With summer finally on its way, we’d like to give you a helping hand towards the next bit of kit or clothing that you’ve got your eye on for the coming season. As such, we’re giving away a £20.00 Woodlore Voucher today; to be in with a chance of winning, simply post a comment below with the answer to the following question:

Woodlore will soon be stocking a brand new range of products from Swazi, known as The Tussock Range. One of these products has been named after a river in the Northwest Territories of Canada; which item is it?

ENTRIES ARE NOW CLOSED. Thanks for all your entries; everybody got the answer right today, perhaps it was a little too easy! But congratulations to our winner, chosen at random - Sam Thompson-Garrido. A £20.00 Woodlore Voucher is on its way to you.

Here at Woodlore, we’ve been firm believers in the Swazi Clothing brand ever since Ray brought his very first Tahr Anorak back from a trip to New Zealand. Their claim of producing “the world’s most durable outdoor clothing” piqued our interest, and we’ve been putting their gear to the test – and proving them right - ever since.

The Tahr Anorak quickly became Ray Mears’ favourite and most reliable piece of outdoor clothing, and has remained so ever since. Their distinctive designs and trademark Tussock Green colour can now be found on outdoorsmen and women the world over, helping them through wind, rain and snow, while the production of all their garments has proudly been kept in New Zealand.

In 2012, Woodlore continues to be the UK’s exclusive distributor of Swazi Clothing, a title of which we are very proud. And so, it is with great excitement that we announce a brand new series of exclusive products to the Woodlore shop, in the form of the Swazi Tussock Range:

Consisting of exciting new designs such as the Nahanni Shirt and Matuka Jacket, alongside such classic Swazi garments as their Bushman’s Tee, this range has one thing in common – each and every product has been produced in Swazi’s trademark Tussock Green colour, creating a collection of clothing perfect for the outdoors.

“The superb natural tone of Tussock Green provides a neutral colour, whether you are using it for hunting, fishing or just plain-old being in the outdoors. From the moment it was first introduced to the market by Swazi, Tussock Green became our biggest selling colour in our wet weather gear. Now we are creating another first - a full range of Tussock garments in many of your favourite styles, as well as some brand new designs. Hellacious for hunters, fabulous for fishos, and orsome for outdoor tyros.” – Swazi

These new products are being delivered to Woodlore over the coming weeks; in the meantime, you can sign up to receive an e-mail as soon as each item becomes available, by clicking on the ‘Notify Me’ button on each product page. To view the full range, please visit our Swazi Clothing page.

The following post was kindly supplied by Woodlore customer Jim Little:

Hi Woodlore,

I’ve noticed a couple of people have sent in finished articles regarding their Julius Pettersson Knife. So, getting in the spirit of things I thought I would do the same.

Other than purchasing the blade itself and the pommel section of Reindeer Antler, the other materials have been collected on rambles with my son Alex. The thin coin sections are deer antler from the nearby fields, they have been separated with sections of deer leather given to us by the local game keeper. The central wood section was brought back from an olive farm in Corfu, from a dead olive branch. Yes, I did get funny looks from immigration!

Nearly there...

Avidly watching the Ray Mears Bushcraft DVD – where Ray manufactures his knife in a log cabin – and driving my good lady steadily bonkers by replaying it. I followed the method carefully cutting and drilling each section to follow the decreasing shape of the tang.

I then glued it all together with waterproof woodglue, and riveted the pommel end. I then left it out of direct heat for two days before commencing the sanding down. After achieving the approximate desired shape, and once life and the use of my right arm came back to me, I started shaping the handle with sandpaper, gradually reducing the grit until achieving a smooth tactile feel (seen in the picture above). I then smelted some solder in a crucible and filled the porous section of the pummel after dosing the visible section of the tang, and sanded it smooth, thereby sealing the top section of the handle from the elements. After a good dressing of Linseed oil, the knife was finished.

The finished article

I just have to find a good saddler to get the right leather to commence the sheath, not to mention learn how to do it!

