Hi I’m new to bushcraft

[jacko14]

Hey I love the idea of surviving in nature on just what you have in your backpack.
Want to learn these skills and be able to put them to use.

Any pointers for someone who hasn’t got the money to go on a bushcraft course?
And if anyone could help understand where I’m allowed to practice these skills?
I’m from Essex and we have woodlands some big ones but all protected and get busy with members of public.

Thanks


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[crosslandkelly]

Hi, welcome and enjoy.
There should be some local bushcraft groups in your area. It would be worth your while to look them up.

 

[JonathanD]

Welcome to the forum. Going on a course isn’t really necessary. Just decide what skills you want and all the resources and experience are pretty much here.

 

[John Fenna]

Hello and welcome!

 

[Broch]

Welcome to the forum

 

[mhallows]

Hi there a big welcome to you. May I suggest a really good cheap knife its a Hultafors OK4 Outdoor Knife. I have loads of expensive knives but regularly use the OK4. You can pick one up for about £20 odd.
All the best on your new adventure!
Mike

 

[Mesquite]

Hello and welcome to the forum

 

[Ramblingrose]

Hi there and welcome.

Sent from my SM-A326B using Tapatalk

 

[Damascus]

Hello n welcome

 

[Erbswurst]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

I tried to write down here a list with affordable high quality equipment that works well together as a whole system and will forgive usual beginners faults.

Rucksack Dutch army Sting, used, or similar

Sleeping bag
Used Dutch or British army copy of the Carinthia Defence 4 or better the original new or something similar
Bivvy bag, used British, Dutch M 90 or German army version in good condition
Army closed cell foam roll mat, used.
Military poncho, used German, Austrian, Dutch or US army version in good condition instead of a larger tarp
Cordage
2x 3 metres to tension it as lean to shelter, and 1,50 metre to make a tripod.

Fleece jacket Solognac Fleece Recycled 500 or similar
in a dry bag as pillow too,
together with
Spare underwear 1X
Briefs and T-shirt, cotton.
Woolen spare socks 1X
Swimming briefs 1X

Toilet paper in a zipp lock freezer bag
Wash kit
Folding tooth brush, tooth cream, biodegradable soap in a small bottle and disposable razor (Wilkinson's) wrapped into a small microfleece towel and stored in a zipp lock freezer bag. Plastic signal mirror for shaving.

Food
In an olive green dry bag that you can hang mouse proof into a tree or in the
Mess Kit used from the German, Austrian, Finnish, Swedish, Russian or Rumanian army
(Or Lixada 750 ml stainless steel mug with bail and butterfly handles and nesting Nalgene type bottle)

Esbit stove used from the German army (or British army folding stove, especially if you choose a British army bottle with BCB stainless steel Crusader mug.)
Spoon stainless steel from the flea market
Candle In a zipp lock freezer bag, a few drips of wax can be used as a fire starter
Matches and 2 x Bic cigarette lighters
Head lamp Petzl e+lite


ON THE MAN:

Mountain boots Schladminger 100
Woolen Socks relatively thick
Underwear
Trousers or shorts, polyester-cotton blend, Solognac Steppe 300 or Shorts 100 or similar
Handkerchief , cotton
Several times folded usable as pot holder and pre filter before water purification by boiling.
Purse
House keys
Matches or Bic lighter
Belt Solognac 100 or similar
Knife, Hultafors GK, Mora Companion HD, Opinel No8 Carbone or similar
Canteen with mug and belt pouch
from any NATO army used
T-shirt
Shirt
Buttoned long sleeved shirt with two pockets and flaps over it. For example Austrian army, heavy version KAZ 75 used.
Compass Suunto Clipper or M-9 or whatever you have
Topographical map
1:50 000

The equipment here would also work well for traveling in most areas in Europe and can easily get specialised for the rare exceptions where it doesn't work optimal.
That means it's a good starter kit.

Modular British Army Sleep System?

I would like to know who used a current, new issued or new bought British army sleeping bag system. DId it convince you? I have seen that it is sold here new incredibly cheap: https://www.strikeforcesupplies.co.uk/index.php?method=cat&id=6

bushcraftuk.com

Do British army bashas degrade by aging?

