Confession is good for the soul.

[Laurentius]

I am not sure if anyone ever wants to admit that there skills are not always A* so here is a time to fess up, what aspects of bushcraft are you not actually very good at? Here is mine for starters. To my regret I am just no good at sharpening blades, yes they will do the job, but all this hair popping razor stuff.....

 

[Janne]

Excellent thread.
I can not:
Make fire not using matches or lighter or magnifying glass.
Snare small game
Touch dead birds if they have feathers still on
Touch reptiles if dead
Knots. I can tie 3 knots only
Can not use most electronic devices, basic functions only.

 

[Bishop]

My bannock is sometimes often stronger than concrete
Forty years since I got my Boy-Scout badge for knots, fancy hitches and one handed bowline no problem. But I still take two attempts to get a basic reef knot right.

 

[Wander]

Friction firelighting.
Nope.
I've tried, many times. But always failed. Not even got close, not even a suggestion of an ember.

I'm no good at metal work either.

I can't ID green things for the life of me. Trees - yes (i'm very good at me trees) but plants? No. They're just all the same to me.

 

[crosslandkelly]

I'm no good at map and compass reading and plant ID.

 

[John Fenna]

I am rubbish at -
Sharpening spoon knives
Fungi ID
Skinning anything but rabbits.

 

[Broch]

1 - bow drill - works once in a blue moon and I lose patience with it
2 - cordage - I can make a cord if I have to but I wouldn't hang anything I cherish on it
3 - carving - all my camp utensils are purely functional; there's nothing pleasing about them

To be honest, I'm a Jack of all trades and master of none so I need to get a little better all the time at everything; at my age time is running out

Bishop - reef knot - 'right over left and under, left over right and under' - if I don't say it as I'm tying, it will come out as a granny knot

 

[Robson Valley]

I cannot make fire with a bowdrill and hearth board. I want to be able to do that.
Nothing but wood which is available to me where I live. Nothing else is acceptable.

 

[richy3333]

Excellent thread.
I can not:
Make fire not using matches or lighter or magnifying glass.
Snare small game
Touch dead birds if they have feathers still on
Touch reptiles if dead
Knots. I can tie 3 knots only
Can not use most electronic devices, basic functions only.

Thats funny because I also have an issue with touching birds. I really dont know why but if they have feathers on I have to wear gloves. I dont have this issue with any other animals. And it makes life a little tricky as we 20+ chickens.

I also struggle with plane and fungi ID.

I'm rubbish at sea fishing and ironically live by the sea!

 

[Toddy]

I am not sure if anyone ever wants to admit that there skills are not always A* so here is a time to fess up, what aspects of bushcraft are you not actually very good at? Here is mine for starters. To my regret I am just no good at sharpening blades, yes they will do the job, but all this hair popping razor stuff.....

Oh me too They're sharp enough to work well, and reliably, but I confess that I strop more than I sharpen. Always a clean edge, clean cut, kind of thing.
Thankfully there are some awfully good friends who seem to enjoy sharpening to hair-poppingness

 

[daveO]

Thats funny because I also have an issue with touching birds. I really dont know why but if they have feathers on I have to wear gloves. I dont have this issue with any other animals. And it makes life a little tricky as we 20+ chickens.

I wonder if this is an unconscious survival/hygene response? Most animals have an instinct not to touch dead things or at least to be very wary of them, especially if they don't know how they died. Dead things can harbour fleas and bugs looking for a warmer home for example. I don't mind touching them though if I know they're freshly dead. The lack of weight and softness of a small bird is always really surprising.

I happen to be terrible at everything. Especially making time to practise skills which would help me be less terrible at them.

 

[Kepis]

Conifer ID, im fine with broadleaf, but conifers - rubbish, mainly down to the one fact of their are not that many conifers around where i live and i have no real experience of working with them on a regular basis. I can tell a pine, from a spruce, from a fir, from a cypress, but as to individual species other than Scots Pine, Yew, Juniper, Larch & Doug Fir - nope, not happening

 

[Broch]

I'm a bit strange with small beasts. I'll happily pick up and work with rabbit, squirrel, pheasant, duck etc. But for some reason I have to pick up a dead bluetit or a mouse by the very end of the leg! What's that all about?

 

[Trojan]

Sadly navigation

 

[Broch]

I cannot make fire with a bowdrill and hearth board. I want to be able to do that.
Nothing but wood which is available to me where I live. Nothing else is acceptable.

Unfortunately, friction fire-lighting is not a 'use' category that Daniel Moerman covers in his Ethnobotany 'encyclopaedia' he only lists species used as fuel.

 

[crosslandkelly]

I cannot make fire with a bowdrill and hearth board. I want to be able to do that.
Nothing but wood which is available to me where I live. Nothing else is acceptable.

I like to use an Ivy hearth board with either a Hazel or Willow drill, these have worked best for me.

 

[Sundowner]

I've been known to have got lost in the woods. To my defence I can only say that I have now bought a compass and maps. Just won't use them all the time ad I like getting lost

 

[Woody girl]

For me it's bowdrill. But I have arthritis in spine and knees so that's my excuse. Fint and steel needs much more practice but only just started on that. Keeping stuff tidy in camp when hammocking. I'm vegitarian so the thought of prossessing dead animals.... shudder shudder!

 

[sunndog]

I'd love to be better at anything decorative. I can make all sorts of stuff but it looks.....well, let's be kind and say utilitarian lol
Or carve a face or something like that would be amazing

 

[Sundowner]

For me it's bowdrill. But I have arthritis in spine and knees so that's my excuse. Fint and steel needs much more practice but only just started on that. Keeping stuff tidy in camp when hammocking. I'm vegitarian so the thought of prossessing dead animals.... shudder shudder!

I hear you and that is my reason for having never even tried it!!!