Bushcraft Skills Log

Fixing and making things, what tools to get and what skills to learn, ...
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mountainFrugal
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Bushcraft Skills Log

Post by mountainFrugal »

There are a lot of aspirations on here about bushcraft skills, but I could not find a full thread by searching the site. If there is already one, we can nuke this one and I will start adding over there if someone provides a link.

I grew up bushcrafting. My family was heavily involved in the http://americanmountainmen.org/ and the buckskinning/muzzleloader/primitive skills communities. I have mastered many skills, but they are admittedly a bit rusty having lived in a city for the past 8 years. I hope this thread revives discussion and gets those interested motivated in practicing/learning. Furthermore, I hope this thread does not devolve into sharing youtube links and pretending we know how to do something without actual practice. Most of the skills are not rocket science, but it would be fun to also get into the weeds about how/why something works and personal observations/struggles. By all means include videos/book references, but also try to share personal learnings. Let's up the "kennen" to "wissen" ratio as much as possible! (I think I have those in the correct order).

[edit] I would prefer for this thread to focus on skills development and not discussions of civilization collapse et al. as even if that becomes a reality, better to have spent the time practicing these skills rather than debating if/when/why. There are plenty of other threads on societal collapse elsewhere.

Just to start the convo, here is an example arrowhead I made out of whiskey bottle bottom. I have also made many out of beer bottle bottoms, but they end up being curved slightly because it is very difficult to remove material evenly when you are starting with a concave surface. Whiskey bottles (Bulleit in particular) are a perfect thickness on the bottom to remove the concave surfaces. Repeating the process with similar more common materials will help with mastering the skill. Glass is a very homogeneous material so it flakes more consistently than most cherts and flints found out and about. If you are actually planning to make arrows with these, it will help to have near identical weight points for more consistent shooting. If you are practicing correctly with glass or materials found in nature, you will cut yourself. You must bleed for your art!

The main steps are:
1) selection
2) isolation
3) reduction
4) finishing

Image

The tools used for this are billets (weighted round head, traditionally out of antlers or rounded river stones), pressure flaker with copper nail (also traditionally sharpened antler), a leather pad for holding the piece, and something to protect your leg from glass shards. Not pictured is a course stone for grinding down sharp edges and safety glasses (traditionally space helmets...jk). I got this kit from a Texas knapper about 18 years ago. Turns out you can get them on Amazon!

Currently, I am working on a sketchnote for more of the details, considerations, and techniques.

Some ideas for other topics that I would like to write/draw/revisit/discuss:
1) fire starting with various methods/materials
2) shelters
3) traditional clothing methods
4) tracking/animal behavior
5) knife handling/work
6) Axe techniques
7) primitive cooking/recipes/preservation
8) properties of wood species
9) nature observation
10) water
11) cordage
12) ethnobotany
13) wilderness navigation
14) wilderness medicine


I think at least some of these topics overlap with other threads e.g. tracking and hunting, water and backpacking.

Any other topics folks are interested in?

[edit] will add to above list and provide index as thread grows
Last edited by mountainFrugal on Wed Oct 20, 2021 8:56 pm, edited 3 times in total.

Western Red Cedar
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Re: Bushcraft Skills Log

Post by Western Red Cedar »

A couple others off the top of my head. Most could probably be a subset of nature observation:

Ethnobotany
Navigation with natural landmarks or features (with or w/out map/compass)
Foraging & preservation
Wilderness first aid

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mountainFrugal
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Re: Bushcraft Skills Log

Post by mountainFrugal »

Great additions. I think that because hunting and foraging are already their own developed threads we might prioritize these others on this growing list and or just link to them when appropriate?

Roark
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Re: Bushcraft Skills Log

Post by Roark »

I am interested in building shelters out of dead wood, screws or twist ties, and either clear greenhouse/farm plastic rolls or black landscaping plastic. The idea is to build cheap shelters on "government" land that are at least 300m off a path, only accessible by foot or bicycle. Has anyone ever seen plans for such shelters online?

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mountainFrugal
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Re: Bushcraft Skills Log

Post by mountainFrugal »

You can take a look at lean-tos and wikiups as starting search terms on youtube.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean-to
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wigwam

Assuming based on your other recent post that you are in Canada.
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/295433.Bushcraft - By Mors Kochanski has all the details you need for site selection, knife work, axe work, etc. to build various shelters without screws and plastic in the Canadian wilderness.

Please update us on your progress and learnings!

ffj
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Re: Bushcraft Skills Log

Post by ffj »

Interesting.

I don't really have a lot of primitive skills, although as a kid I used to make bows and arrows and forts in the woods. And I have experimented with various fire starting methods with limited success so this kind of stuff intrigues me.

Will be following.

Jim
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Location: PNW

Re: Bushcraft Skills Log

Post by Jim »

I wonder if anyone has been keeping up with any of their primitive skills? On my last trip to visit my parents I split a hickory bow stave that we had harvested together several years prior. I got about 4 decent staves out of it and a couple pretty propellered looking ones. I'm going to make it a part of my regular visits to my parents. I also found a beautiful piece of chert that gifted me by a now deceased friend. I got realtively proficient at knapping glass and obsidian, but I was never so good with chert or argillite, the only other two rocks I gave much time to. I may look for a bigger piece of chert to pratice on before I go spalling this precious gifted one. Luckily there appears to be some kind of local Knap-in this week very close to my house, which I might pop in to check out. I have never been to an event of this kind, but I'm certain there are some very interesting people to meet.

Along with the piece of chert I also found a few pieces of antler I had used for knife handles, which I'd like to make a pressure flaker out of. I'd made an antler pressure flaker in the past and I my big takeaway was that it's no surprise people use the copper ones.

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mountainFrugal
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Re: Bushcraft Skills Log

Post by mountainFrugal »

I have been out of practice lately. Coincidentally though, September is my Bushcraft zine making month. I will post at least one of them here.

Chert is harder to work with for sure. I always end up making some bad hinge and then cannot work my way out of it before breaking the piece in half. If you want abundant hard material to knap as practice you could use old porcelain toilets or sinks. Your billet blow angles have to be near perfect every time for it to even flake. It is also relatively delicate. Do you know specifically what region the chert is from? Chert has way more impurities than obsidian so you might want to practice with a similar regional chert, rather than just any chert (although that would be the next best thing).

I would be curious to follow your bow build if you care to document it.

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