improvised tools and equipment

[lofthouse31]

I was wondering if you guys could give a list of the tools and equipment a bushcrafter should be able to make improvised versions of ie a sort of top 10 or 15 most important things that need to be improvised out in a wild area in order to save you carrying them on your back.
cheers for the insight

 

[bloodline]

How about a spoon and a set of chopstix to start and maybe a pothanger

 

[British Red]

A digging stick is one of my most commonly used item, also a pothanger makes a lot of sense, tent pegs are very useful too

Red

 

[Squidders]

Everything apart from a knife and a billy can... or their counterparts... axe and messtin... whatever.

If you have those 2, you're set.

 

[Eric_Methven]

With an axe, knife and something to cook in (a pot or tin can) you can make just about everything else. You can use the axe and knife to make a stool, a table and a shelter complete with off the ground bed. You can make natural cordage to tie everything together, to make snares and traps and for general repairs. You can make a tripod and pot hook to hang your pot on and cook what you caught with your snare. When you move on, you just carry your axe, knife and pot and start again. Of course you also have the choice to carry other stuff you made like the cordage and maybe the stool. Knowledge, practice and eventually experience are the best things you can carry with you though. Everything else just follows and drops into place when needed.

Eric

 

[Outdoorsman]

With an axe, knife and something to cook in (a pot or tin can) you can make just about everything else. You can use the axe and knife to make a stool, a table and a shelter complete with off the ground bed. You can make natural cordage to tie everything together, to make snares and traps and for general repairs. You can make a tripod and pot hook to hang your pot on and cook what you caught with your snare. When you move on, you just carry your axe, knife and pot and start again. Of course you also have the choice to carry other stuff you made like the cordage and maybe the stool. Knowledge, practice and eventually experience are the best things you can carry with you though. Everything else just follows and drops into place when needed.

Eric

Amen to that

 

[falling rain]

Hazel bow saw frame. Maul for hammering/batoning. Tongs ( split a straight piece of wood put a wedge in the split and bind with nettle to contain the split) useful for moving embers or food etc. Split log for grilling bacon, fish fillets etc........Peg food in place with some carved wooden pegs. Spatula. Frame of green wood for grilling. Rabbit sticks. Tooth picks..........the list is endless............all you need to provide is imagination.

 

[scottishwolf]

at the risk of sounding daft, what's a rabbit stick?

 

[falling rain]

It's just about the simplest and probably the most primative hunting tool you can use. Good for other small game too.

http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~mjf/bushcraft/hunting.html

 

[scottishwolf]

ahh, i see. Known in Ayrshire as a 'chib'. commonly used by ned's (chavs) to hit other neds in the park on sat nights. They tend to rip them off the nearest tree and go for it lol. The trees in the park near me are a mess now, why not just use their buckfast bottles .

Anyway, cheers for the info mate but my skills of sneaking up on a rabbit to get within that range are non exsistant, i'll just stick to guns and snares

 

[falling rain]

I've never used one to kill a rabbit (illegal in the UK as far as I know - Ed will know better than me) but it's great fun practicing or having a competition with your friends in the woods if you've nothing better to do. I was showing the Air Cadets rabbit sticks once and using a tin can I hit the can first throw spot on and the can shot straight up in the air at least 10ft they were very impressed and there was lots of wows , cool, wicked, etc.................and I added ....."and that's how it's done" as I walked off like John Wayne having just shot a horde of apaches I never did tell them it was a fluky throw but the cadets thought I was Mustard

 

[Singeblister]

Its funny I have been making things all my life and I never considered it bushcraft until I found this place the best incentive to make something is lack of funds and a lot of the time the things you make are better than the things you buy

 

[-Switch-]

Ok, top ten... let's see...

1. Spoon - simple and easy to make and the most essential eating utensil you can carry.
2. Tongs - There are a variety of methods of making them but the split (green) stick works best taking into account the amount of work put into making it.
3. Pot hanger - The method that uses a 'V' and an inverted 'V' dug into the ground to hold an angled stick above the fire works best if the ground is suitable. Otherwise you can use tripods or two 'legs' about 3 foot tall with a 'v' at the top with a stick resting between them and the pot hanger hanging from it.
4. Tent pegs - very useful.
5. Cocktail sicks/skewers - useful for eating.
6. Cordage - time consuming to make but an endless amount of applications.
7. Tent poles - for your tarp or shelter. Saves a lot of room in your pack.
8. Baton - if you have a good stout knife then this can save carrying an axe.
9. Bed - dry ferns, dry moss, spruce boughs, pretty much anything dry and soft. This saves a lot of room in your pack but materials need to be in abundance.
10. And last but definately not least.... Fire! - sounds obvious but you don't need to carry cumbersome and heavy cookers, you lose that risk of dangerous chemicals in your pack and you gain the good feeling that a camp fire gives that you just don't get from cookers/stoves.




This little lot could save anything between 5kg and 20kg in weight depending on the kit you may take in it's place, plus about 20-30litres of space in your pack. That's both side pouches of the average bergan free'd up