favourite,and about my only outdoors jacket.....Since i loce old tin cloth garments and waxed cloths,i just had to try to do a bit more with it.

I chopped the greenland wax into pieces,mixed it to 50 grams of drugstre food grade,purifiet white vaseline,along with "mp52" food grade parafine oil,and smal piece of old beeswax candle,it was something like 20mm times 20mm in size.
I dropped all the ingredients in a small stainless steel cup,and turned the stove on.The mixture was all melted into clear liquid in some ten minutes. I poured the liquid all over my  British,issued, Dpm Smock,with hood. It came from Varusteleka,the best surplus store theres ever been,in this country. Ive already fallen in lovwe with this jacket and modified it a bit,by adding a plastic covered electric wire into the hood,so you can bend it into form and it stays like that. And a few small mods here and there. Anyways,after i had the liquid splashed into the jacket,i immediately scrubbed it pretty hard,all over the jacket,excluding  armpits,so it could breath just abit better...and i am about to add some hole-rivets there too to make it breath better yet. After that i i heated the jacket well with hair dryer,and it obviously melted and the cloth kind of sucked the liquid / wax in well. Now it seems to be bit heavier,kind of moist as i wished it to be,and it really doesnt suck the sprayed water in,atleast now. Im hoping that will would solve my need for special rain-jackets for this fall. The greenland wax itself is excellent stuff for making the cloth water resistant,and i recommend it highly for any outdoor peoples kit. My test was just due to my own interests and i wanted to try how i can make the wax stay a bit better,or should i say longer. I know this stuff wont wash away so easily as greenland wax alone,and in some cases its bad,in my case its what i want.

Small game rifle,freefloat modification.

Heres my only firearm,at the moment,its Zastava 99 precision,from year 2008.
In caliber 22 WMR (no,its NOT just any 22. sr,nor .22 lr). Its about the smallest possible caliber,that is legally approved for hunting atleast finnish edible game,from rabbits to most birds,and im not interested to hunt for other than edible creatures so this modest,cheap rifle suits me just fine.

Finnish regulations are pretty tight on hunting weapons,telling whats the needed power of bullet impact at certain distances,to hunt specific species,and any kind of pistol based gun is prohibited from any hunting,but for trappers its allowed sometimes to carry a single shot pistol/revolver,sometimes even a double action models but you have to have good explanations to get a one-hand gun even for putting down the game in the trap-cages etc,since you can do it with rifles too,and i dont argue at all.

Well my rifle covers the areas by the law too,and this aint as dangerous as some 308 's etc,as this small ammunition doesnt have that huge speed and distances,but still you better be careful about the backgounds where you hunt,since even a 22 wmr is dangerous up to 3 kilometers,compared to basic "moose" rifles 5 to 7 kilometers. So you cant shoot rabbits from the backyards willow bushes just like that :).

With the rifle i have Tasco's Varmint 6-24 x 42mm MIL-DOT scope,it also has parallax adjustment. Its attached to rifle with British  Sports Match-branded see-thru legs,that allow me to shoot also with the rifles own factory equipped sights in case of scope breaking up or if i want to adjust those for closer  distances. Also i have attached Shooters Ridge  bipods adjustable from 6" to 9",these are pretty solid and well made Harris copies.

At first when i got this,i snapped a 50 box of Sellier & Bellots JHP ( jacketed hollow point ) bullets,that have copper jacket,and its cut in half,and the rest of the bullets tip is made out of lead,and ending into blunt hollow  tip. And then i drove to my my buddy whos in this old huning club,they own a large cabin in the local woods,and in their premises they have a simple shooting range reaching up to bit over 100 meters. So,in goes the first 5 shots in to the 5 shot clip this rifle has and im trying to get the scope dialed for 50 meters distance and after some 13 shots its in,im getting tiny 5 shot patterns in,varying from 12 to 32 millimeter diameter,not bad for coarse rifle lile this and as the time goes on and im getting used to its shotgun-like trigger,they keep getting smaller,so its time to set the aims for 100 meters and after six 5-shot series,im again getting some 30-35mm diameter patterns,and with Mil-Dot crosshair its easy to aim into the right spots. Then i run out of ammo and its getting dark plus all day it was raining,and the rain gets just worse so we pack our range gear and head back home. I was happy with the firs results but i want better accuracy as back in the day i really shot well.

