Primitive Skills and Wilderness Crafts
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Primitive Skills and Wilderness Crafts
by wannabemountainman Mon 30 Jan 2012, 13:52
Get out in the dirt, and get back to the basics!
I have always enjoyed getting down to the basics and understanding how things work, and one way in which I like to do this is to get out in the woods and wilderness and learn primitive methods of making and doing some of the things we take for granted in today's consumer society. Making fire without matches, producing everything from cordage (string, rope) to baskets, pots and bowls for gathering and cooking wild foods to making clothing and footwear from animal hides--these are great ways to re-introduce one's self to the fundamentals of life, and learn the origins and value of the things we use in everyday life without a second thought.
Join me as I give a brief glimpse at some of the various wilderness skills and crafts I enjoy practicing!
Join me as I give a brief glimpse at some of the various wilderness skills and crafts I enjoy practicing!
Contents at a Glance
Cordage
A good place to start...
Do you realize how useful rope, string, and other sorts of cordage can be in daily life, and how valuable they become when not readily available?
There are so many raw materials that can be used to make a sturdy cordage, depending on your region of the country, and now would be a good time to practice this valuable skill. Milkweed, nettle, dogbane and yucca are some of the best cordage plants in my area--you want to look for a plant whose stem contains sturdy fibers which don't easily break when the stem is broken--but there are some interesting non-plant options as well. Get out and explore, experiment and discover your favorites!
Yucca fibers, soaked, scraped and dried, and finished yucca cordage:
Cording the inner bark of an aspen tree:
Basket made from aspen bark cordage:
Cordage twined from mountain goat wool that I collected up on a ridge above 12,000' elevation!
Fire starting
Without matches!
There are many ways to produce fire without modern tools such as matches and lighters. Some--such as the bow and drill or hand drill--take more skill than others to master, but it is very rewarding to be able to walk into the woods and know that you can obtain fire with nothing more than the raw materials you find close at hand. One of the simplest ways in which you can do this is to carry a ferro rod, which is made of a special metal that produces sparks when scraped with steel, glass or even rock:
Materials all ready to go--ferro rod, striker and milkweed down for tinder...
Success!
Waterproof "tinder pellets" can be made from milkweed down and pine pitch. These can be carried in one's pack or bag to aid in starting fires under the worst of conditions. Here I am pouring liquefied pine pitch (sap) into a pile of milkweed down--the first step in making these pellets.
And, the finished pellet, read to use. Simply break open the waterproof shell of pitch, and strike sparks for ready tinder!
A basket of willow wood shavings and "feather sticks" to help get fires started...
Dakota fire hole
a quick and easy in-ground stove to help increase fuel efficiency and make for easier cooking in the backcountry
This lens on the Dakota Fire Hole will show you how to add a simple air tunnel to your fire pit to greatly increase its efficiency and reduce the amount of smoke you're putting out!
Wilderness firestarting tools on Amazon
While these products are not as primitive as a fire bow and should not take the place of really mastering the basics of starting a fire with materials you can scrounge in the woods, they do provide the ability to make hundreds or even thousands of fires without having to worry about carrying matches or lighters, which are quite expendable.
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Brain Tanning and leather craft
For thousands of years, animal hides provided humans with clothing and shelter. Brain tanning your own hides--either from animals you take for meat, or hides donated by hunters who don't wish to use them, if you don't hunt, yourself--is a great way to reconnect with this tradition and learn some very valuable skills.
It's hard work to take a hide from its raw state to finished, wearable leather/buckskin, and the task will certainly give you a new appreciation of the readily available clothing that we so take for granted, these days!
Fleshing an elk hide, the first step in brain tanning. All of the meat, fat and membrane must come off...
Deerskin moccasins...
