With a recently acquired Fiskars hatchet, I decided to try my hands on another wooden spoon. We were out camping overnight with our dog-ther Sox for the very first time when this spoon starts to take shape. Besides the hatchet, I used my trusty Mora [...]]]>

An opportunity to try out my newly acquired Fiskars Hatchet

With a recently acquired Fiskars hatchet, I decided to try my hands on another wooden spoon. We were out camping overnight with our dog-ther Sox for the very first time when this spoon starts to take shape. Besides the hatchet, I used my trusty Mora and hot amber to make the spoon.

There’s a rubber plantation nearby where we camped. I found a piece of fallen branch, all dried and crisp. Rubber wood are relatively soft and it was easy to work with. First things first, I used the hatchet to do the initial shaping.

The hatchet makes wood work much easier

The Fiskars hatchet has a short handle. The blade is not overly big, and this is precisely the reason why I got it in the first place. Not really for heavy chopping but more for light work around the camp. I was really surprised at how well the hatchet worked. It was cutting through the rubber wood with ease. It wasn’t long before I have my wooden spoon outline done.

The initial stages of the spoon

The next thing I wanted to do was to start on the spoon’s cup. I used a carving knife during my first knife attempt but decided to try using red glowing amber this time. Something I saw on youtube. So, a fire was made with larger chunks of wood thrown in to provide me the ambers needed.

Bigger pieces of fire wood thrown in to make good glowing red amber

Some of the bigger pieces of red glowing amber from the fire is used to help ‘burn’ the ‘cup’ of the wooden spoon I was trying to make.

The heat from the hot amber slowly burns into the wood

The wooden spoon’s ‘cup’ slowly catches fire

I had to monitor the fire closely. There were a lot of blowing air into the spoon to keep the fire going. Occasionally, I would stop to scrap out some of the charred areas of the spoon to see the actual progress.

Eventually, the fire did all the work for me. All I had to do was to control so that it did not ‘eat’ away too much of the wood. I would say that this technique is so much easier than using a carving set. It is probably much safer as well. I then used my trusty Mora to do some of the final shaping.

Meun was there to help me video parts of the process. Will upload the video soon. The spoon itself is definitely unfinished. But I was very satisfied that I got this far, especially by using hot amber and trying out the Fiskars hatchet. I will probably have to wait for another opportunity to complete the spoon. No choice since I forgot to pack it back when we left the campsite the following day. Though I doubt if it will still be there the next time around, it will probably be more fun to do it all over again!

See also my first attempt at making a wooden spoon

Wet newspaper makes ideal ammunition for my Caplong bamboo pump gun. Shape the papers into small, compacted pallets, they make good Caplong bullets and can really pack a punch.

The first compact ball of wet newspaper is stuffed in, and the firing shaft is used to push [...]]]>

Wet newspaper is a good alternative to Caplong’s bullets

Wet newspaper makes ideal ammunition for my Caplong bamboo pump gun. Shape the papers into small, compacted pallets, they make good Caplong bullets and can really pack a punch.

The first compact ball of wet newspaper is stuffed in, and the firing shaft is used to push it almost to the end of the barrel.

The 'ball' of wet newspaper stuffed into the barrel

The firing shaft is used to push the wet newspaper pallet to the end of the shooting barrel

Then, the second ‘bullet’ is loaded in. This time, with a quick and forceful push of the shaft into the barrel, the compression created inside the barrel will shoot out the first ‘bullet’. The faster the shaft is pushed into the barrel, the more powerful the shoot will be.

With the second ‘bullet’ in place, I am ready to fire.

The faster the shaft is pushed into the barrel, the further the bullet will shoot.

Well, having had the opportunity to make and fool around with this childhood toy again is really a good feeling. This is perhaps another one of them kampong past time games that will soon be forgotten! Here’s a short video we made on our bamboo Caplong pump gun.

Click here to see Part I of the Chaplong bamboo pump gun

I would say that Caplong is a traditional Malaysia kampong craft made of bamboo and is played as a childhood game. It is especially common in remote villages where there are plenty of jungles with bamboo plants.

Caplong is [...]]]>

As a kid, I used to make and play my bamboo ‘Caplong’ pump gun all the time.

