Making a fire          Out in the woods           Cooking over an open fire
 
 
I am a Carpenter & Joiner by trade; I have spent over 30 years working both on site and for the private sector. People who know me know me for the straight talking and genuine person that I am. I am a man of principles and dislike intensely those who lie and mislead others in order to gain "a quick buck". I'm a firm believer in the "old fashioned" family values and it saddens me greatly to see how this country is changing for the worst, to a greedy and money orientated state. I'm not a materialistic person, widescreen TV's do nothing for me; I prefer the "outdoors", my freezers full of game and home grown veg as opposed to the supermarket rubbish.

 

I have spent many a year doing what is now so popularly defined as "Bushcraft". For several years I served in the T.A, more though have been spent out in the field putting 'Dinner' on the table (rabbit stew sure goes down a treat). Those years have taught me more about wildlife and conservation than any text book could ever teach you

 

I like to be able to live off the land as much as circumstances will allow. I beat for our local shoot in exchange for birds and I shoot regularly with a friend on his permission. I was always a dog man and never really into shooting until a few  years ago when, at a very close friend's funeral, I bumped into this friend who I have known for over 20 years and we now regularly shoot together on his vast permission, I have been on my first wildfowl shoot and must say that I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

 

I have a couple of good friends who I am lucky enough to be able to go deer stalking with and have passed my deer stalking certificate level 1 and it goes without saying that I am now in the process of obtaining my level 2. I am a Mountain man enthusiast and my goal is to stalk a deer with a Kentucky Cub Scout black powder rifle, if the mountain men could do it then so can I.


 I like the idea of "food for free" and have tried many hedgerow recipes. At the centre of all this though is our allotment that my wife Maxine and I run together, well actually I do all the heavy work and Maxine does all the growing and harvesting in between all of the weeding.
 

I used to be a sufferer of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder OCD  you will probably have heard of an ocd sufferer who has the fear of contamination and so washes their hands over and over or who cleans constantly. Mine was intrusive thoughts. Another symptom of mine (and this one still stays) was/is that all work I do has to be straight, level inline etc which was sometimes a pain especially when working as a joiner and the studwork I made had to be perfect even though it would never be seen. Over the years I have managed to obtain a "quick eye" on being able to judge if something is straight & inline or not and so I don't spend hours labouring unnecessarily. They call it "The secret illness" and this was certainly true in my case as I had suffered with it from early adulthood and never told a soul about what I was going through until I met and told Maxine. I was diagnosed in 2002 and went to cognitive behavioural therapy. They say knowledge is power and it certainly was in my case as I haven't suffered with intrusive thoughts for years.

 

I started making crops/whips years ago when I was out in the hunting field, I'd make them for friends and associates. I now make them for members of our local hunts. My knife making also goes back years though nothing on the scale or spec as the ones that I now produce. Probably like most, I started with a scrap piece of metal and a scabby old piece of wood.


 I have spent over 35 years handcrafting various items and I still enjoy doing this. Although my knife making keeps me busy I'm not into mass production. My bushcraft knives are individually handmade making use of the best quality materials obtainable. I only ever make one knife at a time and do not use jigs, templates or patterns and for this reason none of them are exactly the same. Only 100% goes into my work, I want you to be as proud of owning one of my bushcraft knives as I am when making them, they are made to last your lifetime and more.


 My materials are sourced worldwide in order to offer you the best possibly obtainable. By using my knowledge and skills that I have learnt in over 35 years of hand-crafting various items, my ocd and sourcing you will have a knife to be proud of


Thank you for taking the time to look around my site.
Please feel free to ask me any questions I will be only too happy to help
Bernie

 

Canoing on Loch Ken        Out for a walk        Sea kayaking