Sunday, November 29, 2009

Nov 28, 2009- York Regional Forest Hike











Photos by Raymond Kwok

Monday, November 16, 2009

DIY: Pop Can Alcohol Stove


Made an alcohol stove over the weekend using this website as a guide. The design of a basic open jet stove is fairly simple, so I took a stab at it. I haven't had a chance to test it out yet, but I shouldn't have too much trouble getting it to work. Plus the cost was the price of drinking 2 club sodas...so I can always make a new one if the design is flawed.

Friday, November 13, 2009

A first...

Will be following someone on a deer hunt tomorrow morning. This marks my first exposure to hunting ever. I'm looking forward to the experience, even though I won't be participating directing. Might be a little slow though...he hasn't had a kill yet this entire season.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Guyot Design 38oz bottle leather sleeve


I got a hold of some scrap pieces of leather and decided I wanted to make something useful out of it. One thing I needed was a way to conveniently carry my 38oz Guyot Designs water bottle when I didn't carry a pack with me. A perfect beginner project with working with leather.

I fashioned the sling by folding over the edges of the leather and securing them with contact cement. One thing to keep in mind is that the length of the sleeve needs to be slightly shorted than the circumference of the bottle because leather stretches and the laces need to hold it the leather snugly around the bottle. Next I drilled holes using a 3/16 bit and a drill press to insert the eyelets into. Then it was just a matter of riveting the eyelets in place and lacing up the sleeve.

I folded a piece of 550 cord in half and tied a 1" size loop into it. This was to give me a place to tie off a sling to in case I wanted carry it over my shoulder. I laced up the sleeve and secured the top with a square knot, then added another double knot for the upper loop.


The nice thing about using leather is that in the winter, the leather provided a layer of insulation between the cold metal of the container and my skin, so I can hold it without gloves if I wanted. Another nice feature is that because the laces can be loosened so that my GSI folding cup can be nested into the bottle and then tightened so I can carry both conveniently inside the sleeve.

Sunday, November 1, 2009