I would say that Caplong is a traditional Malaysia kampong craft made of bamboo and is played as a childhood game. It is especially common in remote villages where there are plenty of jungles with bamboo plants.

Caplong is made from a ‘special’ kind of bamboo. The bamboo needed to make this jungle pump gun must have a thick wall. The thick bamboo wall must be able to contain compressed air as it is ‘pumped’, producing a built up pressure that will result in an explosion of ‘bullet’ at the other end of the barrel.

We were at a public park one weekend when I stumbled upon this particular bamboo. The park authorities have been doing some cleaning up and some of the bamboo scrubs have been cleared. I managed to pull out a piece of bamboo that is super suitable for making Caplong.

Caplong, catapult and fishing makes up most of my childhood days. I was introduced to Caplong by my Thai friends from the nearby village in Baling, Kedah where I grew up. We would walk into the bush, usually armed with our dad’s Parang and begin chopping down bamboo. The ideal bamboo is a thick wall, freshly cut bamboo with a length of at least 1 foot. A longer bamboo will make a more powerful Caplong pump gun.

A particularly thick wall bamboo is necessary to make a Caplong

I was supposed to help with some knots demonstrations that day. The truth is, my mind was itching to get my hands on the bamboo and start making my Caplong. I told Meun that I have not played it for a very long time and I have not seen this particular type of bamboo much. I went to work almost immediately.

The longest piece I manage to get between the bamboo notches is just under a foot. It is perfect because the wall is super thick and the hole is super small.

Our of the whole piece of bamboo, this is the best piece for Caplong I can find

Just the right bamboo for making Caplong

After tidying up the two ends of the barrel, I started on the handle or piston. Everything I needed came from a piece of bamboo

This will be the Caplong’s piston handle

The firing shaft of the Caplong is made using part of a split bamboo. The shaft ought to be shaped as close as possible to the size of the barrel’s hole. This would add strength to the shaft. One end is stuck permanently into the handle. The length of the shaft should be just a centimeter short of overall barrel length. This would allow the shaft to push the bullet to the end of the barrel without pushing it out.

The shaft is permanently stuck into the handle.

With the firing piston and the shooting barrel done, the only thing I need now to shoot my Caplong bamboo pump gun is the ammunition. As a kid, I used to use a particular fruit from a tree. The fruit is quite hard and pushing it into one end of the barrel, we’d then bash the fruit in. I can’t find the fruit in KL, so the next best alternative would be wet newspaper.

All I need now is ammunition to fire my Caplong gun

To be continued…

This is traditional top spinning at its best. Somewhere in the remote regions in Pahang, I had my first experience with kampong style top spinning competition. The set-up is simple. Open area with dry, dusty crack earth, a few spectators and well built, half naked youths with [...]]]>

A kampong boy ready to spin his top

This is traditional top spinning at its best. Somewhere in the remote regions in Pahang, I had my first experience with kampong style top spinning competition. The set-up is simple. Open area with dry, dusty crack earth, a few spectators and well built, half naked youths with overly sized hand made tops. The objective is to hit with the purpose of stopping or even splitting the other top and hopefully…your top stays spinning the longest.
Here in this village, top spinning is trendy and cool. All the boys seems to be at it. Yup…somehow only the boys can be seen enjoying this seasonal past time. The gals on the other hand are at the side cheering on the winning ‘hero’.

The game is simple. The first person will spin his top. The second person will then try to ‘pangkah’ or ‘cross’ the first top. What happens is that the second top will hit the first top, bouncing it off (to hopefully stop it spinning) or even hitting it so hard that the top breaks or cracks.

A player getting ready to hit the spinning top.

The third person will then try to hit whichever top that is left spinning. The final top left spinning is the winner and gets to go first the second round!

Tops are aimed at each other in what is called the ‘pangkah’ maneuver

While top spinning may look like an easy traditional game to play, with these oversized tops, one really need to have the skill and strength not only to spin them but also to hit them down hard enough to cause enough damage to the other tops. It is no wonder that they locals we saw playing the tops in this village is all rather well built.

The local boys are obviously very skilled at top spinning as well. I asked them to clutter their tops spinning. Not only did they manage to that that easily, they even lined the tops up for me to take pictures!

