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A Word in the Woods

A city-dweller's outdoor travels, gear reviews and field tests, survival tips and tricks, camping and canoeing.

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How it’s made: Leather knife roll [Part 3]

“You must have a good sewing machine”

How it’s made: Custom cardholder

The basics of building a fire

Mykel Hawke, smiling

Interview: Mykel Hawke from “Lost Survivors”, “One Man Army” and “Man, Woman, Wild”

How it’s made: Leather knife roll [Part 2]

 

How it’s made: Leather knife roll [Part 1]

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 ...

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New directions: leather goods

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! ...

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Throwing knives for survival

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 ...

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The Rhino Hunter: Radiolab

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 ...

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Canoecraft cover

Backyard cedar strip canoe: Part 1, Introduction

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 ...

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“Father Nature Outdoors” — Camping Blanket

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 ...

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Knife-making with Dean Piesner and Robb Martin

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 ...

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Cody Lundin announces he’s “been fired by Discovery Channel”

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, ...

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Winter Power Outage Tips

  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 ...

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Interview: Ryan Frayne from Windcatcher Gear

  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 ...

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Gear Review: Ribz Front Pack — Land

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 ...

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Advising new campers? Here’s some advice.

“...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 ...

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Making a classic bow-frame saw

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 ...

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Blacksmithing and leatherwork and bushcraft, oh my.

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 ...

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The evolution of the gear closet (part 1)

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 ...

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Are survival kits the “good” silverware that gather dust?

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 ...

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Suzanne Dimma’s Cottage – a Walkthrough

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 ...

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A Day with Pinock Smith

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 ...

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Balance leave-no-trace extremes

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 ...

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Packing up your gear for the end of the season

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, ...

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Time for a wanigan

  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 ...

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Suzanne Dimma’s Wilderness retreat | Canadian House & Home

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 ...

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Trip report: Little Hay Lake

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 ...

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Trip Report: SittingMan Lake

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 ...

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  • Reset. @ Algonquin Park, Ontario https://t.co/fRsHTkNokr October 11, 2022 5:07 am
  • Needed a belt, made a belt @ Toronto, Ontario https://t.co/qjlyCSj9AC August 27, 2022 11:01 pm
  • Just posted a photo @ Toronto, Ontario https://t.co/Ch4FELffhI August 14, 2022 6:19 pm

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