Woodcraft | Page 4

their calculation. And
was I so far wrong? That hatchet was my favorite for nearly thirty years.
It has been "upset" twice by skilled workmen; and, if my friend Bero
has not lost it, is still in service.
Would I have gone without it any year for one or two dollars? But I

prefer the double blade. I want one thick, stunt edge for knots, deers'
bones, etc. and a fine, keen edge for cutting clear timber.
A word as to knife, or knives. These are of prime necessity and should
be of the best, both as to shape and temper. The "bowies" and "hunting
knives" usually kept on sale, are thick, clumsy affairs, with a sort of
ridge along the middle of the blade, murderous-looking, but of little use;
rather fitted to adorn a dime novel or the belt of "Billy the Kid," than
the outfit of the hunter. The one shown in the cut is thin in the blade
and handy for skinning, cutting meat, or eating with. The strong
double-bladed pocket knife is the best model I have yet found and, in
connection with the sheath knife, is all sufficient for camp use. It is not
necessary to take table cutlery into the woods. A good fork may be
improvised from a beech or birch stick; and the half of a fresh-water
mussel shell, with a split stick by way of handle, makes an excellent
spoon.
My entire outfit for cooking and eating dishes comprises five pieces of
tinware. This is when stopping in a permanent camp. When cruising
and tramping, I take just two pieces in the knapsack.
I get a skillful tinsmith to make one dish as follows: Six inches on
bottom, 6 3/4 inches on top, side 2 inches high. The bottom is of the
heaviest tin procurable, the sides of lighter tin and seamed to be
watertight without solder. The top simply turned, without wire. The
second dish to be made the same, but small enough to nest in the first
and also to fit into it when inverted as a cover. Two other dishes made
from common pressed tinware, with the tops cut off and turned, also
without wire. They are fitted so that they all nest, taking no more room
than the largest dish alone and each of the three smaller dishes makes a
perfect cover for the next larger. The other piece is a tin camp-kettle,
also of the heaviest tin and seamed watertight. It holds two quarts and
the other dishes nest in it perfectly, so that when packed the whole
takes just as much room as the kettle alone. I should mention that the
strong ears are set below the rim of the kettle and the bale falls outside,
so, as none of the dishes have any handle, there are no aggravating
"stickouts" to wear and abrade. The snug affair weighs, all told, two

pounds. I have met parties in the North Woods whose one frying pan
weighed more--with its handle three feet long. However did they get
through the brush with such a culinary terror?
It is only when I go into a very accessible camp that I take so much as
five pieces of tinware along. I once made a ten days' tramp through an
unbroken wilderness on foot and all the dish I took was a ten-cent tin; it
was enough. I believe I will tell the story of that tramp before I get
through. For I saw more game in the ten days than I ever saw before or
since in a season; and I am told that the whole region is now a thrifty
farming country, with the deer nearly all gone. They were plenty
enough thirty-nine years ago this very month.
I feel more diffidence in speaking of rods than of any other matter
connected with outdoor sports. The number and variety of rods and
makers; the enthusiasm of trout and fly "cranks"; the fact that angling
does not take precedence of all other sports with me, with the
humiliating confession that I am not above bucktail spinners, worms
and sinkers, minnow tails and white grubs--this and these constrain me
to be brief.
But, as I have been a fisher all my life, from my pinhook days to the
present time; as I have run the list pretty well up, from brook minnows
to 100 pound albacores, I may be pardoned for a few remarks on the
rod and the use thereof.
A rod may be a very high-toned, high-priced aesthetic plaything,
costing $50 to $75, or it may be a rod. A serviceable and splendidly
balanced rod can be obtained from first class makers for less money.
By all means let the man of money indulge his fancy for the most
costly rod