Woodlore Blog

Richard Spencer, a Woodlore customer from Australia, kindly sent in the following post:

Dear Woodlore Team,

Having received the Fire Stick Rods from you, I had a bit of fun making handles for them:

Richard Spencer's Fire Stick, complete with gumnut handle

I used spent gumnuts. These things lie in their countless millions on the ground, in the woods and on the side of the roads where the gumnut trees grow. You’ve probably heard of them. They’re light, they float and they’re very tough yet easy to work with few tools. I used one tiny flat file and a bit of sandpaper to make this handle. There’s a small brass picture hook for a lanyard.

The gumnuts contain seeds which drop out, leaving these tough, smooth shells, which just beg to be used for other things.

They can be stuffed with cotton wool and after a few drops of aromatic oil, they’ll keep the car smelling fresh. If you soak them in paraffin then fill them up with melted candle wax, they make great firelighters.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Spencer

About The Woodlore Team

Woodlore, School of Wilderness Buchcraft was founded in 1983, by the British Bushcraft and survival expert Ray Mears. Woodlore began as a relatively unknown company, offering a small selection of courses on bushcraft techniques. With Ray's ambition and perserverance, Woodlore has since grown into a world-renowned and highly respected school, offering in-depth courses on a wide range of bushcraft and survival subjects. In addition to training, Woodlore now also provides some of the finest outdoors equipment from around the world, carefully selected on the basis of our extensive experience.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 19th, 2011 at 9:20 am and is filed under Bushcraft Kit, Bushcraft Tips, Customer posts.