This is the first entry in a 3-part series about the planning and construction of a custom leather chef’s knife roll. To view just the photos, visit the gallery on Facebook. Part 1: Discovery and ...

A city-dweller's outdoor travels, gear reviews and field tests, survival tips and tricks, camping and canoeing.
This is the first entry in a 3-part series about the planning and construction of a custom leather chef’s knife roll. To view just the photos, visit the gallery on Facebook. Part 1: Discovery and ...
As many of my readers already know, I've been working with leather for a while now, and I've decided to jump in with both feet and start my own leather goods and accessories company! ...
From the first time I saw James Coburn play the ultimate badass in the 1960 classic The Magnificent Seven I (and I suspect many of my readers) thought, "How cool would it be to have that ...
We live in a world where compassion often quickly turns to outrage, which in turn can express itself as vitriol and disturbing calls for retribution, as evidenced in the recent reaction to Cecil the ...
So, I've done it! [The Story so far] This is the first in a series of posts about building a backyard cedar strip canoe. Follow along as I research, cost, plan, schedule, and possibly fumble my ...
Most successful bushcraft is about creative problem solving and sharing of knowledge, resources, and support. I owe a lot of my current level of experience to the generosity of others, and I'd like to ...
Knowing as much about my tools as I can has always been the way I've been wired. It's the reason I took up an interest in blacksmithing in the first place — I took a one-day historical society course ...
Cody Lundin, "Dual Survival" television host and survival and primitive living instructor, announced on his Facebook feed yesterday (February 17, 2014) that he has been fired by Discovery Channel, ...
December, 2013 — although it usually means mild times in Toronto, a severe ice storm has left a good many residents without power, and by extension, heat. The temperature as I write this is ...
A Conversation in the Woods I recently caught up with Ryan Frayne, Co-Founder of Windcatcher gear, and inventor of their flagship product, the Windcatcher Air Pad. He was nice enough to ...
It was 28°C (83°F), and the humidity was up. My back had been a little bit off of true for the last year (sneeze-and-your-knees-might-give-out sort of pain), and while I had been looking forward to a ...
“...but I'm not looking for anything hardcore, yet.” I'm often asked for advice about outdoor trips, and every once in a while, the person ends the question with the above statement. I find this ...
I'm the first to admit that despite my love of the outdoors and the woods, I'm relatively unschooled in the fine art of woodworking compared to some. Natural wood has a life and character unlike any ...
Like most people, I have a variety of interests. Sometimes, the popular pastimes that appeal to my colleagues and friends don't hold that same draw — I don't play golf, or follow sports. Some of my ...
Gear: Fit is everything. Good gear selection comes from knowing what you want out of it, and a large part of finding that out is by knowing what it's like to deal with an inferior product, or having ...
I recently read a brace of posts from fellow outdoor blogs, The Oak and the Mountain, and Wood Trekker talking about survival kits. Now, the reason I came across these posts was because I was ...
Who says a secluded retreat needs to be rustic and run-down? House & Home's Suzanne Dimma and 3rd Uncle Design's Arriz Hassam walk viewers through their amazingly designed cottage in this ...
On January 15, 2011, I had the distinct pleasure of spending the day with Pinock Smith, a master builder, known for his traditional canoe-building methods. I first heard of Pinock in the second ...
Perhaps not something that everybody likes to hear, but I, for one, found myself nodding along with many of the points in Don Tryon's Leave-A-Trace editorial page. He makes the point for a ...
I came across an article on this subject from the Ontario Parks Insider enewsletter. It's a quick overview of the main tasks to think about when you're squirreling your gear away for the off-season, ...
I'd like to talk about one decision I've made when it comes to kitchen on a canoe trip. There's a part of me that wants to go as ultra-light as possible, knife and a flint striker and ...
Suzanne Dimma | Canadian House & Home Great blog post about Suzanne Dimma's cottage build. I'm very very jealous. She describes the truly epic process that it took to get her dream cottage ready ...
So, I'm long overdue on the trip reports. I started a new job last year, and I'm coming up on my first anniversary in a week. The time has flown by, and the crunch of new responsibilities has died ...
This was a good trip for my friend Keith's first time into Algonquin, in terms of what to expect for canoeing, since the Tim River to Rosebary, and then on from Longbow to Sitting Man Lake (our final ...