I am heading into the woods of Alaska for 3 days with no sleeping bag or tent. I am going to sleep in a survival shelter, make a forge, make a charcoal kiln, make charcoal, forge and make a knife and do it all in extreme cold weather alone in the wilderness.
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FunTranscript
00:00Luke here with the Outdoor Boys YouTube channel, and I'm making a knife in the middle of Alaska's
00:06wilderness.
00:07I'm going to be sleeping in my own shelter, building a forge out in the woods, making
00:10my own charcoal kiln, and forging a knife from scratch.
00:30It's been a couple weeks since I've been here at the shelter.
00:46We got quite a bit of ice and snow since I was here last, and it sealed up the shelter
00:51really well.
00:52Well, I think I better bust out my shovel and start digging things out.
01:23Alright, that looks pretty good.
01:25I think it's time to go find some kindling though.
01:29I'll tell you one nice thing about this cold weather, it made the snow so hard you don't
01:34need snowshoes.
01:52Well, I want to get a roaring fire in here pretty quick because I want to figure out
02:05how much of this snow is going to melt.
02:07And I don't want to be underneath here when that happens.
02:10So whatever's going to melt, I want it to melt before it gets dark tonight so that I
02:14can have a nice dry bed to sleep on.
02:19Oh, my firewood is so wet.
02:25It rained really good before it got cold.
02:27I've got to prop it all up and get it to dry out before I can use it.
02:31Alright, we're going to let that fire thaw out in the shelter, get everything warmed
02:35up.
02:36And I'm real excited to build a forge out here and do some blacksmithing projects tomorrow,
02:40but I'm going to need a lot of charcoal.
02:42So I'm going to build a charcoal kiln, and I need a lot of wood.
02:58I think I'm going to go ahead and start cooking some lunch.
03:00I'm getting hungry.
03:04I've got some frozen salami I want to thaw out.
03:07Put that right there.
03:08I've got some cheese wrapped in tin foil.
03:12Let's do it.
03:43Ugh.
03:47Ooh.
03:51Oh, that smells amazing.
03:52I've got a big slab of soft cheese covered in a fig marmalade.
03:55Just warmed it up over the fire.
03:57Got it already pre-cut into little cubes.
04:00Got a nice Italian salami.
04:04There we go.
04:05Warm cheese, a little salami, and some fig sauce.
04:13There we go.
04:25We're going to use this to make our charcoal kiln.
04:42Oh.
05:12Whew.
05:42Whew.
05:58I've got the wood jammed in there about as tight as I can.
06:12There's a lot of snow and moisture in these logs.
06:23I'm going to try to get as much of that moisture out before I put the lid on.
06:27You can already start to see a lot of steam coming out of the barrel.
06:33You can hear the water sizzling in the bottom of the barrel.
06:35Not going to get any charcoal until all that water's gone.
06:39Oh, yeah.
06:40That's really taking good.
06:41A lot of steam and a little bit of smoke.
06:45Still feels pretty cool in the middle, though.
06:47We're just going to let that go for a nice long time.
06:50I'm going to be checking on this fire on and off all night long.
07:02All right.
07:03I think it's time to start making this place comfy.
07:05I'm going to put my animal hides in there.
07:11Got a couple caribou hides as a mat.
07:13A nice buffalo hide as a blanket.
07:17Oh.
07:22It's hard to see on the camera, but every now and then the smoke coming out of the barrel is catching on fire.
07:27You can hear the wood popping and stuff, so I think we're starting to get some charcoal on the bottom.
07:32But most of this smoke coming out of here is actually just steam.
07:37It feels wet.
07:40Pieces like this are still wet.
07:44All right.
07:45I'm going to go ahead and cook a baked potato here.
07:56Let's get this thing surrounded by coals.
07:59Let's get this thing surrounded by coals.
08:03For dinner, I thought I'd cook myself a whole chicken.
08:05I'm going to go ahead and spatchcock this bird, which is basically a way of preparing it so it lays down flat.
08:11Makes it cook a lot faster.
08:14Just cut either side of the spine and take the whole spine out.
08:28Salt and pepper.
08:43Salt and pepper.
08:46Let that roast.
08:59See how we got flames coming out?
09:01Still a lot of steam coming out, but look at that.
09:07Look at the flames coming out.
09:10Once I consistently see flames coming out of the barrel, then I know it's time to put the lid on.
09:18Just keep this fire going all night, and hopefully tomorrow we're going to have a whole bunch of charcoal.
09:23All right, we're going to go fill this up a couple more times.
09:25Make sure we've got plenty of water for tonight.
09:28It's a long tradition that you have to burn at least one thing when winter camping, and I think it was my water bottle.
09:34It's got like a goiter.
09:35I set it near the fire to keep it from freezing and got it a little too close.
09:40Yeah, I better take care of that.
09:42It's my only water bottle on this trip.
09:44I'm going to go ahead and put the lid back on.
09:47It's looking good.
09:56All right, let's check on the charcoal.
10:10That's hot.
10:11See the bottom of the lid is covered in wood tar, starting to come along.
