Making Wood Bowls

I finally got a lathe, it's a Craftsman 15" benchtop with variable speed. I bought it from my neighbor who also turns bowls.


It all starts with a bowl blank. This is a piece of birch that is ready to be turned. Any hard wood and some soft woods will work.


After about 45 minutes, the bowl is roughed out like this. When roughing a bowl, you have to leave about 10% of the final bowl size to allow for drying. When drying it can warm and checker (crack).



Here are a few bowls that I have turned on my lathe so far. Next I want to make serving platters, cups and goblets.

Another Trip On Base

Went out to my test site on Base for a couple hours. It was about 20 degrees and cloudy, as usual. I decided to wear my old Military clothing instead of my Cabela's Berber Fleece. It worked pretty well. My base layer was synthetic themal bottoms and a t-shirt. The mid layer was a polypro top and my fleece GoreTex liners, top and bottom. Outer layer was GoreTex.












It took me 45 minutes to make fire. Everything was wet. Between my cotton balls and lint I was able to get it going, but it took awhile to dry out the wood. Need more practice for sure.

Short Trip with the Wife

My wife and I played hooky from work today and decided to do some hiking. Didn't go out too long, but was able to practice/teach fire making and try out my new pac boots. Everything was wet so making fire was tough, but we got one going using cotton balls and TP that I carry. It was a real treat to see her so excited to be out there with me. She even got to see an Eagle. It was a great time and I hope she comes out more often. My boots are Ranger Peak Pac Boots that are rated to -80 degrees. They worked very well. It was snowing pretty good then turned to freezing rain then back to snow and was in the mid 30's. what a beautiful time of year in Alaska.

Guns I Have and Have Owned

These are guns that I have owned throughout the years. The first three I no longer own and I sure do miss them.

Savage 300 Winchester Magnum bought for Alaska Big Game hunting.

Taurus PT 92 9mm my first pistol.

Beretta 9000s 9mm bought for conceal carry.

New England Pardner 20 gauge my first shotgun when I was 15.

Winchester 1300 12 gauge my first pump shotgun.

Taurus PT 111 9mm my second conceal carry gun.

Sig Sauer 2340 .40 S&W bought in Alaska.

S&W 15-22 22lr bought for plinking.

Taurus PT 709 "Slim" 9mm my last conceal carry pistol.

Another Short Trip

Got some new gear and decided to try it out. Took my new Cabela's Scout Pack and it worked perfectly. I was able to carry everything I needed and still had room to spare. It rode good and was very comfortable. Total weight of my pack was 20 pounds. The high temperature today was 27 degrees, but as usual my Cabela's Berber Fleece kept me nice and toasty. I opted to make a shelter using my new tarp. It's a 4'x8' green tarp I got from Sportsman's and it worked great. Staked the corners and added pine boughs to lay on. I also took a wool blanket and my 20 degree REI sleeping bag, which kept me warm all night. I decided to make fire using a few different methods as well. I used a magnesium bar and then a firesteel. I also used a 12 volt battery with some steel wool to make fire. They all worked very well. This time of year it gets dark around 6:30 so by 8 pm I was sacked out. The sun rose about 9 am so I broke camp and headed out. It was another successful trip in the Alaskan Bush.

Another new item I took was a Pocket Rocket Stove made by Mountain Safety Research. It worked very well for heating up water and let off a surprising amount of heat too.

Sunset over Six Mile Lake

Lower Six Mile Lake

Heading to my camp site

Overlooking the lake

One of two Bald Eagles I seen. They seemed to be following me.

Looking at the Chugach Range.

New Hunting Pack

Finally got my new hunting pack today. It's a Cabela's Elite Scout Pack. They offer it in a regular or large size. Mine is the large and holds 1,500 cubic inches. It is constructed of CT450 Plus material that makes it super quiet. It has 2 outer pockets and 2 inner/main compartments. With the added compression compartment it is easy to shed outer layers and keep them secure. I currently have all my hunting clothes in it, plus all my EDC items. I even strapped my sleeping bag to the bottom. The pack also came with a 2 liter water bladder. The camo pattern I chose was Seclusion 3D Outfitter to match my clothing. I haven't had it long enough to configure it exactly how I want, but so far I'm impressed with it. I hope to take it out soon for a field test.

Buffalo Mine

A friend and I headed out to Buffalo Mine today. We left Anchorage at 10 am and got to the trail head around 11. First mishap happened right after we unloaded the 3-wheelers. The cord on the starter pulled out on my ATV so it had to be pull started all day.

We headed East across Moose Creek. This bridge was a bit hairy but we made it with no problems.

The view from the bridge was awesome.

This was overlooking an old coal mine, about 2 miles down the trail.

Then the real issues started. Both ATV's started cutting out and would continue to do so the rest of the trip. What a pain.

View of Elks Lake

My buddy was able to get a nice grouse. I almost ran it over with my ATV.

Beautiful Country out there.

Taking a short break.

We ended up taking a trail to Jonesville Mine, which was about 10 miles out of the way. There were so many trails out there it was easy to get turned around. I think we zigged when we should have zagged. I hoped to be home around 5, but we were still in the woods at that time. Luckily we found the right trail and found the truck around 5. I ended up flipping my ATV 3 times trying to go up some steep trails. It was a great trip and I had lots of fun, but I bet I'll be sore tomorrow.