Here's another small project happening amidst all the "real work" that needs to get done during this quarantine. I want to keep this one but after inquiries rolling in, it may go into the shop (or another just like it). Be Safe!
A Gathering Saw
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Hunter’s Pouch
Kentucky Hunter's Pouch - Few words are needed to show this project. It is a Kentucky Hunter style pouch of a style popular throughout the 17th and 18th centuries in America. Its antecedents come from Britain and mainland Europe but changed with the times as North America was colonized. In the days before the common … Continue reading Hunter’s Pouch
Sandals
This post came from looking through a few class photos from Rabbitstick several years ago based on an inquiry. This is one of the years I taught my favorite sandal design, an ancient one though still cleverly marketed as a modern style. I call them saint sandals as they look like something you would see … Continue reading Sandals
Ramble On
Enjoy this beautiful Showman's Wagon ca. 1900. This would be a wonderful way to travel.
The New Fitness Craze; thoughts from 1914
THE PHYSICAL CULTURE PERIL And how the nation may easily be saved from it. An essay by P. G. Wodehouse May 1914. Images added by G. Crawford. Physical culture is in the air just now. Where, a few years ago, the average man sprang from bed to bath and from bath to breakfast-table, he now … Continue reading The New Fitness Craze; thoughts from 1914
Shaving Horses and Portable Woodworking
For bow makers and other wood crafters...A shaving horse is an invaluable tool if you create or work with odd-shaped objects that are otherwise difficult to clamp or need to constantly move around. I don't know how I would get half my projects done without one. A horse, in combination with a small bench or … Continue reading Shaving Horses and Portable Woodworking
Robyn Hode, my boyhood hero
Robyn Hode – An hundred shefe of arowes gode, The hedys burneshed full bryght; And every arowe an elle longe, With pecok wel idyght, Inocked all with whyte silver [or silk]; It was a semely syght. A Gest of Robyn Hode, lines 523-8 in English Popular Ballads, 1922 edition England, ca. 1450 A.D.
Classic Liquid Fuel Stoves
A look at the origins and evolution of our favorite camp stove... This post was going to be a few words about the Primus stoves we all love and some images I've collected from around the web. As usual, I found myself rambling all over the topic without a clear direction but here is a … Continue reading Classic Liquid Fuel Stoves
Thumb Stick
A little show and tell this rainy winter morning. I've been carrying this walking stick in one form or another since 2001. What does that mean? I just can't leave well enough alone, that's what. It was a straight knobbed staff before attaching the stag horn but I decided it would be more useful and … Continue reading Thumb Stick
The Best Home-Built Ever
I love this little vehicle. A true 1920s work of art.
Caravan; life in the little green vardo
After a little over a week traveling across the country in the new and improved vardo I want to share a few unedited and unstaged photos of life in the caravan. I am still pleased with almost every aspect of the Little Green Vardo, even after 29,000 miles. More of my work can be found … Continue reading Caravan; life in the little green vardo
Boy Scout Gear from 1925
This is a pretty good setup for any outdoorsman (our outdoors woman for that matter). By 1925, the scouts had worked out a pretty good uniform and gear setup based on many old experts not the least of which was the US Army. If there's a bit of a paramilitary look to the scouts it … Continue reading Boy Scout Gear from 1925
Winter Count is Coming
I'm happy to say that I will be heading to the annual primitive skills gathering known as Winter Count down in the Sonoran Desert. Thankfully, it has moved to a more remote location further into the desert and far away from the Phoenix sprawl.I will be teaching a course that I have been doing for … Continue reading Winter Count is Coming
When It’s All You Have
And you gotta hit the road...Rock what you got.
Car Camping – bathing in camp
For most of human history we have moved across the surface of the Earth as more-or-less self-contained units. Rarely alone and generally with all the stuff we owned. Obviously, this was before the age of Consumption as a way of life.I love to see the details; the wash basin, table and chair, the little mirror... … Continue reading Car Camping – bathing in camp
The Joys of a Morning Quickie
Sometimes you have needs ... I needed a net bag for my water bottle while I'm on the road. I knew this was going to be a problem when I left home so I threw in a ball of string in case I had some time on my hands. I almost always bring something to … Continue reading The Joys of a Morning Quickie
Woody Guthrie’s New Year Rulin’s
New Year's resolutions from Woody Guthrie's notebook 1943. It was an interesting time; the world was at war, America was coming out of an economic depression coupled with huge crop failures and sleazy bank practices, and the Guthries had made their way West to California with record numbers of displaced migrants looking for a better … Continue reading Woody Guthrie’s New Year Rulin’s
Science and Self-Correction
"One of the reasons for its success is is that science has a built-in, error correcting machinery at its very heart. Some may consider this an overbroad characterization, but to me every time we exercise self-criticism, every time we test against the outside world, we are doing science. When we are self-indulgent and uncritical, when … Continue reading Science and Self-Correction
Wisdom of Dan Beard
On Loneliness "When you feel you are sleeping on the breast of your mother, the earth, while your father, the sky, with his millions of eyes is watching over you, and that you are surrounded by your brother, the plants, the wilderness is no longer lonesome even to the solitary traveler." ~Dan Beard
Ferro Rods are in the Shop
I bought a small batch of unhafted Ferrocerrum rods recently. This came after finding out what a hit they were with some of my recent demonstrations. Being able to produce a ridiculously hot spark with little effort in all weather amazes even the most distracted student. Since the explosion of survival shows on television and … Continue reading Ferro Rods are in the Shop
