Course recommendations

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useless

Tenderfoot
Oct 20, 2005
92
2
54
Hampshire, UK
I would like to be the first one here to recommend Forest Knights stuff. I've been on a couple of their courses and really enjoyed them both. very well run, excellent woodland that just goes on for miles. Learnt lots of things, always left feeling very relaxed. The staff team couldn't do enough. The food was exceptional, and that's from the vegetarian they had to cater for specialy. Those that ate dead stuff seemed to enjoy the food too.

I think they do corporate stuff.

groovy
 

Martyn

Bushcrafter through and through
Aug 7, 2003
5,252
33
58
staffordshire
www.britishblades.com
bambodoggy said:
Thank you Leon.

Maybe others can recomend some other schools now too.

Bam. :)

I think this boils down to your own personal integrity and your own sense of judgement. I can certainly see Stuart's point, particularly as you seem to reccomend Bearclaw so frequently, but as you dont appear to have any formal connection with them, I think the only person that can be the judge of partial or impartial is you yourself.

I cant speak for the other moderators, but If you are happy within yourself that your recommendations are impartial and that your personal friendship with Bearclaw and their staff doesnt bias your opinion, then I think we are compelled to accept your claim of impartiality on face value.

On the point generally - I think the point at which personal friendships start to present a conflict of interests with regard to recommendations, is always going to boil down to personal integrity. Simply being friends with someone, doesnt automatically mean that they will act as a biassed and unpaid corporate pimp. Unless there is a formal link between an individual and a company, I dont think there is anything for the moderators to do, other than place some trust the integrity of individuals and hope that the trust is not misplaced. That may be naive, I dont know.
 
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Martyn

Bushcrafter through and through
Aug 7, 2003
5,252
33
58
staffordshire
www.britishblades.com
Stuart said:
Perhaps we should leave any decisions on this to the moderating staff

I can certainly see your concerns Stuart. But the rules as I read them, apply to formal connections between an individual and a business. That's cut and dried. Where the connection is one of personal friendship, the lines get very blurry. It is still possible for someone to be friends with a business owner and still offer impartial recommendations. It doesnt automatically mean that a drinking buddy is gonna pimp his mates business if he gets the next pint - though I accept it certainly could.

I think we have to give the benefit of the doubt in these circumstances and accept that this could be open to some abuse, because the alternative would mean implimenting rules that are too difficult to apply and too totalitarian.

In this instance, I think we have to give the lattitude to Bam and trust that he wont abuse it.
 

leon-1

Full Member

bushwacker bob

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sep 22, 2003
3,824
17
STRANGEUS PLACEUS
I was going to reccommend Forest Knights,I have never been on an official course ,but I have been bushcrafting with Wayne and consider him a friend.
My reccommendation was because he is one of the best camp cooks I have ever met! He is also a very knowledgable and amiable guy.
 

bambodoggy

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Nov 10, 2004
3,062
50
49
Surrey
www.stumpandgrind.co.uk
Martyn said:
In this instance, I think we have to give the lattitude to Bam and trust that he wont abuse it.


Many thanks Martyn, I appriciate your sound judgement in this matter. Can I also just say that I am a "drinking buddy" of nobody, in fact, I'm as near as darn it T-total.
I do recomend other schools from time to time, Forest Knights, Bison, Natural pathways and TB's Tracker School over in the US to name but a few. The problem I have is that I know the instructors and/or owners of most of those school or will have a good friend who knows them but Bearclaw and Natural Pathways are the only companies who's courses I've actually been on and can therefore speak about from personal experience.
Yes I know both Gary and JP very well but having spent weeks away with them I'm bound too. Yes I meet up with them for bushcrafting every couple of months or so but there are other instructors from several different schools there as well.

The bottom line is that I am offering a recomendation to a school which in itself can reflect badly on my personal reputation if the person I'm recomending too doesn't like it. If I recomend a bad school then I will soon be seen as somebody not to be trusted. I'm quite careful about who I recomend and I am, because I know them so well, more than happy to recomend ANY of the above named schools. I've also heard some very good things about other schools but the ones above are the main ones I would choose as I (or a very close pal) know them well.

I've heard less about Woodsmoke but I know a few people that I rate very highly and they in turn rate woodsmoke very well....in which case they are good enough for me.

