'Fess up!

C

coyotlviejo

Joined
Mar 26, 2001
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313
Well, Dartanyon with his million questions has gotten me to wondering what kind of primitive skills experience we have in our group? (Thanks Dart!)

Doc Ron excluded (sorry Doc!), what types of primitive skills have you actually set to practice? Did you succeed, or are you still trying? I guess I'll start out, but what I really want is to know what everyone else has done. Then I'll start asking a million questions! :D

My forte is in the area of plants - edible and medicinal. I practice foraging every time I'm out-n-about, but there are still many, many more plants to learn - and ways to use them.

I've tried the bow & drill and the hand drill. Got a spark, but no flame. Still trying.

I flinknapp and have made arrowheads, knives and a few other more basic tools. I'm currently working on a club and an axe using pecking and grinding methods.

I made a bow once, will do it again, going for perfection this time.

I can make rope/string/twine, but I'm not gonna go down a cliff on it!

I'm learning to make whistles. Still have a long way to go.

Anyone else want to 'fess up?

Okay Doc, you can jump in, but go gently! :D
 
Hmm, guess I'd have to say . . . none. The only time I forage is when it's getting close to grocery day, and that's just rooting through the back of the fridge to see whether the brown lump is meat or cake.

Can't make rope. Can't make arrowheads. Can't build a log cabin using only twist ties and a Swiss Army Knife.

I have played with the items in my survival and tornado gear enough to be confident that I can use them.

But -- and this is where I have you all beat, bwahahahahah! -- I can build a still. So while all you folks are toasty warm in your rawhide underwear, I'll at least have a drink in my hands :D. I carry a small paper umbrella in my survival kit for that tropical rum-drink look. I might be frostbitten, but I'll be damn convivial!

Take care,
Chad
 
My kids think everything I do (or think) is primitive. Does that count?:D

Well, have made, used, and gotten meat with: Sling (not slingshot), spear and atladle, homemade bow and arrows (and bowstring out of sinew- nothing storebought), various snares or triggered traps, fished with "gorge" hooks made of thorn (successfully), woven fish traps out of Willow (and got fish). Protein has never proven difficult.

Smoke preservation of it is my standby for leaner times, and I build my own smoker out of indigenous materials. Fire has never been a problem, though I hate having to use the bow and drill. Usually, after I get one made, I preserve coals for successive fires. When I screw-up it is back to the old standby.

I know and can find most edible berries (elderberry, huckleberry, blackberry, thimbleberry, gooseberry, etc.) and know the rules for those I don't know. Adding wild onions, that accounts for sugars.

I know and use miners lettuce and watercress and thistle root as well as most cactus and most wild grains, seeds and nuts.

Mugwort, pine sap, sage (white), Spruce (for scurvy) and aspen bark are the only medicinals I know, so I am very weak there.

Have also brain-tanned and black-oak tanned deer hides and made various articles of clothing using sinew and bone awl.

...that is a start, anyway. Does it count?
-carl
 
My primitive skills are very limited. What little I know about plants I learned from a man who learned his stuff on the rez in S. Dakota. Whenever he comes around he shows me something else. Just he never comes around much lol. My Chiropractor is also an herbalist and he's promised to make a list of books that I should read on plants in our area and says he'll take me with him to gather in several areas, so this should be a good start for me to learn the medicinal values and food values of our local plants.

I can make primitive arrows, but havn't learned to flake stone yet. I can make an emergency primitive bow in less than a couple of hours, out of three pieces of rivercane that will shoot well. I did use artificial sinew for the string though. I have thrown darts using an atlatl with some success and was instructed as to how to make an atlatl, but havn't done so on my own yet. I've made quivers from leather and bobcat/coon skins and rawhide for people on trade for other things I needed. Thats about it.
 
I'd love for chad to post his tornado gear. I am new to tornado country and am learning.


I have:

built a lean-to

built a few bow and drills but haven't gone all the way yet:o

tried making arrow heads from obsidian :o

done lots of research on wild edibles and plants

made fire without matches in a hard rain

survived being lost in Canada in winter at night outside without gear

hitch hiked across the USA with very little money and all my gear in a small ranger day pack.

continually survive as a starving artist for many years. earning my bones.

I am sure there are some things I am leaving out but that is the gist.
 
Originally posted by chrisaloia
hitch hiked across the USA with very little money and all my gear in a small ranger day pack.
Click to expand...

Now, THAT is a survival experience of significant note (for those of you who have not done so). IMHO, surviving "civilized man" is way more difficult and dangerous than any month in the uncivilized parts of the world.

-carl
 
I learn the most I can

Till now my primitive knowledge consist on:
Flintknapping (flintstone, glass,pebbles, never have the chance to work on obsidian) with it I can do nearly any tool like arrow point, grattoir,drill, "coldchise", borer, axe, ...
Bone working I make needle, harpoon, hook
Bow making from simple wood to more elaborated (wood+sinew+horn)
Sinew working to make rope, sewing.
Primitive skinning (not as good as good hunter are)
Lether working (amateur) make pouch, moccassin,basic sheath,
Metal working but failing to find the good ore in the nature .
Wood working primitive way (without metal)/less primitive (basic metal tool as axe,knive,crooked knive,/modern all tool (without electricity)
Fire making without matches or lighter (sparking method)
I'm still learning


PS. Must confess, I 've studied archeology 5 years and this is where I 've learn a lot (from book to practice).
 
Paintedhorse-- Very interesting that archaeology is your main source for primitive skills knowledge. It is what got me going, as well, and is a large part of the fascination for me. Of course primitive skills have grown well beyond my archaeological interest and have now become my main hobby, affecting most facets of my life.

Oh yeah, in addition to my first list I've also been practising basketry (pine needle) and primitive pottery.
 
I thought I had reasonable bush survival skills until I went bush with an aboriginal woman (Wongi) who had long since left behind her traditional lifestyle.

We where out driving and stopped for a break and she walked off into some barren looking scrub and identified at least 5 different food sources within 50metres of the car.

The interesting thing to me was that none of these things could be just picked and eaten. Most of them where actually poisonous without the right treatment and cooking. Taught me how deep and complex most indegienous knowledge is and what a tragedy it will be if our society loses it.


...oh and me ? Fnding water in dry places, celestail navigation (Southern hemisphere) spearfishing with home made spear that's about it. Would love to learn more. I've heard about a bush university being set up by some aboriginal people in NW Oz. I'll post some info if other forumites are interested.
 
Ming65 - I for one would be very interested in information regarding the bush university. The NT is one of my favorite places.
 
Originally posted by phwl
Ming65 - I for one would be very interested in information regarding the bush university. The NT is one of my favorite places.
Click to expand...

No worries mate I'll chase it up for ya. These guys are based in Derby, in the kimberley region of WA - not far from NT. They are just about to put a website up so I'll make a few calls.

Did a search on the web and found a few commercial operators (charging commercial prices) a couple are pasted here.

http://www.sharondownunder.com.au/university.html

http://www.caa.org.au/travel/tours/kimberley.html

These guys are operating out of Kunnunura - the fellas I know are in Derby so I'll see what I can find out.
 
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