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If there is anything I can do to help with the BCUK printing predicament I am more than willing to help as I am sure we all are.
I just got my latest copy of BCSS...I defo will no be renewing my subscription!
Miss-captioning of Dave Budds article photos (nice to see someone else spreading butter with a Billhook!), Bushcraft ovens using filing cabinets breeze blocks and fire bricks(?!), the poorest book reviews I have ever seen in print, general lack of substance, lots of gloss, waste of ink articles and only the bow and wild food arts rescuing it from the bin - and I had read the info on this in other places
I had high hopes for this mag ,which have been sadly disapointed! I know that you cannot please everyone all the time but most of the issues have been carp - and no-one could call me "hard-core"....the ads are OK I suppose....
Tony for the sake of my sanity get the next issue of BCUK mag out soon!
Miss-captioning of Dave Budds article photos (nice to see someone else spreading butter with a Billhook!), Bushcraft ovens using filing cabinets breeze blocks and fire bricks(?!), the poorest book reviews I have ever seen in print, general lack of substance, lots of gloss, waste of ink articles and only the bow and wild food arts rescuing it from the bin - and I had read the info on this in other places
I had high hopes for this mag ,which have been sadly disapointed! I know that you cannot please everyone all the time but most of the issues have been carp - and no-one could call me "hard-core"....the ads are OK I suppose....
Tony for the sake of my sanity get the next issue of BCUK mag out soon!
Darn tootin I am biased!
I am biased towards mags that fill pages of a bushcraft magazine with bushcraft related subjects rather than - and I tell no lies! - FLOWER ARRANGING TIPS! and full page photos of their contributors.
I ask you - a full page concerning "how we laid out leaves to look like fireworks" one para of script saying it was introducing plant ID by stealth (why by stealth?) without any practical ID of the plants pictured, uses of said plants or any practical bushcraft info at all!
"We even madeup sound effects for each firework" caps it all - is this bushcraft?
Not in my book! therefor it is not going to be in my magazine either!
The whole mag caters for the Urban Wannabe (filing cabinet camp ovens!?) children (OK some folk have them and want to know that they have imaginations/can listen to half baked stories etc but in my thoughts that is more for a parenting magazine than one with a title like Bushcraft and Survival - though I may be in a minority here) pages and pages of right on PC lets be feminine articles (I had the idea that bushcraft was widely seen as a unisex activity anyway, though again I may have a minority viewpoint but why have numerous pages of every copy on subjects like SheWees and sports bras that exclude 50% of the populatoin?)
This is without going into "Arty" design where the printed word is either obscured by printing it over dark patches of background photos or in such a huge font (to fill up space they have no substance to otherwise fill) that it is just like those large print books of the kind my Mother in Law favours.
Few of the articles have any substance being page fillers thanks to the size and number of photos that add little to the article and the massive margins/huge font of the scant word count...The authors will REAL skills who write for this mag must feel awfully let down by the presentation of their work. I was, in the early days, talking with the editor about writing for the mag but about a year ago decided not to persue the matter, explained to him what I did not think was working (for me) with the mag and walked away.
I could go on and on as I find the mag the poorest I know of in the market. Now you know my true feelings and why I will not subscribe to this heap of trendy bendy, touchy feely twaddle in the furure!
Just my humble thoughts on the matter and if BCSS does it for you then you are in the fortunate position of having several bushcraft mags to enjoy!
This is a rant about how annoyed I am at myself for wasting - as I see it - my hard earned dosh on a subscription to a mag that does not do it for me, not one aimed at denigtrating anyone elses enjoyment of anything.
PS George for producing the best, most concise and informative, best researched and most informative piece of writing in the latest issue!
I am biased towards mags that fill pages of a bushcraft magazine with bushcraft related subjects rather than - and I tell no lies! - FLOWER ARRANGING TIPS! and full page photos of their contributors.
I ask you - a full page concerning "how we laid out leaves to look like fireworks" one para of script saying it was introducing plant ID by stealth (why by stealth?) without any practical ID of the plants pictured, uses of said plants or any practical bushcraft info at all!
"We even madeup sound effects for each firework" caps it all - is this bushcraft?
Not in my book! therefor it is not going to be in my magazine either!
The whole mag caters for the Urban Wannabe (filing cabinet camp ovens!?) children (OK some folk have them and want to know that they have imaginations/can listen to half baked stories etc but in my thoughts that is more for a parenting magazine than one with a title like Bushcraft and Survival - though I may be in a minority here) pages and pages of right on PC lets be feminine articles (I had the idea that bushcraft was widely seen as a unisex activity anyway, though again I may have a minority viewpoint but why have numerous pages of every copy on subjects like SheWees and sports bras that exclude 50% of the populatoin?)
