Ray Mears on TV During January - LOTS!!!

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SowthEfrikan

Tenderfoot
Jul 9, 2006
66
0
62
Texas, USA
That stuff about using skills that had vanished for thousands of years.

Now that I have looked at the link: someone should send him on Leave No Trace so that when he slashes greenery the damage is not obvious, and the other is that my countrymen are not charmed by being called bushmen.

I do have a rounder view of him now.
 

rik_uk3

Banned
Jun 10, 2006
13,320
24
69
south wales
I like Ray Mears, to me, he has a wealth of knowledge, a real concern for mother earth, and comes across as a gentleman.

I have three American friends, who managed to get hold of all the RM DVD's, and all three thought Ray the best "survival" guy they had seen, way better than anything shown in the states. The same three have now also bought books by Ray :)
 

Bushcraft4life

Settler
Dec 31, 2006
859
3
34
London
You are right rik_uk3. He is not the gung ho rambo type, he likes to watch the things around him and is forever telling us that we must strive to keep these skills alive, which is so true. He is inspiring and i have a lot of friends who have read his books and watched his dvd's and have been left totally speachless at the things he can achieve.

Ray Mears :You_Rock_
 

Zodiak

Settler
Mar 6, 2006
664
8
Kent UK
The thing that I like about Ray Mears is that he is sharing skills skills and knowledge that others can learn, not trying to impress with how good he is. That is very rare nowdays. :)
 

leon-b

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
May 31, 2006
3,390
22
Who knows
i was watching the aboriginal britain one and it looked like he lit the fire with a horse hoof fungus and spagnum moss
can spagnum moss be used as tinder ?
leon
 

Jodie

Native
Aug 25, 2006
1,561
11
54
London
www.google.co.uk
Yes, if dried. I looked it up on Google (it's a nasty word to spell!)
and found this page:
http://www.bio.brandeis.edu/fieldbio/Survival/Pages/tinder.html

"Dried sphagnum moss is another excellent tinder. However, dried
moss tends not to be readily accessible because the areas in which
moss grows are usually swampy and wet. Although dried moss
catches easily, it does not burn very long or produce as much heat
as more readily accessible substitutes."

via this one:
http://www.bio.brandeis.edu/fieldbio/Survival/Pages/sphagnummoss.html

from the sphagnum moss tinder Google search:
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=sphagnum+moss+tinder&meta=

-----------------------------------------------------

Is Aboriginal Britain the one where RM and Chris Boyton recreate the
Ashcott Heath (? spelling?) bow - really enjoyed that.

Apart from having learned lots about bushcraft from Ray's programmes,
learning that such a 'field' existed and overlapped with lots of other things
I was already interested in has also been an enjoyable discovery.

I used to work for the charity "Scienceline" [we answered any science
question from anyone] and, looking back, quite a few of the questions
were about the development of technology and how 'we used to do things'
- lots about navigation, early use of tools.

My new year's resolution, by the way, is to write shorter posts :cool:
 

leon-b

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
May 31, 2006
3,390
22
Who knows
the moss didnt look that dry, and yes it is the one where he makes a bow
leon
 

SowthEfrikan

Tenderfoot
Jul 9, 2006
66
0
62
Texas, USA
We consider it a pejorative. Actually, they don't seem to have a collective name for themselves, names are foisted on them while they seem to identify themselves by the two dialects they speak.
 

Glen

Life Member
Oct 16, 2005
618
1
60
London
SowthEfrikan said:
We consider it a pejorative. Actually, they don't seem to have a collective name for themselves, names are foisted on them while they seem to identify themselves by the two dialects they speak.


The noun itself should be neutral, but life being life if someone has heard it with negative connotaions enough times it will generally seem to take on some of those. To be fair to Mr Mears, he does, often, empasise his admiration and respect for many of the people and cultures that he refers to.

Also ( in the absence of another term as you note above) it is a collective noun that does does spring readily to mind when talking about BushCraft, with no necessary connotations, negative or positive.
 

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