Using broken stuff for Bushcrafting

  • Hey Guest, Early bird pricing on the Summer Moot (29th July - 10th August) available until April 6th, we'd love you to come. PLEASE CLICK HERE to early bird price and get more information.

Tony

White bear (Admin)
Admin
Apr 16, 2003
24,131
1
1,879
53
Wales
www.bushcraftuk.com
So, I was just thinking (probably because of the thread on making an e-Bike) about broken things and then thought a thread on using broken things could be fun.

So, what can you use from say, a broken bike for helping with bushcraft/outdoor adventuring, maybe in an emergency. The premise is that it's no good for riding, but it can be stripped and bits used, what would you strip from it and what would you use those bits for?
Hope that makes sense!

cables could be used for cordage? That sort of thing...
 

punkrockcaveman

Full Member
Jan 28, 2017
1,457
1,512
yorks
I have a bunch of spokes from when I thought I could just attempt to build a bike wheel with zero experience :rolleyes:

Spokes are great for pokey things, pot hanger hooks, lid lifters etc. You could probably fashion some kind of automatic fishing hook as they are quite springy. Maybe even a mouse/rat trap could be made from a couple
 
  • Like
Reactions: crosslandkelly

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,937
4,570
S. Lanarkshire
Inner tube cut into pieces = a lifetime's worth of reliable fire starting :)
They don't need to be carefully stored, or even kept dry.

Not quite bushcrafty, but....

I know ladies in South America used bike wheel spokes to make their knitting needles....not a native craft there and they didn't have anything else at the time.

I know someone who welded up the frames of several old bikes to make a kind of arty garden feature that he grew honeysuckle over......and another who used the old tyre of one to surround a charity shop round mirror to protect the edges when he set it up to give him a view along the roadway to make exiting his driveway safer.
 
  • Like
Reactions: crosslandkelly

Kadushu

If Carlsberg made grumpy people...
Jul 29, 2014
852
920
Kent
I've seen bike wheels without the tyres used as pulleys. I've also seen old bikes used to power a washing machine, a wood saw and a water pump but there are no doubt endless uses for rotary motion.
 

saxonaxe

Nomad
Sep 29, 2018
481
1,131
79
SW Wales
Not so much bicycle parts, but I occasionally find uses for other things, some of which it seems a shame to just throw away.

One of those cheap little torches with an Aluminium body finally went kaputt. The contacts at the bulb end failed, so I blanked off the lens with a 5p coin which just happened to fit when wrapped in tin foil.
The battery compartment became a home for a wax impregnated cotton wool pad which when rolled up left room for some Ration Pack matches, giving me a small waterproof firelighting kit.






I also make Match Safes from spent plastic shotgun cartridge cases trimmed to length. A 20 bore will fit into a 16 bore, a 16 into a 12. Not 100% waterproof if totally submerged for a time, but they float anyway and I've fished them out of puddles before and the matches were perfectly dry.

 
Last edited:

Erbswurst

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Mar 5, 2018
4,079
1,766
Berlin
I use stainless steel cables from the boat shop to hang my pot over the fire, instead of a heavier rattling cooking chaine.

The break cables of bicycles would also work.
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,937
4,570
S. Lanarkshire
I was just going to say that very thing. Warthog1981 made me a set of bails for my hobo stove set up from brake cables. Very sound :)

How about the re-use of clothing. Like sturdy stuff sacks from the lower legs of jeans to hold tent pegs or the fireirons ?
 

Erbswurst

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Mar 5, 2018
4,079
1,766
Berlin
I recently organised some old seat belts to make tent stake cases for lightweight tent stakes.
 

Erbswurst

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Mar 5, 2018
4,079
1,766
Berlin
One could surely also use inner tire tubes, fork, electrical wires, a piece of outer tire, handle wrap and steel balls to make a sling shot that's suitable for hunting small animals.

But my question to that all is:

If Robinson Crusoe would have found a broken bike on his island, would he have also found a tool box with all the special tools? .:confused2:


You can make nevertheless the complete equipment out of rubbish.
Some people indeed make a sport from it. But that's rather not my personal stile.
 
Last edited:

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,937
4,570
S. Lanarkshire
@oldtimer
On that note. I recently binned a pair of ladies craghoppers....they had been used for working, and were over twenty years old, they were dead.....but I counted and between all the wee hidden behind other pockets, etc., they had eighteen (18 ! ) pockets, in one pair of trousers :rolleyes2:
A wee tad overkill.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Erbswurst

Kadushu

If Carlsberg made grumpy people...
Jul 29, 2014
852
920
Kent
I used an old (ahem, no longer long enough) leather belt to make a belt loop for a knife sheath. The sheath was made from scraps of plywood. I also used screws reclaimed from old village hall tables to attach the former to the latter.
Screenshot_20211125-122108.png

Screenshot_20211125-122136.png
 

Broch

Life Member
Jan 18, 2009
7,983
7,759
Mid Wales
www.mont-hmg.co.uk
Can I use that as an excuse for having left a tissue in a pocket of the pair of my Craghoppers which Madame put in the washing machine yesterday? The bits of tissue went everywhere and covered everthing else in the machine. I doubt I'll hear the end of it!

Well, at least modern £10 notes survive :)
 

BCUK Shop

We have a a number of knives, T-Shirts and other items for sale.

SHOP HERE