This is without going into "Arty" design where the printed word is either obscured by printing it over dark patches of background photos or in such a huge font (to fill up space they have no substance to otherwise fill) that it is just like those large print books of the kind my Mother in Law favours.
Few of the articles have any substance being page fillers thanks to the size and number of photos that add little to the article and the massive margins/huge font of the scant word count...The authors will REAL skills who write for this mag must feel awfully let down by the presentation of their work. I was, in the early days, talking with the editor about writing for the mag but about a year ago decided not to persue the matter, explained to him what I did not think was working (for me) with the mag and walked away.
I could go on and on as I find the mag the poorest I know of in the market. Now you know my true feelings and why I will not subscribe to this heap of trendy bendy, touchy feely twaddle in the furure!
Just my humble thoughts on the matter and if BCSS does it for you then you are in the fortunate position of having several bushcraft mags to enjoy!
This is a rant about how annoyed I am at myself for wasting - as I see it - my hard earned dosh on a subscription to a mag that does not do it for me, not one aimed at denigtrating anyone elses enjoyment of anything.
PS George for producing the best, most concise and informative, best researched and most informative piece of writing in the latest issue!
Not just me then (it was a bit mean to caption Daves spoon as firewood). It does seem to have gone downhill. I do miss the BCUK Mag. I have the pdf but you can't exactly read that in the bath...
Nice to see you are in touch with todays market place.
I am glad to see you dont mind letting people know that you think Bushcraft is not something children and women should be involved with and that any ideas to involve children and women in the subject are in your book not bushcraft.
Flower aranging? I dont know what will they do next, Para cord bracelets, well thats just knitting isnt it, what about knife making, well thats metal work and wood work isnt it, how about making your own clothing? I know that is close to your heart, but is that not just sewing? Surely it has no place in a Bushcraft publication. What about boil in the bag foods, thats for a cooking mag isnt it? Or does it depend on who does the review and in what book or magazine it is in?
I am glad to here that "you walked away" !!??? from that magazine if that is the way you feel. I just hope that the BcUK magazine never covers a subject you dont think is hard core bushcraft and you have to "Walk away" from that too as I enjoy reading your NUMEROUS reviews for this magazine such as.... well I dont need to list them do I everyone will know which you have done as I am sure we all read them and enjoyed them.
I have never purchased one of your books, maybe they would not be to my tastes as our views obviously differ. However I am always perpared to give people the benefit of doubt, but I bet I would not find a single spelling or printing error in anything you have done would I?.
Sorry if that is too "trendy bendy, touchy feely twaddle" for you.
I am glad to see you dont mind letting people know that you think Bushcraft is not something children and women should be involved with and that any ideas to involve children and women in the subject are in your book not bushcraft.
Flower aranging? I dont know what will they do next, Para cord bracelets, well thats just knitting isnt it, what about knife making, well thats metal work and wood work isnt it, how about making your own clothing? I know that is close to your heart, but is that not just sewing? Surely it has no place in a Bushcraft publication. What about boil in the bag foods, thats for a cooking mag isnt it? Or does it depend on who does the review and in what book or magazine it is in?
I am glad to here that "you walked away"
!!??? from that magazine if that is the way you feel. I just hope that the BcUK magazine never covers a subject you dont think is hard core bushcraft and you have to "Walk away" from that too as I enjoy reading your NUMEROUS reviews for this magazine such as.... well I dont need to list them do I everyone will know which you have done as I am sure we all read them and enjoyed them.I have never purchased one of your books, maybe they would not be to my tastes as our views obviously differ. However I am always perpared to give people the benefit of doubt, but I bet I would not find a single spelling or printing error in anything you have done would I?.
Sorry if that is too "trendy bendy, touchy feely twaddle" for you.
Actually, I'm with John on this one (although I have not read the article in question). There is a huge amount of material that is highly relevant to the subject of Bushcraft, outdoor life, survival etc. Enough to fill 50 pages of text and supporting illustrations for decades. How do I know this? because I write dozens or articles, pictorials, tutorials etc. If time and funds permitted I would write dozens more. Indeed there are three or four I must find the time to do soon.
