Let's have a talk about woodcraft and bushcraft....

For discussion of knowledge of the wood; this means camping, tracking, and other outdoor pursuits.

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Cinead
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Let's have a talk about woodcraft and bushcraft....

Post by Cinead »

So, lets face it.....swords are awesomely cool! I love them and they are one of the great advances in human warfare.....if warfare can be considered great....swords are designed as a single purpose tool....a killing tool for men to kill men.

But, when we head to the woods there are other considerations....like shelter, firewood, butchering and of course defending oneself from orcs and other less savory creatures.

This is why I carry a bearded axe. It is of high, usable quality (I slowly ground it to shape from an Iltis Ox Head axe). It is helved onto a 22" handle with an OAL of 24".

It is still light enough to carry easily on a belt, long enough for any woodland chore short of felling a huge tree, a heck of a shaping tool, you can butcher any critter and lastly, with the size and weight it is FAST on the attack and defense. The beard is useful to hook a shield, arm, leg or sword and deliver a dirk to an eye, throat or weak spot in the armour. An axe like this is the "leatherman" of the Middle Earth woods!

Is it a perfect combat weapon? No. Is it a weapon and a great usable tool? YOU BET!

Survival on treks is the biggest consideration. If you do not live through the night....then the battle in the morning is a moot point.

The Dunedain were a woodland people for the most part. They would have known the woods intimately....and would have been comfortable in the woods indefinitely, but this would also take into account having the right tools, like an axe. If you add a saw and draw knife....then you would be set even to build a cabin....

I know in a pinch with the axe and the knife (with discreetly hidden strike anywhere matches and a bit of heavy duty aluminum foil) that hangs around my neck I can survive until rescued. the neck knife NEVER leaves my body when in the woods and is worn underneath my shirt. If you add a small bag of jerky, nuts and dried fruit that always is on your person then you will have calories to keep you going....I carry mine in a small "wallet" that hangs over my belt. Mine is 3" wide by 12" long. For an example follow this link: http://www.colonialmarket.com/casada/wallets.html

I have the matches and foil to: make fire and boil water to make it potable. The axe will let me create tools and traps, fashion other tools, make a shelter and lastly it will let me split enough wood to have a fire big enough to stay warm no matter what!

That is not to say that a ranger in the desert or jungle should carry an axe, they would probably be better served with a machete-type tool....but for me, in the hardwoods of Kentucky, an axe works best.

Swords are awesome......but maybe we should make other considerations when heading out on a trek! We reenact in Middle Earth but live in the mundane. I for one to not want to die a historically accurate death of hypothermia, exposure, dehydration or drinking bad water.

Let's face it, they are far more likely to kill us than a marauding band or orcs or uruks!
Here I stand...unbowed, unbent, unbroken.
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Willrett
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Re: Let's have a talk about woodcraft and bushcraft....

Post by Willrett »

Some pics of this axe would be great.... :lol:

In a belt patch I carry my fire steel and a large Altoids tin full of twine. I have a smaller belt knife that i can use for skinning, eating, and other camp chores. I also carry my 12in or 18in sax on one hip and a small hand axe on the other.

For food I carry some jerky, nuts and a elf made field guide to mushrooms and soon hope to add guide to any and all eat-a-bles :lol: :lol:
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Peter Remling
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Re: Let's have a talk about woodcraft and bushcraft....

Post by Peter Remling »

I don't think you'll find too many people disagreeing with you on the benefits of an axe. Roger's Rangers opted for the axe over the sword for the same reasons you're advocating it.
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Re: Let's have a talk about woodcraft and bushcraft....

Post by Jon »

Well said!

I have a problem with fire-making sans matches, so could someone please post a link to some old thread about this?

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Peter Remling
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Re: Let's have a talk about woodcraft and bushcraft....

Post by Peter Remling »

There are a good many threads on the subject, both in the Woodcraft and in the Crafts and Skill section. Everything from bow drills to flint/steel to fire pistons.

I started linking a few minutes ago and no sooner did I have about four llinks, when my internet when down for a minute. Check back to the first pages written on those forum sections.
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Willrett
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Re: Let's have a talk about woodcraft and bushcraft....

Post by Willrett »

This is one of the fire steels I have http://firesteel.com/products/FireSteel-Ranger.html I also have one of these with a horn handle and I can use my knife or a striker. I will post pics if I get a chance to take some.
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Re: Let's have a talk about woodcraft and bushcraft....

Post by Cleddyf »

Willrett wrote: For food I carry some jerky, nuts and a elf made field guide to mushrooms and soon hope to add guide to any and all eat-a-bles :lol: :lol:
thats interesting, i don't know what its like where you are but around here unless you are by a beach, or in cleared land, there isn't much of that sort of thing, native bush here has a dearth of edible things, whats it like where all you guys are?
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Tauron
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Re: Let's have a talk about woodcraft and bushcraft....

