Learning.
Making a Sycamore whistle.
This one was for Myrtle, who made (and lost) her whistle at our woodland site today! Everything she (and you) need to know to make a Sycamore whistle, ideally in the Spring time.
Useful to carry when you're out and about, to attract attention or summon help, and a nice little craft item that tests your knife skills and control.
Making a simple Elder whistle.
A quick vid showing how easy it is to make a whistle using an Elder stem. Of course, it's then got to make a sound! That can take a little time and a few (many) adjustments, but on the plus side, you can create anything from a piercing scream to an owl hoot! Have fun!
We use these with kids who are learning knife skills for the Wild Passport; you can also get in touch with us if you are interested in Wild Passport Instructor Training (we deliver in the North of England)
Making a try stick.
Good knife skills are essential to the bushcrafter, forest school leader and many outdoorsy types. This example of a try stick should help you to develop your ability to use a knife safely and efficiently, and without needing to replenish the first aid kit on a weekly basis!
There are many other elements you can add of course, and more techniques for knife handling, but doing the simple things well is an important foundation in your skill development. Have a go!
Making a whagon stick pot hanger.
This 'How To' vid was a request from a member of the tribe on a recent course I attended, which uses outdoor wilderness experiences for therapeutic purposes. Run by eQe Outdoors, it was an awesome course!
The vid shows you how to make a Whagon Stick; one of many ways to suspend a cooking pot over the fire. Hope it's useful and you can forgive me for the various editing mistakes I usually make!
Making a campfire pot crane.
A short video which shows one of the ways you can suspend your cooking pot over a fire. There are of course many ways to do this and it's always useful to know a few. This one, the Pot Crane, is a nice way to do it; it minimises the space taken round the fire by your suspension system and doesn't require you to lean over the fire to check the pot. The one I make here would hold a small pot like a Zebra billycan or similar, but I've made much sturdier ones that will happily hold a cast iron camp oven too.
Fire lighting basics.
One of our viewers, Happy Client,, asked about some firelighting videos, and we had this one being processed, so here you go! There's a little glitch somewhere in there when I'm feeding the fire, that I could not sort (hopefully my editing skills MAY improve...), but I don't think it detracts from the content.
This vid just talks through the basics of fires, such as preparation, clearing the ground, having a base to build upon, tinder, kindling and graded fuel on standby, and safety. We will be looking at specific fire lays soon and posting short videos on each.
A great fire lay for outdoor cooking.
This video demonstrates the Criss Cross or Waffle Fire lay. This is an effective way to set your fire up if you plan to do some cooking. We usually want a good, hot bed of embers for this; we only usually use direct flames for things such as boiling, or perhaps cooking to one side of the fire, such as bannocks.
There are a number of ways to get to the point where you have a fire in this pattern-you can build it from whatever start point you like. Here, I show you how to start with the logs and fuel in that crisscross pattern from the start.
Upside down fire lay how to.
Here's one for the outdoor learning practitioners Out There. You might be a Forest School leader, or delivering Wild Passport or another type of Outdoor Learning. You could be delivering bushcraft to scouting groups or others, or just enjoy living in the woods and having a safe and controlled fire. The upside down fire lay seems to go against the usual wisdom about fires; you light it at the top, you place fuel at the bottom rather than adding as you go. But it's efficient, gives great embers for cooking as well as immediate heat for boiling the kettle, and requires less management (though supervision always makes sense, of course). Give it a go next time you are Out There!
A fire lay for windy conditions.
This is the Siberian (or Evenk) fire lay. The Evenk live in the Northern Boreal region and therefore speed and efficiency are prominent traits amongst these hardy folk. We may use the brilliant Evenk Hitch for our tarps; a knot that can be tied quickly with thick woollen mittens on-useful when we want our shelter up quick in hostile conditions. This fire lay presents the same speed and reliability. Use your axe or knife to quickly split deadwood down to splints, as thin as needed, and use birchbark (traditionally) to start the fire. So it works well in wet conditions too. If you're in the UK, this may sound familiar...Also works with feathersticks, and if you shave some of the curls fine enough, you can strike straight into these with your firesteel (I'll do a vid on that sometime soon). Just make sure that the stick to which the feathers are attached is thin enough to catch before the feathers have all burned away.
I just use shavings and a lighter here, as it's more about the firelay than lighting techniques, but you'll get the picture.
Tarp and hammock; a basic way to set up.
Every bushcrafter I know has a different way of doing this! Some have adapted their hammocks, added extra loops to a favoured tarp-and swears by their method. I thought I'd throw my approach into the mix too. Let me know what you think, how you set up, what you'd change and so on.
A tarp and hammock is a great lightweight approach to outdoor living; I also like to use my tarp with a camp bed if weight isn't an issue, and I have tents ranging from a Baker tent style, to full-on mountain tents. I'll do videos on those at a later date; we will be able to use them soon, when lockdown eases! Woohoooo!
Applying a whipping to the end of a rope.
Most people will just tie an overhand knot in the end and leave it at that, but that isn't really a permanent solution, and a whipping is much more elegant than a bulky knot and makes the rope much easier to work with in the future, less likely to get in the way, or snag as it is passed through a loop or hitch.
A simple skill, but nice to have, the video shows one of the simpler forms of whipping, which can be done with serving twine (which you can buy from an archery supplier), or strong garden twine.
Sharpening you knife in the field.
This video shows the usual technique I like for sharpening my knife when I'm Out There. I do sometimes use the technique recommended on the Fallkniven site (I use the Fallkniven DC4 Sharpening Stone; link below), particularly just for the smallest adjustments to the blade which require no more than a few strokes of the blade across a stone. But this way is the way I think is best for the beginner or anyone who is not confident. I know some people are reluctant to sharpen for fear of blunting! This way is VERY hard to get wrong.
Knife safety - an intro (or refresher).
Some simple suggestions that will help to keep you safe when you're using a bushcraft knife, regardless of if you are a beginner or an experienced knife user.
With some additional thoughts about knife choice, and the importance of carrying a first aid kit whenever you have your knife.