Boy Scout Ingenuity

[mneeley490]

Ok, I wasn't a Boy Scout. I was a Cub Scout in the late 60's, but I bristled at authority at an early age and didn't re-up. (Our scoutmaster was a real jackass martinet.)
But the "cinnamon rolls in oranges" thread reminded me of a doohickey we made back then.

The Scoutmaster called it a "buddy burner". You take a long piece of shipping cardboard about 2" wide and roll it into a spiral, then place it inside an empty tuna can. After that you pour melted paraffin over it to the top of the can and let cool. This is your burner.
To cook with it, you light it, then place a clean 2 lb. coffee can, one end removed (hard to find these days; maybe a juice can would do) with holes punched in the sides for oxygen, over the top. This becomes the cooking surface. We took these hiking, and would place open cans of soup to warm on the top. Weird little thing, but it gives kids a sense of accomplishment knowing they did it themselves.
Aside from pinewood derby cars, I don't remember making much else.

Any former scouts remember other woodcraft?

 

[smokerjim]

Yep derby race was the big event, I also remember carving little cars out of a block of wood adding wheels paint and race them also. Were you sent out at night on snipe hunts on the camping trips so they could drink and play cards.

 

[DemonPit]

I made it all the way to eagle scout (finished in 1990) . I remember quite a bit from my days as a scout (from knots to making a shelter from whats around). From making fire starters, to making donuts from biscuit (can type) and cooking them in oil and covered in powdered sugar. We went all over (everglades to North Carolina for the boy scout jamboree). I grew up in central west coast Florida.

 

[noboundaries]

Cub Scout and Boy Scout from the 60's in SoCal. I've still got the handbook somewhere around here. Knot tying, camping, compass/land nav, and open fire cooking are about all I remember. Oh, and snake bites, for some reason. Never got one, but I've crossed paths with quite a few snakes over the decades. We moved often when I was a kid so I lost interest around age 14 when we moved to the East.

Fun memories.

 

[DemonPit]

Red on black = friend of Jack.
Red on yellow = he's no fellow!

Talking about coral snalkes, and how to discern them from king snakes.

 

[6GRILLZNTN]

Yup. Cub Scouts, Webelos, and then I made it about 3 months into Boy Scouts because of an jerk scout master. Still have my pinewood derby car though.

 

[mneeley490]

Yep, I made it into Webelos, too. Maybe it's a pre-requisite for scoutmasters to be jerks?
Mine acted like he wanted to be the drill sgt in Full Metal Jacket.

 

[millerbuilds]

Knot tying, orienteering, wilderness survival, every year we would campout in January (Minnesota) a couple times in a quinzee we would build, starting a fire without matches, cooking over fire, cooking with a Dutch oven, learned a lot. Received my Eagle in 1991.

- Jason

 

[6GRILLZNTN]

My last day as a Boy Scout was sleeping in one of those canvas pup tents in North Georgia when it was around 0 degrees. Between that, and my scoutmaster, I was done. Us southern boys don't deal with weather that cold very well! Overall, I loved the Cub scouts. Still have all those belt thingies you got when you earned a skill. And I still have the bandana clip. Good days!

 

[civilsmoker]

Our town did scouts as a way of life as a kid, was a Cub Scout, Eagle Scout, and Order of the Arrow.

We learned, all the normal stuff, but all of us cub scouts were CPR certified, could splint a compound femur fracture. As a scout we did all the shooting (including 20mm black power canons), boating, and outdoor stuff, including a yearly weeklong 50 miler hike.

We also played "terrorist" for the local based special forces, sad thing is us 14-16 years old kids always beat (at a humiliation level) the special forces in their snatch and grab games (the base commander love teaching new SF's inductees lessons....).....This was around the Iran hostage time frame..... FYI our scout master was a Captain in the special forces at the base.

I admit my (our town) scout experience was a bit different than many out there.....

 

[chopsaw]

I did Cub Scouts and Webelos . After that I was done . I remember doing the cars . That's about it .

My Grandpa on my Dad's side was a Scout Master . At one time there where all kinds of Boy Scout things at home when I was young . Not sure what happened to it all , but seems to be gone .
My Uncle Bob did give me his Boy Scout knife when I was a kid . Not sure of the year . My Dad said '34 , but I think it might be older .
This thing really holds an edge . Super sharp too .

 

[GaryHibbert]

Yep, me too. Did Cubs, then Scouts. Got my Queen Scout--Canadian equivalant of Eagle Scout-- then became a Cub Leader to give back for all the good years. Then the touchy-feely crowd forced girl's admittance into a boys club, so I moved on.
Gary

 

[jnh2022]

I was a cub for awhile as a kid, and enjoyed it, but it didn't "catch". When I got older, I started reconnecting with outdoors stuff that I enjoyed as a kid with my parents(camping, stalking the wild asparagus(a Euell Gibbons sp? book), and then into raising chickens, turkeys, and cows -- then hunting with a buddy of mine.

We got our kids into beavers, cubs, and scouts(as they aged), and I joined as a cub/scout leader with my wife. Attended Scouts Canada training stuff and did leader stuff. It was a great experience in a lot of ways, but it was also at a time when there was a lot of (In my opinion) deterioration in the Organization's administration and policies. We eventually folded as a group due to the lack of help from Scouts Canada, and most of the local leases or possessions were folded as well due to the ineptitude of Scouts Canada. It was a shame, but it also released us from the 80/20 rule.

All that being said, I learned a lot as an adult from the program, and also from the kids that we worked with in the process. It has been great to go hunting with my buddy and friends, and be able to use the dutch oven to bake a cake for dessert, or make a stew, or whatever your cooking imagination comes up with. Hunting is not always successful, but it is always fun! I try to pass along stuff I learned as a Scout leader unofficially to the kids on hunting trips. Respect for the outdoors was, for me, an overarching component I took from it and try to pass along -- but you don't have to be a scout to respect the outdoors!

 

[fxsales1959]

Ok, I wasn't a Boy Scout. I was a Cub Scout in the late 60's, but I bristled at authority at an early age and didn't re-up. (Our scoutmaster was a real jackass martinet.)
But the "cinnamon rolls in oranges" thread reminded me of a doohickey we made back then.

The Scoutmaster called it a "buddy burner". You take a long piece of shipping cardboard about 2" wide and roll it into a spiral, then place it inside an empty tuna can. After that you pour melted paraffin over it to the top of the can and let cool. This is your burner.
To cook with it, you light it, then place a clean 2 lb. coffee can, one end removed (hard to find these days; maybe a juice can would do) with holes punched in the sides for oxygen, over the top. This becomes the cooking surface. We took these hiking, and would place open cans of soup to warm on the top. Weird little thing, but it gives kids a sense of accomplishment knowing they did it themselves.
Aside from pinewood derby cars, I don't remember making much else.

Any former scouts remember other woodcraft?

my derby car is stiil on the library mantel

 

[JIMSMOKES]

My derby cars are gone but my sons and grandsons are around. Finally won district with my grandson.