Saturday 30 May 2009

fishing hooks made in the field







Making fish hooks is an easy little project for practicing your carving and has practical application's too, just to clarify i have made the sharp points out of wood but you should use bone or needles or any other hard material for usable points...
To make you will need a good sharp knife(be careful) wood and cordage. (I've used split spruce roots)
Carve the shaft of the hook as per the central picture about the same thickness as the point, and check the angle of the hook and sharpen as sharp as possible (so it will pierce the fishes mouth) then bind on the point to the shaft starting at the end and working up the shank of the hook locking in place with a simple knot.
Remember she smaller the hooks the more chance you have of a catch(big hooks catch big fish small hooks catch small and big fish)
I have made several styles of hooks as you can see in the bottom picture and the only limit is your imagination and ability to find materials...

Friday 29 May 2009

Spring has finally sprung

Spring is here and racing by as i type this blog is just a quickie about what I've been up to lately and a chance to tell my story of my journey through bushcraft.


Spring came in with a blast this year giving me chance to really feel the changing of the seasons the camp fire was not used for keeping warm but only for cooking so less wood to cut and split. Wild foods are at the best like burdock and cleavers with pig nuts showing up too i look forward to eating them later in the year when they are a little bigger and cat tails are good eating too!!! and an early sign of a bumper harvest of wild raspberries to top it off i cant wait........


I have been spending time on my own in the woods and must say it quite nice to here all the noises of the Forest and doing what i want and when i want to it doesn't make up for all the fun and games around the fire in the evenings though !!!

see you out there Paul



Wednesday 20 May 2009

FLINT AND STEEL







Primitive flint and steel




This method of fire lighting is one of the easiest to master if you prepare properly beforehand in needs several elements to be successful.


As you can see in this picture of my flint and steel kit i have a steel (top) some char cloth (bottom left) and a piece of flint (bottom right) and you also need some very fine tinder to blow the ember to a flame.

you start by tacking a small amount of charcloth (about the size of a stamp) and place it on top of your flint then you strike the edge of the flint with your steel (as top right picture ) trying to scrape the finest of slivers of steel (hopefully) producing a spark to which you add this to you bundle of tinder and blow into a flame ( as top left picture)






the most important lesson



The Rule of Threes.





I will start off this blog by saying learn the rule of threes and you WILL know what priority comes first in a survival situation.





the rule of threes is as follws

you can live for 3 minuites without air.

  1. you can live for 3 hours exposed to the cold or extream heat.

  2. you can live for 3 days without water.

  3. you can live for 3 weeks without food.

All in all some very simple rules to remember as always when outdoors and in the woods

SAFETY FIRST FUN ALWAYS!!!

Sunday 17 May 2009


British
Bushcraft....




Welcome to my new blog-site I'm new to blogging and my posts will get better and i will try and post something new every couple of days or so (i hope).


I'm just gonna post some pictures first and simple how to lessons on simple bushcraft.
i will start by telling you a little about me.
I'm a keen bushcrafter of about 10 years now and i have several interests within bushcraft, paleo craft, woodland crafts and plant lore and primitive living skills.

(This is a picture of me by a two person debris shelter suitable for several weeks use)

Will post pictures of shelter building, trapping, fire making, water purification, woodland crafts and wilderness skills.

All the best and see you soon