Which bushcraft era or style ?
- Thread starter Xunil
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I'm in total agreement with Samon. A life that is hard, but made easier with proper tools (good knives, good rifle etc) that still makes you think about how to get through each season.
I've been thinking about this thread since it started and I have to break it into two categories, era and influence.
Era - that would be round about where Samon mentioned with a bit of Lewis and Clark, Native American, Inuit, Sami thrown in. The proper cowboy era has held a real influence with me. This is probably where my passion for slipjoints has come from as it was really only in the movies that cowboys had huge Bowie knives, simply because a knife fight between the goodie and the baddie with two 2 1/2" Stockmans would look crap on screen
Influences
Les Hiddens - I grew up with the Bush Tucker fella on TV and he had a major influence on my outdoor life. (Small slipjoint knife in his pocket too...)
John Muir - You know that bloke form Dunbar that wandered about America a lot
Seriously though, his ideas on ultralite camping were so far ahead of his time. But it was his love of nature and the natural world and his almost childlike passion for exploring and investigating the American wilderness that really fired me up. His writing style, although long, is passionate and poetic.Jack London - Especially his Yukon stories "To light a fire", "Call of the wild" and "White Fang" etc. Life was hard but had a certain appeal to me. It was probably these stories that taught me what you did and did not need in your life to get by, and develop the ability to "man up" when the going got got tough.
Robert Ruark - All I will say is if anyone hasn't read "The Old Man and the Boy" they really should just go and get it. It's not a bushcraft book per se, but it does awaken an appreciation of the wild.
I have always had the notion that a good grounding in bushcraft allows you to be more at home with nature and thus more aware of your natural surroundings. Bushcraft skills are a means to an end, and in order for me to see what Muir and Ruark etc were on about, I turned to Hiddens and Mears to learn the skills.
What a great life!
What in interesting question. I really had to think on this. For me (other than Scouting) it is a Luddite reaction to the excesses of modern life. As someone who does not really like plastic, for instance, the appeal of natural materials is strong, and I tend by nature towards doing things by hand rather than machine (except my car and washing machine).
If I really had to choose a period I would probably say eighteenth to mid nineteenth centruries, the French wars until the start of the industrial revolution.
If I really had to choose a period I would probably say eighteenth to mid nineteenth centruries, the French wars until the start of the industrial revolution.
Hey! No tumble in town for you! Your wife is back in the cabin-remember?
Times were different back then!
heheI think I'd like an old school bar fight too, the sort where the women carries on playing the piano why we all break flimsy chairs over eachother..
托比亚斯，你为什么采取这种方式？你会触怒神灵，并带来可怕的复仇后，你的房子！
I think as far as we're concerned, it's the 21st century, with large nods towards history, sustainability and efficiency.
Although we are learning traditional skills including firelighting methods, crafts and foraging, we have no qualms about using modern technology if it is the most practical in the situation.
So for example, we have no problems using a lighter or matches to light a fire, but use open fires or a firebox (Yukon titanium) in preference to gas stoves and want to learn to use fire by friction methods.
We use a tarp, hammock, inflating mats etc in preference to a tent or natural shelter as for us it is a more practical arrangement.
We use titanium cutlery for its strength and weight, but I'm getting very competent at making spoons so would have no issues if for any reason we were caught without our regular kit.
I rarely use instant noodles etc, but cook 'properly' with a dutch over or similar, and will soon be continuing 'jerky/biltong practice' at home, and we are attendingt eh BCUK foraging course next month.
I think our overall goal is to be able to live comfortably outside indefinitely (or at least for extended periods), with a minimum amount of kit which is most efficient and suitable for the purpose, using natural resources where appropriate and leaving as little a trace of our passage as possible.
Although we are learning traditional skills including firelighting methods, crafts and foraging, we have no qualms about using modern technology if it is the most practical in the situation.
So for example, we have no problems using a lighter or matches to light a fire, but use open fires or a firebox (Yukon titanium) in preference to gas stoves and want to learn to use fire by friction methods.
We use a tarp, hammock, inflating mats etc in preference to a tent or natural shelter as for us it is a more practical arrangement.
We use titanium cutlery for its strength and weight, but I'm getting very competent at making spoons so would have no issues if for any reason we were caught without our regular kit.
I rarely use instant noodles etc, but cook 'properly' with a dutch over or similar, and will soon be continuing 'jerky/biltong practice' at home, and we are attendingt eh BCUK foraging course next month.
I think our overall goal is to be able to live comfortably outside indefinitely (or at least for extended periods), with a minimum amount of kit which is most efficient and suitable for the purpose, using natural resources where appropriate and leaving as little a trace of our passage as possible.
The key words in the OP's question are " captivates your imagination" - at least they are for me!
Although I love and would not easily ditch much of my modern kit (good boots especially!) my imagination is well and truely captivated by much more ancient traditional methods - my usual firelighting method is Flint and Steel!