10:34Little jar of gravy here, it's pretty frozen.
10:36Get that warmed up, got some frozen oil, got bacon chunks, green onions, yellow onions
10:48and chives frying in a little butter and oil.
10:56Definitely overdid the baked potato but that's okay.
11:03Butter, salt, pepper, chives, onions, bacon and a little bit of gravy on a very overdone
11:09baked potato.
11:10It's a little charred on the outside but the inside is still good.
11:14Alright let's take a look at this chicken.
11:16Oh that looks pretty good.
11:21You know it's done when you can just pull the leg off and you don't have to cut it.
11:26I'm going to try some spicy honey barbecue sauce too.
11:32Oh that is a good potato.
11:33Oh it's so hot.
11:35Oh that gravy is just tangy and good.
11:38Oh I like this spicy honey barbecue sauce.
11:42Slow roasted chicken over a fire is hard to beat.
11:52That was good.
12:01Got a little dessert coming our way.
12:09This is a little Australian cookie called a Tim Tam and if you bite the ends off then
12:16you can use it as a straw.
12:18Then all the hot chocolate melts the inside.
12:23That is a Tim Tam slam right there.
12:25It's definitely feeling colder on this trip.
12:29I've got a thermometer out in the tree over there.
12:30I'm going to go check it and see what it says.
12:35Yeah it looks like it's about 3 degrees Fahrenheit right now.
12:37Alright I'm going to bring this inside the shelter and see how good of a job I did building
12:41this thing.
12:42Alrighty.
12:43I'm going to go ahead and just stick it right there on my bed.
12:49We're almost 30 degrees.
12:50Just a little below freezing.
12:51It's kind of fun.
12:52Look at all the icicles it's made.
12:56Alright I'm going to go grab some wood real quick and I'm going to get ready for bed.
13:11I'm going to use my jacket and gloves as a pillow.
13:15I'm pretty tired.
13:16I think it's time to go to bed.
13:19See you guys in the morning.
13:23Good morning.
13:24I'm pretty warm even though the fire's gone out.
13:27My feet are a little bit cold.
13:29But I need to get up.
13:32My hide froze to the logs.
13:35There we go.
13:50That burned down pretty good.
13:52I can't remember exactly but I think I built the fire under that barrel around 3pm and
13:57it's 8.30am right now.
13:59So 17 hours it's been burning.
14:01I think it's time we crack it open and see what we got.
14:04I expect it's not completely done but we'll see.
14:13The barrel's much lighter.
14:16Alright.
14:23Look at that.
14:30That is great charcoal.
14:35There's some pieces that aren't done all the way through.
14:38This will work.
14:40It's so light you can just feel the difference.
14:47You can see that some of it down there is still cooking.
14:53Well that seems to have worked reasonably well.
14:56We're going to let that sit with the lid on while I go make some breakfast.
14:59Hopefully it will cool down a little bit more.
15:06Alright I'm going to be making a tin foil breakfast.
15:09It's hash browns, sausage, bacon and vegetables.
15:14You can hear it sizzling already.
15:17Let that sit and cook for about an hour or so.
15:22Alright.
15:53One more.
16:08That looks pretty good.
16:10I'm going to add some of this spicy honey barbecue sauce.
16:23Oh that looks good.
16:30Look at that.
16:32It's 10 o'clock and it's all sunny.
16:52Alright.
17:07I've got my forge and my anvil set up.
17:09You work the billows by pumping the handle up and down.
17:12And that turns this flywheel which runs a fan and blows air into the coals.
17:17Unfortunately the grease on the forge has frozen up.
17:20So it doesn't want to work very well right now.
17:23I'm going to go ahead and get the fire going and I think that will solve my problems.
17:47So there's a little tooth right here in this gear.
17:51And when you spin the hub the centrifugal force puts the tooth out.
17:55And it grips the inside of this gear and engages the flywheel.
17:59There's a lot of grease in that hub.
18:01And that grease is cold and so sometimes the tooth isn't coming out and engaging properly.
18:09I think warming it up is helping it work a little better but it's still got problems.
18:17Let's see if that helps.
18:21Yeah, that's working.
18:24So I got a piece of leaf spring steel from a broken ATV trailer.
18:28We're going to go ahead and heat that up and we're going to try to turn it into a knife.
18:35Alright.
18:46There we go.
19:16Alright.
19:35There we go.
19:37I'm almost done using up all the bad charcoal.
19:39This stuff still works pretty good.
19:47Alright.
20:01I'm starting to get into some really good charcoal here.
20:03This stuff is burning great.
20:17I was thinking how I want to replace this with a metal handle.
20:22Alright, it'll still work.
20:24It's just going to be a lot more work.
20:46Alright.
21:01We'll let that cook for a couple hours.
21:03While I've got the forge cleared out I'm going to go ahead and empty it.
21:06There's a bunch of coals and ash down there and the fan won't turn.
21:16Alright.
21:47Alright.
22:01I need to sit down. This is going to be a while.
