Bushcraft and homesteading skills in WW3

[Falstaff]

I use both crowbar and pickaxe so feel I can comment on both and they are both very useful and work. It's a case of horse for courses;
The tribal aboriginals still use a digging stick to unearth food etc, and I find it is usually best for levering up heavy strong items like slabs and tree roots. It's penetration though it limited to it'dHowever, ancients quickly turned to an angled device for farming etc - antler horn/plough stick, as it offers better pentration and leverage.

 

[Falstaff]

Gah, hit the return in error -
Crowbar penetration limited to dropping weight and whatever downwards purchase grip you can apply. Swinging a pickaxe is a lot harder but penetrates much further and can lever up more from deeper down.
You do not need to swing it overhead though, to get better penetration, just use it below waist height, using it's weight like a crowbar but with easier grip and downward thrust. (or side ways as a pendulum e.g. lifting turf - adze stylee). Penetration is less but still usually better than the crowbar.

 

[TeeDee]

I wonder if someone just told Trump there were lots of rare earth minerals in Ukraine, just to keep him interested in semi-supporting it ? (insert suitable smiley here)

It wasn't quite that President that helped to sow certain ideas and thoughts, movements & actions regarding Ukraine however was it.

How the Past 4 American Presidents Helped Escalate Tensions in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin is singularly responsible for the war that began this week. But the past four presidential administrations missed opportunities to deescalate.

reason.com

Don't blame the Firemen for attending to the blaze created by the arsonist.

 

[C_Claycomb]

Hi TeeDee
For someone who called out that the thread was getting political on Tuesday...was it really necessary to reply today to a post from Tuesday citing the actions of politicians? Especially when others clearly made the effort to pull back and return to talking about skills and digging implements?

Maybe I am missing something, your reply seems aimed at something else, and not what was said in the post you replied to. Like someone asks if its possible that someone has told someone that 1+4=5.5 and you reply that the the square of 4 is 16 as if it was suggested that it is 25.


Folks
As I said on Wednesday morning, it would be better to steer away from politics if possible. Its hard in a discussion with a premise of WW3 not to have some when the reason people are talking about WW3 is all in the news and twined with politics, but we can each choose what and how much we post.

ATB

 

[demented dale]

.. And a few thousand years from then, we'll be here talking about all this lot again on some form of digital device where we all have fake names and think we're important.

Speak for your self. my name is not fake. My mother named me Demented Dale xxxx

 

[TeeDee]

Hi TeeDee
For someone who called out that the thread was getting political on Tuesday...was it really necessary to reply today to a post from Tuesday citing the actions of politicians? Especially when others clearly made the effort to pull back and return to talking about skills and digging implements?

Maybe I am missing something, your reply seems aimed at something else, and not what was said in the post you replied to. Like someone asks if its possible that someone has told someone that 1+4=5.5 and you reply that the the square of 4 is 16 as if it was suggested that it is 25.


Folks
As I said on Wednesday morning, it would be better to steer away from politics if possible. Its hard in a discussion with a premise of WW3 not to have some when the reason people are talking about WW3 is all in the news and twined with politics, but we can each choose what and how much we post.

ATB

I think you have missed something. But glad you are now picking it up.

 

[Falstaff]

I think you have missed something. But glad you are now picking it up.

The cause of the Ukranian war is getting too deep and off topic, and likely to cause dispute - Think you'd better put the digging stick away Tee dee

 

[HorseGuy]

I use both crowbar and pickaxe so feel I can comment on both and they are both very useful and work. It's a case of horse for courses;
The tribal aboriginals still use a digging stick to unearth food etc, and I find it is usually best for levering up heavy strong items like slabs and tree roots. It's penetration though it limited to

That's not dissimilar to my experience. Although personally I always prefer the 60" wrecking bar as it is less tiring (maybe I'm just not strong enough for a pick axe or I used the wrong technique). Out of interest which of the two do you generally prefer to use or does it vary and is more a case of choosing the right tool for the job purely depending on what job you need to do at the time?

However, ancients quickly turned to an angled device for farming etc - antler horn/plough stick, as it offers better pentration and leverage.

I'd never heard of a plough stick before but after searching internet images it seems to be a long gardening hoe with 90 degree head? I already own one of these and while it is a useful tool to use I find that it has much less less penetration than either a 60" wrecking bar or a pick axe. I find a gardening hoe to be better suited to the more delicate and precise task of turning of the soil over afterwards but not so good for the initial 'breaking' of the soil when it is hard and compressed. Just my experience and I'm the first to admit to being a near total amateur when it comes to gardening.

 

[HorseGuy]

If society comes to a point where people start poaching (hunting out of season year round) it won´t be very long until edible animals are hunted to extinction. Finland have some 200 000 registered hunters.
After that sheep and cows start needing bodyguards or kept inside 24/7.

I wouldn't have a clue where to start if it came to hunting for food but using snares to catch small mammals like rabbits looks like a quite easy and straight forward process.

 

[HorseGuy]

Generally though, I think any bushcraft/homestead type skills are nothing compared to emotional resilience and adaptability. To me, those are the most valuable things. People who nurture those skills are probably going to be way more useful in any wartime situation regardless of their practical skillset.

