I Miss My Country

I have been in the US for quite a while. What supposed to be a short visit to my newly born grandson turned into a baby sitting stint for more than 2 years. Oh well, that's what grandparents are for isn't it. But I really miss my country, especially when I saw Gerry D. Ruiz's photos . The photos below are from his website.


A village along the seashore. The Philippines is an archipelago comprising of 7,107 islands.




Ricefield. As with other neighboring Asian countries, rice is Philippine's staple food. Being a tropical country with wet and dry season made it suitable for rice farming.


The nipa hut also known as bahay kubo, is an indigenous house used in rural areas. The native house is constructed out of bamboo tied together, with a thatched roof using nipa or anahaw leaves.


A small river. Often the source of water supply in remote areas where artesian wells or piped in water are not available.


As a youngster, I used to drink water from a stream like this - no need for filtering or boiling.


And of course, I miss fish balls. Fishball is an edible, ball-shaped patty made of pulverized fish, deep fried and sold by mendicant street vendors. The balls are served skewered, offered with a choice of three kinds of dipping sauces.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Another Flint & Steel Kit

When I was having a problem with the Black Bear Haversack Trading Post flint & steel kit, I ordered another one from eBay. This time I chose the Hudson Bay Flint & Steel kit from Primal Connection.


Just like the Bear Haversack kit, this one also contains a jute twine, char cloth, flint and steel.


The steel has more striking area than the Black Bear steel.


The flint is about the same as that of the Black Bear kit.

The similarities end there. The Hudson Bay steel throws more sparks than the Black Bear steel. The steel almost never miss to produce sparks when stroked against the flint. Definitely an excellent flint & steel kit. Highly recommended. By the way, its almost 5 times more expensive though.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Flint & Steel

I have been wanting to assemble a fire making kit that includes a flint and steel. Although I always carry a Bic lighter and a firesteel with me, I thought it would be cool to have a flint and steel in my fire making kit. As always I searched online and I found a flint and steel kit sold by Black Bear Haversack Trading Post for $6.99 + $2.76 S/H.


The kit contains a jute twine, char cloth, flint and steel.


The steel measures 3" by 1 1/4".


The flint is 2 1/2" by 1 1/4"

I tested the flint and steel several times but it failed to produce spark good enough to create an ember on the char cloth. In fact, I didn't get any spark at all on several occasions. I don't know why, maybe its the steel not having sufficient carbon content, the flint is too soft or both. Well serves me right, what you get for what you pay.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Small Tiger Knapp

The first expensive custom made neck knife (for me it's expensive) I bought from BHK. A gift to myself from my first salary working at Walmart. It cost me $40.00 + $8.00 shipping charges.




It's a little bit smaller than I expected. Size 5 3/4" OAL, cutting edge 2 1/2"


This is a hand made knife from 01 steel, hollow grind.


Kydex sheath with slide tension lock. The knife looks different compared with the picture below from their website.


This is how the knife looks in their website. I'm not so happy with what I got.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

I've got a job!

I have not been posting blogs for quite sometime now because I got a full time job. I started working last November 1 and I'm on an overnight shift, so I'm asleep during the day. It's a hard manual work, really a far cry from my work back home. But I've got to earn money so I can buy the things I want. Someone said - "I work, I got paid, I buy BHK ... so I work for BHK." Some truth in it. Maybe now I could buy knives a little bit more expensive ;-). I promise to posts some articles soon.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Mora Viking 640 Bushcraft Knife

After failing to buy this knife from Ragweedforge because it became out of stock, I found one at eBay. I bought it from eBay seller amoscutlery for $12 + $3.75 shipping charge.


4.5" red plastic handle, 4.25" clip point blade.


Scandinavian grind with a micro bevel.


Although I have not determined its exact weight, it feels very light in my hand.


The sheath is made of black plastic and it has a belt loop that will fit a belt up to 1.75" wide.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Swiss Tech 6-in-1 Micro-Tech Multi-Tool

In an urban environment, I carry a sheefield multi tool as part of my EDC. It is very useful at work especially the phillips and flat screwdriver. But sometimes I find it too bulky, so instead I carry a small gadget called Micro-Tech Multi-Tool as shown below.


