Traditional

The Alaskan Log Cabin Valet Tray.

Posted on January 26, 2023 by akadventurer

This started as an idea for a contest at printables.com;

https://www.printables.com/contest/334-catch-all-trays

Here is also where this model is on that site;

https://www.printables.com/model/380531-the-alaskan-log-cabin-valet-tray

Figured, if Anyone should/could be designing an EDC related item for printing, it would be me, right? 😉

Problem is, I don’t use the things!

I had one idea for this but brushed it off as too… hokey? I dunno, too rediculous in some way.

The more I thought about it, I couldn’t get really entheused about it, because I don’t use the things… I have a specific place I put current carry, its a dump place, but I’ve never done the whole box/tray/ whatever thing, unless I’m house sitting somewhere and need to Create a safe place. Its just not ever been a me thing at home.

But, THEN the more I think about it too, it could be a fun project to model my idea, and who cares if its a little over the top on a theme? So, for the fun of it, Iwent ahead and did it.

I give you, The Alaskan Dump Tray.
Or The Log Cabin Valet tray.
You’re choice.

Click this image to show the full-size version.

And the Mini version,

I got a little carried away, I have it as a fully parametarized file(As in it runs in the OpenSCAD customizer pane, there all parameters are easy to edit by Anyone with the software, no 3D or coding experiance needed..Poimt and click without editing the model(s)) Can change; The log height(count), log diameter, inner area length and width, turn on or off 1 or 2 inner walls, and move the two inner divider walls around(although they always cross and make 2 compartments equal length… I’m too lazy so far to cut it up and make it 4 walls if wanted), and the inner wall height and log diameter is settable independantly of the main walls, and each other.

The big one Barely fits on my printer, and actually is barely big enough for what I’d want/need.
The little one was a compromise of print time, and space… I can get my average knife, light, multi and watch into it.. Although ironically todays items don’t fit. lol. I printed the little one to have something to take pics for the contest, and because it was only 4 hours to print. The big one would take 7.5 hours, at my coursest resolution.(I printed the small one course for both time, and I figured the rough layers would look better for logs… it does fit I think!)

For this one I went with 3 courses, 10mm dia on the outer walls, and 8mm on the inner wall, seemsed like a good look, and a nice scale. Fresh off the printer!

Some shop gear “EDC” in it;

And, some of today, the basics.

Overall, I’m rather happy with it! Looks like I wanted, and isn’t anything bad like I’d imagined it might end up. I think it came out just fun and interesting, not over the top on “Alaska” or log cabin woodsie LOL.

Categories: 3D Printing, Boxes, Custom, Daily-cary-log, EDC, EDC/MT use, Engineering & Design, Just Plain Fun, key-chains, knives, Life-Philosophy, New Gear, OpenSCAD, PLA, Plastic Parts, Prototypes, Retro, Theory/Thoughts, Traditional

Glass on the 30-06…. Again..

Posted on June 1, 2022 by akadventurer

put a scope on my Remington 700 again, something I swore I’d never do.
Last time it wore glass was fall of ’15. I’d put a scope my buddy Swany gave me, on it just the fall before… Great gift, great scope, fit the gun well, worked fine etc. Theres a post on that Somewhere on this blog..
I just discovered that I Hate the feel of a rifle with a scope, and the added hassle of taking care of it.. Not that I throw a rifle around anyway, but can be Much less careful without a scope on them, and the balance and weight and area to grab it is so much better!

Back story being the rifle always had a 3-9×32(Navajo Rhino, yes thats a scope brand/model! that was put on it when it was new in ’67) on it as long as Dad had it, but the adjustments broke on me in ’13 and I ran it in just its iron sights that year and loved it. Went back to a scope basically out of assumed habit that time. It took exactly 2 hunting trips, 1 year for me to decide No, and I went to a peep sight and fiber optic front, since all my hunting was moose, low land, and sub 100 yards.

But at this point for the hunting I’m really enjoying, high country alpine tundra, and caribou, its harder without a scope, its simply long range hunting at probably moving targets.. Too steep of a curve with even a good peep sight, for me anyway. At this point.

SO, once again, scope is a gift from a hunting buddy, its been on his 30-06(a sporterized vintage 100 year old Enfield!) for at least 20 years.. He retired the rifle last fall and offered me the scope knowing I wanted to try one again for our high country hunts.

