Does anyone have any challenges

[billybob0987]

At the moment i cant really find a lot of time to get out into the woods, however i do occasionally have the odd hour to spare and a couple of suitable places where i could practice somethings, only problem is, as i havent been camping for a while i havent had any naturally arrising bushcraftesque challenges to overcome, so i wondered if anyone could suggest something, any things they might have had to do that was interesting or challenging that might be worth a go, even if its just to see how someone else might approach things

i will most like be trying a few things anyway, such as i have never started a friction fire so thats first on the list, and at the moment i am working on a self bow and take down bow (made a lovely riser, but cant work out what to make the limbs from, everything keeps breaking), but i like realistic challenges, such as a situation that might arise to be solved with suitable resources, i find it the best way to learn

just out of interest has there ever been anything like a weekly or monthly challenge type thing on here, i did have a search but i couldnt find anything, so apoligise if there is an on going thing

 

[Toddy]

How about a litre of clean, potable water, from natural resources on site and cleaned up only using stuff on site ?
Okay, and a decent pot

cheers,
Toddy

 

[chas brookes]

Hi
there was a Bucksaw Challenge a while back link to results below

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18880&page=3&highlight=bucksaw

 

[Scottishwanderer]

Friction fire, friction fire with natural cordage, friction fire from scratch, friction fire from scratch with no modern tools.

Various cordage, nettle, bramble etc

Fire using percussion.

Make a fire in the rain

Make a fire in the rain using only a knife, ferro rod and one piece of wood 2 ft long by 2 inches wide, so that that one bit of wood makes your tinder, kindling and fuel.

Same as above but get the whole piece to burn to ash.

Boil water without the use of a pot or plastic.

Make various cooking rigs, pot hangers from natural materials using only a knife.

Sharpen your knife without the use of modern materials or purpose built sharpeners to a point where it's shaving sharp.

Make various traps using only natural materials.

Thats the stuff you could probably do most of in your back garden.

 

[Scottishwanderer]

Make a bucksaw with only the wood and sawblade, no man made tools.

The bowdrill is not just for making fire!!!!!!!!!!!!

Make a kuksa and spoon, make a kuksa and spoon with a knife and fire.

Make a drinking vessel with natural materials only, make at least two types of boiling vessel using no man made objects.

Make glue from stuff you find in the woods.

Make woven grass, reed etc mats

Make fire, boil water, cook a chicken, build a mini lean to, make 10 different traps ( dont use em though) then make 20 feet of cordage. No knife or man made materials allowed.

 

[mrcairney]

My current challenge is to name every tree I come across. Which is proving harder than it sounds!

 

[billybob0987]

some good suggestions there i will definately be putting these in a list and start working my way through them, already done a few of them

i made fire in the rain, and i made a one log fire with just ferro and knife, tho it wasnt raining, and i have boiled water in tin foil, as i always have about 2 foot of this in my wallet, but i litterally stopped after it started boiling and it was only a very small amount, so i may have to try a litre

will let you know how i get on with other stuff on the list, might even post a few vids on youtube,

 

[Scottishwanderer]

some good suggestions there i will definately be putting these in a list and start working my way through them, already done a few of them

i made fire in the rain, and i made a one log fire with just ferro and knife, tho it wasnt raining, and i have boiled water in tin foil, as i always have about 2 foot of this in my wallet, but i litterally stopped after it started boiling and it was only a very small amount, so i may have to try a litre

will let you know how i get on with other stuff on the list, might even post a few vids on youtube,

Good luck brother, if you run out of ideas do what i do.

For example the one log fire, do it without using the ferro rod but use a bowdrill ember, once you have done that try it without a knife.

The last one if you can do it with a knife is not as hard as it sounds it just takes forever.

Once you can make an all natural friction fire, and use the ember to burn one piece of wood without tinder and no knife you have too much spare time.