I'm a Scouter

Cool little stove

2007-10-04T08:36:00.000-06:00

Cool Little Miniature Stove! - Funny blooper videos are here

Seven Ways To Light a Fire Without a Match

2006-10-23T16:36:00.000-06:00

via Field and Stream Magazine

Photo: Steve Sanford

Friction-Based Fire Making
Rubbing two sticks together is likely the oldest of all -fire-starting techniques, and also the most difficult. Besides proper technique, you have to choose the right wood for the fireboard and spindle. Sets made from dry softwoods, including aspen, willow, cottonwood, and juniper, are preferred, although a spindle made from a slightly harder wood, combined with a softer fireboard, can also work. The friction of the spindle against an indentation in the fireboard grinds particles from both surfaces, which must heat to 800 degrees?F before a glowing coal forms. This must then be transferred to tinder and -gently blown to life.

Hand Drill
Using a hand drill is one of the simplest friction methods, but high speed can be difficult to maintain because only the hands are used to rotate the spindle. It works best in dry climates.
Step One Cut a V-shaped notch in the fireboard, then start a small depression adjacent to it with a rock or knife tip. Set a piece of bark underneath the notch to catch the ember.
Step Two Place the spindle, which should be 2 feet long, in the depression and, maintaining pressure, roll it between the palms of your hands, running them quickly down the spindle in a burst of speed. Repeat until the spindle tip glows red and an ember is formed.
Step Three Tap the fireboard to deposit the ember onto the bark, then transfer it to a tinder bundle (see “Tinder Bundle” on page 56) and blow it to flame.

Photo: Steve Sanford

Two-Man Friction Drill
Two people can do a better job of maintaining the speed and pressure needed to create an ember using this string variation of a friction drill.

Step One Have one person apply downward pressure to the drill while the other uses a thong or shoelace to rapidly rotate the spindle.

Photo: Steve Sanford

Fire Plough
This produces its own tinder by pushing out particles of wood ahead of the friction.

Step One Cut a groove in the softwood fireboard, then plough or rub the tip of a slightly harder shaft up and down the groove. The friction will push out dusty particles of the fireboard, which will ignite as the temperature increases.

Photo: Steve Sanford

Pump Fire Drill
The Iroquois invented this ingenious pump drill, which uses a flywheel to generate friction. The crossbar and flywheel are made of hardwood; the spindle and fireboard are made from softwoods (as in the hand drill).

Step One Bore a hole in the center of a rounded piece of hardwood and force the spindle in so that it fits tightly. Select wood for the crossbar and bore a larger hole that will slide freely on the spindle.
Step Two Attach the crossbar to the top of the spindle with a leather thong or sturdy shoelace.
Step Three Wind up the flywheel so that the thong twists around the spindle, then press down. The momentum will rewind the crossbar in the opposite direction. Repeat until friction creates a glowing ember.

Photo: Steve Sanford

Bow Drill
Of all the friction -fire-starting methods, the bow drill is the most efficient at maintaining the speed and pressure needed to produce a coal, and the easiest to master. The combination of the right fireboard and spindle is the key to success, so experiment with different dry softwoods until you find a set that produces. Remember that the drill must be as hard or slightly harder than the fireboard.

Step One Cut a notch at the edge of a round impression bored into the fireboard, as you would for a hand drill. Loosely affix the string to a stick bow, which can be any stout wood.
Step Two Place the end of a wood drill the diameter of your thumb into the round impression, bear down on it with a socket (a wood block or stone with a hollow ground into it), catch the drill in a loop of the bowstring, then vigorously saw back and forth until the friction of the spinning drill produces a coal.
Step Three Drop the glowing coal into a bird’s nest of fine tinder, lift the nest in your cupped hands, and lightly blow until it catches fire.

Photo: Cliff Gardiner & John Keller

A dried grass and cottonwood bark tinder bundle like the one above will turn your hard-earned coal into flame

Spark-Based Fire Making
Human beings have been starting fires from sparks since the days of the cave dwellers of the Paleo-lithic era. It is still a vital survival skill for modern hunters and fishermen to learn. If conditions are wet or windy and matches are extremely difficult to light, a glowing spark in tinder uses wind to its advantage to burst into flame.