There are entire books devoted to the subject of one narrow aspect of Bushcraft but often they are "too much". A magazine has a huge advantage in being able to "distil" such knowledge into relevant, concise and timely chunks without wandering "off topic"
I also don't think that flower arranging has a place in a Bushcraft magazine! Nor does any kind of poilitics. Now an article on knife law, or water purification or proper campfire cookery (say 4 pages on making a Sunday roast on an open fire?) spot on. Theres a place for all the arts of living and thriving, but I don't see why it should need to be a vehicle for a political agenda or a recruiting tool either.
Why can't we discuss the subject without worrying about artificially introducing irrelevant material for the sake of "inclusiveness"? The women I know who are into the outdoors (and there are many) would laugh themselves silly at being told "we included some flower arranging so you wouldn't feel left out". How patronising is that? My own lady (who is by the way equally at home in a cocktail frock or combats) would far rather read an article on butchering a deer!
Outdoor life should be done in the spirit of the campfire - enjoying one anothers company and respecting each others differences, skills and abilities IRRESPECTIVE of gender, background etc. Making fatuous inclusions to try to persuade someone to get involved is highly likely to be counter productive in my view - both for those persuaded and those who need no persuasion. If Bushcraft is not your thing, fine, why not just persue a different hobby?
Red
There are entire books devoted to the subject of one narrow aspect of Bushcraft but often they are "too much". A magazine has a huge advantage in being able to "distil" such knowledge into relevant, concise and timely chunks without wandering "off topic"
I also don't think that flower arranging has a place in a Bushcraft magazine! Nor does any kind of poilitics. Now an article on knife law, or water purification or proper campfire cookery (say 4 pages on making a Sunday roast on an open fire?) spot on. Theres a place for all the arts of living and thriving, but I don't see why it should need to be a vehicle for a political agenda or a recruiting tool either.
Why can't we discuss the subject without worrying about artificially introducing irrelevant material for the sake of "inclusiveness"? The women I know who are into the outdoors (and there are many) would laugh themselves silly at being told "we included some flower arranging so you wouldn't feel left out". How patronising is that? My own lady (who is by the way equally at home in a cocktail frock or combats) would far rather read an article on butchering a deer!
Outdoor life should be done in the spirit of the campfire - enjoying one anothers company and respecting each others differences, skills and abilities IRRESPECTIVE of gender, background etc. Making fatuous inclusions to try to persuade someone to get involved is highly likely to be counter productive in my view - both for those persuaded and those who need no persuasion. If Bushcraft is not your thing, fine, why not just persue a different hobby?
Red
Hi BR
Your comments are correct, as you said you did not read the article, may I...
The article John was refering to as "flower aranging", was in fact an article by Chris Holland of Wholeland entitled Firework Display in the family activity section.
He explains that he, "to introduce a bunch of children to leaf identification, played a game" where by (being just after bonfire night) he arranged colourful plants into displays resembling fireworks, where he could identify the coloured leaves to the children.
He goes on to sugest trying this yourself, ie. Do this for your children.
My little girl enjoyed it, she knows Red Dog wood, Yellow Dog wood and Yew simply by showing her the leaves. I think if it draws their interest into a subject 7yr olds can find dull it is good.
I fully suport BcUK and hope they get their magazine publishing issues resolved quickly so we can again receive the magazine, but I will continue to receive BCSS magazine too, they have some great stuff in there too, including Dave Budd who is a highly respected member of this forum, who here can claim Dave Watson is not an excellent fire lighting and bushcraft instructor?
It's hourses for courses, what I dont like is someone trying their hardest to get Bushcraft into the public domain, which they have done, it is the only bushcraft magazine on the shelves in Borders, being slagged off for some minor errors that are down to printing errors.
It is an unbias magazine, they review kit and give an honest opinion, sometimes not to the liking of some of the companies they review, but I would rather have the truth than a fake review just becasue such a company promissed a load of free kit or a good advertising spread. It happens out there believe me.
And to have done this after receiving numerous setbacks, threats, even death threats, yes you read that correctly, I think they have done a hell of a good job for Bushcraft as a whole.
Any way, whats wrong with a bit of healthy competition, if a company believes in and trusts its product what is there to fear.
Your comments are correct, as you said you did not read the article, may I...
The article John was refering to as "flower aranging", was in fact an article by Chris Holland of Wholeland entitled Firework Display in the family activity section.
He explains that he, "to introduce a bunch of children to leaf identification, played a game" where by (being just after bonfire night) he arranged colourful plants into displays resembling fireworks, where he could identify the coloured leaves to the children.
He goes on to sugest trying this yourself, ie. Do this for your children.
