Search results

As a matter of ritual, I engage in hand drill and fireplow everyday. One aspect of each that has bothered me in the past is that these techniques have traditionally required the participant to bend over and stress one's back muscles, of which I have significantly damaged in the past. For...

I just received a copy of the August issue. They used one of my photos on the cover, in the upper right-hand corner: Here's the first two pages of my article--they did a good job with the formatting:

I'd like to share with you something I've been doing and want your input if you have experience with it. I spent the day making fires with an iron file striker and various rocks and minerals. I wanted to see what would actually ignite char-cloth (and then get to flames). I was able to make...

I wrote a new article about sculpting soft stone and wonder if it's appropriate for the Bushcraft magazine. Here's a link to it on my website: http://www.stoneageskills.com/images/Pendant_Article_for_website--pdf.pdf I still need to make a few very minor changes. Let me know what you...

hello! pardon me if this post is in the wrong forum topic. does anyone have a source for marcasite? i've been looking for a couple of years without any success. seems as though Europe is the place to look, although i just got an email from someone who found some in northern Washington state...

can quartz crystals be found in the UK?

i'm currently expanding one of my articles in hopes of getting it into the Bushcraft Magazine. through an internet search, i see that some yuccas can be propagated in English gardens (Yucca gloriosa, Y. whipplei, etc.). are there any wild yuccas in the UK? can i pay someone to send my a...

i need some folks to go to the bottom of my homepage (www.stoneageskills.com) and click on the new pdf file--the Boiling Stones article (it is updated). i want to make sure everyone can open and read it before i convert all my files to pdf format. currently all my articles are in MS Word, a...

i just finished carving out the inside of that split yucca stalk (Yucca whipplei) to make a container for my hand drill set. within the hollowed stem i keep a couple spindles and hearths, a snakeskin bag of cattail fluff, a buckskin bag of ground white sage, stone, buckskin and bark ember...

i found a small piece of talc recently and decided to grind it on sandstone into a pendant. i used a quartz crystal-tipped hand drill to make the hole, and a bone needle to inlay the tiny crystal. deer hide glue secures the crystal. i rubbed bear fat onto the stone so that it would keep the...

while i was living in the pacific northwest, i collected a few artist's conks (Ganoderma applanatum). on one i depicted a raven with magnetite and hematite mineral paints (stabilized with mouse fat): on another i etched a simple forest scene, with a tiny stick, while the pore surface of...

i took this pic at Crystal Cove State Beach this weekend, down by Newport Beach in southern CA. those white dots, reflections on the water in the tidepools, are in a great location in the photo. amazing colors on the sea anenome...

Processing Yucca Fibers by storm Here is a quick and easy way to extract the long, white fibers from Whipple’s Yucca (Yucca whipplei) leaves. Here are the tools I will use: smooth pounders and blunt scrapers. My favorite pounder (the black one at the top) is a 23 million year old...

i was out identifying and photographing plants, collecting medicinal herbs and friction fire woods, and foraging for miscellaneous Useful Nature during the past couple days. in particular, i was collecting yucca seeds and was using a large, shiny metal bowl. after i had set the bowl down for a...

seeing a Musical Instruments Topic Thread on another primitive skills forum inspired me to collect my instruments that i use with my outdoor school students and share them here. i hadn't realized that shell was a commonality amongst the instruments. at upper left there is a Nuttall's...

Making a Stone Age Sling by storm I have made a few of slings over the years and had become moderately proficient with this device while living in the dense temperate rainforests of Washington. About 60% of the time I could land a stone within a basketball-sized target area within 30 feet...

i sent a fellow some gneiss (a metamorphic rock) out of which he wanted to make some knife handles--so he sent me this back. i'm amazed how polished he got the gneiss, which is a rather grainy rock. i think the blade is green sheen obsidian. it's perfect...

i'd like to hear about folk's experience (particularly the successes--coals attained) using bone, ivory, antler, rock, fungus, shell, and other non-wood materials as spindles or hearthboards with hand drill, bow drill, fire saw, fire thong (anyone use leather for the strap?) and fire plow...

i'm thinking of getting a juicer in order to juice wild grasses, like some people juice sprouted wheat and barley foliage. has anyone used wild grasses in this manner?