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The Best Smoked Trout Dip You’ve Never Had
Lost Your Fishing Reel Spool Tension Washer? Here’s an Easy Fix
How to Make Taper Candles (by Casting)
Stack Hack: A Few Pointers for Stacking Firewood
Shaving with a Straight Razor: Yes, You Should Try It (You Won’t Go Back)

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G on This Is the Lighter You Should Be Carrying (Clipper Lighter Review)
TheEclecticOutfitter on How to Make Taper Candles (by Casting)
Marcel on How to Make Taper Candles (by Casting)
TheEclecticOutfitter on Bounty of Late Summer: Uses for Thistledown
Erika on Bounty of Late Summer: Uses for Thistledown

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This stuff looks unassuming. After all, it's just

This stuff looks unassuming. After all, it's just dead, dry grass, right?

You can get it anywhere, at almost any time of year, and even in wet conditions, standing dry grass is usually pretty easy to light.

This makes it an excellent tinder. If you find yourself in the field, you're in a wooded area, and you don't have a good source of tinder, look for this.

Get the details; link in bio.

Pictured are bass jigs, which can be highly effect

Pictured are bass jigs, which can be highly effective at pressing bass that are sitting on the bottom because they're either too hot or too cold. This makes them effective in the early spring, late summer, and through the winter.

With a caveat: much like a plug, these jigs often have to be "tuned" because they will not perform optimally right out of the packaging. This is because the manufacturer usually produces them with nylon weed guards that are too long and too rigid, which hinders hookups.

Get the details on how to trim and tune them in my latest post. Link in bio.

Waxing your bootlaces: it's easy and it only takes

Waxing your bootlaces: it's easy and it only takes a couple of minutes.

Also, waxed laces are physically more durable than unwaxed laces, are water-resistant, and, most importantly, hold knots much more surely.

Learn how to do it - link in bio.

Sharpening stones sharpen your knives and tools, b

Sharpening stones sharpen your knives and tools, but what do you do when your stones get "dull"?

You need to bring back the finish on the surface to restore their sharpening ability. In most instances, you can do this with a few different grits of sandpaper, matched closely to the grit of the stone.

Over time, stones will even lose their flat surface as they wear away. I'm not covering that in this post, though - just a quick crash coarse on how to restore the stone's cutting surface after it's been used, worn, and clogged with steel swarf.

Link in bio.

Trout season just opened around here, and it's ope

Trout season just opened around here, and it's opening soon in most other areas of the country if it hasn't yet.

Here are some of my favorite lures and techniques for catching early spring trout. They're especially effective if you, like me, primarily fish for stockies.

Link in bio.

Pictured are some of my favorite baits to use duri

Pictured are some of my favorite baits to use during the bass spawn, which in my part of the country, is basically upon us. A few more days and they'll be moving onto the beds.

Spawning bass are ornery, aggressive, and easy to catch. The spawn is one of the most exciting times of the year because of how cooperative the fish tend to be, and is one of the best times of year to power fish with the intention of drawing reaction strikes - which are usually very easy to get.

But, do you know the best techniques?

I put some of them down in one of my recent posts. Link in bio.

This may be sort of a boring picture, but unfortun

This may be sort of a boring picture, but unfortunately, camping in the rain doesn't yield many photographic opportunities. It does, however, yield a host of opportunities to talk about how to do it comfortably.

There are some right ways to camp in the rain, and a whole lot of wrong ways. Get some of my tips (many of which were unfortunately learned through experience) in my recent post on camping in wet winter weather.

Link in bio.

If you buy shoes, wear them out, and toss them, pa

If you buy shoes, wear them out, and toss them, pass by this post.

But if you believe in buying quality footwear and administering routine maintenance to it so you can get a long lifespan out of it, check the link in my bio for full-grain leather boot care.

As far as I care, this is the best ax in its price

As far as I care, this is the best ax in its price class.

The Cold Steel Trail Boss - full review link in bio.

Let's talk about cast iron for a minute. It's a

Let's talk about cast iron for a minute.

It's a little heavy and you shouldn't use soap on it, but:

-It's basically indestructable.
-You can use metal on it.
-It's more non-stick than "non-stick" cookware.
-It has excellent thermal characteristics.
-It has unrivalled versatility (baking, frying, searing and so forth).
-It lasts forever.
-It's affordable.
-It's easy to take care of.