Many thanks,

Jim Little

With Woodlore’s 2012 course season now well underway, Aspirant Instructor Sarah Day shares her thoughts on working and living in the outdoors at this time of year:

Sarah Day

I started working at Woodlore in 2006. But since then I’ve not been able to work courses during the early part of the season due to other commitments. I think I’d forgotten just how much I love spring.

Watching summer mellow into autumn is a different affair, the last flush of colour before you wake up one morning and know the summer is over. The day when it seems the birch leaves have turned yellow and started to drop almost overnight; it always makes me feel a little sad. I love winter, and I love autumn but the end of the summer means the end of the course season and a few months until I’ll be back outdoors properly again.

Spring is a season of firsts – the first Woodlore course, the first butterflies and bluebells, the first bumblebees. The woods are so alive with the hustle and bustle of life that it’s impossible to ignore. The changes are so much more tangible than in other seasons too. For two weeks I watched buds on the beech tree near the store tent swelling almost imperceptibly, then burst into a riot of vivid green in the space of three days. The leaves start thin and crinkled, like a butterfly that’s just emerged from its chrysalis, but quickly spread into a beautiful emerald canopy, until the whole wood is dusted with a delicate sprinkling of green. It looks good enough to eat – and some of it is – nettles, hawthorn, dog rose shoots, ramsons and beech leaves are all spring delicacies.

The sun setting over one of Woodlore's bivi sites

Have you ever noticed how the birds sing a different song just before it rains, and another just after it stops? Or the sudden stillness followed by a darkening sky and a strengthening wind that presages the onset of another shower, the smell of rain on the way? It’s like being let in on a secret when you start to notice these things. It makes the woods seem more friendly, more reasonable  than when the weather appears to be  nothing but a random succession of rain and hail and sun – weather tantrums.

April has been just as it should be weather-wise – fickle and wet. We’ve had days that went from a freezing cold night with a hard ground frost, to T-shirts and shorts for a few hours followed by a black sky with thunder and some of the biggest hailstones I’ve ever seen. The inky sky makes an incredible contrast with the acid green of spring growth, it’s a scene I always try and photograph, but one that seems reluctant to be committed to something as permanent as a memory card. Everything about spring is fleeting and hurried – it’s so easy to miss things, to suddenly notice a tree nearby is in full leaf amid a carpet of flowering bluebells and think “when did that happen?!”

A calm, early morning view through the woods

It’s hard to believe that by tradition it’s summer already – May 1st has been and gone. “Mayflower” or simply “May” is another name for Hawthorn – it was used to make garlands at Mayday celebrations. The blackthorn is in blossom, as is the Crabbe Apple and the Bird Cherry, but maybe there’s time for one more first before summer gets underway properly - the first Mayflower.

- Sarah Day

The following entry was kindly provided by Woodlorean Justin Burns, who made his own handle for the Julius Pettersson Knife Blade:

Hi all,

After browsing your website it got me thinking about making my own Julius Pettersson knife handle. I loved the idea of having a handle that you could put your own stamp on.

Justin's knife, in progress

I have made many knife handles before, yet I loved having a blade made by such a talented craftsman.

Ready to be shaped

The handle has buffalo horn in two shades, mahogany and red acrylic. It is shaped in a similiar manner to that of the Ray Mears Bushcraft Knife.

The finished article

It is a strong, sturdy knife which is achieved by having a blade with a full tang and also using strong materials for the handle. The knife is designed to endure all different elements over a lifetime.

Thanks for the opportunity to own such a knife!

Justin Burns

Regular followers of the Woodlore blog may well be familiar with the name John van Zanen thanks to his fantastic hammock-making guide, which we posted on these pages last year. Well, John has been busy once again, this time sharing his enthusiasm and bushcraft skills with a group of scout leaders in his homeland of the Netherlands. Here he shares with us photos and videos of the group working together to create a hangi – a traditional Maori method of cooking food outdoors in a heated pit oven:

Hello Ray and Woodlore Team,

I attended the Woodlore Camp Craft course in 2011 and was challenged by your team to spread the knowledge of bushcraft. Not long after, I spent a few days with a group of scout leaders to teach them some of the skills I have learnt in the past years attending courses with Woodlore.