How To Make Char Cloth
The only naturally -occurring material that readily glows from a spark is tinder -fungus, a corky brown deposit found under scars on birch trees. Don’t stake your life on finding any in a survival situation, though. Carrying char cloth in an emergency kit is a safer bet. To make it, cut strips from any 100 percent pure cotton material and set them on fire. After the strips have blackened but not yet turned to ash, stuff them into a lidded jar to smother the fire. Test your new char cloth by striking sparks onto it. A spot on the cloth should -begin to glow, the glow holding and slowly spreading. If it doesn’t do this, make another batch.

To blow the bundle into flame, make a small pocket in the center. Tuck the glowing coal or char cloth into the pocket, then loosely fold the edges around it. Next, pick up the bundle and gently blow on it. Once it has burst into flame, place it under a tepee formation of small twigs and add larger pieces until a strong fire has been established.

Tinder Bundle
Fire making does not end with the birth of a red-hot coal, nor does a glowing char cloth ensure that you’re going to get a flame. The coal or char cloth must be transferred to a bundle of fine tinder before being blown into flame. Good sources include dried grasses, lichens (including old man’s beard), shavings from the inner bark of aspen, poplar, and cottonwood trees (which burn even when wet), and windblown seed or fluff. The tinder bundle should be roughly the size of a softball and loosely formed to allow air circulation.

Photo: Steve Sanford

Flint and Steel
Striking the softer steel against the harder flint will produce sparks to flame your fire. The curved steel striker provided with flint and steel kits is easiest to use, although with some practice you can produce sparks by using the back of a carbon-steel knife blade. (Stainless-steel knives are usually much too hard to shave sparks from.) An old bastard file or an axe head will also work.

Step One Grasp a shard of hard rock, such as flint or quartzite, between your thumb and forefinger with a sharp edge protruding an inch or two.
Step Two Tightly clamp a piece of your homemade char cloth or a lump of birch tinder fungus under the thumb holding the piece of flint. Grasping the back of the striker, knife blade, or file in your other hand, strike a glancing blow against the edge of flint, using a quick wrist motion. If you’re using an axe, hold the head still and sharply strike the flint near the blade, where the steel is harder. Molten sparks from the steel will fly off and eventually be caught by an edge of the char cloth, causing it to glow.
Step Three Carefully fold the cloth into a tinder nest and gently blow on it until it catches flame.

Another option is to use a magnesium-and-steel tool, which is an updated version of an ancient method that creates a strong shower of sparks. The advantage of this method is that the magnesium shavings flame briefly at an extremely high temperature, eliminating the need for char cloth or tinder fungus.
Step One Using a knife blade or striker, shave a pile of magnesium flecks into a nest of tinder.
Step Two Strike the steel edge of the tool with the back of a knife blade or the scraper provided to direct sparks onto the tinder.
Step Three When the tinder starts to smolder, gently blow on it until it bursts into flames.

Rock Striker
An ideal tool for starting a spark-based fire, the striker should be made of flint for best results. If you can’t find flint, look for quartzite, which is much more common and is hard enough to strike sparks from steel.

Step One Identify quartzite by the many crescent-shaped fractures on the surface.
Step Two Choose a quartzite boulder that is flat or discus-shaped and drop it against a larger rock to chip off an edge. Round or oval rocks are more difficult to break.
Step Three A flake broken from the quartzite boulder is usually sharp enough to use as a striker or knife. If you can’t find one to your liking, break the boulder again.

Grog's Scouting Knots

2006-10-04T16:20:00.000-06:00

Grog's Scouting Knots has links to animations of knots. This is a hand resouse.

Grog's Scouting Knots Index

Scouting Supports LDS Duty to God program

2006-09-20T10:23:00.000-06:00

This came from the morning NCAC Conference on Scouting in Virginia, during one of the break out sessions. Brother Ramos gave an interesting illustration of how the Duty to God program is supported by Scouting, both of which are directed toward accomplishing the purposes of the Aaronic Priesthood. I thought I'd share this excerpt from my notes.

How do the three programs (Scouting, Duty to God, Priesthood) fit together? Brother Ramos took a giant note board to draw a figure. What do we want them (the boys) to accomplish? Purposes of the AP.