Brain tanning and leatherwork books and supplies
Deerskins Into Buckskins: How To Tan With Natural Materials, a Field Guide for Hunters and Gatherers
Amazon Price: $12.19 (as of 01/30/2012) 
Crafts and Skills of the Native Americans: Tipis, Canoes, Jewelry, Moccasins, and More
Amazon Price: $5.98 (as of 01/30/2012)
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Lighting
Primitive lighting can involve anything from cattail seed heads dipped in pine pitch to make a long-burning torch, to seal fat burned in carved out dishes of soapstone with cottongrass wicks such as the Inuits used for lighting and cooking, to beeswax candles.
This is a very simple lamp I carved from sandstone. The wick is corded cattail leaf fibers, with bear fat for the fuel. It provides a good, steady flame.
Primitive shelter
A primitive shelter can be as simple as a good dry pile of leaves or pine needles beneath a tree, or as complex as a large skin or bark covered lodge fit for spending an entire winter, as different as cleft in the rock or a snow cave, but the basics are the same--keep yourself dry, warm and out of the wind and weather.
Here is a picture from inside a snug little shelter I built from scrub oak trunks, and one showing its outside, which is covered with cottonwood tree bark. The bark helps shed water, and I have spent many dry nights in that shelter, even during the hardest rain. Inside, I have piled a good foot and a half of good dry oak leaves on the floor to provide insulation, and have stuffed cracks between the logs with sagebrush to keep out the wind.
Edible wild plants
No matter where a person may live, desert, mountains, plains, forest or even in the city, there will be numerous food plants available for use and enjoyment. An interesting way to learn about your local food resources is to study (in North America, at least) which wild food crops were relied on by the Native Americans in centuries past. One must not, of course, ever eat a plant until it has been positively identified, and the best way to learn is in person from someone well versed in local edibles, but this skill can be learned by studying books and comparing what you see there to things found out in the field, also.
Here are some that I enjoy harvesting and eating, here in my area (Western US.)
Waterleaf, avalanche lily and spring beauty roots...
Currants...
Oregon grapes...
Prickly pear cactus...
Cattail roots (just like fried potatoes, with eggs!)
Books to help get you started identifying edible plants in your area!
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The skills and crafts featured in this lens are just a few of the many to which I've devoted time over the years, and they have become a lifelong pursuit and passion for me.
Get out in the dirt and give a few of these ancient and productive skills a try, and you may find that you enjoy them, too!
Take a look at my other lenses on wilderness skills!
Medicinal plants of the Rocky Mountains
If we someday find ourselves in an extended wilderness situation where the only medical care/medicines available are what we can harvest and provide from th...
Dakota fire hole
What can you do if you want to not only increase your fire's efficiency and cut down on firewood gathering needs, but at the same time reduce your visibilit...
Wild Foods: Cattail Roots
Each and every part of the cattail plant (Typha latifolia.) has its use, depending on the season, but today we will talk about the roots.
I use the roots in...
Balm of Gilead Salve
The buds of a number of varieties of cottonwood and poplar trees (Populus nigra, Populus balsamifera, Populus augustafolia and others) contain a sticky oran...
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And some other great lenses on outdoor topics...
Pictures of White-tailed Deer
Here you will find pictures of white-tailed deer, including does, fawns, and white-tailed bucks.
The adult white-tailed deer has an insulating gray-brown coat...
Edible Wild Berries
The Pacific Northwest is fortunate to have an abundance of native shrubs that have tasty edible berries. Anyone who learns to identify these delicious berries...
American Black Bear (Ursus americanus)
This page contains facts about the American black bear, including physical traits, behavior, diet, reproduction, communication (including sounds and...
Caving Pictures Experience *
Let's face it, caves can be dark and caving is a dangerous sport or recreation. Caving accidents happen quickly, so if you are planning on going caving... wear...
Wild Animals Quiz
These quizzes will test your knowledge of wild animals and their behavior, with questions and multiple choice answers.
Topics include birds, squirrels, black...
wannabemountainman- Admin
- Posts : 433
Join date : 2009-07-12
Age : 74
Location : M'boro UK -
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