The Swiss Tech 6-in-1 Micro-Tech Multi-Tool.


Precision pliers, wire cutter, stripper, and sheet shear.


Phillips screwdriver.


Flat screwdriver.


With a bonus 1/8" rule markings.


A small yet very useful tool. It would be handy for making snares too if you're out in the woods.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Firesteel

Fire is one of the basic essentials in a survival situation. You can cook your food with fire, purify water, make weapons, protect you from wild animals, signal for help and most of all provide you with light and warmth. Survival experts suggests that you carry at least three ways of making fire. What fire making tools to carry is an individual's choice - and there are a lot to chose from. For me, it would be a match, a lighter and a firesteel.


Light My Fire Firesteel. Very expensive, I hesitate to use it.


LMF Army, Scout and Mini Firesteel.


Made in China Firesteel, $2.99 each, the one included in my EDC below.


An unused made in China firesteel side by side with the one in my EDC. The one in my EDC has been used maybe a hundred times. It gives a lot of sparks, works well so far. Maybe not as good as the expensive firesteels but it serves its purpose at a lesser cost.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Ridge Runner Neck Knife

Here's another inexpensive knife that I bought from tiger-merchant on eBay for $9.95 + free shipping.


It comes with a black plastic sheath and a paracord lanyard.


This neck knife has a 2-7/8" satin finished stainless steel blade, 3-5/8" rubber-coated handle, and 6-1/2" OAL.


A close-up of the blade. It comes very sharp, all I did was strop it to make it razor sharp.


The spine was somewhat rounded and won't throw sparks on my firesteel so I had to sharpen it with a bastard file. It has some jimping on the spine near the handle too.


A very nice lightweight neck knife.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Brusletto Balder

This small fixed blade knife is a birthday present from my son. It cost $18.14 + shipping charges.


It comes with a brown leather sheath. The leather is not quite thick but I don't think there's a danger that the blade will pierce through it.


This miniscule puukko measures 5" OAL, 2" blade length, made in Norway.


A close-up of the blade. There are grind marks on the blade that needs further buffing. It came with a decent edge but I had to hone it a litte bit more then stropped it to make it razor sharp.

It's a superb whittler or woodcarving tool and is even a very good striker for firesteel.


Awesome little knife. I will carry this as a neck knife.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Walking Stick

I've browsed several blogs about making a walking stick and since I've been hiking a few trails with my wife, I decided to make one. It's not that I need a walking stick to aide me in walking but since I have a knowledge of Arnis, a Filipino art of stick fighting, I thought it would come handy for self-defense not only against bad people but also against slithering cratures you might encounter along the path. So here's my rather futile attempt to make one.




I removed the bark with a machete.


Then, I carve a wood spirit on the handle.


I made several wood spirit around the handle then I left the stick to dry in the sunlight.


After a while I get back to the walking stick and I found several cracks on it.

Then I remember on one of the blog I read, it says not to dry the stick directly under the sun but just leave it under a shade.

Oh well, lesson learned. I guess, I'll continue and finish this project despite the cracks. I'll polish it with a sandpaper and probably put a lanyard hole on the handle and also put a stick pic on the other end of the stick for my camera. And then coat the stick with linseed oil. I'll take pictures and post it to keep you updated.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

$1 knife

When will my being a penny pincher ends? I can't help it, I saw this knife at Walmart and I can't resist buying it for one dollar. Unbelievable - what can you do with a one dollar knife. You tell me, here are some photos of the knife.




3 1/4" partially serrated blade, lockback folder, with pocket clip, made in China.


4 1/2" plastic handle with checkering.


The blade is dull out of the box, won't cut paper. Even the serrated edge needs sharpening but I don't have the tool to sharpen it.


Maybe this knife is good as striker for firesteel because the spine is squared off and sharp. Or maybe I'll reprofile the blade and remove the serrated edge so it will be easier to sharpen. For my next project?

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.