Mikey P said:I would second that observation: considering that a knife is but one tool (albeit an important one) in a bushcrafter's toolbox, there are disproportionally large numbers of posts on the subject, and always at least a couple of pictures in the Gallery thumbs at the top of the page.
I would sincerely hope that we are moving away from a knife fixation that, frankly, borders on the unhealthy. I mean, how many do you need? (Answer: one or two). There was a poll on the number of knives people have and there were some with between 50 and 100 knives!!!
There is a link to the British Blades forum within Edged Tools and I wonder whether many of the more specialist posts should actually be on the BB site? Also, there seem to be a surprising number of knife-related posts in other forums, like Bushcraft Chatter. Do people not read the forum titles? They should be in Edged Tools and it just means that the Mods have to work harder to tidy up the forums. I can see there is a grey area with the DIY stuff - maybe we need some clarification?
In terms of DIY stuff in general, I would also say that there seem to be increasingly more 'Look What I've Done' compared to 'Look What I've Bought' posts. I have seen some incredible stuff that people have made, way beyond anything that I could do, and kudos to the guys and girls who can do this. I have also been heartened by the number of really simple and elegant solutions that people are posting - like the 'charcloth tube'. Fantastic! Does it get better than that? More of this please - and more of the eyecandy craft stuff (leatherwork, home-made clothing, cord/ropework, woodwork - but less spoons!).
The Search function is under-used and vastly under-rated. It's a great resource that I'm just as guilty of not using to its full potential. I wish that people would try the search function before posting something and it's getting tiring to see posts like: 'What's the Best Knife/Tarp/Rucksack/Sleeping Bag/Etc for Bushcraft?' when these have all been asked - and answered - before.
Greg has a point that it is always helpful to ask someone for a little more explanation on a subject once you've researched it, and there's no problem with this. But it seems pointless to go over the same thing again and again...and again...when the answers are available already.
I would also agree with the idea that many of the good articles whould be turned into 'tutorials' and more permanent records. How about some sort of Bushcraft Wiki (see Wikipedia)? The only issue with this is that it would be a lot more work for Tony to manage and so probably isn't practical. Do we need an e-book? We already have a tutorials section to the BCUK site.
So, in answer to torusg's comments (I was getting there, honest!), I think that there are slightly fewer posts on kit, etc, but people are asking generally better, more focused questions. People do seem to be advancing from the initial 'buy everything' stage to a 'make your own stuff' stage, probably because it's more satisfying. We are also seeing more pictures and posts on bushcraft meets and trips - there's certainly an increasing trend towards getting out more. I would disagree that interest is on the wane - if anything, I would say there's more than there ever was. Hooray!
Maybe Tony has some stats on the number of posts over time?
For me I would like to second quite a lot of what you have just said.
A while ago there was a lot of "I am taking the dog for a walk, what axe/bushcraft knife will I need?" threads
And to be honest theres a fine line between owning a few knife's and being ever so slightly obsessed by them and having hundreds.
I like the fact that this site is promoting skills and knowledge as opposed to kit.