Each year, scout leaders come together to open the new season and to get new energy and inspiration for the year to come. This year I was invited to join them and teach some bushcraft skills. We talked about quite a few topics, but the highlight of the weekend was surely eating the food from a hangi. Instead of rocks, we used bricks and covered the pit with wet towels, branches and soil. The result was really great and the food tasted fantastic. During the four hours that the food was cooking underground, we all carved a spoon to eat our dinner with.

Digging the hangi pit

 

The prepared food in steel baskets, ready for cooking

 

Covering the hangi

 

A fire is built and lit on top of the hangi to heat the bricks underneath

 

Digging up the hangi after cooking

 

Dinner is served!

 

During the process a number of videos were made, which you can view via the following links:

1. Preparing the Hangi – Part 1
2. Preparing the Hangi – Part 2
3. Excavation of the Hangi
4. Dinner is Ready

Here is a list of all the stuff we used to make the hangi:

• Stones (or bricks)
• Steel baskets (to put the food in)
• Six or seven big towels (to cover the pit)
• A lot of sticks (to cover the pit)
• Sheets or duvet covers (to cover the baskets in the pit)
• A garden hose or other source of water
• Three spades
• Two steel rakes (to reposition the bricks in the pit)
• Two buckets of water (to soak the towels and the sheet)
• Aluminum foil (we used this to cover the baskets in the pit because we had no sheet)
• Oven bags (to put the chicken in)
• Newspapers (for starting the fire)
• Firewood (enough to make a fire that will last for two hours)

Regards,

John van Zanen

The following post was kindly sent in by fellow Woodlorean Campbell Metcalfe:

Hi Woodlore,

After coming on a Fundamental Bushcraft course in September I’ve been enjoying walks around the forests near where I live in Scotland. After seeing a traditional Kuksa in a couple of Ray’s programmes, I thought I’d give it a go; having only carved one or two spoons before I knew it would be quite a challenge.

On one of my walks I found a recently fallen ash tree with a large enough burr on the side of it to try to make my cup. I started by hewing the rough shape out with the Small Forest Axe and carving the bowl out. After a slightly over enthusiastic hit with the axe I unfortunately snapped the handle. A quick repair job later and the cup looked fine, so kept on going.

Campbell's in-progress Kuksa

After boiling in salt water, drying, repegging the handle and finishing the carving, then sanding and oiling it, the Kuksa is finally done. A piece of nettle string that I made during the Fundamental Bushcraft course through the handle finishes the whole thing. Now time to enjoy a good cup of coffee!

The finished article

 

The finished article

I’d love to know what you think.

Thanks,

Campbell Metcalfe

After attending our Fundamental Bushcraft course last year, Woodlore customer Stan Intihar had a go at making his very own knife for the first time, with great results:

Howdy,

Here are some pics of my completed knife and leather sheath; a carbon steel Enzo blade and desert ironwood handle with red liners:

Stan’s hand-finished knife and leather sheath

The desert ironwood handle complete with red liners

I used two excellent online tutorials and they turned our purdy good, I reckon. Leather stamping is quite addictive, too, I found out… as did my wife and kids!

A close-up of Stan's leather stamping

I’ve used the knife plenty of times already and love it.  Have also settled on soft rush being my favourite “go to” firesteel lighting tinder; that stuff is everywhere and is just brilliant at taking sparks.

All the best,

Stan

New Woodlore Assistant David Southey

On 9th – 11th March Dan Hume and Keith Whitehead ran an induction weekend for the new members of staff who joined the team recently as a result of our recruitment process in November.  New members of the team were shown the ropes of setting up camp, useful routes to our course sites, shops and hospitals, amongst being introduced to other essential knowledge required for assisting on our courses to ensure they run seamlessly for our clients.

We would like to take this opportunity to welcome David Southey, Joel Toren, Mark Callard and Nigel Hopkins to the team and we hope they will enjoy their time with us.