The one Swany gave me was a 3-9×40, older production Tasco World Class. Great scope, but bulky, and it now lives on my Marlin model 60 .22
This one is a Simmons, 3-9×32, much less bulky, still old enough to be well built, and been surviving on an ’06 in Alaska for decades, I (should) will know not to worry about it.

Putting it on now since I have to go do a range trip to check sight in anyway before the bear trip, and figure what the hell, can’t hurt. Ironically the longest ranges for bear this trip will probable be 100 or 150 yards at the extreme max. Even with the scope on and max point blank of my load being around 320 yards, I probably wont let myself shoot past 150 to 200 extreme max anyway… But we’ll see.

I have a terrible feeling I’m going to hate it again, but trying to give it a fair chance.

Thankfully rings and bases I had for the Tasco work for this. Want to say its Leupold rings on,,, Can[t remenber the bases. Been a while… lol. Had to steal the screws from a new set of Weaver rails, couldn’t find the ones for these bases, must have stole them for something else.

Yes it seems to sit well back… SO did the Tasco. I actually need it back a touch more for perfect eye relief, with the recoil pad I have on… But its good enough. If I REALLY like this, I’ll cut the stock and re-mount the recoil pad at a good LOP for me and fix it… Should probably do that anyway its a touch long regaurdless of the sights, but not as a problem.

One nice thing, the peep sight base is fully side mounted, so I’m leaving it. Its also index marked, and the rest of it as an insert is locked, and marked, as is the front sight… IE it can drop in and I’ll know if anything is off. I think the allen wrench for the rings and a screwdriver are going Everywhere with the gun, with the rest of the peep sight, if I ever need to swap back.

Categories: Guns, Hunting, Gunsmithing, Backcountry, Field gear, Rifles, Shooting, Traditional, Scopes and Sights

Field Notes Covered!

Posted on September 22, 2020 by akadventurer

Been trying to post this for a week or two. For a while now I’ve wanted to make a leather cover for the Field Notes I carry. Like, a year… or more.

But every now and then I stop carrying thrm for a while. Like this sum

mer I stopped because it was one less item that I would be touching in stores, out and about, that I couldn’t really disinfect in any way. I went to using my phone for to do lists and time cards at work(covid free zone cause no one else is there.. well, mostly), and memorizing shopping lists.
At work its been ok, except where I need to take fast notes, measurements, and layout diagrams.
And it never worked for lists.
So I’ve gone back to carrying the notebooks. And to wanting a cover to help keep them from disintegrating.
I had a cover before, got in late 2011 but it was made for a thicker Moleskine book, which I used it with for a couple years off and on. But to not be too floppy when I transitioned to field notes in 2014, it had to have at least 2, 3 better, in it. Too thick to carry easilly. Which I did do for a while.
But it became too cumbersome, and I went to naked single notebooks. And then found that the naked notebooks get torn up a lot.
After a while I went to wrapping all new Field Notes in a layer of heavy duty packing tape, to keep them more colorfast, and less fragile. But even then they can still get pretty beat up before I get through one. Especially if there is a lot of carry and little use, like this summer.
So anyway. I don’t have time to make anything. Or really to think about making anything. The old rule rings true, you can have time to do things OR money to do things. Not both.
I love the job I have, ain’t complaining. Just missing having time for other things… 😉
So anyway, I broke down and started shopping/browsing. And after A LOT of narrowing it down, I bought a couple things that normally I’d prefer to make.
I wanted simple thin leather, 3 to 4oz flexible but abrasive resistant… And real leather.
And the front and back pockets that slip over the cover on the book. Thats really hard to narrow down, so many makers do the Midori/travelers style with the elastic bands in the spine, no hold for the covers. I want to open the leather, and the notebook as one, not have to open each separate.
And Just those pockets. No credit card slot, no pen holder, no hold shut strap. And hug the notebook like second skin, not a arctic parka 3 sizes too big.
And not $100 freaking bucks…
So.. I found what I liked, then what I REALLY liked, and at a bit more than I wanted to spend (figured about $25 was good for paying a craftsman, where they profit but I don’t get gouged) I figured what the hell and did it. Was About $35.
Super glad I did!!
So it turned out to be thicker leather than I wanted. And it doesn’t hug the edges of the book as close as I’d have liked.
Its actually bigger in footprint in both thickness and area, as the old cover I had. The old cover I stopped trying to use because it was too big in pocket, and uncomfortable.
This amazingly disappears, I can’t feel it at all!!
Yeah, anyway, shut up and show pics AK, I know…
Old and new

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Inside (came with a single graph craft notebook, a pleasant surprise)

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And the outside showing why I splurged and got this. Some of you will remember a slight obsession I have with compass rose designs… Just couldn’t pass this up! Its laser engraved, and surprisingly deeply.