Now,yesterday i had some hours to play with the rifle,at home,and i kept staring at the joint of barrel and the stock,and i had to put the gun in parts to see did i see it right...and yes,the barrel was tightly yanking against the barrel and this i know is not good if you want the rifle to shoot better,smaller patterns especially if youre firing at faster speed. The barrel Has to "float" in my opinion,meaning that when the bullet is in its chamber,the amount of barrel left free,will be free from touching the wooden stock,its only held against the stock from areas between the (in this particular rifle) two bolts that keep the bolt-system and the barrel attached in to the stock.

So i went thru my toolbox and and as it was pretty late,i couldnt start using any powertools,instead i used different sanding papers,file and a rasp,and after just an hour or so,i had a good,3 millimeter clearance with out Any touch between barrel and the stock, so i was satisfied and just sanded the surfaces to smooth,and oiled the whole stock,and left it to suck the oil in for a while.

While the stock was drying i started to look in to the trigger system and the bolt.
The bolt wasnt acting like it should,to my experience,so i put it in parts and i sanded with fine papers and polished the parts alo a bit with my cheap mini-drill and metal polishing wax,and after i was done i washed the parts,oiled and assembled the bolt,and it was acting clearly better,not like 1000 euro costing rifles bolt but better :) . There wasnt much to to to the actual trigger mechanism but a little smoothing here, and polishing there and i got it better too. The one clear thing,making the trigger to act so poorly,was the eastern way to pour in this sticky,almost hard,glue-like oil that sure makes the parts jam and stick...but also,its good stuff for storage,preventing steel from moist and rust. Im sure if you only wipe and wash away the parts,the rifle would gain from it positively.

Now i have 50pc box of CCI 's " 22 Mag Gamepoint " ammo,theyre jacketed soft points,having just a tiny visible lead-tip,running  1875 FPS,and 40 Grain,intended for small game hunting,and if i can ill be visiting the hunting clubs range today to see how these bullets act with the free-floating barrel.

Next modifications will include - i think - replacing the scope mounts with lower ones,removing the original sights, cutting the barrel shorter and adding a recoil removing silencer and making the butt of stock adjustable so its fits better to my cheek. More than these i wont be doing as im chasing now a russian Baikal IJ-18 single shot,folding,take-a-part rifle in bigger caliber,to have a legal weapon for bigger game,like deer.

B-day present,Fällkniven wm1

i just had a birthday and eventhough i have always said that no-one should give me anything just cause i get older and move closer to grave,i got this small wrapped thingy and inside it held a Fällkniven WM 1 knife...WOU:).

Till now,i havent used it really at all but today im heading to small trip and im taking this small utility knife with me to see how it starts to serve me.

Its really so small that its bit funny looking in my fist as i have size ten fist and this is (at least i think so) meant originally for small hands,for womens / kids use..?

Still,the brand,Fällkniven that it bears,almost automatically means to me,taht this is stricly business knife made with tight  standards and high quality materials and i think already that this might be just fine as back-up / gutting /skinning / whittling knife. Surely its small to be used for almost any batoning or hardcore abusing but for the small daily based actions it might suitable.

I liked that my knife had already this black,dangler hung sheath,made from thinck leather,it has sandwich layer protecting the red sturdy seams that make this look bit fancy too.Id rather use this than the kydex sheath that this knife udsually comes with.Not that kydex was bad,i dont mean it like that at all,but those are bit noisy in my other knives and if the kydex really spends a night in our arctic temperatures,it tends to get bit brittle.I know theres many types of kydex sheaths,yes,and some of them are more reliable and silent.

The blade is about 3 inches long,only,but in some countries its just a good thing,as some laws wont allow you to carry longer blades. Its made out of VG-10,rust resistant steel,in 59hrc hardness, that keeps its edge pretty damn well. Its some 3 millimeters thick and full tang constructed,this,means to me that even though its small and relatively light knife (some 70 grams),its still capable to get some serious use without fear of breaking it easily.

Well,this is utterly useless speech without actual use,testing the small knife and taking some pics,so ill be back when i have some to offer.


Well...

I just came home and wanted to tell you that after spending one trip with WM ! im pretty satisfied and impressed so far. WM 1 even went through light batoning,prepping a fish and gutting a rabbit,it whittled a magnesium firestarter,did  some shavings,dug into rotten stump,did everything to make a bow drill parts,spread butter to my bread,opened a tin can and such,without cracking or getting too dull. Well,this is just a first impression,not any long perioid report,i know....Time will tell more,but this sure is one heck of a present to me,i wouldnt ever spend my money on a small knife like this myself just like that as im more into bigger knives. Still id say this is worth its price,any day.