Post by Tauron »

Cinead,
You've hit on my favourite topic and the whole reson I've gotten into reenacting a ranger persona!
I've read the LOTR countless time since my childhood, and the Fellowship was always my favourite volume, why? Every time I read it, I was lost in the journey; the hiking through woodland and marshes, crossing streams and mountain ranges, camping-out in leafy dells, hiding from Black-Riders :twisted: , filling water bottles from springs... it's like a bushcraft road-trip!
The epic battles etc in the books are great and all, but what always captured my imagination was the roughing-it under the stars! Sam and Frodo gathering herbs and stewing rabbits in the gardens of Ithilien, camping in a birch grove in the Green Hills, resting by a waterfall & pool after escaping Moria etc... These are the things that touched my heart. It was there in the games I played as achild in the woods near my home, building camps with my friends, it was with me as I took part in weekend camps and excercises with Cadets in my teens. Even now when I walk the dogs in the woods, or try out my bushcraft gear, I'm daydreaming about treking the wild places of Middle-Earth.
As you said swords are awesome, but they are tools, (very expensive)tools for killing people -Something I have little desire to experience!
I'm into Rangering because I want to immerse myself further in Tolkiens world, feel the hardships the Fellowship felt, experience wild places with only the gear they had, and therein deepen my appreciation of the characters and stories.

-What did they eat? What did the cooking gear consist of, how much weight did each carry in their packs and how did that feel? Where and how did they go poop :P !
I too plan to carry nothing more than cooking gear, some dried food rations, a hatchet and a knife. I'm also researching bowyery (is that right?), I hope to make myself a short recurve for hunting small game.
Flint & Fire Steel Kit.jpg
Flint & Fire Steel Kit.jpg (48.55 KiB) Viewed 16571 times
Here is my Fire Kit, it works first time, every time and is (Period) correct, these ferrocerium rods are a modern invention and really are much harder to use than a piece of flint and striker, no really! I've been using fire steel rods for a few years and only bough the old fashion kit since joining this forum. I would never go back!

Cool thread -Thanks
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Eledhwen
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Re: Let's have a talk about woodcraft and bushcraft....

Post by Eledhwen »

I have flint and steel, but I prefer the fire piston. I got it in kit form and built it.

What I carry with me has been the usual nuts, dried berries and whatnot for hikes but now I have begun making an Iron Age bread which keeps really well I will be carrying that to a greater extent. There's also the corn, beans and jerky, but since the bread combines most of the other items anyway, that is what I am using. Tastier than cram. ;)

I tend to favor the belt axe/tomahawk and long knife combination, usually with a smaller utility knife along too. Flexible combination.

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Tauron
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Re: Let's have a talk about woodcraft and bushcraft....

Post by Tauron »

Eledhwen wrote: I have begun making an Iron Age bread which keeps really well
Hi Eledhwen,

:idea: Sounds interesting!
Could you do a post (or message me) your recipe and instructions -Thanks

Tauron
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Greg
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Re: Let's have a talk about woodcraft and bushcraft....

Post by Greg »

I hear what you're saying about the impracticality of carrying a one-purpose item such as a sword on a trek in this day and age, where orcs aren't exactly commonplace, but I will always carry a sword with me. In Tolkien's books, the Rangers carry swords, and as such, I will do likewise. You've made an excellent point here, but I will content to burden myself with a "useless tool" because that's what any of Tolkien's Rangers would have done.
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Chris Russo
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Re: Let's have a talk about woodcraft and bushcraft....

Post by Chris Russo »

See, that's why I love my langseax. It's a sword (sort of), but it's *not* single-purpose: I can chop firewood with it, fell trees with it, etc. But then, an axe still does those things slightly better. (And I do love those bearded axes.)

In a two-Ranger setup, though, you can mix it up. Andy used to talk about the military effectiveness of this with longarms: one Ranger with a spear to hold the enemy back, one with a bow to pick them off. I imagine this goes just as well with our "sidearms," both in the imaginary orc-hunting sense and the practical camp-tool sense. One Ranger carries the axe, one carries the seax/sword?
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Eledhwen
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Re: Let's have a talk about woodcraft and bushcraft....

Post by Eledhwen »

Swords are far from useless..but they have their place, like everything else. I have my Del Tin Glamdring I will never part with for example. But I cannot, for legal reasons, carry swords here. They are entirely outlawed except as display only..that means not sharp and not carbon steel etc. Spears are too I might add, as is *any* double edged weapon.

To be honest, the tomahawk is too, but the belt axe is not. The longknife, if it isn't too long, is okay.

I would love to be able to go wandering about with my sword, but I can't. The only real alternative is the belt axe and knife. As far as everyday tools go, no question at all that the belt axe and knife will be used far more often than a sword...even if we had orcs around we could actually do something about. (There are plenty of orcs around, but they disguise themselves as humans and have managed to coopt the legal systems to protect themselves) ;).

I applaud any of you who can wander freely with sword, spear, and bow. Here, I do what I can.

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Eledhwen
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Re: Let's have a talk about woodcraft and bushcraft....

Post by Eledhwen »

Message sent, Tauron. Enjoy

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Peter Remling
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Re: Let's have a talk about woodcraft and bushcraft....

Post by Peter Remling »

Eledhwen wrote:Message sent, Tauron. Enjoy

Eledhwen

Dang it, I was hoping you'd post the recipe here so I wouldn't have to beg for it :) Pretty, pretty please ?
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