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We travel to Sweden to make a high quality knife for use in Bushcraft. A step by step guide under the tutor of Lars- a renowned blacksmith for 30 years www.azbushcraft.com

A craft in the bushes, Bushcraft is all about the ability and the skills to thrive and survive in the raw environment. It necessitates the achievement of such capabilities and knowledge to manipulate resources manually. It is having the taste of how our ancestors lived some thousand of years ago.

Bushcraft as a term is widely known in Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. The term was introduced in Australia by Les Hiddins, also know as the “Bush Tucker Man,” who also spread its popularity in the Southern Hemisphere.

Mors Kochanski made it known to the northern part of the world. Ray Mears, with this survival television shows popularized it in the United Kingdom.

Skills in Bushcraft include:

Environmental Education

It is the knowledge of wildlife behaviors, like for example foraging, a branch in science that actually studies the behavior of animals.

It can also be the knowledge on the identification of wild plants, how to use them, and ability to perceive weather conditions.

Tracking

Tracking in the wild denotes following animal’s track with the actual marks to be able to get hold of them. The skill will allow you to get to them close enough to kill them for food.

Hunting

Bushcraft hunting denotes the pursuit of animals for food. Fishing also falls under this category. One must also know how to obtain and purify water that is safe enough to drink.

Fire craft

The ability to start a fire is a life-saving skill. Fire serves a lot of purposes, most especially in the wild. It gives comfort and warmth. It is very important not only to be able to cook food, but also to be able to preserve things. It can be used to sterilize bandages, to boil water for purification, provides protection from wild animals, and for rescue signals.

Shelter-building

It is the ability to use all possible resources to create a shelter from environmental forces, animals, and any danger in the wild.

Use of Bushcraft tools such as:

? cutting tools, knives and axes
? carving tools
? bonfire cooking pot
? bonfire tripod
? bungees
? paracord spools, etc.

Rope Twine-Making
It is the ability to twine ropes to be used as pulleys, to redirect pulling force to the opposite direction. It is also used as a means to have a mechanical advantage. Different kinds of knots are invented with different purposes, namely:

? pulling
? fastening
? hunting
? attaching
? fastening
? lifting
? carrying, etc.

One must also know how to join sticks or poles by lashing. To be able to do all of these things one must know how to look for raw materials that can be used to make a rope. Materials for rope making can be found just about anywhere, from palms, grasses, vines, barks, and even animal hair. Any material can be used as long as it is fibrous; it has enough length and have moderate strength and flexible.

Bushcraft will enable you to find inner harmony with the environment. It is not only a skill essential for survival, but also has become a skill to support other recreational activities, such as wild-life watching, hunting, nature photography, and the like.

Product Description
This book was created for students in our yearlong bushcraft immersion program and Earth Skills Semester Programs to help them execute and document their journey into traditional bushcraft knowledge…. More >>

Jack Mountain Bushcraft Student Handbook

My favorite bushcraft knives

When the term “bushcraft” was invented by Les Hiddins, he would have barely thought that it would become so popular everywhere, especially his own country, Australia. It didn’t take much time for it to spread to other countries as well, especially South Africa and New Zealand. So let’s come to the term itself. Bushcraft means the craft or skills to survive in a raw environment like a forest or desert where you would have only your perseverance and surviving capacity to help you. In other words, it’s like going back in time to thousands of years back and living like our ancestors did making use of only the resources of the nature.

There are different factors that comprise bushcraft. Here are a few of them:

Learning the environment

This involves the study of the behavior of wildlife. Living in the raw nature, as you would’ve guessed, is all about adapting to the surroundings. Understanding and predicting the actions and reactions of the animals in the bush where you are is very important. Similarly, being able to identify the plants and trees also help you survive. It tells you how these plants can be used for different situations as well as why some of them should be avoided.

Hunting

The main purpose of hunting is of course to find the food to survive in the bush. It involves fishing as well as tracking. Tracking lets you find and follow the foot tracks of the animals and finally get them for food. And if it is a ferocious animal, tracking also lets you escape from the animal.

Fire craft

Fire serves many purposes in a forest. From providing you safety from animals at night to preparing food, it is the best gift nature has provided you. Besides the warmth and comfort that fire provides you, fire can cook food as well as preserve many items. It sterilizes wounds and also helps create smoke signals to get rescued.

Building

To erect a shelter in any environment is one of the most important aspects of bushcraft. It is highly important to know how to make a shelter, be it a tent or a caravan, to protect yourself from animals or other natural damages.

Rope making

To know how to twine ropes together to make different items is also another important requisite while dealing with natural environments. Rope twine making has several mechanical uses like making pulleys, knots, etc.

Bushcraft involves many tools that can help you manage in the forest. Some of them are:

Cutting tools (axes, knives)
Cooking tools (bonfire pots)
Bonfire tools
Carving tools
Bungee

The basic idea behind bushcraft is always to make use of the available resources. This requires some pre-knowledge that can let you take the maximum advantage of the items that you come across.

My favorite bushcraft knives!

Olive oil lamps were used on ships since if spilled, they go out instead of setting everything on fire. This video shows how to make one using traditional bushcraft skills.

I’m looking to start practicing primitive bushcraft skills in my area. I live in San Ramon and I’m trying to find a good place to begin. Please consider that I’ll be using small fires for my projects so it needs to be a place that would be ok to have a fire at. Thanks everyone!

Product Description
In BUSHCRAFT SURVIVAL Ray Mears travels to some of the most remote and beautiful wildernesses in the world, and experiences first hand the survival techniques of different indigenous cultures. From the Hudson Bay in Canada, via Tanzania and the jungles of Venezuela, to the moors and highlands of Britain, BUSHCRAFT SURVIVAL explores a range of locations and techniques from indigenous peoples. Drawing on centuries of knowledge as well as his own experience, Ray demons… More >>

Bushcraft Survival

Product Description
Ray Mears is well known to millions of television viewers through his acclaimed series Tracks, Ray Mears World of Survival and Ray Mears Extreme Survival. Now, based on the bestselling Bushcraft, he has created a handy portable compendium of vital survival skills and wisdom from around the world. Packed with essential wildemess techniques, this book is an invaluable companion on any expedition…. More >>

Essential Bushcraft