Here is a link to the nakers shop, if anyone is interested.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/LostSkeletonsBrandCo

The only disadvantage to using this is any of the Field Notes quarterly eddition I get, I don’t get to see the fancy covers. And since I just got several packs of special editions, I’m feeling this loss. But just because I have the cover doesn’t mean I ALWAYS have to use it.
So I think I can find a happy medium where I will still get to see the more special notebooks.

Categories: Compass Rose, EDC, Field gear, Field Notes, Journal, Leather, New Gear, Notebooks, Soft Goods, Traditional

Plus one nib, 2.0!

Posted on September 22, 2020 by akadventurer

My other new pen came in finally!

Took almost 1 month even to get here, but it made it!

This one is really, really, really expensive… $4.50. And it took $2.50 for shipping. lol.

It’s a Jinhao 996. Just couldn’t pass up a tiger print pen! Its really solid, nice and hefty, if not all metal its close to it. Feels like an F nib, smooth writer so far. Came with a piston converter in it too! I have a sample of Monteverde Cherry Danish in it to start.

Would Not feed from filling the converter separately, even after forcing ink all the way up through the feed… Un filled and filled with converter in the pen, through the nib/feed, and then its perfect, no issues at all.

I hate filling that way, tends to get too wet on the feed and you always end up dipping the grip section and getting messy. Hopefully now that its primed itll flow/fill the other way from now on.

My only slight complaint is that the cap doesn’t post very securely on the back of the pen. I have to press it on then twist s little for it to grip. Even then its not really secure, and takes verry little to come off. You cant shake it off, but any grip of the cap and it comes off.

It’ll be fine, it stays well enough for writting, but you can’t fidget with the pen much between sentences.

But anyway…

And with the Prefounte.

Categories: EDC, Fountain Pens, Ink, Just Plain Fun, New Gear, Pens, Traditional

Snack knife to Hunting knife.

Posted on July 30, 2020 by akadventurer

Little post a few days ago mentioned getting this knife back into my travel kit.
Good thing I did!
Its actually not been in the truck, but in my lunch/snack box. One day a little while ago, transfering gear to a friends truck to go shooting(target) I grabbed the snack box for a light lunch.

That meant that later I had a sharp single blade thats easier to clean than the twin blade I was pocket carying, when an impromptu bunny hunt came up..

Little fur ball kept getting curious about the sound or something and running out into the range (gravel pit) we were using.

He knew I’ve been wanting to rabbit hunt a while, so my buddy said go for it if I wanted. 3rd appearance of the critter, 2nd active stalk I managed to connect before he completely disappeared again.

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Great knife for the task, thin point was easy to control, handle comfortable, good reach, and laser sharp.

Guy that was with me gave a couple ideas and left me to it, so I just basically taught myself to clean/skin a rabbit. He said I did great especially when he found out I’d never cleaned anything but fish before!

Was too hot and tired that night to do the grilling we’d planned, but roast bunny is on the menu soon. Will take pics!

Categories: Adventures, Alaska-Life, Case Knives, Cowboy, EDC, EDC/MT use, Field gear, Food, GetOutdoors, Good Friends, Good Times, Hunting, knives, Outdoors, Pocket knives, Preparedness, Summertime, Traditional, Truck EDC, Truck gear, Wildlife

About that Muskrat.

Posted on July 26, 2020 by akadventurer

Yeah, backup blades of the same type aren’t my thing. I’m more for multiple blades in different styles, for different tasks.
I can see how it would be, as these were originally meant as a skinning blade. Use it till dull, swap blades and keep going without having to change your way of doing things to compensate for a different blade. But I don’t do that kind of repetitive work that warrants a direct replacement blade.
So, yeah.

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Ended up with a nice lambsfoot profile. And just about the same length of edge as is on the sheepsfoot in the stockman.

