Category: DIY

Winter Count 2011

~ George Crawford ~ Leave a comment

A few photos of the vardo in the desert at this year’s Winter Count.  Along side the usual survival skills, I also taught another simple shoe class.

Click the photo to see more uploaded images of the little vardo in action.

This ghillie shoe class was busy again and I think we had about 16 participants.  It’s always more work for the students than I think it will be as many have not had much experience working and cutting leather.  I think they all came out great though.

Porch and Rack

~ George Crawford ~ 8 Comments

A photo of the new “porch”.  I didn’t really need more sticking out in the back but it will serve as a bumper and handy surface I’m sure.

And a drying rack over the stove area.  The hooks will be useful for lanterns, tools, cookware, and wet socks.

With such limited space (about 50 sq. ft.) pegs, hooks, and little storage bins tucked away in all the furniture make all the difference.  Click either photo to get to the rest of the vardo photos.

Backpack

~ George Crawford ~ 20 Comments

As if the evenings weren’t busy enough.  I had the urge to create something large from leather.  This is probably my biggest project of this type to date.  It’s a bit heavy compared to lightweight nylon of modern packs but it will probably outlive me.

It took the better part of an oak tanned cow side and some harness leather for the straps.  It was a load of work for somebody as lazy as I am but an interesting puzzle to design and put together.

It can hold a long weekend’s worth of goodies or a laptop, small SLR camera bag, and field gear.

It will darken and become much softer with some neatsfoot oil.

Oiled and ready to use.

Some new vardo pictures

~ George Crawford ~ 2 Comments

I put up a few pictures of the nearly finished vardo.  Of course, there are many little things I still plan to do and add, the basic wagon is livable now.  I hope to eventually find a smaller stove to fit as this one could easily get too hot for the space it’s in.

Also, I published my first Instructable and received some excellent feedback.  I tried to put the Vardo build in a sensible order and post it where it can be easily found for a long time.  Here’s the link to the “How to Build the Gyspy Wagon”. If you have an Instructable account, you can vote for the best woodworking project.  I would appreciate a good vote as I could use the tools being given away.