Annual Westcoast trip Barrytown knife making - part two

  This is a studied look of concentration!!  His knife turned out just fine!!  And it is hard work so we had a decent lunch as well!!














Cutting of the excess steel and getting the blade ready for some serious grinding!!  This almost was more hard work then the forging part for some of our scouts!  You could also tell those who live in Dad's garage and who does not!!






ah yess - here you can see Nic being brave and closing his eyes and hoping like heck he won't get hit!!  Luckily for him - he did not need emergency surgery!!

Sir G.H. was mightily please with his efforts!! Although KEEN observers will note the cheating - one axe sticks to the wall on the handle alone!!   Bet you he could not replicate same throw even if he got paid for it!!








One last time for a decent swing!!  Teamwork at its best!! Wonder if we can get one like this build near our Scout hall!!  Would be kind of fun!!
Even better if there is a swimming pool at the front for a decent JUMP in . . .        ^^

All fun comes to an end and here the youth can bee seen polishing the knives. Now such is my repudation for cutting fingers that Steve now takes the edge right of during this process and then later adds it back on.  He has three standards of sharp -
1 -sharp,
2 -extreme and
3 -religious -  (as in Jesus Christ this I S  sharp - Steve's words) Naturally everyone asked for a number 3!!

Here the edge is being added back on!  Sparks are flying - indicating a reasonably hard steel !!


















All in a days work - now do they not look really beautiful???  Magnificent species and all HAND made!!  not many places in the world where you can do this!!   www.barrytownknifemaking.com

check out their website!!

17,000 knife's later this never fails to impress and these guys certainly had no problemo posing with their new hardware!!










A picture says a thousand words!!  Wonder what
Nic was thinking, with that wicked grin on his face!! Maybe I need to sit down with Brodie and have THAT talk with him about bear-etiquette  :)














I tossed this pic in because it is so quintessential New Zealand.  This inquisitive Weka decided to make of with my Stave, and he nearly succeeded too.  There are plenty of stories from trampers who leave their boots outside the tramp huts overnight - only to have to search for them over a large area the following morning!!



We decided to give Shantytown a visit - and naturally all had to test their gold panning skills!! AMAZINGLY all  found some nuggets in their pans!! Wow!! How lucky can you get!!!
While there we inquired  about their education program- we may come here next year and do a full immersion program.  Could be fun!!

Another successful Westcoast trip camp concluded!!


 

Annual Westcoast trip Barrytown knife making

Yup - every year we take a group of scouts to our wonderful westcoast and get them to experience with a hands on practical way some real westcoast comforts - let alone crafts and history.  This year we went to Barrytown where Steve and Robyn helped us make the knives!!  The weekend started in typical westcoast fashion - the confirmation of our booking of the local community hall has got lost in the System and we were not expected.  Ended up talking well after 9pm to some locals who know someone who knew someone else . . . .    by the time we got a key and we came back the lights were on in the hall and the door open.  hmmmm scratching of heads - turns out that our Scouts - ever helpful - suggested a urm *cough* semi legal - or is that ill-legal entering via a toilet window. Problem solved. (rest assured we did catchup with the owner who left us a key and invoice, of course - he never know HOW we eventually got in)

Army style camping at Barrytown Community hall

Bunked down and settled in for the night - next day we split the group in half - one lot went of to see local Doc (department of Conservation) lady officer and checked out the track conditions in the bush, while the other half went of in search of steel and forge and excitement.Oh it should be said too that the scouts got a good old fashioned reveille wake-up call bright and early!!

 Pretty much the only time we let scouts loose with the fire - in a controlled way.  Heating up the steel until it gets to a nice orange glow!!












Shaping the steel - which determines the final look of the blade.  It helps to visualize a big bad bogey man and use that as a stimulation for the hammering!!












In-between times when you wait for instructions to the next stage you can amuse yourself with some ninja stars or little throwing axes and AIM for the wall - amazingly some occasionally missed the wall altogether!!  Even more amazingly Ruru volunteered her NIC to hang five on the wall and well - the kids missed every time!!! Pheewwww poor Nic!!  Pic to follow)





Checking out the directions and the times it takes to get there.!!  3 hour hike - should be a breeze - and luckily for us it was not raining!!









Mini-conference - last checks - time clocks co-ordinated - water levels checked - chewing gum checked - urm lets roll!! Scouts walked in to Cave Creek - scene of a tragedy with a Doc platform collapsing and killing some youth on a outdoor trip!!  The area itself is just stunning - but this particular spot will always be tinged with sadness!!





If you stop long enough to smell the roses - you can also meet some of the locals!!  After suitable introductions were made, these two got on very well!!








Continuing on the hike - after all we had previously marked out a decent spot for a lunch stop.  It was a real hike - with the track at times ankle deep (or more) in mud and at times washed out!!  There is of course plenty of  scenery to see and admire.  The scouts also passed off some of their badge requirements!!












What are the first rules in the bush??? Shelter and nourishment.  So we took with us a tarp that acted as a roof - once suitably hung from surrounding trees by ropes - and used bowlines for knots!!






You know what they say - a watched kettle never boils - or in this case a duck soup with some real wholesome veggies and pre-boiled chicken stock! All in all it was yummy and rounded of nicely with fresh fruit and some high energy chocolate muesli bars!!

After we signed back out from our hike (yup - the idea is that you let someone know where you are going and then sign back out - if you fail to do so here in NZ they will start a search and rescue mission - especially if you are several hours late) we went across the road and stomped briefly around NZ's pancake rocks! An amazing rock formation complete with blowholes (need high tide for that) and booming sounds!!


Resourcefulness is one of the attribute that spring to mind!!  The single light bulb wasn't enough to see the food in the pot, let alone if it was boiling , soooooo problem solved, and as for height issues - this little pocket rocket is very inventive indeed!! Dinner at the end of the day was Spag - bog with veggies and a self saucing chocolate pudding with ice cream!!  Calorie count - be damned for the weekend!!
With the "what happens on camp stays on camp" folklore in mind - all we can say here is that a Dad who came with us pointed out to us a certain scout and said "well done for getting him to eat his veggies!" - we won't tell his mum that!!! shhhhh our lips are sealed!!