Summers over,computers issues arent.

Well,its been quite long time since ive managed to do just about anything with computer,mainly due to the virus and the following pc breakdown.....well,now i have loaned one old pc with linux inside and im trying to make the best out of it slowly.I have lost thousands of pictures,passwords got stolen and s-it like that but lets try to get this goin again in a way.

Computer & connection down

My pc  got infected by "lethal" netlib virus and it broked my system so i wont be online on regular basis,until my pc has been fixed,and i can only stop by to check my emails etc when i visit my buddies etc.

British cooker set-up

British cooker set-up...

Man ive been dreaming of getting one of the bottle,2 cups & burner kit that brits seem to use,in army etc,and slowly,bit by bit,through out trading stuff and so son,i have finally managed to get a set up like this.

It is made out of one liter(appr.) black,Osprey made field canteen,nice quality,even the cap has rubber seals.Next comes the black plastic cup that nests on top of the bottle.And then,the third piece is stainless steel cooking pot/cup/mug,which is about the same as the plastic one but can be used on top of fire to boil some water or cook some meal.

Fourth piece,the last one,is the burner itself...made out of rugged tin,steel wire and point welded small "cup" where you place the fuel block,cube,gel or even meths.

Cups have folding wire handles and the burner has the folding wire thing taht you just drop down when assembling for cooking,and you place the steel cup on top the laid wires,thats about as hard as it ever will get:)

So far ive been very very happy for this kit,its powerful enough for few cups of boiled water and everything that ive wanted to heat up or boil.Its bit of rarity here ive noticed as my buddies and few classmates have been interested about this one.

Bird watching etc

Early tomorrow im heading for 5 day /4 night long bird identifying course.
Franly i am not interested so much to know all the little birds but its part of my training...id rather see birds that i can use on my plate actually but this is how it goes :)

Then a week full of traditional wilderness skills,and after that,most likely im heading for ten day long work training,500 kilometers from my address,and there will be loads of canoe/kayak action i heard.

Bit of handcrafts...

Heres a few shots of some more recent crafts that ive done.

Theres a simple,rough,user puukko,forged from round bar of high carbon steel,with birch bark sheath that i dyed  to more reddish tone.

Two simple flint strikers,these models were-i hear-more common to the regular,average joe back in the days,as this simple model that has less material and takes les stime to fabricate was cheaper than the everyones favourite,symmetrical "two horn" model that i mostly see.

Crooked knife,that is referred here,atleast among older folk,as" kovelo".It has a simple black curly birch handle,and i must do a pouch for it to prevent the edge from ruining.

Salt horn thats still in progress.I scraped some birch,lavu and a camp fire in to its surface.

Chop Chop with the new knife

Bit more chopping technic studies :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tESrJaRnjZY

Custom made leuku based chopping knife

I managed to get one idea, thht i have been drawing quite long time,get materialized with help from lapland blacksmith T.Kotavuopio ,who runs his business in Karesuvanto.He made it Just as i darw it,and left the handle intentionally bit too "fat" so i can finish it to the final shape while i fit the handles to it.Its made from separately hardened/annealed springsteel.Total length is 38.5 cm,and the blade is 35.5cm long.Thickness varies from 4 to 6 mmm,from the root of the edge,in a way that the heaviest & thickest part is the place that first hits the object while chopping and then the blade again gets more narrow as it goes towards tip.The root of edge has profile for whittling and carving,and then it changes to convex styled,more bold and rounded,for effective and durable chopping tool,and the tip once again has good sharp edge for opening game and maybe skinning etc.Spine has some dull bevels to use it for cracking game bones and such and the rest of the spine has sharp cormers for use with fire steels.

I also wanted to have this 8mm diameter pressed thing,in front of the handle,to use it while i make fire with fire bow.You can use the pressed "hole"as upper bearing of the firebows drill.Ive seen few knives with this funtion and always wanted to try it out and on this project it came to my mind and there it finally is.

Handles i made from dyed curly birch block,and i fastened them with some epoxy glue and thos ethree 8mm copper pipe "rivets" that also allows me to put a good sized lanyard on the handle.I will put the lanyard on the middle one,as it then allows a good safe grip if i want to use all chopping power by keeping the knife in my hand with only two or three fingers.ive sen this sort of technics used by sami folk and i want to try that out too.When i get my hands on some nice piece of board and leather,ill be making a sheath for this one.

Short,crude video about trying this for the first time ever.
Another link to see the same video.

Didnt sleep last night.Made a sheath instead.