I hope that clears things up from my end.

Thanks,

Bam. :D
 

swyn

Life Member
Nov 24, 2004
1,159
227
Eastwards!
Two courses that I can recomend from personal experience are Bearclaws and Forest knights as I have done both. If they offer 'corporate' courses there is then a choice to make.
I am recomending the teaching and the people too as they both had well structured, informed and challenging parts and when faced with this sort of learning curve you do not forget quickly! Both were set in pleasant environments and there was time for socialising. Teaching came first so no slacking or you would miss out.
Both were within sensible traveling distances and this was one of the important factors for me too.
I do not know these people socially! Just enjoyed the time spent.
Swyn.
 

andyn

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Aug 15, 2005
2,392
29
Hampshire
www.naturescraft.co.uk
Swyn said:
Two courses that I can recomend from personal experience are Bearclaws and Forest knights as I have done both

I'll Second that, the course I went on with Bearclaw was very good, and the location just made it even better :D and the Forest Knights course was very well run too.


P.S I havent recieved any bribes nor do i work for any of the above mentioned companines and have personally attended, and paid for, both companies courses and feel that I can recommend them on the good time and quality of training that was provided.

If this opinion is biased because I havent attended all the other training schools in the UK and therefore also classified as advertisement then I appologise in advance.
 

Martyn

Bushcrafter through and through
Aug 7, 2003
5,252
33
58
staffordshire
www.britishblades.com
andyn said:
If this opinion is biased because I havent attended all the other training schools in the UK and therefore also classified as advertisement then I appologise in advance.

Sorry Andy, but I think that's a bit of a stupid thing to say.

The criticisms raised in this thread have been done so, out of a desire to keep the forums free from biassed advertising. Rightly or wrongly, the reason for it is so that you and other members are given unbiassed recommendations. It's a difficult line to walk, but surely you must realise that it is for your benefit? I suggest you think about that before deciding to rip into people for trying to act in members best interests.

I'm sure Bam feels cheesed off that he was called out on this issue, but frankly that's not as important as the slightly bigger issue of keeping the forum free of back-door advertising - wherever it comes from. In this case, there is nothing for the mods to do and we came down in Bam's favour, but doesnt mean we dont think Stuart made a very good argument and he did so with the interests of the forum and it's members in mind.

A little objective maturity please. These things are never easy to sort out and they are made 10x harder when people start to bitch.
 

The Joker

Native
Sep 28, 2005
1,231
12
55
Surrey, Sussex uk
Martyn said:
A little objective maturity please. These things are never easy to sort out and they are made 10x harder when people start to bitch.


Sorry isn't that "The black mod calling the kettle black"................. :lmao: couldn't resist it.........Sorry :togo:
 
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Tengu

Full Member
Jan 10, 2006
12,780
1,517
51
Wiltshire
Well you are lucky to be able to go on courses to argue about.

(and your IT specialists probably dont realise this either....)
 

Stuart

Full Member
Sep 12, 2003
4,141
50
**********************
My apologise guys for making this a public aggravation.

Regardless of my low opinion of some members’ agendas, I should have reported the posts to the moderators and let them decide the correct course of action.

After all that’s what they are here for and making a public scene doesn’t do anything to assist their tireless efforts to keep the site running smoothly for everyone’s enjoyment.
 

falcon

Full Member
Aug 27, 2004
1,211
33
Shropshire
Quite agree......sometimes it's best to trust the integrity of the people who have opinions on the courses they've attended...because speaking for myself I would only suggest people consider spending their money with a particular school or schools if I was satisfied about the quality of what they would experience. Hopefully that's the only thing on anyone's agenda.. :)
 

Fire Starter

Tenderfoot
Aug 1, 2005
96
0
England
Well I have been on a few courses with different schools not all good, but not all bad, you only go on these to increase your knowledge and to be shown some new skills. I rate Woodlore amongst the best, not because of who runs it but the level of professional instruction that was received. The other school for my nomination has got to be Backwoods, I also met PatrickM at the wilderness gathering in September and did his Backwoodsman course. Here is a guy who does'nt follow the kit trail or the dress code that I've seen on many other courses, he just does it.

PatrickM gives us quite a lot here on the forum, whereas the other schools around the country only give you something when you pay for it.

Many thanks to PatrickM

Fire Starter
 

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