Two Sticks and a Peg Wood Joint

The other day I was watching a Ray Mears video on youtube, and he demonstrated how to make a really cool pot hanger for cooking over a fire.  In his video he used two forked sticks, cut so as to look like a fish hook as opposed to a slingshot frame.  The cool part was how he joined the two long ends together.  At first when he was working on it I thought he was just going to lash the two pieces together.  What he did turned out to be way cooler!  He made a joint that could be taken apart or put together easily, by removing or inserting a square peg.  The only tool needed to make the joint is a knife, but a small saw makes life a little easier.

Anyway, I couldn't resist trying to make the joint, so when I was out running in the woods today I picked up two pieces of ash.  Here is the result of my first try (Its not supposed to work the first time! Something weird must have been going on today).

Hopefully you can see how the pieces fit together.  When the pin is in tight, there is no movement in any direction.  It feel very solid.

I am excited to try making a spear shaft with this joint.  I will have to trim the peg down so it's flush with the wood, and probably wrap the entire joint with cordage for strength.  It should work though.

The advantages of a two piece shaft would be portability (because you can take it apart), and ease of repair (if part of the spear shafts gets broken you only have to replace that half).

Making A Penny Stove

I have been looking at penny stoves for a while now, and I finally got around to making one.

I used two pop cans, and one fruit cocktail can, and a penny.  The fuel I am using right now is rubbing alcohol. The tools I used were tin snips, a marker, a hammer and nail, a drill, a can opener/hole puncher, and a pair of pliers.


Here is how I made the stove:


First I gathered some tools and my two pop cans.

2 pop cans, a 2X4, a marker, and tins snips.

Next I drew a line on the pop can, using the 2X4 as a guide.

After I had a line on both cans I cut off the top half of the can.  This left me with two can bottoms.

I took a pair of pliers and carefully crimped the edge of on of the cans. I did this so it would fit inside the other can.

I took the non crimped can and used the hammer and nail to make a series of holes around the edge, as well as a larger hold in the middle.

The next step is to carefully put the two halves together.  It is important to go slow, so you don't split the can by accident.  When the halves are together they should look like this.

The stove is now complete.  I could use it as is, but I would need to use rocks as a pot stand, and I still need a priming pan.
I decided to make something that would act as a priming pan, pot stand, and wind guard, all at once. 

To do this I began with a large metal can.  I drilled a series of 1/4'' holes around it, about 3'' up from the bottom.  I also put some holes around the top, to let gasses escape. 
This setup pulls air into the can, where it mixes with the alcohol vapour and combusts.  It then leaves the can through the vents at the top.

The stove inside the pot stand

I don't have enough 1/4'' holes in this picture.  I added another ring to make the stove burn better.

Now that my stove is finished, I tested it by bringing a cup of water to a boil in my favourite camping pot. 

The fuel used for priming the stove is burning off.

This is the stove burning normally.