Helle Nying

I thought I'd give the cool little Nying knife I bought at a garage sale last Saturday a closer look. I knew exactly what it was as soon as I spotted it from across the garage, and I knew I wanted it as well. I have had one of these stout little knives in my hands before and immediately knew it was a knife I'd like to own, though I didn't buy it that day.

The Helle knife factory in Norway turns out some fantastic knives. The style isn't particularly American, but I have long held the theory that the best knife for a given region is the ones the locals carry, not the one that is best advertised in the hook and bullet magazines. This might be a machette in the jungle, or a small blade without a hand guard, much like the majority of the Helle knives are. This is a fantastic example of a small Scandinavian knife, and while I won't give you a disertation on the variations of Scandinavian knives with respect to the local regions, I have yet to handle a Scandinavian knife that didn't seem "right."

One of the two places I know of to buy a Helle knife in the USA is over at the Ragweed Forge website (the other is Dryad Bows). According to Rangar, "The Nying is a short stubby knife designed for fishermen. The handle is generously proportioned to give a good grip even when your hands are cold or covered in fish slime. The 2 3/4" blade is laminated stainless steel. The attractive leather sheath has a distinctive cutout. It is fitted with a keeper strap, which engages a stud on the pommel, and a suspension thong. (Blade is 2 3/4", length overall is 6 3/8".)
This knife received the prestigious Norsk Designråd Award for design excellence."

As you can see, the size is small, but no smaller than a typical Swiss Army blade, and, I think, more useful, and most defiantely more stout. Besides being easier to grip with "cold or slimy hands", the thick birch handle also is less fatiguing for long periods of knife work. The weight is essentially non noticable. I look forward to carrying this knife with me this summer and next fall and really putting it to some work.

Garage sale finds

I went garage sale shopping with my wife today. I rarely find anything more than a paperback book that I "have" to have, but today I found a few things... as soon as I saw the knife from across the garage I knew what it was, and I new I "had" to have it. At $10 it was a steal, and then I noticed the books as well, and I added four good books to my library for $2.25. I am a big fan of Helle knives, and this little traditional Scandinavian knife is a gem. It's the Nying model, and it fits your hand (at least my slightly small hands) like the proverbial glove. I can't wait to sharpen it up to razor and put it to good use. It looks like it hasn't been used much at all, and the guy I bought it from said his buddy bought it while he was in Norway.

Firesteel contest

Wow. That is about all that I can say, I am flabergasted, I won the firesteel contest over on American Bushman's blog. I get a custom sheath from JRE industries for having the "coolest" homemade firesteel. Hard to imagine because I saw the competition's, and they were very purty!

Axe sheath

I finished a project that I have been meaning to do for quite some time.... and axe sheath for my "bush" axe which I bought at a yard sale three or four years ago. I didn't want anything fancy, just a basic blade cover. Despite the scrap leather it turned out pretty nice, although I am not 100% sold on the closure mechanism I made, it'll do nicely for now. I used a scrap of ebony and made the button... and of course had to put an elk stamp on it as well.

First float

My lovely wife and son came with me last night to christen the new ship at a local city park pond. It was fun, and by golly, it floats just fine! Spent about 15 minutes on the water. She'll behave quite a bit better with oars or a kayak paddle I think, but other than that and the runners on the bottom helping with straight line tracking, I am pleased! Very stable, I should be able to fly fish and bowfish out of her no problem.

Boat is done!

Well, we'll just say it is done for now. Sealed, calked, ready for the water. Eventually I will add oars (and oar locks of course), and possibly a front seat or bench. But it'll be on the water this coming weekend for the carp shoot, and I am pumped! It will be a while before I start another project this big.... but all in all I enjoyed it and am pleased with how it turned out. And you can't spend this much time and effort building a boat and go out and buy a paddle or oars, so I made a paddle as well.

And as a side note, please go and check out americanbushman's firesteel contest. If you like my creations, I'd appreciate your vote.

red oak bucksaw plans

I ran across this article talking about the virtues of a bucksaw. I recently bought a blade from a closing sporting goods store for $0.50 with something similar in mind, so I am looking forward to tackling this much smaller project after my boat is completed in the next couple days.

Bluegill fishing

I have been out fishing for bluegills a handful of times since school let out for break. Pound for pound, bluegill are my favorite fish I have ever caught, and I live them because they provide plenty of action and they'll take most anything you throw at them.