22:07You know there's a common myth amongst metal workers that files should only be used in one direction.
22:12Turns out that's not true.
22:14It works a whole lot better if you do it in both directions.
22:28The wall of my structure caught fire.
22:31There's a good deal of that.
22:35It wouldn't be a winter campout if I didn't catch my structure on fire at least once.
22:40Let's see how these moose ribs are doing.
22:44If you want to know if they're done you squeeze the end.
22:46And if the meat's pulled off the end of the bone then you know they're done.
22:50And this one is done.
22:57This is from the moose I shot this fall.
22:59I like moose ribs.
23:09That was good.
23:10So messy though.
23:12My hands are so dirty.
23:13The only clean spots are where I was touching my food.
23:20I gotta keep working on this knife.
23:42I like the look of that.
23:54There you go. One hole drawn.
23:58It's time for a little dessert.
24:01That little mini pie.
24:03Nice and warm.
24:09That was good.
24:10Alright, back to work.
24:18Three holes.
24:24Now it's time to harden it.
24:41When you get high carbon steel glowing hot and then cool it down suddenly it becomes harder.
24:46So after you quench the knife in the snow you then you test it with a file to see if it's the right hardness.
24:53I like it.
24:54I think it'll work just fine.
24:55Well I'm at a good stopping point for tonight and I am exhausted.
24:58It's really late.
24:59So I'm gonna hurry up and get to bed.
25:01I'll see you in the morning.
25:02We're gonna finish this knife.
25:09I'm tired and my arms are sore.
25:12Oh.
25:17Oh, looks like I'm gonna have to get back to work.
25:21I'm tired.
25:22I'm tired.
25:23I'm tired.
25:24I'm tired.
25:25I'm tired.
25:26I'm tired.
25:27I'm tired.
25:28I'm tired.
25:29I'm tired.
25:30oh look how lazy I am it's 840 in the morning and the sun's up the days are
25:37getting longer finally all right I got a lot to do today we're gonna stoke up
25:40this fire and get breakfast going
25:49all right I got a couple cinnamon rolls I wrapped up in tinfoil we're gonna go
25:54and warm those suckers up got some very frozen breakfast sausages
26:11poured the hot water to my plastic cup I can feel it crack and do all sorts of
26:16weird stuff hope you're okay there cup you're the only one I got today I'm
26:21hungry cold and thirsty and this is just hitting the spot it's a spiced
26:25orange herbal tea good try to squeeze another round out of those teabags go
26:37for some ketchup or some brown sauce right now hopefully I thawed these and
26:45not burned them a little bit of both caramel pecan cinnamon roll burned it a
26:52little bit right there but it's still good that was good all right I think
26:59it's time to get to work whoo this is cold
27:04Tang's a little bit wonkier than I would like so I'm trying to improve it with
27:09the file all right that's about as good as I'm gonna get with these tools now
27:15we need some wood for the handle there's a contender there we go
27:40I put some water on my whetstone and it froze I think I better warm up my
27:44whetstone first
28:14well it's almost noon I think I'm gonna start making some lunch look at all
28:33this lovely charcoal it's nice having a big thing of charcoal to cook over for
28:54lunch I've got a Cornish pasty that I'm gonna bake in the coals it's a
28:57handheld version of a meat pie from the southwest of England now we got to set
29:21the rivets this is the sketchiest part these are just quarter-inch steel rods
29:25and they stick out just a little bit further than the wood and when you smash
29:30them with a hammer they'll mushroom on the end and that'll squeeze the wood to
29:34the handle and make everything set but if you smash the wood instead of the
29:38metal you'll split the wood there we go oh now we sand. Looking pretty good did
30:04reasonably well no I baked pretty well except I missed a spot Cornish pasties
30:11were a traditional meal for the Cornish miners something they could eat with
30:14dirty fingers I think that's very applicable today got beef carrot and
30:22parsnips it was good oh that was really good got a little bit of cooking oil I
30:34want to rub into the handle to protect it but it's frozen so we're gonna boil
30:40some water this dead black spruce is so dry and porous it's just soaking up the
30:56oil not a handle that should be clean this is a handle that should have ash
31:02and soot on it well it's not exactly razor-sharp but I got an edge on it
31:32oh my back I am gonna take a little break and make some dinner for dinner I
31:44got some moose stew that I vacuum sealed and froze just gonna throw it in a pot
31:48of boiling water it'll heat up easy peasy now about this first rivet in the
32:01sheath that's good I'm gonna stretch the leather out a little bit there we go
32:18the knife and sheath
32:31the sick little piece of equipment there I like it Oh looks like we're just in
32:36time to oh yeah moose stew is done oh that was good ah feels good have some
32:58food in me the this project worked out pretty well but you know what I've been
33:02out here for three days and it's time for me to go home but I'm gonna leave
33:06the forge out here definitely think I'm gonna be back there I go keep my forge
33:18out of the snow and ice all right we're gonna leave the charcoal here I'm sure
33:24I'll need that when I come back anvil yeah it'll be fine all right I think
33:29that's it for this trip I'll see you next video
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