I remember when a student bushcrafter came up to a friend of mine complaining that she could not find forked sticks to build a shelter.
It was funny since we were in the country with the highest percentage of primary rainforest cover to land size.
But her complaint was not that unreasonable since a fork in a branch is not a survival strategy in a rainforest. Where the tallest emergents are 80meters, the general canopy at 50-60 metres, any species less than 30metres is not going to make the grade, unless it’s a low light specialist. All the trees energy is used to get to the top efficiently and a fork is double the energy consumption. Nearer the canopy they fork to gather the sunlight but at ground level with 2% sunlight it’s not a luxury they can afford.
Now I like to use the crane method of hanging my pots since I usually carry a long staff on walks. But forked sticks are not always to hand and I think it’s a sin to cut a tall sapling just for a fork. I could bind two sticks together but that’s too much effort and I have to recover the string later.
Besides I am really lazy and believe in energy, as well as nature, conservation so I just pick up a suitable fallen branch, preferably still a bit green and barber-chair it.
With some practice you can do it just with your hands which is the lazy way but works fine. If you believe in being more “craft” than bush you could notch it, then lever open the stick with the blade and voila – a support for your crane with “keepers” on either side. Green is best as in dry wood the split could run as the last pic shows . Won't affect the use but spoils the neat RM look.
If you want to raise or lower it simply hold each leg and lift spreading or closing the legs together depending on what you want to do.
Depending on the ground you could sharpen the ends. On a sandbank or soft ground there is no need.
It was funny since we were in the country with the highest percentage of primary rainforest cover to land size.
But her complaint was not that unreasonable since a fork in a branch is not a survival strategy in a rainforest. Where the tallest emergents are 80meters, the general canopy at 50-60 metres, any species less than 30metres is not going to make the grade, unless it’s a low light specialist. All the trees energy is used to get to the top efficiently and a fork is double the energy consumption. Nearer the canopy they fork to gather the sunlight but at ground level with 2% sunlight it’s not a luxury they can afford.
Now I like to use the crane method of hanging my pots since I usually carry a long staff on walks. But forked sticks are not always to hand and I think it’s a sin to cut a tall sapling just for a fork. I could bind two sticks together but that’s too much effort and I have to recover the string later.
Besides I am really lazy and believe in energy, as well as nature, conservation so I just pick up a suitable fallen branch, preferably still a bit green and barber-chair it.
With some practice you can do it just with your hands which is the lazy way but works fine. If you believe in being more “craft” than bush you could notch it, then lever open the stick with the blade and voila – a support for your crane with “keepers” on either side. Green is best as in dry wood the split could run as the last pic shows . Won't affect the use but spoils the neat RM look.
If you want to raise or lower it simply hold each leg and lift spreading or closing the legs together depending on what you want to do.
Depending on the ground you could sharpen the ends. On a sandbank or soft ground there is no need.
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