Adventures of an Imperfect Man In Search of a Handmade Life
In under ten minutes! Well, watch it being done anyway. Here’s a well-edited and excellent overview building a vardo from the ground up. I don’t know this guy at all but I love the video. I think it’s Canadian (for you Jim).
Please give comments or insights below.
Thanks to Survival Sherpa for posting this look at making a pack frame. Making a quick, three stick pack frame is a valuable bit of knowledge. How serendipitous that this came up (seems to be a lot of convergent thinking around my world lately) as I am beginning to tweak my own wooden pack frame for some experimental travel. And while we’re on the subject here’s a link to a broad look at pack frames from around the world on Markus Kittner’s fine web page.
Have a look at Survival Sherpa by clicking the link below.
Source: How to Improvise and Use a Three Stick Roycroft Pack Frame
They are everywhere right now. He must get some rain down that stove pipe.
A Tumblr follower spotted my interest in sheep wagons and other classic mobile lifestyles. They sent me this excellent link to a short (20 minute) documentary from faircompanies.com. It’s a nice overview of sheep wagon design old and new by a couple making and selling old-fashioned Sheep Camps.
And here are a few older posts I’ve made about the American sheep wagons. They’re all you need out here in the west. Click the photos to learn more.
Have a look at a little bit of nearly lost American history.
Painting by American Realist Thomas Eakins 1844-1916.
Here are a few interesting trailers from the Golden Age. I hesitated to post these some time ago as I could not rediscover the website they came from. I try my best to attribute images to their source. Tools like Pinterest and Tumblr are great but the data is easily stripped away.
This is interesting stuff but I wish we had a glimpse inside these creatures “in use.” It’s easy to stage a photo but I appreciate it when we can see how the space is actually used.
The awning or tent is the best addition you can make to your Vardo home. Look for more great vintage images here on the Old Picture of the Day Blog.
These are nearly the same type I make. A frame saw is a useful and simple introduction to woodworking and tool-making. If you are interested in woodworking, Paul Seller’s blog has a lot to offer.
From Paul Seller’s:
If you have not yet made one of these you should. They are quick and simple to make and give you the European push and pull stroke saw in a single saw which is useful depending on where you want to…
Source: Making a frame saw
From the Oregon State University Archives:
Camp Cart, Showing Bed
Image Description from historic lecture booklet: “Carpenter in his geographical reader thus describes this kind of wagon:
‘What is that squealing outside the market? It sounds like a pig in the hands of a butcher. They surely cannot kill hogs here in the midst of the city. It is only the creaking of a farm cart which is bringing wheat to the market. There it comes through the door. it has wheels eight feet in height, with hubs as big around as your waist, and an axle as thick as a telegraph pole.
The cart has an arched cover of reeds over its bed. The kinds which have been sewed to the top are put there to keep the rain off the wheat. Such farm carts take the place of wagons throughout Argentina. they look very rude, but each cart will hold several tons–so much , indeed, that teams of twelve oxen are often hitched to one car.'”
Original Collection: Visual Instruction Department Lantern Slides
Item Number: P217:set 012 039
Stopping by the Bois D’Arc Knap-in recently I got to see some remarkable works of art and a few natural wonders as well. My friend Regan showed my a little treat he discovered in a Burlington Chert core he was reducing to make some stone tools. There was obviously a band of crystals crossing the stone but little did he know that while removing this imperfection he would find a real gem inside. A Mississippian-age brachiopod was hidden inside for 325,000,000+ years! This makes him the first mammal to ever see it. I enjoy that kind of perspective on the universe as we sometimes forget the significance of the little things.
Here’s a little more information about this sort of life-form from the Illinois State Geological Survey:
Preindustrial Craftsmanship 