Following the induction weekend the newer members of the team were joined by the rest of the outdoor team for Woodlore’s annual training week.  Everyone was pleased to be back in the woods again, and although a training exercise, training week is a fantastic chance for everyone to get together to compare their winter adventure stories and to discuss the year ahead.

During the week Head of Operations Dan Hume hosted many activities for the group including a tracking evaluation, carving, training for trainers delivered by Brian Fox and PT.

High on the agenda was Woodlore’s annual First Aid Training.  Expertly run as always by Fusion Medical Limited, it provided the Woodlore team with a high level of competence in this essential field of Bushcraft.  First aid is often an underrated skill, but one which anybody who is keen to enjoy the outdoors should have.

Dressing a wound during a first aid scenario

As well as refreshing the team’s essential core first aid skills, increasing the depth of their knowledge is always a goal of Woodlore’s training week.  This year the team were treated to an in-depth talk on ticks by Ray Mears and lectures on venomous creatures, tropical skin diseases, altitude sickness, cold injuries and expedition medicines by doctors Sarah and Sophie.

Aspirant Instructors Brian Fox and Tom Seward practising resuscitation

The huge success of the training week was rounded off with a fantastic campfire meal shared by the Outdoor and Office teams.  A great time to be together and strengthen bonds and a fantastic start to what promises to be an exciting 2012 season.  We look forward to welcoming you to the woods.

Ray commented on the week;

Training Week has been very successful this year.  We have a great team and I am really enjoying working with them.

Tick-borne disease charity BADA-UK and its Patron, Ray Mears, are warning both outdoor workers and outdoor-pursuits enthusiasts to be vigilant about a potential increased risk of tick bites this spring. The charity is using its annual awareness campaign Tick Bite Prevention Week (26 March – 1 April) to highlight the health risks that ticks pose, especially following the recent EU ban of the herbicide Asulam.

BADA-UK's Patron Ray Mears

Asulam was used by hill farmers to control the invasive spread of bracken which provides the perfect habitat for ticks. Ray Mears warns:

The control of bracken is vital to the survival of numerous species of flora and fauna as well as reducing tick populations. The spread of bracken as a result of this ban will lead to increased tick numbers, making it all the more important that the public takes precautions against tick bites when out and about in rural areas.

Reports suggest that the tick population and its distribution is increasing, and with it comes the risk of contracting Lyme disease (Borreliosis) and other tick-borne diseases. In fact, new research published in January 2012 suggests that the prevalence of Lyme disease bacteria in the UK tick population is considerably higher than most recent estimates indicated.

Ticks are second only to mosquitoes for carrying disease to humans worldwide. In the UK in 2010 there were 1,361 laboratory-confirmed cases of Lyme disease, a 24.4% increase on 2009. The Health Protection Agency estimates a further 1,000 – 2,000 cases go unrecorded each year. BADA-UK, a registered charity run by unpaid volunteers who have been affected by Lyme disease and associated infections, believes that public and professional awareness is key to combatting the rise in cases of tick-borne disease.

An example of a Tick

The charity advises that, with no preventative vaccine available, the best defence against UK tick-borne infections is to avoid being bitten in the first place by taking a few simple precautions when out and about. Wendy Fox, Chair of BADA-UK says:

People who frequent bracken-rich areas can be both recreationally and occupationally exposed to tick-borne diseases, particularly Lyme disease. Increased interest in outdoor pursuits, combined with an increasing tick population, is resulting in a year-on-year rise in cases of tick-borne disease. Ticks are part of the natural world and the great outdoors is there to be enjoyed. It is therefore important to be informed about, rather than unknowingly exposed to, infections that are preventable.

Tick Bite Prevention Week coincides with the onset of the tick season (March to October) and when people start to get out and about in the warmer weather. It promotes awareness about tick-borne diseases, safe tick-removal techniques and effective tick bite prevention for all at-risk groups.

Further information about bracken and a summary of the Asulam ban can be obtained from The Bracken Control Group, which was formed in response to the Asulam ban.