He then shared an experience from a meeting with presiding leaders: Elder Holland pulled out the Guidebook for Parents and Leaders of Youth and had the group read from that book. The emphasis was that we need to read about and understand what we are truly trying to accomplish.

The different programs (DTG and Scouting) help us get to the purposes.

Duty to God points the boys toward the Purpose. It gives direction and focus.

DTG was installed as an achievement program, not an activity program. Scouting is a strong arm holding up the DTG (not the ultimate end, but the lever to hold the arrow up).

All of this is built on a strong foundation: family, quorum, gospel, For the Strength of Youth.

When you give up Scouting, you lose the structure, lose the fun, and lose the safety.

I really liked this visualization.

YiLDSS,
D. Brian Walton
Harrisonburg, VA
[scouts-lds mailing list]

Uniforms - Baden Powell

2006-09-12T14:13:00.000-06:00

I have often said, "I don’t care a fig whether a Scout wears a uniform or not so long as his heart is in his work and he carries out the Scout Law." But the fact is that there is hardly a Scout who does not wear the uniform if he can afford to buy it.

The spirit prompts him to it.

The same rule applies naturally to those who carry on the Scout Movement - the Scoutmasters and Commissioners; there is no obligation on them to wear the uniform if they don’t like it. At the same time, they have in their positions to think of others rather than of themselves.

Personally, I put on the uniform, even if I have only a Patrol to inspect, because I am certain that it raises the moral tone of the boys. It heightens their estimation of their uniform when they see it is not beneath a grown man to wear it; it heightens their estimation of themselves when they find themselves taken seriously by men who also count it of importance to be in the same brotherhood with them.

Smartness in uniform and correctness in detail may seem a small matter, but has its value in the development of self-respect, and means an immense deal to the reputation of the Movement among outsiders who judge by what they see.

It is largely a matter of example. Show me a slackly-dressed Troop and I can "Sherlock" a slackly-dressed Scoutmaster. Think of it, when you are fitting on your uniform or putting that final saucy cock to your hat.

You are the model to your boys and your smartness will reflect itself in them.

- Lord Baden Powell

Early Rank Requirements

2006-09-07T12:51:00.000-06:00

BSA now has a new site dedicated to the first three rank advancements.

This site is loaded with video information for the boys as they are working on their rank advance ments.

You can get more information and check it out here.

BSA Online Learning Center

2006-08-31T09:59:00.000-06:00

Have you visited the new Online Learning Center. This one stop shop covers everything from fast start to safe swim defence. Check it out.

This site provides a variety of materials, from quick references to complete courses, all designed to help our members improve leadership skills and deliver a quality program.

E-LEARNING COURSES
These courses can help adult leaders deliver quality Scouting experiences to youth. A log-in is required, however anyone may create a user account and view the courses. Registered members of the BSA may provide their member numbers (as part of the user profile) to receive credit.

MULTIMEDIA
These online exercises are available for informational purposes. No log-in is required.

OTHER RESOURCES
Additional training materials are available online, in print, or on audiovisual media. Click here for descriptions of selected resources.

Inspirational Wisdom - Boys

2006-08-29T09:34:00.000-06:00

Boys come in assorted sizes, weights, and colors. They are found everywhere - on top of, underneath, inside of, climbing on, swinging from, running around, or jumping into. Mothers love them; little girls hate them; older brothers and sisters tolerate them; adults ignore them; and heaven protects them. A boy is Truth with dirt on its face, Wisdom with bubble gum in its hair, and the Hope of the Future with a frog in its pocket.

A boy has the appetite of a horse, the digestion of a sword swallower, the energy of a pocket-size atomic bomb, the curiosity of a cat, the lungs of a dictator, the imagination of Paul Bunyan, the shyness of a Violet, the audacity of a steel trap, and the enthusiasm of a firecracker. When he makes something, he has five thumbs on each hand.

He likes ice cream, knives, saws, Christmas, comic books, the boy across the street, the woods, water (in its natural habitat), large animals, Dad, trains, Saturday morning, and fire engines. He is not much for Sunday School, company, school, books without any pictures, music lessons, neck ties, barbers, girls, overcoats, adults, or bedtime.