I didnt feel sleepy at all last night so i spent it watching few horror movies and started to play with leftover leather pieces i got from my friend.After three movies,at 8:30 at morning i noticed that i should make cup of coffee and take few photos,asfter i got all the dye off my hands,cleaned the living room table so my girlfriend would not notice that i had used it as work table.So heres the result of one sleepless,leather themed night:).

Its made from 2.2 and 3.0 millimeter leather,stitched rough with thick wax thread used for sails.Few buttons,d-rind and one rivet and one rifle rivet,thats about the materials in it.I have drooled over Hedgehog leatherworks sheaths for few years but i cant afford things like those,but i just love the idea of sheath that carries small kit within,not just the most essential firesteel.So i managed to add small pouch in the backside,with brass rifle sling rivet,for  fällkniven´s DC3 sharpening stone.it really dont need the closure,a sits pretty tght anyway,but its better to be safe than drop it on the ground in trails i think.On the side,theres really tight loop for basic firesteel,in this case its misch metal firesteel with handmade,dyed curly birch handle and some piece of raw cut leather string,for better grip.

On the front side,theres bit bigger pocket with snap closure,for some small items like compass,SAK,wiresaw,what ever thats quite flat.Even old,slim multitools like PST fits there.im planning to use it for Swiss folding knife that has saw in it,and maybe for some wire and thin cordage.

I added a flap closure for the knife too,as i like those visually and its once again,harder to loos ethe knife from sheath this way,although the sheath itself is quite tight.

Last thing i did was quite big dangler,hanging the sheath quite low so the knife is at reach of my fingertips easily,for easy draw and free movement of the sheath,this way i wont sit on it so easy as with high riding and fixed belt loop.

One guy whos into history study,told me that sheaths in this style were use by mountain men in USA in past.I didnt know that at all.

Dug out an old project blade.

I dug out,from my bin,my dusty treasure chest,this blade taht i made some...maybe 7 months ago,and got an inspiration to work on it at home and in schools crafts shop & dorm,so i got it into hardness of 58 HRC and softer on spine,fabricated a stamp with dremel mini drill & small diamond bit on it,to get good looking ( ? ) stamp on it.I added some small filework on spine,for thumb,and sharpened the spine for using it on firesteels.

I then sawed ,drilled and filed,ground and sanded the handle slabs,from curly birch,that i dyed with oak & dark brown,then oiled it,and then i just made the brass fastening hardware form cheap furniture screws and counterparts,shortened them to fit,and polished the ends just a bit,and made those bit more flat / low profiled.Added some epoxy and assembled the damn thing.

Then i sharpened the blade,and its still waiting for final touch of sharpness,thht i will perform when i get to home where i have my sharpening kit.

I also made a firesteel to match the knife,from leftover piece of the same dyed wood that i used for handles.

Now,when i have time and will,ill be making the sheath for this "kit".

Busy busy

I havent been posting lately much at all,im sorry,but as i have my arm broken,its now recovering slowly and ive been able to study again.During this weekend i have made it through hygiene claases to have my hygiene pass,so i can work with food etc,and from tomorrow morning im taking first aid #2 for three days,to renew my first aid #2 card.

After that,if my arm aint aching so bad im about to hassle with that cool little cooker i received,and crkt survival knife,to have some more stuff posted up here in my own blog.

Enzo Trapper 01 carbon steel,ready...almost,that is.

Well i ive been having time now,as im on sick vacation so ive been doing this Enzo Trapper in 01 carbon steel,a kit knife from Brisa´s web shop.
And it seems that its getting ready,as ive been adding the pins,grinding off the excess pin material,shaping the handles and i also got one sheath done,single handed.

When i get my arm fully funtioning i know i will sand off the handles better to make the pins and micarta to be in same smooth level etc,and dye the sheath when i get some dye from somewhere.I havent Really used it yet,i have only used trapper for cutting leather and such,ive whittled fuzzsticks to light a fire in our sauna,but havent really been able to get the best out of it yet but when i do,ill be writing some impressions again.

Knife-making courses ahead

I just signed in for few knifemaking courses,that last 3 to 4 days per course.Ive been already in many and i never get enough.

if youre intrested,there might be places left.All the course info is in finnish but i can help you to sign in etc.It costs 30 euros per day,including materials,good meals,coffee and for extra price( i think it was 10 to 15 per night) theres also accommondation,in one or two person rooms.
They take their place at these dates:
-15-18.3
-16-18.4
-19-22.4
-23-25.4