Those were my exact thoughts too.
I also think that during tough times being able to motivate the necessary hope and determination in other people to help give them resilience and adaptability would be an extremely valuable trait to have too.

 

[HillBill]

Speak for your self. my name is not fake. My mother named me Demented Dale xxxx

And everyone where i'm from calls me HillBill. Parents included. I am known by 2 other names though. Our lass calls me Roo. No idea why... And Dad is often used by my son... when he he choses not to call me Di ckhe ad (he's 18, so i let him, he's allowed his own opinion at that age)

 

[Keith_Beef]

I wouldn't have a clue where to start if it came to hunting for food but using snares to catch small mammals like rabbits looks like a quite easy and straight forward process.

Ducks, geese and swans are much easier, if you're near water.

Wood pigeons, doves, blackbirds, thrushes are almost as easy.

At a push, you could start rearing snails (heliciculture). Apparently that a big thing in London, right now, but it's more to do with getting out of paying property taxes than making money from the flesh.

 

[Tengu]

Oh, is that what its called?

I found a couple of books on the subject and donated them to the library at the Royal Agricultural University, -they were well pleased.

 

[HorseGuy]

Ducks, geese and swans are much easier, if you're near water.

Wood pigeons, doves, blackbirds, thrushes are almost as easy.

I wasn't even aware it was possible to snare birds until I looked it up just now.

 

[GreyCat]

That's not dissimilar to my experience. Although personally I always prefer the 60" wrecking bar as it is less tiring (maybe I'm just not strong enough for a pick axe or I used the wrong technique). Out of interest which of the two do you generally prefer to use or does it vary and is more a case of choosing the right tool for the job purely depending on what job you need to do at the time?



I'd never heard of a plough stick before but after searching internet images it seems to be a long gardening hoe with 90 degree head? I already own one of these and while it is a useful tool to use I find that it has much less less penetration than either a 60" wrecking bar or a pick axe. I find a gardening hoe to be better suited to the more delicate and precise task of turning of the soil over afterwards but not so good for the initial 'breaking' of the soil when it is hard and compressed. Just my experience and I'm the first to admit to being a near total amateur when it comes to gardening.

I have used a matttock on occasion, but for rough ground I do like my digging bar.

It was described as a "fence hole digger" when I bought it many years ago. It is a 6-foot length of inch-diameter steel with a chisel end (a couple of inches wide) and a big knob on the other end. I sharpened the chisel end when I got it.

It is so heavy that a vertical lift of a few inches then drop digs through the toughest roots- I extracted a couple of fully grown Phyllostachys bamboos that had overstayed their welcome with it. The length also makes it a good lever.

Loosen up the ground with it, then dig out with a small spade or spike (drainage spade). Repeat.

I can manage that, but I struggle to wield a pickaxe these days.

GC

 

[HorseGuy]

I have used a matttock on occasion, but for rough ground I do like my digging bar.

It was described as a "fence hole digger" when I bought it many years ago. It is a 6-foot length of inch-diameter steel with a chisel end (a couple of inches wide) and a big knob on the other end. I sharpened the chisel end when I got it.

It is so heavy that a vertical lift of a few inches then drop digs through the toughest roots- I extracted a couple of fully grown Phyllostachys bamboos that had overstayed their welcome with it. The length also makes it a good lever.

Loosen up the ground with it, then dig out with a small spade or spike (drainage spade). Repeat.

I can manage that, but I struggle to wield a pickaxe these days.

GC

Yes they are deceptively heavy as being solid steel. Mine is only 5' long and about 3/4" diameter so it is quite manageable but a friend of my has a bigger 6' long 1" diameter one like yours which does take quite a bit of lifting. The extra weight comes in handy though because once you've lifted it up gravity does most the work for you on the way back down.

Having horses I've knocked dozens of wooden fence post into the ground over the years and I always use the pointy end of the wrecking bar to start off the hole first. While it's possible to knock a wooden fence pole straight into the ground using just a post basher and nothing else it's much easier if you start the hole off first using the wrecking bar pole first. It's a bit like pre-drilling a narrow pilot hole first before screwing a screw into wood.

 

[Falstaff]

Out of interest which of the two do you generally prefer to use or does it vary

I'd never heard of a plough stick before but after searching internet images it seems to be a long gardening hoe with 90 degree head?

It's a case of choosing the right tool for the job, for tree roots or rocky digging it's often both. Those big post hole jobbies are too heavy for me, I prefer to use something a bit lighter.
Plough stick, early man and third world agricutural implement. I'm probably using the wrong terminology. Broadly yes, an angled piece of pointy hard wood to penetrate, often a tree branch or root, where the other part becomes the handle/lever arm. Doesn't go very deep, max probably spoade depth if that. An early form of mattock/ plough/shallow digging implement as opposed to a weeding hoe, more easily creates a seed furrow.

 

[ghillieman]

Your best skils are the ones of your grand parents. Not depend on electricity or cell phones or the internet. Be good in improvising things, learn how to process dead animals, fix bycicle tires and such. Learn to fish, Learn basic first aid and how to defend your self.

 

[ghillieman]

Have the right stuff, get manual and be prepared !!

 

[ghillieman]

Otherwise ....the teddybears will have their picnick !!