Definition Of Bushcraft
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I think you're on the right track there...
Here's something I posted on a previous similar thread, which I think may be relevant, and certainly sums up a lot of my own thinking. From Kitto's "The Greeks", discussing a quality called "arete":
To me, "bushcraft" is just one part of that. I built my own hi-fi and fixed my own TV too.
When I had time to be a Scout Leader, we (the Leaders) always used to say "Scouting would be great if it was not for the Scouts"!.
For me Bushcraft IS Scouting without the Scouts - just look at your Scout handbooks for your definition(s) - it kind of works for me (along with British Red's definition)...
Am I a BP bushcrafter or an Assoc. Bushcrafter? I am not sure....lets have more pointless controvercy along with vegan/spelling/animal murdering/politics/religion/s*x/child disciplining/snoring in camp etc - I love stirring it!
For me Bushcraft IS Scouting without the Scouts - just look at your Scout handbooks for your definition(s) - it kind of works for me (along with British Red's definition)...
Am I a BP bushcrafter or an Assoc. Bushcrafter? I am not sure....lets have more pointless controvercy along with vegan/spelling/animal murdering/politics/religion/s*x/child disciplining/snoring in camp etc - I love stirring it!
I guess it has elements of self-reliance, self-sufficiency (there's a throwback to the 1970s) and also a bit of the Finnish concept of 'sisu'. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisu
S'funny that Ray Mears' best book is called The Survival Handbook... not mentioning bushcraft at all... and the guy who wrote (Northern) Bushcraft talks about being a survivalist!
in combat n survival in the 80s
there was bits called stone age survival that were more bushcraft than the
sas bear kind
am sure ray did some of them cos the photos of stone tools etc are the same as
the survival handbook
there was bits called stone age survival that were more bushcraft than the
sas bear kind
am sure ray did some of them cos the photos of stone tools etc are the same as
the survival handbook
Only problem with the "Bushcraft" title is that the UK doesn't have much that to me would qualify as "Bush".
I will stick with the "Herbacious bordercrafter" title cos I doubt I have been anywhere in the UK thats more than ten miles away from a road.
Well, five.
Hell, might as well be honest and say I just like going camping every once in a while and can't be arsed carrying much in the way of tents.
I will stick with the "Herbacious bordercrafter" title cos I doubt I have been anywhere in the UK thats more than ten miles away from a road.
Well, five.
Hell, might as well be honest and say I just like going camping every once in a while and can't be arsed carrying much in the way of tents.
John Fenna said:
Ah, but can those other than you (or indeed "Tommy Tenderfoot #1") swim with purpose good former Scout person? For suerly when that "awful time comes, when one sees someone drowning and you are a swimmer, in you surely must go and get hold of them and bring that person safe to shore. And you have saved a fellow creature's life. But if you can't swim? Then you have a horrible time. You know you ought to do something better than merely call for help while your fellow creature is fighting for their life before your eyes. I won't desribe it - it is a horrible nightmare, and will be all the rest of your life when you think it was partly your fault that the poor creature was drowned. Why your fault? Because if you had been a true" BUSHCRAFTER "you would have learnt swimming and would have been able to save that life".
Cheers!
Swim bedammed!
I don't do swimming! - I am a canoeist and we leave swimming to kayakers!
With Global warming(see I got it in!) we need more canoes to get around the swollen swamps of NW Europe!
Now I will stop being silly, this started as a serious thread... sorry for hijacking it - Bushcraft, like life is what you make it!
(This ! key is complaining that I over work it! Cheek!)
John(!)
I don't do swimming! - I am a canoeist and we leave swimming to kayakers!
With Global warming(see I got it in!) we need more canoes to get around the swollen swamps of NW Europe!
Now I will stop being silly, this started as a serious thread... sorry for hijacking it - Bushcraft, like life is what you make it!
(This ! key is complaining that I over work it! Cheek!)
John(!)
"bushcraft for me is a means to escape modern life, if only for a moment. not to have to conform to someone else rules as to what i can and can't do. Like Heath I like making things, I don't care that I can buy the things cheaper. to me, manufactured things have no soul, nothing of the person who's made it. I don't like things I can't fix and have to rely on "experts", can't stand modern cars, you can't fix the darn things, can't even find the engine at times!!!Give me a morris traveller or an old 2cv anyday, I can fix these.
It is playing in the woods, really just what I was doing when I was a kid, collecting wild fruits, plants, making bows, making dens or treehouses (without having to have planning permission) being confortable outside. Its an escape.
I hope this does not sound like a rant because it was not meant to be
It is playing in the woods, really just what I was doing when I was a kid, collecting wild fruits, plants, making bows, making dens or treehouses (without having to have planning permission) being confortable outside. Its an escape.