So far I am informed, the British army shelter sheets are made out of nylon / polyamide and coated with silicone. The similar made Hilleberg tents did not degrade by aging yet although produced since 40 years. Are British army bashas made in the same extremely durable quality?

bushcraftuk.com

Best hiking socks?

Which are your most convincing hiking socks? In which boots do you wear them?

bushcraftuk.com

Trusty British Surplus Shops ?

Please tell me in your opinion trusty British military surplus shops who run an internet shop. (You may off course write in here little shops in Britain too, which don't run internet shops, but please tell it me, if I can't order there via homepage.) Thank you!

bushcraftuk.com

Most used knots?

Which knots do you usually use if you are wild camping? And in which function?

bushcraftuk.com

Educational Videos about Orientation and Navigation with Map and Compass

Please let's collect in this thread the best educational videos about orientation and land navigation with map and compass. Thank you for keeping this thread clean from other comments, unless you find real faults that are shown in the videos that others did link to here.

bushcraftuk.com

Recommended EDUCATIONAL FILMS about the propper classical way of BUSHCRAFT and SURVIVAL

Please let's collect in this thread educational films and videos about how to do bushcrafty things CORRECTLY. There are so many idiotic videos in the internet, that in my opinion it is really necessary that we point out what is really worth to look at. We should collect films here, which help...

bushcraftuk.com

The thread below is a bit outdated here, because not all items are available cheap anymore. With the equipment that I listed in the beginning you make the better deal if it differs from the equipment in the list below. Nevertheless it's worth to have a look here in order to understand the principles and you can see here some stuff in videos that I listed in the beginning.

Low Budget Equipment 2019

Please let's write a beginners equipment list together with extremely inexpensive stuff that is made in a good quality. The stuff should be currently available, so please don't talk about stuff which nobody offers. I would like to see here active links to traders! (But please write down the...

bushcraftuk.com

You need to collect equipment that covers all needs. Which item you get exactly is of lower importance so long you can get it cheap or for free. It's always worth to ask around in the family if they hide such stuff in attics and sheds.

My recommendations are meant to avoid that you throw money out of the window with overpriced civil equipment. But every military equipment that you can get for free will surely work very well too and a lot of civil camping, hunting and even household stuff as well. Just try it out. You don't need a course, you need to practice!

 

[Elsenham 177]

Hello and welcome to the forum. Nice to see another member from Essex

 

[Broch]

Whereas there is a lot in Erbswurst's suggested list that is worth considering, I urge you not to go for a military poncho instead of a dedicated tarp; they are just too small (typically only around 1.5 x 2m) for British inclement windy weather (sorry Erbswurst). A DD 3x3 tarp is over twice the size, light, and packs small. It also comes with plenty of tie-down loops at the edges and along the centre seam that provide a lot of options for layout that are far more weatherproof than you can get with a poncho.

 

[Erbswurst]

The ponchos that I suggested above are between 160 × 210 and 168 x 240 cm.
These real military ponchos are much larger than the civil copies in army stile.

A 300 x 300 cm tarp offers more protection of course but is also much more expensive. And if you choose a tarp instead of a poncho you have to buy and carry additional a rain suit if you don't own it already.

For the beginning one can also buy in the next hardware shop -or if offered at Aldi or Lidl - such a cheap green building site or garden tarp of 200 x 300 cm.
That's in my opinion a good size.
The quality isn't the best in the world but as you perhaps will burn a few spark holes in it pretty soon because you aren't experienced enough with campfires that's probably the better idea than an expensive tarp.

 

[Broch]

Nope, sorry, have to disagree - 1.6 x 2 is not big enough. On top of that, I don't think a poncho is a suitable alternative to a waterproof jacket - a rain suit can be bought very cheaply as long as you're happy it's just a waterproof and not something to work in.

Ponchos are dreadful things to try and get any work done in - they keep getting in the way and once you've pitched one as a shelter you can't then use it when you need to get firewood or even go for a pee. Utterly useless in my opinion except as an emergency; but then, I would never have a poncho instead of better gear anyway.

