If all you really care about is how to make a powder horn, go read the other post. If you want to learn the word “scrimshander” and find out pretty useless trivia about Nova Scotia, while seeing more pictures of the powder horn with designs etched into it, you’re in the right place.
Thanks to the Reader’s Digest Back to Basics book, Gordon decided his powder horn wouldn’t be finished until he did some scrimshaw. Continue reading
After Gordon finished building his black powder rifle, he decided he wouldn’t be able to look actual mountain men and reenactors in the eye unless he also had a powder horn. So naturally, he made one.
We have a local leather store that also sells cow horns. Making a functional powder horn is pretty straightforward. If you want a pretty/fancy/impressive powder horn, you will need to put some more work into it. Continue reading
To be fair, cooking during a power outage really isn’t that difficult. You can use any camp stove, a solar oven, your barbecue, or anything else that starts on fire (like a fire). But if you have a lantern and a pot, you can cook and light the house at the same time.
We used our lantern to cook Myzithra cheese spaghetti because all you need is enough heat to boil water. And it is made entirely out of ingredients that can last for a while outside of refrigeration. And we really like it. Continue reading
As far as I know, Gordon has never participated in a Civil War reenactment. He does spend time at mountain man rendezvous (rendezvouses?) though, so I wasn’t really surprised when he wanted to build a black powder rifle.
I bought him this DIY .50 caliber Kentucky rifle kit for Christmas last year. I think he was a little disappointed at first because it seemed too easy—like the lego kit version of a gun. But once he started the process he realized he had a lot to do to really finish it well. Continue reading
I’m sure you’ve heard that back in the day, things were built to last. Not like our plastic-filled, easily breakable, planned-obsolescence modern trash. And that’s probably true about a lot of things. Take cast iron pans, for example. My great-grandchildren will still be using mine.
Sometimes, though, modern innovations have made things much, much better. Take this lantern lamp, for example. The good old fashioned plug on it might last for decades, but it might also burn your house to the ground. Continue reading
Gordon gags when people say upcycle, because it usually means they’ve taken something useful (like a pallet) and made it useless (like a sign that says “Love is Everything” or “Live, Laugh, Love” or “I don’t need love, I have wine”). But this is a post about upcycling and he’s just going to have to deal with it. Continue reading
Yesterday’s road trip post got you as far Stinky Springs, but if you’ve made it that far you really ought to check out the Golden Spike National Historic Site. Because we grew up in Utah, the transcontinental railroad featured heavily in our history classes. Plus, Gordon loves trains. So here are some more stops on your road trip out to Utah’s west desert: Continue reading