I hope this does not sound like a rant because it was not meant to be
'All things to all men'
To me it's enjoying nature without damaging it - the sustainability idea. Also an antidote to the pace of modern living - some things just can't be bettered or hurried.
To me it's enjoying nature without damaging it - the sustainability idea. Also an antidote to the pace of modern living - some things just can't be bettered or hurried.
Bushcraft is a winter evening pratice, sitting in your armchair with your expensive kit about your feet, sharpening your favourite knife and watching re runs of RM on the telly for the umpteenth time while dreaming of Spring.
Truthfully, it is the Boy Scouting I did in the '50's and '60's for the wealthier old person I have become.
Read and digest Scouting For Boys, pick the kit tips from Nessmuk, and hints from Kephart and you are a 'bushcrafter'.
Truthfully, it is the Boy Scouting I did in the '50's and '60's for the wealthier old person I have become.
Read and digest Scouting For Boys, pick the kit tips from Nessmuk, and hints from Kephart and you are a 'bushcrafter'.
As expected - you chaps and chapesses amaze me! I was a little worried at first that I had opened a can of worms that I would later regret going anywhere near but, as expected, you have done exactly what I wanted you to do.
I am actually an English teacher and so I could very easily have gone to dictionary or to wikipeidia and gotten a definition of Bushcraft, but I think I already know what that is and it's not what I read on this web site and what I enjoy so much about fraternizing with you all. We could play the semantic game and argue about actual definitions forever and it would never get us anywhere.
What I really wanted to know and what you have told me so eloquently is, what does bushcraft (with a small 'b') or whatever you want to call it, mean to YOU. Why do you do it? What is the attraction? Why did I spend Christmas day in the back garden making a hazelwood spoon? Why did I fall asleep on the couch the other night cuddling my new axe? Why did I make hot chocolate with my kids on a Pepsi can stove on the kitchen table right next to a perfectly good stove and kettle? And why is it that Im sure you all do similar unexplainable things?
I can't answer all these questions, but I know there is something about being out of doors, being self reliant, doing things and learning skills that I know my ancestors were doing perhaps thousands of years ago, about knives, tools, 'kit', trees, water, animals, good company (I could go on for ever) that I enjoy and that makes me feel closer to humanity.
All your definitions are personal and valid - no one can argue with them, dispute them or claim they are wrong - at most they can add to or give a different definition.
Please continue adding to this thread and, if you would like to, have a look at my new thread on Bushcraft Chatter - I wish I could put a link in but I don't know how to its called My Space.
And before anyone thinks it would be a good idea to correct my spelling or grammar because I am an English teacher (nay, Head of English, no less) don't bother, its been done a hundred times before and its not clever!
I am actually an English teacher and so I could very easily have gone to dictionary or to wikipeidia and gotten a definition of Bushcraft, but I think I already know what that is and it's not what I read on this web site and what I enjoy so much about fraternizing with you all. We could play the semantic game and argue about actual definitions forever and it would never get us anywhere.
What I really wanted to know and what you have told me so eloquently is, what does bushcraft (with a small 'b') or whatever you want to call it, mean to YOU. Why do you do it? What is the attraction? Why did I spend Christmas day in the back garden making a hazelwood spoon? Why did I fall asleep on the couch the other night cuddling my new axe? Why did I make hot chocolate with my kids on a Pepsi can stove on the kitchen table right next to a perfectly good stove and kettle? And why is it that Im sure you all do similar unexplainable things?
I can't answer all these questions, but I know there is something about being out of doors, being self reliant, doing things and learning skills that I know my ancestors were doing perhaps thousands of years ago, about knives, tools, 'kit', trees, water, animals, good company (I could go on for ever) that I enjoy and that makes me feel closer to humanity.
All your definitions are personal and valid - no one can argue with them, dispute them or claim they are wrong - at most they can add to or give a different definition.
Please continue adding to this thread and, if you would like to, have a look at my new thread on Bushcraft Chatter - I wish I could put a link in but I don't know how to its called My Space.
And before anyone thinks it would be a good idea to correct my spelling or grammar because I am an English teacher (nay, Head of English, no less) don't bother, its been done a hundred times before and its not clever!
That totally sums it up for me as well Red well putBritish Red said:This got heated last time it was brought up and I was about to suggest we didn't rake it over again. But its for school and I shouldn't be such a grumpy bear
So might I suggest that the "rules of engagement" are that we don't argue with or flame one another's definitions?
Here's mine
"I have absolutely no idea what Bushcraft is. Its a handy "catch all" title to cover lots of activities including outdoor pursuits , camping, nature, woodworking, naturalism, botany, paleo re-discovery, survival skills and, perhaps most importantly, acting like a big kid and making dens in the woods. The one thing I do know is the particular "meal" that each person selects from the extensive menu of skills and interests is different"
Red
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