Woodlore Primitive Technology

[Les Marshall]

I am going on the woodlore primitive technology course in June, anyone else going? Has anyone already done the course? Would appreciate any advice about the course.
It's a self catering course and I would like to take boil in the bag food, but can only find 1 or 2 sites that sell it and they want to charge the earth, does anyone know if the food can be bought streight from the manufacturer?

 

[scanker]

This is by far the best price I've found:

http://www.genuinearmysurplus.co.uk/pages/products/detail/rowid=419

No connection etc, just happy past customer.

10 packs for £51. If you don't want all 10 you might be able to do a mini group buy in your locality - they're a bit too heavy to post IMO.

 

[ilovemybed]

You'll have a great time. I thought it was very interesting, but I did feel we didn't get to finish some projects simply because of time pressure.

Gordon's litte wander was really interesting - he's a very entertaining teacher.
You'll be absolutely astounded at what John Lord can do with flint. Chris Boyton is a bowmaking legend, and far too modest. I'm very proud of the bow he helped me make and was well chuffed to use it when roving with Him and Ray. That's the biggest project of the week and takes a lot of time, care and patience!

Are you sure it's self catering? When I did it in '03 it was catered.

 

[Les Marshall]

Thanks for that, I emailed woodlore and they say that if students pool money, then a trip to local shop can be arranged.

 

[ilovemybed]

Some photos (by one of the other attendees) of our course. You can see Ray making a yew bow in the background of a couple, Chris Boyton showing us how it's all done and John Lord giving us a lesson in bashing rocks together, as well as an idea of the campsite and layout.

http://www.pbase.com/tonymaas/

Enjoy!

Neil

 

[william#]

Thanks for that, I emailed woodlore and they say that if students pool money, then a trip to local shop can be arranged.

what a great idea - if you cook like that to (in a group) takes the pressure off too plus is a great team building thing .
to wash up or cook that is the question
lol

 

[Les Marshall]

Ilovemybed, thanks for the photo's, gives me some idea of camp site. Does Ray always turn up?

 

[ilovemybed]

Ilovemybed, thanks for the photo's, gives me some idea of camp site. Does Ray always turn up?

Hi Les,
No worries.
We were lucky, he was the main tutor for most of it. I think he still comes down when he can, but I expect these days he's probably too busy to take on too much of the actual tuition - after all he's working on a new series at the moment.

I expect that three years down the line some of the other instructors are now qualified to take this course, and it does rely on a few visiting experts - Chris Boyton the bowyer, John Lord the Flint Knapper, Sarah (whose surname I've forgotten) the Archeologist/potter and Gordon Hillman the Botanist all came to ours for a masterclass, and resident instructor Juha Rankinen did the leather making bit.

You'll really enjoy it! (P.s. Practice making string before you go - you'll be making your own bow string...)

Neil

 

[Les Marshall]

Thanks mate, I have a few days off next week, so I am going to gather some nettles to make string, thanks for the heads up :You_Rock_

 

[ilovemybed]

Thanks mate, I have a few days off next week, so I am going to gather some nettles to make string, thanks for the heads up :You_Rock_

Thankfully it's not nettles, at least it wasn't when we did it - was decent modern fibres but we still had to make cordage with them.