Sunday, August 11, 2019

Eating Steak

 Distortion

-in progress



Fork and knife on a plateA Place Setting

We are what we eat.

Copper has been used by the indigenous here for thousands of years. In trade, ceremony, tools, cutlery and generally showing affluence. We’ve melted copper onto the blades, before hardening, intentionally distorting the blades. The distortion comes from what we have seen here living in the bush in British Columbia for 20 years. The impact on the indigenous peoples and environment is distorted. The distortion in the steel follows the organic lines in the moose antler handles.

Custom Made Crossed Steak Knives

3 knives crossed

4 1/2 inch blades. Long 4 1/2 inch handles.

Our son, Kai, runs in the forest on a trail he made. One morning his dog, Jack, jumped out of the bush in front of him. Jack was being pursued by 2 wolves. They jumped out close behind Jack. Kai and the 2 young wolves, less than 10 feet apart, stopped and stared at each other. Moments passed. The wolves turned and went the way they had come. At 100 feet into the bush the two wolves stopped and turned to watch Kai and Jack watch them.

3 Handmade Steak Knives

 

The blades are made from a steel we’ve recovered and repurposed. A high carbon steel with a cobalt content. You can easily get a razor edge that holds..





3 knives in a condo window

Custom Made Steak Knives Point a View

Three steak knives in a condo window look out at Canada Place. 

We’ve used moose antler off cuts we saved from our knife shop, bent and distorted. We boiled the pieces, straightened them with clamps and vise. They are the scales that hold the razor sharp blades. 

 Copper melted ontoa steak knife blade

 

Melted Copper Close Steak Knife Blade

Melted Copper Close Steak Knife Blade
Bears are all around us. We meet them on the road. The older ones leave fast for the bush. The younger ones want a look. That could get them killed. We use to honk and yell but that only made them more curious.



 

Melted Copper Knives Closer 
 
A bear will come into the yard every 5 or 6 years. They smell chickens, our food, the dogs food, apples, berries and lots of dandelion and flowers. I step out of the cabin and they leave. Jack, our dog, makes sure they stay away. They don’t want trouble, we don’t want trouble.
We are amazed bears don’t come more often.

Steak Knives Crossed and Pointed

The spine thickness is a mere 1.4 mm. Very thin. Moose antler scales held with threaded stainless steel and brass pins, peened.

Ranchers blame bears for taking their calves. We hear gun shots all year because it’s open season on bears. 

 

Hanging to Dry
 Knife Roll Closed Up Tight


Lives not respected, in the way…they are inconvenient.
Regards.
Aki and Scott

Monday, July 22, 2019

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Swans

swans on a small lake we live on


Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.
The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them. Aki had a new attachment to the spotting scope.

Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.
The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.
Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.
The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.
Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.
The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.
Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.
The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.
Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.
The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.
Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.
The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.
Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.
The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.
young swam sees Aki taking the picture

swans swimming away

The Swans don't mind us
Photogaphy by
                           Aki Yamamoto

www.caribooblades.com
Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.
The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.

Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.
The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.
Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.
The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.
Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.
The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.
Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.
The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.
Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.
The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.
Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.
The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.
Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.
The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.
Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.
The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.
Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.
The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.
Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.
The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.
Two or three times in the last 20 sum years when the water is low enough, swans visit and feed. They come and go for a couple of months in the fall. They were here in 2018.
The small lake we're on gets smaller and much noisier. Trumpeter swans are loud and like a big brass band that can't seem to keep a tune but they sure are majestic creatures. We get the chance to get to know them.

Monday, July 15, 2019

Rain and Mushrooms

roots in the sky
Rain cloud
We took our 4 wheel drive off the road for the summer. Insured our car,.

We have a car now. It has rained for a month. We haven't been able to get out of the bush for 2 weeks.
Flowers
Fireweed
                                                                         

We're picking a winter supply of mushrooms. A year's supply. We're eating a lot of mushrooms.


bolete mushoom
drying mushrooms
Just a minute, let me get some for lunch.
fireweed growing by a fence
It's just the beginning. Just popping up now.


Aki Yamamoto photographs.

www.caribooblades.com

Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Spring

Telling it with pictures.

fir stump






Cariboo BladesChilcotin sky





muddy road
peices of saw bladesgarden


knife making start
Hand forging
Kai
Chilcotin morning
Morning

gardening in the bush
Pea Poles

Custom knife
For sale

On the prowl

photographs taken by Aki Yamamoto

www.caribooblades.com

Thursday, February 14, 2019

What is Bushcraft to Us?



Sitting at the laptop connected via satellite from a cabin in the bush on the edge of the Chilcotin Plateau B.C. Amazing times connection.  Aki is preparing lunch, greens from our bush garden she had dried in the summer, eggs
oyster mushrooms and nky caps
from our chickens, the oyster mushrooms we harvested from the aspen groves, boletes from around the young pines and some pork from a pig raised for us by an organic farmer.


                                                                                 
mushrooms drieing in the sun, sundried for winter

Dried bolete

Food drieing shed
Dried greens

Cowboys came through our place on horseback in the fall looking for stray cattle that roam the bush.
They know a lot about the bush.
There are others in the out there.

There is a lot more to bushcraft from our point of view.  For the past few weeks the temperature has been between -25 and -35 C. We light and keep fires burning. We cook on a wood stove. Heat with a wood stove. The sauna has a wood stove. The shop is heated with a wood stove although any temperature below -15 renders the shop too cold to work in. We have never cut a live tree for firewood.  
Gathering firewoodEver year we suss out standing dead trees. Between the pine beetle and the destruction
the logging industry leaves behind. There is a lot of dry wood. There's no hardwood here so we need at least 5 cords.

Forest fires.



Fire. Then it's Gone, 


sundrieing tomatoes

 In a few weeks we'll start tomato and pepper plants. Grow them close to the wood stove heat. 
Sun dried., canned. Tomatoes make living in the bush easier.










 We have one line coming in from a shallow well. Our cabin has no foundation so an insulated box with a small automobile 12v light keeps the pipe from freezing.


 The outhouse's frozen stalagmite is growing. Got to dig deeper.
Outhouse hole being dug
Judo training


saw blade, chain saw blade and head saw teeth.

Everyday is a challenge living in the bush.






 The craft is in using everything and living by our wits. It's so simple. Easy and hard.










Regards,
Aki and Scott


www.caribooblades.com