I started my outdoor life as a teenager using a lot of ex-military gear including ponchos. The poncho was the first thing to be ditched (the North Yorkshire moors are unforgiving in most seasons) even when a replacement was a great deal of money to me.

As for 'builder's tarps' - fine to try out for a night or two but they do not last, they are heavy, and bulky. You can get a lightweight 3x3 tarp for less than £20 (OK, not a DD one).

We all have different experience and so will put emphasis on different areas of kit so I appreciate this is just my view, but I sometimes feel the discussion needs to be more balanced

 

[Erbswurst]

And we don't know for sure if we disagree in this point because
A) You are rather camping and I rather hiking,
B) If it's just a feeling/ a personal preference,
or C) if the weather in your area is really that differen to the areas where I use my poncho.
My impression is that experienxed Brits recommend larger tarps, Americans rather ponchos. I think Germans tend to Ponchos.

The reason why I keep recommending ponchos in this forum to beginners - in combination with a bivvy bag - is mainly the durability and price of the used German army poncho. I think also in Britain you can get it for 20 to 25 € and it will last for many years or even decades if you get a BW poncho that was made in the nineties. A durable Tarp and durable rain suit you don't get for this price for sure.

I see the bivvy bag as the main shelter and the poncho just as an addition to keep the entrance of it dry if needed in the evening. If it doesn't rain in the evening I just put my boots under it if I expect rain in the night.

I don't think that you really have different 'builder's tarps" than we in Germany.
Ours are cheap, short lasting and bulky and noisy, yes. But they aren't heavy.
In my experience such a green 2x3m tarp is approximatly as light as middle priced trekking tarps.

BAUHAUS Gewebe-Ösenplane (3 x 2 m, 140 g/m², Kunststoff) | BAUHAUS

BAUHAUS Gewebe-Ösenplane kaufen bei BAUHAUS: 3 x 2 m, 140 g/m², Kunststoff Online bestellen oder Reservieren & Abholen im Fachcentrum

www.bauhaus.info

 

[C_Claycomb]

There is an awful lot of kit talk in this thread...Erbswurst I am looking at you How about some discussion of skills, or at least why the kit being suggested is being suggested instead of using skill and natural materials?

Also, how about some advice on where a beginner can go to learn the skills of bushcraft? We all know you don't need kit to practice many aspects of bushcraft. We all know you don't need to camp out over night to learn skills, but you do need a place. No point in offering advice on knives if a chap doesn't have a place to go to use it, or a place to get wood to bring home.

@Erbswurst
I have put your kit recommendations into a quote in order to compact it so that it does not overwhelm the thread by its shear length. We talked about this before, and we agreed it would be better if you would try to post all your suggestions in one thread and link to that, rather than make repeated huge kit posts in every thread where someone new asks for advice.

Cheers

Chris

 

[Erbswurst]

Yes. Ok.
But you did hide a bit the links to the skill threads that I recommended as well.

I think that a beginner without a personal teacher simply needs approximately the stuff that I listed if he wants to spend a night in the woods.
I could do it without and now. A beginner surely not very comfortable. Will it snow or rain tonight or something in between?

If you really have no idea about bushcraft you can figure out how to use the self explaining kit that I listed. And you can do it in the woods and come home healthy.

Without such stuff you can either train in the backyard for years or risk a couple of really unpleasant nights in the field.

I don't believe in Backyard Bushcraft.

 

[billycoen]

But you did hide a bit the links to the skill threads that I recommended as well.

I do like your lists,very comprehensive,and loads of options for everyone.

 

[wookii]

I don't believe in Backyard Bushcraft.

That's one of my favorite things...

Obviously nothing like getting out in the wild, but I love testing equipment or skills out in the garden. Getting all my equipment out for maintenance. Setting up a shelter or having a little fire in the garden.

Sometimes I just get all my equipment out to look at it and pack it all away neatly again lol

@jacko14 Sorry I can't offer you any advice on where you can practice your bushcraft, as that's an area I struggle in too. But you can literally practice some skills anywhere. I make feathersticks at home on the sofa or practice tying knots.

Is there a particular area you're interested in, or just generally want to get outside?

 

[jacko14]

Thankyou everyone for your help.
Just want to get out there to practice but suppose I can do it all at home and use them in nature


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk