Woodlore Blog

For your chance to win four places for you and your kids on our new Family Wildlife Walkabout course in 2012, plus £1,000 spending money, take a look at this very special competition being run by ITV Wild:

<< Read Part 3 <<

Part 4:

Tightening the hammock:

On the other side, do the same, but without the two outer tension ropes. After you take the two ropes through the first bar, weave them through the edge meshes of the hammock and insert them through the second bar. Hang your hammock between two fixed points now and go in it. Make sure you distribute your weight as evenly as possible when you first enter the hammock. Before entering, it is wise to check the hammock if the mesh and mazes are even, and adjust them when necessary. When I worked with paracord I found that the knots were able to slide and move because of the slipperiness of the cord.

The hammock will now stretch out. Depending on the material you have chosen you will probably have to repeat it a couple of times. I use a Timber Hitch on one end and a Waggoner’s Hitch on the other. This last knot is described in Ray’s Essential Bushcraft book on page 168, and is ideal to put some tension to your hammock. Tighten the hammock again and again and put your full weight on your project until you feel the hammock is not getting any longer.

At this time be careful not to fall out of your hammock because the outer tension ropes are not in use at this time. When they are in use these ropes will greatly improve your ability to stay in your hammock. When you think your hammock has been stretched enough it is time to put the outer tensioning ropes to work. Connect the loose ends of those outer tensioning ropes with each other with a simple Reef Knot.    

By tightening or loosening those outer ropes you are able to switch between different models of your hammock.  Tightening those ropes will result in a model consisting of a bathtub, while loosening those ropes will result in a hammock like an ironing board. Now, check the rest of your hammock and remove any pieces of rope which are too long.

The finished Hammock:

Figure 14 - The Finished Hammock

Woodlore would like to thank John van Zanen for all of his hard work in putting this extensive guide together. You can expect more from this contributor in the future…

To everyone out there who has used this guide to make your own hammock, please let us know how you got on, and send us a photo to show where your hammock ended up!

If you’ve been enjoying Ray’s current ITV series, Wild Britain with Ray Mears, you can now watch exclusive bonus video content on the ITV Wild website, via the link below:

Back in August of this year, we posted some photos on our blog of a Julius Pettersson knife, which Woodlore customer Nick Simmons had made a handle for. Shortly after this, Nick got in touch with us again to share some photos of his original WK1 Woodlore Knife, which, after years of use, he decided to re-scale.

When asked if he’d mind us posting the pictures on our blog, he replied, “Yes, but I fear the puritans will hunt me down and lynch me for changing it!” Well, there’s only one way to find out! Let us know what you think of Nick’s handiwork:

Hi there,

I had some fun over the past few days re-scaling my Woodlore Knife. The original maple had stained over the years, so I decided to have a change:

Nick's re-scaled WK1 Woodlore Knife

(more…)

Christmas Posting Dates:

Our final posting day this year will be Friday 23rd December. However, in order to guarantee delivery before Christmas, please place your orders in accordance with the following dates:

Customers in the UK:

Please place your order by 14:00 pm on Thursday 22nd December. Additionally, all orders placed after 14:00 pm on Tuesday 20th December will be dispatched via Royal Mail’s Next Day Special Delivery service at no extra charge.

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Please place your order by 14:00 pm on Monday 5th December.
 

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The Woodlore offices will close for the Christmas period at midday on Friday 23rd December. We will reopen for business at 9:00 am on Wednesday 4th January. Orders can still be placed online during this period, but please note that they will not be dispatched until the office reopens in January.

Any queries during this time should be sent to: info@raymears.com

We wish all of our customers the very best for Christmas and the New Year!