My little girl enjoyed it, she knows Red Dog wood, Yellow Dog wood and Yew simply by showing her the leaves. I think if it draws their interest into a subject 7yr olds can find dull it is good.
I fully suport BcUK and hope they get their magazine publishing issues resolved quickly so we can again receive the magazine, but I will continue to receive BCSS magazine too, they have some great stuff in there too, including Dave Budd who is a highly respected member of this forum, who here can claim Dave Watson is not an excellent fire lighting and bushcraft instructor?
It's hourses for courses, what I dont like is someone trying their hardest to get Bushcraft into the public domain, which they have done, it is the only bushcraft magazine on the shelves in Borders, being slagged off for some minor errors that are down to printing errors.
It is an unbias magazine, they review kit and give an honest opinion, sometimes not to the liking of some of the companies they review, but I would rather have the truth than a fake review just becasue such a company promissed a load of free kit or a good advertising spread. It happens out there believe me.
And to have done this after receiving numerous setbacks, threats, even death threats, yes you read that correctly, I think they have done a hell of a good job for Bushcraft as a whole.
Any way, whats wrong with a bit of healthy competition, if a company believes in and trusts its product what is there to fear.
I just wrote a huge reply - which the machine ate!
Much of it was wot Red said...
Why print devisive arts on a non devided interest ( the art on women in nushcraft schools was interesting though).
Bushcraft should be totally inclusive!
I am not anti women and children - George wrote the best article in the mag and he is young!
It is the devisive, poorly written arts with stle apleanty and not substance that makes me regret my renewing my subs last time!
Read my posts again and you may see what I mean...
As to the gentler arts
I am a tutor in Spiritual healing, hold a diploma in fashion design, act, take part in photography any other arts and enjoy the arty side of life.
However - if I was writing for a bushcraft mag I would try to include some bushcrafting into my articles....
My rant was about my renewing my subs when I could have saved my cash - but I gave the mag the benifit of the doubt!
Let us continue this under a tree sometime - I dont think our viewpoints can be too different as we both like BCUK!
Much of it was wot Red said...
Why print devisive arts on a non devided interest ( the art on women in nushcraft schools was interesting though).
Bushcraft should be totally inclusive!
I am not anti women and children - George wrote the best article in the mag and he is young!
It is the devisive, poorly written arts with stle apleanty and not substance that makes me regret my renewing my subs last time!
Read my posts again and you may see what I mean...
As to the gentler arts
I am a tutor in Spiritual healing, hold a diploma in fashion design, act, take part in photography any other arts and enjoy the arty side of life.
However - if I was writing for a bushcraft mag I would try to include some bushcrafting into my articles....
My rant was about my renewing my subs when I could have saved my cash - but I gave the mag the benifit of the doubt!
Let us continue this under a tree sometime - I dont think our viewpoints can be too different as we both like BCUK!
I just saw your post - DEATH THREATS!
It wasn't me - honest!
You make the point that I was trying to about the fireworks - that if the plants were identified the exercise has value - without ID it is nothing but pretty pictures! And it takes a whole page up - lots of style no substance I think you may agree.
As to the reviews being unbiased - I hope you were not implying mine are
I review gear as a freelance in three other high street distributed national mags -in two I have my own columns - and have a bit of a rep for telling it like it is, though most reviews that are totally anti go back to the manufacturer with the suggestion they think again rather onto the mag pages where the public is better served bty reading about the items that DO do the job...
Many of the companies I review gear from do not advertise in the mags I write for - but marketing keep on trying to persued them
The articles and authors you refer to could have been better served by having acurate caption and longer articles - not a whole page given to a portrait shot of the author. Style versus substance!
I aplaud your getting your little girl interested in bushcraft, and hope we all meet up sometime.
John
It wasn't me - honest!
You make the point that I was trying to about the fireworks - that if the plants were identified the exercise has value - without ID it is nothing but pretty pictures! And it takes a whole page up - lots of style no substance I think you may agree.
As to the reviews being unbiased - I hope you were not implying mine are
I review gear as a freelance in three other high street distributed national mags -in two I have my own columns - and have a bit of a rep for telling it like it is, though most reviews that are totally anti go back to the manufacturer with the suggestion they think again rather onto the mag pages where the public is better served bty reading about the items that DO do the job...
Many of the companies I review gear from do not advertise in the mags I write for - but marketing keep on trying to persued them
The articles and authors you refer to could have been better served by having acurate caption and longer articles - not a whole page given to a portrait shot of the author. Style versus substance!
I aplaud your getting your little girl interested in bushcraft, and hope we all meet up sometime.
John
