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What would you call it??

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M

mr dazzler

Native
Aug 28, 2004
1,722
83
uk
Is there a place in bushcraft for using any materials or resources - not just natural - but also man-made, that you come across in your travels?
I saw a interesting site wher a man took trips in sierras and used anything he found eg made knife from forged old shovels, re-cycled tin and scrap from old huts etc to build shelter and stove (and cleaned up after messy trekkers). Still had some regular kit but made more as he went along. Is this bushcraft or something else? Like being a scavenging womble heath robinson mcgiver type?
After all, the regular kit we use is man-made, and a lot of the materials used are man made or processed; goretex, plastic, rubber, nylon, aluminuim etc.
I am not trying to cause arguments but would be intrested to hear your ideas etc.
Mr D :wave:
 
mr dazzler said:
Like being a scavenging womble heath robinson mcgiver type?

Mr D :wave:
Click to expand...

I think that would be a perfect name is it wasn't such a mouthful Mr D
:rolmao:

Seriously it is outdoors recycling isn't it? Fair play to him making useful stuff and clearing up **** that people have left lying around can only be a good thing.

Bill
 
I would call this Bushcraft of sorts. A bushcrafter in the woods uses the natural material around Him/Her to live and if they were truly testing them self a Axe(or Knife) and Billy will be all the have. Dead or waste materials preferred.

We bring kit with us IMO to help sustain natrual resources for future use this guy sounds like he is using the waste of others to take the place of natural materials thus meeting both needs.

It's not uncommon I believe for even natives(I have used this word becuase I couldn't think of another) to use waste materials left behind for example Knapping beer bottle glass into arrowheads.

James
 
mr dazzler said:
Like being a scavenging womble heath robinson mcgiver type?
Click to expand...

You forgot the A-team in that list... After all anyone who can make a semi-automatic mobile cannon (from the parts found on an american mid-western farms barn) that fires cabbages and ruttabaggas belongs there!
 
Yeah, its a sad fact of life that practically anywhere you go in this world that you find plentiful evidence of previous 'campers' - beer bottles, cans, fag packets, you name it.

I saw a travel/come-nature programme where they were in a tropical forest in Malaysia, and the natives wore sandals made from the tyres and used parangs made from the leaf springs of military vehicles scattered through out the jungle.

I think the term "Womble McGuyvering" has a certain ring to it...:wink:
 
some native americans used to do the same..... knapping arrow heads out of the bottom of beer bottles for example.... I'd call it bushcraft.... its just adapting bushcraft skills to your environment and resources.

:-)
Ed
 
OOPS again
Sorry Womble, I never realised there was a womble on here. Anyway I remember them being sound when I was young.
PS what on earth is a ruttabagga?? :?:

Never have read stig of the dump, Realgear. :wink:

Well put Ed,
I reckon it'd be good to have a repertore of skills you can use anywhere even if you were homeless in a city or whatever. Bushcraft is good, just aint that much bush available in our country.

It amazes me how much tons of "refuse" even gets left up the Himalayas by foreign expeditions.

Anyone ever made woven stuff from those plastic strapping bands you get round cartons? Splits, twists, plaits, weaves a treat. I've only made percussion instruments from it so far-but bags, nets, traps, web-tape etc, who knows.

Mr D :wave:
 
Its been part of man since man has made tools. Natural materials because it' what they had. Then when man invented litter, it became part of the equation. The ability to adapt and utilize what's around you is definitely a part of Bushcraft. Plus, packing out other's disrespect for the Mother is always a good thing.
 
Hi...

I have also read all the reports on the Woodsdrummer site... :D :wink:
Some of them are quite interesting.
 
What you said Jakunen, about parangs and sandals, reminds me of african instrument makers who use truck tires to make xylophone beaters, or oil cans and wire to make rankies (guitars). Or the West Indian steel pan drums.
They kept their construction and sonic ethics and skills but used them on man made stuff. Is it worth starting another thread to hear all the examples any of you know of stuff people made from man-made detritius?? :?:

When my grandparents were my age, re-cycling was second nature, if something couldn't be mended, you'd keep useful bits for something else. Even unwinding knitted sweaters to re-use wool etc; string, paper, foil etc, that would get used in the kitchen or garden.
Later generations have mocked that thrifty outlook and said its ok even necessary to have waste ("built in obsolesence") so that industry will still have an endless supply of punters. So we get fooled into buying lotsa stuff that with a bit of ingenuity and skills could be made from what we have left over around us. :roll:
MR D :wink:
 
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