Boy’s Life – 1969-10 – Neckerchief Slide of the Month – Black Walnut – Whittlin Jim
Whittlin Jim is an alternate author name for Ben Hunt
Great raw material, using otherwise wasted shells, but its not as easy as it sounds
The article give detailed cutting diagram so you can make the visible part of the slide and also the back that holds the neckerchief
Part of the difficulty of making this slide is walnut shells are very prone to cracking when put under stress
If you want avoid at least some of the sawing, you find a walnut tree and look for walnut shells that have been cracked open by animals, it surprising how a lot of them are left in shape that you can use, and it might actually add a little bit of character to the shell if there are teeth marks in the shell
If you use store bought walnut, the slide will have a lot less character, store bought walnuts have the outside of the sanded smooth
If you find fresh walnut, they look like a green plumb, and when you take off the outer part of the walnut to get the walnut from the middle, this center is the walnut you crack open, just out of the shell, the walnut is extremely rough
Do not use your bare hands to take off the outer layer, it will stain your hands worse than pouring black ink on your hands
In the fall, the walnuts will mostly fall to the ground and the outer covering will rot off, leaving the rough surface, for the best walnuts, pick the walnuts off the ground before this layer rots off and shell them by hand, remember to wear gloves
W Ben Hunt created the Whittlin Jim and Lone Eagle names, and published articles under all three name – Ben Hunt wrote 2-4 articles per month for Boy’s Life, and I think he created the Whittlin Jim and Lone Eagle to make is seem like there were multiple authors writing the articles
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Boy’s Life – 1969-10 – Neckerchief Slide of the Month – Black Walnut – Whittlin Jim
