October extra: Zombie Apocalypse Plan

End of October 2017

Time to make: 1 hours

Original design: Bill Macfarlane

In this time of Ghosts, Ghouls and Goblins, I think it is time for me to show my emergency Zombie Apocalypse Plan slide. (What you don't have a Zombie Apocalypse Plan?)

When Zombies are near and everyone is clamoring for what to do, I will hand them this slide.

WARNING this is only to be opened in case of  Zombie attack!!! (Or while blogging about it.)

Made from an Altoids tin painted white and metal loop attached in the back with pop rivets.

The cover and inside are printed on water slide decal paper - chiller font on the outside and the inside has the smallest readable font I could find (It's a lot larger in the photo). Have fun with this and Happy Halloween

Slide number 1

October  1970?

Time to make: unknown

Finishing: 1.5 hour


Design: unknown








I'm often asked about my first neckerchief slide so I wanted to take this time to talk about it. Sometime in the late 60's or early 70's, as a young Scout, I saw a picture of a Turks head somewhere. Now I'm not sure where I saw it (Scout handbook, Field book, Boy's Life, World Book Encyclopedia  or somewhere else) but I figured out from the picture and description how to tie the knot. Tied from some spare clothes line I found in our basement, I must have kept going until I ran out of line. (Four wraps in some places and three in other places.) I wanted to harden the slide because it was very loose so I coated with some old fashion shellac my Grandfather had in the basement. The shellac was old, thick and dark but it was still absorbed by the cotton cord. It took a couple of days to dry and I have worn it a good many times since then.

Since that time I tied a good many Turks Head slide using everything from leather to paracord (and even a few boot laces in between).  In fact, every year I tie a Turks Head for each of the Webelos crossovers that joins our Troop and in a different color. Just some of the ones I've tied...

Slide of Month - Wood Water Bucket

October  2017

Time to carve: 2 hours

Finishing: 1.5 hour


Design: Greg Firestone








I really like this slide! It reminds of wooden buckets at my grandfather house. I'm not really sure if held water or maybe it was just the way my brother and I pumped water from the old well but it was a guarantee we both would be wet in the end.

I made this one from oak because the grain in oak give the slide a weathered look. The seams are v-cuts and an additional v-cut was used for the wire bands. I stained the bucket with some dark walnut stain which further brings out the grain. The bands are stainless steel wire used in the phone industry to lash phone cables to the support wire. The rope is an end pieces of 275 paracord to give it some color.