Bender & Brew

[Bishop]

When the dogs refused to come out with me this afternoon I should of known the weather going to get horrible.
Undaunted I foraged onwards till the the rain went from being inclement to abusive so wrestled up a quick bender
and got a brew on in the neglected corner of a field. It's an interesting little spot I'll be coming back to on account
there's a quite a few rabbits lurking under the brambles...

 

[fishfish]

great bender ,we used to make them all the time when i was a boy,a lot of travellers like them too,i saw one on Semley common a few years back some traveller mushes did a dome one lined with carpet over it then a tarp,wood burner inside,nice and cosey!

 

[Toddy]

I'm going to link this thread to another one where I got kind of taken to task when I asked why folks went to all the bother of making A frame shelters instead of something like that, Bishop.

Tidy and I like your thread title too

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Bishop]

For the curious it took about five minutes to source the hazel then make the frame and the hardest thing was getting the plastic sheet over it!
It's a painters dust sheet, thinner than tissue paper and tears far to easily but it's lightweight and packs down well into the back pocket of my bimble bag.
You only get a few uses out of them much like a foil space blanket but they're ridiculously cheap and surprisingly big. Completely unfolded the one I used
opens out to 3.6 by 2.6 meters, so way more than enough to shelter a few bodies in an emergency.

 

[tiger stacker]

Looks like a good walk with a nice brew up too.

 

[Joonsy]

looks nice and snug sitting with a brew peering out at the weather

Regarding bender tents, it’s often stated romanies used to cover their tents with tarpaulins or blankets. Originally these ''blankets'' were not the sort you’d place on your bed, they were discarded conveyer belts as used in the old woollen mills, they got greasy from the wool which helped to repel the rain and when they were discarded and replaced romanies would use them to cover their bender tents. Many people think they are called benders because the sticks are bent, but originally they actually got that name because they were built quite low and you had to stoop (bend) to get in them and move around in them, Incidentally they were often called ''rod tents'' as well for obvious reasons.

 

[fishfish]

nice info joonsey.

 

[Bishop]

It's a style that's seems to be being slowly re-discovered by the bushcraft community, quick to make, resource friendly and no fears of getting squashed under a log.


PS: Has anybody noticed just how much the Mors surival shelter resembles a classic Romany caravan?
http://s1104.photobucket.com/user/bensbackwoods/media/IMG_0097.jpg.html