Check out the guys at The Frugal Outdoorsman

I found this site a few days ago. I'm pretty sure anybody that enjoys this blog will enjoy it too.
http://www.castbullet.com/index.htm

Woods

Fishing is good!

Fully intended to take my daughter hunting this morning. We woke up to a downpour. Cold, windy and wet are not my ideas of good hunting weather. The deer only hole up in thier beds and the only shots are gotten by jumping them in thier bed. We decided to spend the morning in front of the wood stove rather than waste the gas driving 20 miles each way. By 9:30 the rain stopped. Instead of hunting we went and got some worms and headed out to a big pond in a local park. Due to work schedules we didn't get much fishing time in this year. We intend to not let that happen again. Ten minutes after we arrived there was honking in the distance. Shortly there was the first of four flocks of canada geese joining us at our pond. Again I found myself time traveling. When I started hunting it was on waterfowl. A love of owning and using vintage firearms soon ended that passion. Thanks to the mandate of steel shot. Now I find myself soon to be out of work, and having few prospects for full time work. Newer non toxic shot alternatives have been developed. None are cheap, but, some are downright gentle on those vintage gun barrels. There is a huge pile of cedar and basswood planks out in the shop. I think by next fall they could become a rig of hand carved dekes.

Yes fishing is good. It gives you time to put things in perspective. Life is good when your in the woods. The deer will still be there Thanksgiving morning. And we will be there with them

Woods

A blog to check out

Not long ago I stumbled accross this blog http://manta-bushcraft.blogspot.com/ .After following it for a time I want to shine the spotlight on Manta. His projects have given me some inspiration towards a few of my own. His workmanship shows. As a former quality assurance guy I love seeing that. All too often home made ends up meaning makeshift and cobbled up. His stove alone has made me rethink sending an old stainless steel portable gas grill to the scrap yard. I think part of it will end up becoming a small stove for our camp and homestead use.

Woods

** A note. The term cobbled was in no way meant to be derogatory towards those practicing the fine art of shoe making.

Six hour canoes and chamber inserts.

Recently the book "Building the Six Hour Canoe" arrived at my local library. As promised I checked it out. It seems to be a viable project, however the instructions call for 4x16 sheets of marine plywood, not your average home center stuff. There is instructions on how to use 2 4x8 sheets with a seem in the middle. Also the completed canoe has a strict load limit of 250lbs. The 250lb weight limit rules out this project for me. I'm in the mid 240's on a good day and don't have room for something that can't at least carry one of my daughters with me. I also doubt the six hours in the title. A week of 2-3 hour sessions would probably be more like it. And I consider myself a moderately fast wood worker. The $65.00 project gun is in semi limbo until after either I buy supplies at this weekends gun show, or my Gun Parts Corp order arrives. I have already owned a 2.5" 410 adapter for 12 gage chambers. I have never used it due to 2.5" 410's costing twice what 12 ga shells cost. I may one of these days come accross some cheap 410's. Or I may get around to converting my stash of .444 marlin brass into brass 410's. Until then it will probably remain unfired. I did two weeks ago order a 12 ga to 9mm converter on ebay. It arrived within a few days. Made from aluminum by an outfit called Dina Arms. I was skeptical at first. Reviews I could find on the web weren't promising. Most claimed extreme inaccuracy. Because this project is meant to show that a practical survival gun could be built on a budget I ordered one anyways. Yesterday I grabbed a partial box of cast bullet mystery reloads. The thing functioned as promised, and at first the reviews seemed right about accuracy. First ten rounds were minute of garbage can lid at 25 yards. Shooting at a 3x5 index card with no markings everything went into a 12" area starting about 3" above the target. On the 11th shot I hit the target almost dead center. Carefully I opened the gun and noted that the 9mm stamping on the converters head faced down. This time I carefully reloaded the insert into the gun and made sure it went in exactly in the position it came out. This shot cut the edge of the previous one, the next two shots brought the group up to 2". I should add at this point it was raining a steady drizzle and my glasses were getting foggy. This calls for more tinkering. I am watching wear on the inserts rifling. I have a ton of cast bullet reloads to shoot, I am very skeptical about shooting jacketed ammo. Copper is much harder than aluminum and I suspect the adapter would wear out quite quickly. One other thing, I expected the report to be less due to the length of the shotguns barrel, it was actually quite loud. And, you'd be amazed at the amount of crud that goes out the end of a pistol barrel and stays in the shotgun barrel. In a few weeks I will order an all steel adapter from MCA and see how it shoots. I'm leaning towards a 32 H&R magnum adapter this time. I have a bunch of 32 S&W and 32 Longs kicking around. The other option might be .30 carbine, I have several hundred rounds of those. The other idea I'm toying with is .311 round balls meant for my muzzleloader thumb pressed into any of the above casings over a bunch of black powder. I've also considered and ruled out 30/30 or 45/70 adapters. I am leary of pushing the pressure in my guns frame as I'm pretty sure it's ductile iron like most cheap shotguns. Woods

Some times I think this stuff just finds me!

So, my day starts like this. It's my day off and I'm laying in bed at 8:30 am. I'm listening to the rain fall and staring at the ceiling. A ceiling with very old dirty paint on it. Wouldn't be so bad, but, I painted the walls last summer and Pelenaka has been stripping and staining the woodwork on her days off. So this ceiling is out of place with everything else so nice and clean. Also there is a 2'x10' section that has been primed where I did some repairs. Pelenaka comes in from work and asks what I'm going to do today. "Maybe you should get around to paintting the ceiling" she suggests. And she's right, I hate painting ceilings and it's time to stop procrastinating. It's three days before payday and I have no pocket cash. I head to the bank and get $20.00 for another gallon of primer. Primed it will at least all be clean and white. On payday I'll grab some bright white and second coat it. Until then I need to prime over the dark paint in the hall too. So, that should keep me busy. So, I get my money from the ATM and head out. Worse than painting ceilings is going into work on your day off. Working for a home center has both it's advantages and disadvantages. So, the thrift store is a block from the bank and on the way to work. I was just there last thursday, but, I'm in procrastination mode. I wander about looking for wool clothes. I'm on a kick lately to replace my hunting clothes that are getting worn out. In the background I hear some snobbish woman make a comment about that homemade wood trunk being nasty and who in thier right mind would pay 10 bucks for it, blah blah blah. Homemade is one of those keywords that set me going. I've had a few wooden boxes on my to build list anyhow. Wanting them for camp gear and bug out kits, I head over to check it out. Needless to say when I saw it I headed for the checkout before anybody could recognize the pricing error. It just happens one of those wooden boxes I've had on my to build list, is a camp kitchen. A camp kitchen just like the one I happily paid $10.00 for!

I raced home and put a bunch of enamelware in it(also thrift store/garage sale finds). Pelenaka loved it when she saw it. Last weekend she found a mint condition very early Coleman cooler. The kind that the handle folds up and keeps the lid closed. Her only request is that I fit it with a piece of metal inside the lid. Her idea is a place to work that will be easy to clean. I have a piece of aluminum flashing that should work perfect. Now I suppose I should get around to building the cupboard to match it. Part of my wifes dowry was a late 1960's mongomery ward tent camper. Maybe this year will be it's restoration year.

If that's the case maybe a 1969 Dodge Power Wagon will find me. A red one, stepside, with a white cab roof. Just like the one dad bought new in the fall of 68.