Seriously behind on my blogging now – life has lots of distractions for me at the moment (trying to learn Coding and French to name two). Looking back on my photographic filestore I came across some pictures of a cadet campcraft come bushcraft weekend from last Easter.
Friday
The Sea Cadets were only joining us on the Saturday so the Friday was a relaxed day of set up in the beautiful Pippingford Park in the Ashdown Forest. I was working with my friends Dave, Alan and Jess.
Friday set up
Saturday
The cadets joined us first thing and thankfully brought the breakfast along with them – courtesy of the camp chefs. Then it was straight down to classes such as erecting tents, mapwork and kit. Evening time was spent around the campfire – these introductory campcraft weekends are for some cadets the first time they have ever slept out in the countryside.
Cadet time
After the cadets had bedded down for the night I tried out a little night time photography with my Samsung phone camera – I was surprised that the lens captured all the detail of the tree tops.
Sunday
Early Sunday morning found me with a cup of coffee in my hand – supplied by our very own Warrant Officer – Dave Lewis – not often a Petty Officer receives such an honour – I did think he was after something 🙂
Settling in
Straight after breakfast it was back into class. The cadets covered some First Aid, cooking on stoves, packing kit away and some more nav.
Classes and more classes
A Bit of Bushcraft
While out and about I did come across a Badger Set that was covered in tracks and other sign. The other sign included spotting their latrine and the snuffle marks their snouts leave in the humus layer.
Badger time
There was little in the way of fungus at this time of year except for the big Bracket fungus and the Birch Polypores. I also spent time turning grass into rope and looking out for early buds starting to poke out.
As per usual there was time to have a brew (and gave me an excuse to use my cranes).
Keeping my hand in
It will not be long to the next cadet camps in 2019 however I am told it will be an Advanced Campcraft course in the mountains of North Wales – looking forward to that one.
My ongoing quest to learn all I can about campfire cranes has brought me to this Heavy Duty Crane (just something I have made up to describe it).
This crane works on the same principle of the Simple Dovetail Campfire Crane I documented in a previous post. The main differences are in relation to size and how you adjust the height of the pot above the flames.
I see this crane more for the long term camp due to its size.
The Heavy Duty Crane
I constructed the crane using just an axe, saw and knife. I chose a pole that had been cut down a number of months ago (sycamore wood) so it was fairly well seasoned (the girth of the pole was just big enough so that I could not close my fingers around it). Green wood would work well enough for the short term however as the wood dried out you may find the dovetail joints you create would loosen slightly.
Sawing
To begin with I sawed the pole into two pieces. The cut was about a third of the way along the length from the tip (the thin end) of the pole – this would become the arm. The bottom two thirds of the pole (the thicker end) would become the upright.
Start with a long stout pole
The Arm Joint
Using my axe and knife I carved the thicker end of the arm piece into a triangular shape. I took my time over this to ensure all the sides were as even as possible (carpenters measures with my eye).
This would form the ‘male’ section of the dovetail joint on the crane.
On the arm piece carve a triangular end
The Upright Joint
As you saw in the first picture in the post the upright has a number of female dovetail cuts carved into it. Make as many as you see fit however due to the length I had I opted for four.
To help me in carving the female notches on the upright I used the triangular section on the arm as a guide. I marked out two triangles on either side of the upright making them fractionally smaller than the arm triangle (remember you can always take wood off – it is harder to put it back on again).
I also off-set the triangles slightly so that the tip of the arm would be pointed slightly upwards when it was inserted (you do not need to do this if your arm has a bend in it). Joining the tips of the two triangles I scored a guide line for my saw.
Once that was done I made a cut with my saw on each side of the triangles and a couple in the middle.
Use the triangular end as a template to cut out a socket on the upright
I used my knife and a piece of wood to batton (hitting the handle of the knife with a stick) out the excess wood, tried the arm to see if it fitted and then kept on carving out the notch until the arm fitted the notch. This takes time but if you take it slowly you will get a snug dovetail fit between the upright and the arm.
Once I was happy with the first joint I started the process slightly lower down for the next joint.
Chip out the excess wood and repeat
Make sure you leave a few centimetres gap at the between each triangle so that the joint remains strong.
The bottom two pictures show how the arm connects into the upright. I like to have the apex of the triangle on the arm slightly protruding from the female section of the joint on the upright.
Ensure you have a snug fit
This process takes time and when I made this upright I completed two in the evening and the other two the next morning (hence the change in t-shirt). Taking my time though meant that I had four snug joints that would be good for long term use.
Carve as many notches as you wish
Finishing the Upright
To finish the upright I carved a point at the base and chamferred the top. All this is designed to make it easier to insert the upright into the ground without causing damage to the joints.
Point, chamfer and test
The ArmÂ
I have a tendency to make crane arms in a standard way. After axing out a basic shape (taking care not to touch the triangular end) I formed the final shape with my knife.
I like to put lots of notches along the upper side of the arm to give the bail handle of my pot something to sit in. Having lots mean that I have the ability to adjust the placement of the pot on the horizontal plane as well as on the vertical plane using the upright.
Carve the arm
To finish the arm off I usually put a little dimple near the tip of it so I can hang an adjustable pot hanger off it if needed (picture later).
Add a dimple if you want an extra pot attached
I like to use a stout stick as a pile driver when using a crane so that I do not damage the upright when putting it into the ground.
The ground in my garden is fairly loose so it was not a problem however some of the sites I use can be quite hard and stony.
As this crane was to take heavy weights I really compacted the earth around the base of the upright and gave it a few more taps to drive it in. If you remember to chamfer the top and give the upright a strong point you should be able to drive the upright in securely.
Use a pile driver to insert the upright
My first test was to see what weight the crane could take. I filled my Super Potjie Dutch Oven about half full and filled the group kettle up.
With some cranes you can see the arm bend when the pot is put on however when I added all this weight it did not shift in the slightest.
Below you can see how the adjustable pot hanger is attached to the end of the arm (into the dimple).
Crane set up with extra pot holder
Testing
My sister sent me my favourite treat of the year – a Guga (young Gannet) and I cooked it outdoors using the Heavy Duty crane.
It took the weight easily enough however I did trim about a millimetre (the girth) Â of the triangular section so that it could be easily inserted and extracted from the upright as I sought the ideal heat.
I had the pot low down at first to boil the water and then raised it so it would simmer gently for an hour.
Unlike the adjustable dovetail, the lap joint and Aures cranes you cannot fine tune the height of the arm but you do have a reasonable height difference that can take a lot of weight.
In action (a comparison in size with the adjustable dovetail crane)
Treated well this crane could last you for many years and takes up little room around the fire. If you are doing a pioneering project yourself or with a group this is an ideal project to undertake.
