When using cutting tools it’s all too easy for accidents to happen. Make sure you think ahead and carefully consider whether what you’re doing is safe. Here are a few tips from bitter experience.
Remember The Fire Triangle
With the evenings rapidly drawing in and an autumn chill in the air, fire again becomes a priority. A great way to visualise what’s going on when you light and manage a fire is the fire triangle. It’s all about balance – keeping all three sides of the triangle fed and happy will give you [...]
Choosing a compass
At it’s most basic, a compass is simply a magnetised needle which reacts to the Earth’s magnetic field and moves to indicate North. A simple compass like this can be used for rough direction finding and roughly taking bearings. A small watchstrap compass like the one below is ideal for general orientation and keeping the [...]
10 Steps to Fire Lighting Without Failure
Fire lighting is like everything else – it takes time to get it right. Follow these steps and you’ll be well on the way to failure-free fire lighting.
Hitting the Sweetspot With Your Outdoors Gear
I’ve been doing more thinking and planning than writing lately – I hope the fruits of this will appear here soon! In the meantime here’s something to ponder: Since the earliest days of my involvement in bushcraft I’ve been interested in how bushcraft and primitive skills can help me reduce the amount and weight of [...]
Woodcraft Tools Revisited
After Monday’s tutorial on making a wooden cup Hendrik asked whether I had a photo of the basic tools needed for the task. I do indeed and here they are: This is the usual selection of tools I’d use for everyday tasks including carving the cup: You’ll notice there are two knives. Because my usual [...]
Carving A Kuksa Or Wooden Cup
The Scandinavian-style wooden drinking cup has become one of the must-have bushcrafters accessories. They are nice things to own and nice things to use but are even better when made with your own hand.
Boiling Water In A Birch Bark Container
If you were without pots and pans what would you do? Did you know you can boil water in a bark container? Find out how.
Step-by-step: Making Cordage From Tree Bark (Part 2)
When Chubby Checker said “Let’s Twist Again” he could have been talking about making cordage. Twisting is the name of the game now we get into the nitty gritty of actually making our cordage. As I noted last time, in a wilderness setting cordage is a valued commodity because of the effort that goes into [...]