I'm probably missing something. If you don't currently use cast iron camp cookware, read my recent post (link in bio) and I bet you will be before long.

The CJRB Maileah has been the go-to in my EDC rota

Those are white oak shavings. There's nothing spec

Those are white oak shavings. There's nothing special about them, except the fact that they are fine enough to ignite with a spark and that they burn hotter and longer than any other form of tinder I've ever used.

It's also easy to learn how to make it. All you need is a seasoned log and a knife with a square spine that you can use as a scraper.

You can pull tinder out of a log like this, even in wet weather, which can be very useful in a situation if there is no other dry tinder available.

Learn how to make it and why it's better than most other forms of tinder: link in bio.

Despite its small size, the Cold Steel Spetsnaz Sp

Despite its small size, the Cold Steel Spetsnaz Special Forces shovel is very well designed, excellent as an entrenching tool and for general purpose digging applications.

Due to its unique geometry and sharpened edge, this shovel can also be used as a knife and as a hatchet, as it is well designed for both cutting and chopping.

It offers the perfect middle ground between generalization and specialization and might easily be called one of the most useful tools you could keep around camp.

Get the full details in my review. Link in bio.

Many, possibly even most, upland bird hunters hunt

Many, possibly even most, upland bird hunters hunt with a dog. Dogs can find, flush, and then recover pheasants, and they do all the hard work busting through the toughest cover to push birds out.

But, that doesn't mean you can't hunt pheasant successfully without a dog. I've been doing it for years and I do just fine.

Find some of the most important things I learned about pheasant hunting without a dog in my most recent post - link in bio.

You can spend like $400 on a waxed jacket from Bar

You can spend like $400 on a waxed jacket from Barbour or Filson, or you can spend a few dollars and wax one yourself, not to mention learn a new skill in the process.

Plus, a waxed jacket will keep you warm and dry in the most absurdly inhospitable conditions, and they're a thousand-and-one times tougher than those waterproof synthetics.

They have basically every advantage. Find out one of the methods for waxing your own jacket in my most recent blog.

Link in bio.

Among those that carry a lighter every day (regard

Among those that carry a lighter every day (regardless of the reason) the two most popular options are without a doubt Zippo and BIC lighters.

I've carried both of those and I think I've come across something (dare I say) better.

Clipper lighters, like Zippos, are reflintable and refillable, and though they're not as tough, but they're pretty durable. Unlike Zippos, their fuel won't evaporate, and unlike BICs, you don't need to throw them out when they run out of flint or fuel.

These are just the high level benefits. For the full scope, check my recent blog - link in bio.

In addition to blade pattern, steel chemistry, and

In addition to blade pattern, steel chemistry, and weighting, the grain orientation of an ax haft is of critical importance to overall quality.

Doubtless, many an ax haft has broken prematurely because the buyer overlooked the poor quality control of the manufacturer.

An ax handle should have straight, tight grain, front to back, with no run out (where the end grain surfaces at the side or front of the ax handle). Knots are another thing to avoid, as knots weaken the handle.

You can see the nearly textbook-perfect grain orientation of my Trail Boss's haft in the image featured here.

I cover the topic (and importance of) grain orientation in tool handles in my Cold Steel Trail Boss review (link in bio).

Not the best picture of a Cold Steel Special Force

Not the best picture of a Cold Steel Special Forces Shovel, but it does illustrate that a shovel can be used to perform the office of multiple different tools.

In this case, I used the shovel's edge to carve a basic featherstick from a piece of white pine.

This is the sort of shovel that can be used to split wood, carve, and light fires.

Get the details: link in bio.

What's windproof and has such a low ignition tempe

What's windproof and has such a low ignition temperature it can catch a spark from flint and steel?

Char cloth.

It's also something you can make at home, which is also an excellent addition to your survival kit, as it simplifies the process of primitive firecraft.

Link in bio.

Late winter is the perfect time to hone this skill

Late winter is the perfect time to hone this skill - calling squirrels with quarters. You'll have all spring and summer to practice before fall rolls around.

In this post, I demonstrate techniques for both cutting and grinding calls that will entice squirrels to stick their heads out from cover, as the sounds mimic another squirrel feeding in the vicinity.

Wait for the best part - this call is as (or more effective than) any store-bought call, and it only costs 50 cents!

Link in bio.

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