I learned to fly fish (and fish in general since I haven't done much of any other kind of fishing) on bluegill, my older brother and I would ride our dirt bikes down to a local pond on those calm, cloudless nights of my childhood and catch a stringer full of fish each. We'd ride home and my dad would fillet them up, my mom would cook up a gourmet meal and we'd use the carcasses for tomato plant fertilizer.

We have had some of those bluebird days and with the weather heating up, now is the prime time to get out on a float tube and catch some slabs.

My dad and I did just that and "found" a new lake that, although I am a lifelong Boise resident, I had no idea existed. Quinn's pond apparently used to be a lumberyard pond of some sort and it's deep, cool water and almost complete lack of other fishermen called us in for a relaxing afternoon of casting.

We caught quite a bunch and my dad fixed up a bluegill ceviche that was great! Here is the recipe he used. If you haven't had a ceviche before, you have to give this one a try. It is fabulous! Ours turned out a bit too lemony and not hot enough, but feel free to adjust the recipe to your taste. Also, a more crunchy-chunky type of ceviche is a little more traditional, but it would take away from the delicate flavors of the bluegill.

1 lb deboned fish fillets
1/2 medium white or red onion finely chopped
1 cup of pure lemon juice
1 diced large tomato
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of powdered sugar
1 finely chopped jalapeno pepper
(Use these measurements as a general guidline.)
Place whole deboned fillets in a deep glass baking dish placeing them as flat as possible. Add the lemon juice, onion,salt,and sugar in the dish. Be sure that the lemon juice completely covers the fillets. Place the dish in the refrigerator for about 2 hrs. After 2 hrs, put the jalapeno, cilantro, and tomatoes into the dish and stir lightly ensureing to moisten all of the ingredients. After 1 hour your fillets will be fully cooked with the lemon juice. Stir the ingredients into a nice medley and enjoy with your favorite cracker or dipping chips.


Bon appetite!

Western States Traditional Rendezvous

Last weekend was the Jim Brackenberry Memorial Western States Traditional Rendezvous (WSTR) hosted by the Idaho traditional Bowhunters and held at Magic Mountain Ski Area near Twin Falls Idaho.

It was a blast. I had so much fun meeting new folks, wishing I had deep pockets to buy some (more) gear.... lots of goodies from several vendors.

There were three 3D courses set up and available to shoot at all times of the day "until your arms falls off." Two of these courses were set up to shoot on a nice walk downhill after a breathtaking trip up the chairlift.

I made some good shots and missed the target completely, but I enjoyed every minute of the experience. This was my first event like this, but it won't be my last.

There was a "water torture" shoot that I really enjoyed. Played head to head, the object was to shoot your jug of water thus emptying it, before your opponent empties his. Speed counts, but so does accuracy, and the trick is complete pass throughs at the lower 1/3rd of the jug. Yardage was about 10, and the action was quick and lively. I surprised myself and made it into the second round and almost past that as well!

I also shot my first "smoker" round, which was a blast! Only one arrow was allowed, and those not shooting wood arrows were playing just for fun. However, the winner that was shooting woodies got half the pot or a really cool "war" arrow that someone donated (1000 grains, 100# spine, this thing was a LOG!). Ten targets placed in very tough, brushy areas broke more than a few arrows. I was shooting carbons, but managed to shoot all ten targets, including the steel plate potato and sheriff which demolished my arrow. Lots of laughs on this course, you can bet I'll be playing this again!

Although the chances of any of the vendors chancing by here and reading this, I do want to thank the ones I can think of off the top of my head for showing up and for the conversation! I enjoyed meeting all of you!
-Archery Past
-Grizzly Bows
-Whispering Wind Arrows
-Spirit Longbows
-Knives By Victor
-Camp Chef
-And there were several more that I just can't think of off the top of my head, but thank you for coming, the event wouldn't have been as successful without you there!

Wow, so much packed into such a short amount of time. I took 70 or so photographs, so be sure to check out the slide show below!

Thanks for reading!

Been Busy

I have been busy these last couple weeks, fishing, shooting my new bow, working on the never-ending boat project and generally spending my time outdoors as much as I can.

In the next few days I'll be posting about the:

-Western States Traditional Rendezvous
-Centaur longbow review
-Bluegill fishing, along with a fantastic recipe
-Boat update
-Bowfishing for carp
-Axe sheath

So I hope you tune in, I plan to get it all done before school starts back up next week.

Thanks for reading!