Absolute Zero - Mine/Craft

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TeeDee

Full Member
Nov 6, 2008
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I'm more trying to focus on the ' Toolset ' you'd benefit from making to make life simpler.

So for me:-

1 ) Basic Stone Knife to Harvest Wood to make. Item 2

2 ) Fire Bow Set ( most likely use Shoes laces as String


with Fire I then have a means to Purify Water ( if I have a container ) , Cook Food ( if I had something to eat ) Harden & Craft other tools using fire Hardening or Make Pitch

3 ) Harden a Digging Stick in the Fire

4 ) Use Digging Stick to Collect Clay ( to fashion basic pot ) , I can also use this to collect Roots for basic Bindings.

5 ) Grab an Straight Alder Branch to make a Tubed straw ( to assist in making a Kuska )


etc



So what would be the Toolset you'd create to put in your Little Otzi style Man ( or woman.....) Bag and moving off to find other resources to survive.
 
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Broch

Life Member
Jan 18, 2009
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What and how one hunts depends on what there is to hunt. Traps are good and in some rivers and tidal areas I think they are a very good way to catch something. Trapping non swimmers depends on a lot of things.

Obviously, and throwing things is not in most people's skill list and is very difficult to learn in haste. To say that a throwing weapon is no more difficult to learn than a projectile weapon is naive in my opinion. I taught my son in law to fire a bow a couple of months back and after an hour he was hitting the bull - not every time but very frequently. I do not believe any beginner could learn to throw anything with enough accuracy to live off the kill in weeks. I'd be happy to be shown how to do it though :)

Sorry TeeDee - rising to the bait again :)
 
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Broch

Life Member
Jan 18, 2009
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It's interesting, that despite us all going through similar learning processes our priorities would be different. As I said earlier - I wouldn't fixate on a stone knife - animal bone, split with a stone, can be used to cut, drill and shape wood (Beaver teeth were used as axes and adzes :)). It's only in this industrial and over-farmed landscape you need to worry about water quality and boiling won't get rid of the pollutants. There are plenty of binding that don't require hard work (such as digging) to use and the basic cooking methods don't need a pot. There are few tubers that contain high levels of starch in the UK to make digging worthwhile and some need leeching (?) before consuming.
 
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TeeDee

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It's interesting, that despite us all going through similar learning processes our priorities would be different. As I said earlier - I wouldn't fixate on a stone knife - animal bone, split with a stone, can be used to cut, drill and shape wood (Beaver teeth were used as axes and adzes :)). It's only in this industrial and over-farmed landscape you need to worry about water quality and boiling won't get rid of the pollutants. There are plenty of binding that don't require hard work (such as digging) to use and the basic cooking methods don't need a pot. There are few tubers that contain high levels of starch in the UK to make digging worthwhile and some need leeching (?) before consuming.


Could you guarantee on finding a Bone before a couple Stones? Animal Carcasses are indeed a host of useful resources but I can never bet I'm going to find one in quick time. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places.

Water - Point taken but the potential downside of over hubris and getting a nasty surprise is that its a quickly snowballing bad situation that can seriously impede physical performance. I had Giardia a couple of times - Cant say I wish to repeat it.

But as ever , there is no definitive wrong or right answer. Just varying perspectives.
 

TeeDee

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Cattail is fine straight from the pond raw or cooked. As an example, Lords and Ladies (Arum maculatum) must be steeped and roasted to remove high levels of oxalic acid.

Just asking - have you tried the Arum processed that way? I think I started a thread on this very topic some time ago.
 

Broch

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Jan 18, 2009
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Just asking - have you tried the Arum processed that way? I think I started a thread on this very topic some time ago.

Yes, after you started that thread I tested it. I tried it first without leaching and it was fine to eat at first but after a short time my mouth started to get irritated (I only tried a very small amount). When I tried again, leaching/steeping first, it was edible and I would even say quite nice once roasted. However, try with caution!
 
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TeeDee

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Yes, after you started that thread I tested it. I tried it first without leaching and it was fine to eat at first but after a short time my mouth started to get irritated (I only tried a very small amount). When I tried again, leaching/steeping first, it was edible and I would even say quite nice once roasted. However, try with caution!

Great stuff - well done
 

Broch

Life Member
Jan 18, 2009
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Could you guarantee on finding a Bone before a couple Stones? Animal Carcasses are indeed a host of useful resources but I can never bet I'm going to find one in quick time. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places.
.

Around here I would find animal carcasses very quickly (sheep die rather than be bothered to get up some times) - admittedly that's a domesticated animal but I frequently find the odd carcass of other species. But there are no sharp edged stones of any kind. It's Ordovician mudstone and the stuff just crumbles.
 
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sunndog

Full Member
May 23, 2014
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derbyshire
I just would like to see you trapping here, starting without any material.

As I said I believe in trapping fish.

Not a problem lol, Trapping and killing has been part of how I earn a living for decades.
Just a little improvisation on making the trap, improvising something as effective as a rifle is a whole other story....I have many rifles and still use traps, tells me everything I need to know

In fact I have traps out right now hunting for me as I browse forums. Lots of nocturnal animals and even I couldn't improvise night vision from a bush lol
So there they are working when I cant

The rifles on the other hand are useless without me

Last thread hijack teedee
 
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Broch

Life Member
Jan 18, 2009
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The Taiga is famous for its fur trapping - I really have no idea where TLM is coming from to be honest. To say that a professional trapper would fail in the Taiga seems bizarre to me as many people have made a living from doing it for thousands of years :)
 

TLM

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Nov 16, 2019
3,092
1,624
Vantaa, Finland
You're saying Trapping doesn't work in the Taiga / Boreal forest due to a lack of Historical evidence ?
Oh yes it does but but but. Species (not for fur) that have been trapped are hare (no rabbits) and grouse but in winter time almost exclusively, one has to be able to see tracks.

If I had to live by trapping I would forget anything on four legs and go for the fish, there is plenty of historical evidence for that.

Fur trapping is not done in the summer.
 
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