Spinning these particular tops requires skill and strength

Look up traditional top spinning Part I

A traditional top ‘split’ after being hit by another

I am indeed privileged to see, touch and experience authentic traditional hand carved tops (‘Gasing’ in Malay) in Malaysia. While most common kampong kids these days would opt for the mass factory produced tops, these authentic, 100% ‘original’ tops are rare to [...]]]>

A traditional top ‘split’ after being hit by another

I am indeed privileged to see, touch and experience authentic traditional hand carved tops (‘Gasing’ in Malay) in Malaysia. While most common kampong kids these days would opt for the mass factory produced tops, these authentic, 100% ‘original’ tops are rare to come by. Free from the influence of modern short cuts of machines and factory produced materials, these tops from a village in Pahang is the real thing.

It is the season for top spinning and all the young men of the village are busy making and playing their best tops. Tops are hand carved from hard and semi hard wood to its desired shape. All the materials needed come from the jungle around where they live in. Even the string/ cordage used to spin the top is made from the fibers of the Terap tree. (Click here to see how fibers from the Terap tree are harvested)

This top is traditionally hand made in Malaysia by the Orang Asal

Walking around the village in the evening, I can hear the whipping sound of the Terap cordage as it cuts through the air, followed by a loud thudding sound of the top hitting the ground or other tops. Everywhere in the village, almost every bike has a top in its bike carrier.

It is the top spinning season and everyone seems to carry their tops everywhere

All the tops here are hand made. It takes about a day to make one and I can only imagine the amount of work and detail that goes into it. The top is almost symmetrical all over. The tops are rather big themselves. Well, at least bigger than the ones I have seen anywhere else.

These tops are big.

To be continued…

It was an amazing experience watching an Orang Asal makes a jungle torch using the resin of a Keruing tree. The Semelais may have relied on this jungle torch for hundreds of years to ensure their safety and comfort during the nights of the rainforest [...]]]>

Our Orang Asal guide proudly showing off his Keruing torch

It was an amazing experience watching an Orang Asal makes a jungle torch using the resin of a Keruing tree. The Semelais may have relied on this jungle torch for hundreds of years to ensure their safety and comfort during the nights of the rainforest jungle. Watching him take his time making the torch makes me wonder how long this jungle skill will continue to be practice among his people.

With the harvested Keruing oil , Mat Kechik (our Orang Asal guide) started mixing the blackish liquid with flakes of fibers from a rotting tree. The dried wood fibers absorbs the Keruing oil, making a paste like mix.

Mat Kechik adding dried and rotting wood fibers into the Keruing oil container

Mixing the keruing oil and wood fibers together using a stick

With the mixture almost ready, the next step was to make a mold for the torch. Literally everything needed to make this jungle torch comes from the jungle. Mat Kechik, with his parang started to shape a piece of wood into the shape of a stake. Palas fronds are then used to wrap around the wooden stake, making the shape of a torch.

All Mat Kechik needed to make this jungle torch is a Parang

The Palas fronds are wrapped around the wooden stake to take it’s shape

With the Palas fronds wrapped around the wooden stake, a length of fiber from the Mengkuang (Pandanus odoratissimus), the Palas are then tied together starting from the bottom of the stake right to the top with what looks like a timber hitch to me.

Even the cordage used to tie the fronds together comes from the jungle

With the Palas mold ready, the next step was to stuff it with the Keruing-wood fiber mixture. As the mixture is pushed into the mold, the wooden stake is used to compact it. Making the torch firm and compact.

The mixture is compacted using the wooden stake used to shape the mold in the first place

What amazes me most throughout the torch making was how comfortable, calm and relax Mat Kechik was squatting on the junge floor working with his hands. I did not even see him break a sweat despite the many eyes watching over him.

Finally, peeling back the end bits of the Palas fronds, Mat Kechik took out his lighter and lit it. The mixture in the torch caught fire almost immediately. Emitting both a steady flame and smoke.

The Keruing torch caught fire almost instantly

The torch, according to Mat Kechik will burn for about 8 hours. Back in the olden days, before the arrival of cheap hurricane lanterns and kerosene, this jungle torch was his people’s main form of lighting. Simply amazing!!