Unless you are a bartender, you probably don't have a muddler lying around, but muddling the mint is an essential part of making a good mojito. If you don't have a muddler, you can improvise with a wooden spoon or even the end of a rolling pin. If you do have a muddler, make sure it is made of unfinished wood. Anything that has been varnished or lacquered will eventually wear down, and the finish will end up in your drinks. You can add the sugar as well, as the rough texture can actually help the muddling process. Make sure the glass you are using isn't thin or delicate or it could break during the process.  Make sure you remove the leaves from the stems, as these will also give the drink a bitter taste.  Spearmint is the type of mint most often used in a mojito, but you can experiment with peppermint or pineapple mint for different flavors. You do not want to shred, crush, or mince the leaves, as this will release the chlorophyll contained in the veins of the leaf. Chlorophyll is very bitter and will make your virgin mojito taste quite unpleasant. The leaves should remain whole, crumpled and maybe with a few tears. The purpose of muddling is to release the fragrant and tasty oils in the leaves, and roughing them up a bit will allow them to seep out and infuse your drink. Muddling the leaves with sugar will allow the oils to seep into the sugar, adding more depth to the drink. This is better than chopping the mint, which would release the chlorophyll, and also leave little bits of mint floating around in your beverage. Getting a piece of mint caught in your throat might spoil the fun of drinking a mojito.
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One-sentence summary -- Find a muddling tool. Place the mint in the bottom of a thick, sturdy glass that won't break. Press the muddler gently onto the mint leaves and twist several times. Stop when you smell mint, or when the leaves begin to tear. Crumple the leaves in your hands if you are absolutely opposed to muddling.


The simplest way to do this is with a charcoal grill or fire pit.  If using a grill, light a medium size pile of briquettes on fire and fan them until they start to glow. If using a fire pit, light a medium size pile of wood mixed with charcoal briquettes on fire and fan the flame until it becomes strong yet controllable. Grab the handle portion of the metal with tongs, then insert the blade portion of the steel directly into the fire. Hold it there, rotating it occasionally, until the steel becomes medium red.  The steel needs to reach a temperature of about 1475 degrees Fahrenheit (802 degrees Celsius). You can check for the right conditions using a magnet. Once the metal is hot enough, a magnet should no longer be able to stick to it. At this point, the steel will be very brittle. Immerse the blade into a heat-resistant container of oil. Let it sit in the oil for several minutes.  Keep the blade vertical as it sits in the oil. Nearly any type of oil should work. Motor oil works well, but so does transmission fluid and vegetable oil. Place the blade in a kitchen oven preheated to 400 degrees Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius). Leave it there for about 20 minutes. The quenching process cools the metal down, but the blade needs to be at a temperature between 350 and 550 degrees Fahrenheit (175 and 290 degrees Celsius) for it to temper correctly. Once you see the blade turn a wheat color, the metal has tempered correctly. Allow it to cool down to room temperature in a safe location.
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One-sentence summary -- Build a fire. Place the blade in the fire. Quench the blade. Reheat the blade. Let the blade cool.


Start at the edge of the material you’re cutting and slowly push the blade through it. Go slow at first, making sure to follow along with the line you want to cut. Keep the shoe (or the base plate) flat against the material you’re cutting to ensure you’re making a straight line. Continue guiding the saw until you completely cut through the material.  Don’t force the machine through your material since you may break the blade if you push too hard. Let the machine do the work for you. Keep your fingers away from the saw while you’re cutting since the blade is exposed. Install a fine-toothed blade and set the speed of your saw to the slowest setting. Slowly guide your saw along the curve you’re cutting out, turning the back of the saw in the opposite direction of where you want the blade to go. Use a compass tool to draw the curved lines on your material to ensure you get a smooth outline. That way, as you work through the curve, the material will fall out in smaller pieces and relieve the pressure on the blade Look for a screw on the bottom or back of the shoe, and turn it counterclockwise to loosen it. Adjust the angle of the shoe to the angle for your cut and tighten the screw to secure it in place. Set the shoe flat against the surface you’re cutting. Your blade should now be at the angle needed for your cut. Miter cuts are common for making 45-degree angles and creating clean joints between wood. Start with a drill bit that’s slightly larger in circumference to the width of your saw blade. Drill a hole in each corner of the area you want to cut out. Feed the saw blade one of the holes and turn it on. Follow along with the outline for the area you want to cut out towards one of the other holes you drilled. Work from hole to hole until you’re finished with your cuts. This allows you to make a cut out in the middle of the material without cutting in from the edge, like if you needed space for a vent or outlet.
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One-sentence summary -- Guide the blade through the material you’re cutting. Cut along curves by turning the back of the saw. Adjust the angle of the saw’s shoe to make a miter cut. Use a drill to make starting and stopping points for cutting a hole in your material.


The makeshift watch compass described in this article uses the position of the sun in the sky to determine North and South. Because the sun is in a different part of the sky in the Northern Hemisphere (the part of the earth north of the equator) than it is in the Southern Hemisphere (the part of the earth south of the equator), it's important to account for this difference to ensure your compass is accurate. It's usually easy to tell whether you're in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere simply by virtue of knowing what country you're in (for instance, The Southern Hemisphere includes most of South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Australia). If you're at home (or otherwise near civilization), use a map, a globe, or an online geographical resource to find your position relative to the equator. If you're truly lost - for instance, in a life raft in the middle of the ocean, you may not have access to maps, encyclopedias, or the internet. Luckily, if you're deep in the wilderness and you don't know which hemisphere you're in, you can still determine whether you're in the Northern or Southern hemisphere by searching for Polaris, the North Star, in the night sky. This star is visible from the Northern Hemisphere, but if you're even slightly below the equator in the Southern Hemisphere, you won't be able to to see it. Note that the watch compass described in this article works best in the Autumn and Spring and can be inaccurate near the equator.
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One-sentence summary --
Use a map to find your hemisphere at home. Use the North Star to find your hemisphere in the wilderness.