Nobody else is so early to rise or so late to supper. Nobody else can cram into one pocket a rusty knife, a half-eaten apple, three feet of string, two gumdrops, six pennies, a slingshot, a chunk of unknown substance, and a decoder ring with a secret compartment.

A boy is a magical creature - you can lock him out of your workshop, but you can't lock him out of your heart. You can lock him out of your study, but you can't get him out of your mind. Might as well give up - he is your captor, your jailer, your boss, and your master - a freckle faced pint-sized bundle of noise. But when you come home at night with only the shattered pieces of your hopes and dreams, he can mend them with two magic words: "Hi, Dad!"

Alan Beck, New England Life Insurance

Switchbacks

2006-08-29T09:26:00.000-06:00

I have head a lot about the new zip-off Uniforma pants but it looks like I will not be able to wear them.

Switchbacks™ Official Uniform Pants, Youth & Men

Enlarge Image

Perfect for all Scouting occasions, these new uniform pants are made of 100% Dupont® Supplex nylon and include a nylon web belt with the Universal Emblem embossed on the buckle.

Developed specifically for Boy Scouts of America, these pants feature:

Zip-off pant legs, turning long-pants into knee-length shorts

Moisture-wicking nylon for quick drying

UPF sun protection

Bellows cargo pockets for carrying items on the trail

Drain holes in pockets for quick release of water if submerged

Pocket bags are micro mesh for drainage and quick drying

Packs small and compact

Additional belt loops to accommodate other program belts

Elastic in the waist for added comfort

Gadget loops for hands free convenience

Back yoke for a perfect fit

Flat-fold seam for durability

Zip ankles for over the boot removal

Gusseted inseam for full range of motion

Woven Fleur-de-lis zipper pulls and tag

Did you know - Woggle

2006-08-29T09:04:00.000-06:00

The woggle is really just a Turks Head Knot.

This knot has been in use by mariners for centuries, and for much the same purpose as what Baden-Powell chose to use it. (Of course the knot has hundreds of purposes) DaVinci purportedly even included how to tie it in one of his documents

Today what is considered a "Fancy Knot" was in its hey day one of the most practical knots to be used on a ship, as a stopper, grommet, marker, friction device, decoration, grip for handrails and wheels, and the list goes on.

Today the most common use of the turks head except in scouting that I know is with leatherworkers on whips and saddles, and with horsehair plaiters. Ships still use a knot to provide grip to handrails, but now they use the easy (and lazy) french whipping.

What's the diference between the turks head and other knots or plaits(braids to some)? Only one strand is used to create the turks head, while other plaits or knots require two or more strands!

More then you cared to know I'm sure!

Shawn Elder - Sunapee, NH

New Camping Merit Badge Requirements.

2006-07-11T08:46:00.000-06:00

I am a Camping Merit Badge Counselor. I have been for several years. In the beginning it was out of necessity. As Scoutmaster, I felt like I was a great person to work with the boys while they were working on the Merit Badge.

Earlier this year one of my former scouts came to me to get me to sign off his blue card. He had passed off all of the requirements except for the 20 days and 20 nights of camping. He is Autistic and a year younger than the other boys in his patrol and did not participate on all of the outings with the rest of the boys. I quickly jumped onto Meritbadge.com to make sure the requirements were the same and I signed his blue card.

My son turned 11 on the 24th of May and bridged into the Troop. I purchased a Scout Handbook and the Boy Scout Requirements Book 2006 for him. While we were looking at the 120 different Merit Badges, and many other awards and recognitions he could earn, I noticed that the Camping Merit Badge requirements have changed for this year.

The next day I checked out Meritbadge.com and these changes have not been updated yet. So I jumped over to the U. S. Scouting Service Project Website to check and see if their requirements were up to date and they were.

Here are the requirements that appear on their site.