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Usually I do the back or pile side blade for this, but the curve of the frame leaves more access to the nail nick on the front/mark side blade, than if does the other. So I did the front. The main blade used will be the straight edge anyway… Might as well make it the mark side blade, usually considered the “main” blade side.

Slight swedging and blend of spine edges.

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Might touch the “peak” on the spine a bit to straighten the overall look of the blade. Then again I might forget. It doesn’t really need it.

Categories: Case Knives, Cowboy, Customized, EDC, Field gear, Grail Item, knives, Life-Philosophy, Modifications, Pocket knives, Re-purpose, Theory/Thoughts, tool mods, Traditional

Finally A Mini Muskrat!

Posted on July 16, 2020 by akadventurer

So…I did manage a new knife last month. Something I’ve wanted for a while. They’re pretty rare among the brands that make traditionals, even in vintage models, and extremely rare in contemporary brands.

A mini muskrat. 3-5/8″ or thereabouts stockman frame with twin opposed clip blades.

Case made one until a few years ago. They’re kinda like finding hens teeth and when you do they’re gold plated teeth.

Took a while(couple years actually!) to find a good deal on one I liked.

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Supposedly a 2016 model, haven’t run the tang myself yet. Handle is butterscotch corelon. I’ve read that no pins in the scales on composite handles generally means a rehandle job, or a contract knife handled outside Case. For Corelon that tends to mean they were handled by Frost. It’s almost a flawless job, extremely good fit and finish, I’d never know Case didn’t do it.

I managed to score it brand new, unused, no box, for $35.

Used Mini Muskrats not in corelon(an expensive material, why I don’t know) tend to be a $70 to $100 proposal.

YES, It was a gift from God! No other way I’d ever get that it that price!

Categories: Case Knives, Cowboy, EDC, Grail Item, knives, New Gear, Pocket knives, Traditional

Dressy? Black? Orange? Fancy? Expensive? YES!

Posted on July 12, 2020 by akadventurer

Got a new watch a couple months ago. Another Citizen Eco-drive. (Thats 3 in the stable so far!)

I had been wanting to splurge after my first check @ the new job. And get a new knife. I hadn’t done that for ages, and there was something I’d been looking at for a few months.

Buf I just couldn’t do it. I gave a lot of knives and another is hard to justify (not just in $ cost) unless im 100% sure of it. I couldn’t get past a 60% “yeah… but…” on that one. More on that in a future post though.

So anyway, I then went through bookmarks, and my Ebay watch list from the then previous few weeks, for anything else I Really wanted. Settled on a watch I’d seen.

I refuse to have batteries in watches, or at least ones that need changing, so I tend to browse through the current Citizen Eco-Drive solar models from time to time. I have two, my Chrony, and a Divers model that a friend gave me before he passed away. They’re solid, reliable and bombproof (literally. That Dive watch survived an incident with some poorly fused C4 once!)

I Hadn’t actually bought a wrist watch since 2012 or 13(a fancy Timex expedition with compass, that I could never make work right). And hadn’t gotten one at all since the the Seiko 5 another good friend gave me, around the same time…

What I’d found was a dealer offering factory refurbished watches. Not necessarily used, but ones that had needed going over. Figure New Old Stock (NOS) thay hadnr sold in a retail setying. Damn good prices!

Unfortunately what I’d liked was now sold out. So I then spent 2 days going through models and re-picking… Man, that was hard! I’ve got a short list of about 6 that I want now! Lol

I ended up really wanting to get the first one I saw, so shopping around other dealers, I found one not refurbished, but actually new, for a decent price.

Here’s the thing. They do this watch in two models, same watch, on different bands. The one I’d picked was on brown leather. The other is on a metal link/deployant style.
I’d liked the one on metal, but wrote it off initally as a bit too spendy. But the best price I could find on the New leather model, was now $5 from the refurbished metal banded one.

So yeah, I went for the metal banded one, since leather is cheaper/easier to fit aftermarket if if turns out I don’t want the metal. And the metal band model was still well below retail, or other going prices online.

I hate to brag on cost, but I’d just bought a $300 retail watch that goes for around $150 average new online, for $85 shipped. The first leather band model was $56, when the refurbished one was available… So I did spend more than initially planned, but it was still a fantastic deal, and a better option on bands in the long run.
Anyway, yes I know, shut up AK and show us the damn watch. 😉