Any One Here Read any of the Fox Fire Books?

Used to spend hours at the library reading them back in high school. I was mainly interested in the structure building sections back then...I need to re read them from the different perspective I have now, thanks for reminding me.
 
Back in the day, I used the write-up in FireFox 5 (I think) to make my own black-powder Mountain Rifle. Sold it for $600 awhile later (big bucks back then). Wish now that I hadn't!:(
 
I've been collecting them myself, was getting one every paycheck back at the beginning of the year (just enough time to read thru it and be ready for the next payday), kinda slacked off some after getting to #7 or 8 (it was about the mountaineers' religious habits, not that interesting to me). Been finding in other forums references to stuff in #9, that I'm gonna pick up the next ones now.

When I was reading thru the books, I kept think that this wasn't that different from how the pioneer Texans lived during the later 19th Century, when a lot of my family moved here (one branch was here in 1836, for the Revolution!). That period is where a lot of my historical interests lay.

While I don't recall a recipe for blackpowder in the FF books (the moonshinin' was cool, tho), there was one of "Grandma's recipes" for it in an older issue of Backwoodsman magazine, that used the accumulated dirt from a chicken coop as the base for extracting the saltpeter/nitre.

Matt in Tx
 
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Thanks for this! I recently joined the local library to see if they had any good bushcraft, primitive living type books. I searched the database using every variation of the two terms that I could think of, with no hits. After reading this I typed in Foxfire and they have the entire set. I checked out volumes 1 and 2 yesterday. Good reading.
 
I have one through three and maybe even four around here some where. Pretty cool stuff in them for the most part.
 
My brother and I used the books to build a still behind our dads house when we were in high school. He came home early one day and caught us stokin' it up for the first time. He laughed, but made us take it apart. Other than that, those books are incredible. I recall there was some good info on tanning hides in there.
 
They are great reading. And practical stuff. I have 1-4 and 12 plan on getting the rest. Vol 2 has a section on edible plants pretty good. I like it because it is geared more to my geographic area.
 
I've read a number of the Foxfire books, and I would consider them required reading for anyone looking to practice a self-sufficenct and/or long term survival lifestyle. They are just chock full of low-tech ideas for living off the land that are just perfect for those wanting to live off-the-grid. :thumbup:
 
I only own one volume, the one mostly about making steel in the old days, but like others, I've been lucky to find several more at my local library. Great stuff!
 
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