Show that you know first aid for and how to prevent injuries or illnesses that could occur while camping, including hypothermia, frostbite, heat reactions, dehydration, altitude sickness, insect stings, tick bites, snakebite, blisters, and hyperventilation.
Learn the Leave No Trace principles and the Outdoor Code and explain what they mean. Write a personal plan for implementing these principles on your next outing.
Make a written plan for an overnight trek and show how to get to your camping spot using a topographical map and compass and a GPS receiver. If no GPS receiver unit is available, explain how to use one to get to your camping spot.
Do the following:
1. Make a duty roster showing how your patrol is organized for an actual overnight campout. List assignments for each member.
2. Help a Scout patrol or a Webelos Scout unit in your area prepare for an actual campout, including creating the duty roster, menu planning, equipment needs, general planning, and setting up camp.
Do the following:
1. Prepare a list of clothing you would need for overnight campouts in both warm and cold weather. Explain the term "layering."
2. Discuss footwear for different kinds of weather and how the right footwear is important for protecting your feet.
3. Explain the proper care and storage of camping equipment (clothing, footwear, bedding).
4. List the outdoor essentials necessary for any campout, and explain why each item is needed.
5. Present yourself to your Scoutmaster with your pack for inspection. Be correctly clothed and equipped for an overnight campout.
Do the following:
1. Describe the features of four types of tents, when and where they could be used, and how to care for tents. Working with another Scout, pitch a tent.
2. Discuss the importance of camp sanitation and tell why water treatment is essential. Then demonstrate two ways to treat water.
3. Describe the factors to be considered in deciding where to pitch your tent.
4. Tell the difference between internal- and external-frame packs. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each.
5. Discuss the types of sleeping bags and what kind would be suitable for different conditions. Explain the proper care of your sleeping bag and how to keep it dry. Make a comfortable ground bed.
Prepare for an overnight campout with your patrol by doing the following:
1. Make a checklist of personal and patrol gear that will be needed.
2. Pack your own gear and your share of the patrol equipment and food for proper carrying. Show that your pack is right for quickly getting what is needed first, and that it has been assembled properly for comfort, weight, balance, size, and neatness.
Do the following:
1. Explain the safety procedures for:
  1. Using a propane or butane/propane stove
  2. Using a liquid fuel stove
  3. Proper storage of extra fuel
2. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of different types of lightweight cooking stoves.
3. Prepare a camp menu. Explain how the menu would differ from a menu for a backpacking or float trip. Give recipes and make a food list for your patrol. Plan two breakfasts, three lunches, and two suppers. Discuss how to protect your food against bad weather, animals, and contamination.
4. Cook at least one breakfast, one lunch, and one dinner for your patrol from the meals you have planned for requirement 8c. At least one of those meals must be a trail meal requiring the use of a lightweight stove.
Show experience in camping by doing the following:
1. Camp a total of at least 20 days and 20 nights. Sleep each night under the sky or in a tent you have pitched. You may use a week of long-term camp toward this requirement. If the camp provides a tent that has already been pitched, you need not pitch your own tent.
2. On any of these camping experiences, you must do TWO of the following, only with proper preparation and under qualified supervision:
  1. Hike up a mountain, gaining at least 1,000 vertical feet.
  2. Backpack, snowshoe, or cross-country ski for at least 4 miles.
  3. Take a bike trip of at least 15 miles or at least four hours.
  4. Plan and carry out a float trip of at least four hours.
  5. Plan and carry out an overnight snow camping experience.
  6. Rappel down a rappel route of 30 feet or more.
3. Perform a conservation project approved by the landowner or land managing agency.
Discuss how the things you did to earn this badge have taught you about personal health and safety, survival, public health, conservation, and good citizenship. In your discussion, tell how Scout spirit and the Scout Oath and Law apply to camping and outdoor ethics.

One big change is in requirement #3. Make a written plan for an overnight trek and show how to get to your camping spot using a topographical map and compass and a GPS receiver. If no GPS receiver unit is available, explain how to use one to get to your camping spot.

How to Find True North Without a Compass

2006-06-30T11:57:00.000-06:00

Which way is north? Whether you're lost in the woods or you're trying to install a sundial in your yard, you're bound to want to find true north from time to time, and chances are when the time comes you won't have a compass. What's more, even if you do have a compass, it will point to magnetic north, which, depending on your location in the world, can vary a great deal from true north. So what's an intrepid explorer to do?
Read this article to find several different ways to find your way.

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