On an ethical/sustainabily basis I am not a fan of synthetic fibre clothing and equipment - but I use a Cordura pack and a Poly-cotton tarp and often wear poly-cottton clothing ...though I aim to reduce synthetics in my kit over the course of time...
Eventually I would like to only use things that I have made or substantially altered myself ...but where to stop?
A home forged knife - or do I go and find the iron ore and make my own iron for tools?
Weave my own linen for sewing my own shirt?
Raise and shear my own sheep for the wool to weave a blanket on a loom I have made using stone tools I have crafted myself?
Or do I compromise like a good Brit and make attempts at living comfortably with a mix of what I can reasonably make combined with elements of C21st super tech gear?
If I was younger I might have the time to eventually make everything I need for comfort in the wilds from first principles - but aging bones like modern comforts and I just do not have the time to learn all the skills I want/need to aquire to make everything myself.
So although I am learning a bit of flint knapping I will carry knives of steel that others have formed but which I have put handles on, and made sheaths for from leather that others have tanned and sewn with linen thread that others have grown and spun.
I like making things and using them but going back to basics takes a lot more skill than I yet have in so many things
The primitive and pre-industrial captures my imagination - age and modern living have captured my body!
Although I love and would not easily ditch much of my modern kit (good boots especially!) my imagination is well and truely captivated by much more ancient traditional methods - my usual firelighting method is Flint and Steel!
On an ethical/sustainabily basis I am not a fan of synthetic fibre clothing and equipment - but I use a Cordura pack and a Poly-cotton tarp and often wear poly-cottton clothing ...though I aim to reduce synthetics in my kit over the course of time...
Eventually I would like to only use things that I have made or substantially altered myself ...but where to stop?
A home forged knife - or do I go and find the iron ore and make my own iron for tools?
Weave my own linen for sewing my own shirt?
Raise and shear my own sheep for the wool to weave a blanket on a loom I have made using stone tools I have crafted myself?
Or do I compromise like a good Brit and make attempts at living comfortably with a mix of what I can reasonably make combined with elements of C21st super tech gear?
If I was younger I might have the time to eventually make everything I need for comfort in the wilds from first principles - but aging bones like modern comforts and I just do not have the time to learn all the skills I want/need to aquire to make everything myself.
So although I am learning a bit of flint knapping I will carry knives of steel that others have formed but which I have put handles on, and made sheaths for from leather that others have tanned and sewn with linen thread that others have grown and spun.
I like making things and using them but going back to basics takes a lot more skill than I yet have in so many things
The primitive and pre-industrial captures my imagination - age and modern living have captured my body!
Hehe I like that John, been trying to think about this and I'm not sure if got the answer yet, My answer is probably one of those" I'm on a journey" kind of things, started of with all my kit left over from the army, all synthetic, strong, heavy kit but it's what I was used to, slowly over the last six years i have replaced bits for things that have peeked my interest, like flint and steel, billy cans, woollen clothes, hammocks, and differing knives, the knives bit is quite cool as if I lay them out in order of purchase it shows my interests or employment at the time, from a sak for everything while camping to a more specific carving type knife while out.
I'm not sure I would like to try to camp out with a view towards a specific era? i like reading about the American trappers and mountain men, European explorers and indigenous peeps, and like to try things from all of there cultures and times while at home or local woods but only take what works for me when out for longer or walking further.
I'm not sure I would like to try to camp out with a view towards a specific era? i like reading about the American trappers and mountain men, European explorers and indigenous peeps, and like to try things from all of there cultures and times while at home or local woods but only take what works for me when out for longer or walking further.
The way its going in the UK I allready feel were living in the dark ages , what with the cost of petrol it may be cheaper to run a horse and cart plus less tax and insurence ....
Anyho for me its all about getting away and to be honest it needs to be modern kit as sitting on a ryanair flight dressed in furs with a large axe wouldnt go down to well .
So for me its modern times but play with the old styly when it suits but black death and oldy things like that can stay there.
Twodogs
Anyho for me its all about getting away and to be honest it needs to be modern kit as sitting on a ryanair flight dressed in furs with a large axe wouldnt go down to well .
So for me its modern times but play with the old styly when it suits but black death and oldy things like that can stay there.
Twodogs
Kayaks need not be the modern high tech versions though. One could make their own kayak out of skins as the Eskimo did.
Not meaning to jump into a Tengu reply but i think that was the point dude, they are so hi tech but from a different time, the design has stood for centuries, it's just the materials that have changed.
I think this statement encapsulates a lot of my dream trip (one of them anyway) A modern expedition type camping trip to study historical or ancient cultures. Sorta Indiana Jones. I don't think that's exactly what you were trying to say though so forgive me for detouring you post.
considering USA has only had carbon steel for a couple hundred years every thing is high tech
not many people making birch bark canoes with out modern new fangled Steel tools
considering USA has only had carbon steel for a couple hundred years every thing is high tech
I agree. But if you wanted to be a purist it is possible. Not the common method but...
And actually the 1st Europeans brought carbon steel to the US over 500 years ago; The Russians took it to the Eskimos earlier than that.
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