THIS is the anything goes, keep it clean, blow off steam, W&SS chat.

"The Colony" on discovery had less starting out. It sounds like it's just going to be "The Mesolithic Colony", I bet there's even going to be a sabertooth attack.

Very different. I've just seen a recording of the above and some of that Colony thing, and just yuk. The Colony has as much appeal to me as a hybrid of wrestling and Paris Hilton's BFF. I like my stuff grounded.

Although not ideal as a test, I do believe this offers a more tantalizing glimpse of the reality of things than many other shows.

I tend to be much more interested in this survival stuff in relation to how people at different times solved similar sorts of problems. Something that people live, not something they are pretending to be with a modern firesteel, that holds scant similarity to really getting a spark from a rock.

I find the antidote to all these psuedo-militar-gobshite types in folks like John White, master of shrooms, that buddies up with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, and has written extensively about eating from hedgerows and whatnot.

Same kind of theme runs through my adoration of the stuff on this page. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+victorian+farm In much of the stuff those guys are doing I really feel the survival and skills are demonstrated in the form of a living museum.

Whilst the above goes back before the industrial revolution, we are still rather tethered to Baldric and his very own turnip era. But this is before agriculture. I've been to where they film some of the above more than once, and interacted with the folks a few times. And I've never seen a simulation run in such precarious conditions as this. If I could have gone and watched them living this one I would have. The grind must be epic.

I can forgive the show to letting them wear their own shoes. Some may see that badly. I see why, and have some sympathy. I don't think you'd have much of a show if you didn't though. Rather than complaining about the authenticity, control for it, and take the learning – “without shoes they would have been spastic”. Likewise the blanket issue below:

.gif is a poxy format, but it just about serves a purpose here if you can get past the quality.

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1] Man provides intake with skins.
2] Lek chats about having never eaten anything living.
3] Mrs Toad knows stuff but her body fails her day one.
4] Team introduced to artificial puddle as water supply. Strongly hinted at to guard this cos everything wants it.
5] They seem pretty chirpy in their skin filled huts.
6] They have some apples and nuts given to them along with salt. They are supplied with meat and some flint to butcher it.
7] They get a friction fire going. More importantly the tutor is providing an ideal model of strategy. As they separate an ember into a safe half and a working bit, that may go out, the pointy finger goes extends, targeting; “You, you are in charge of that. Do nothing else but blow on that mother coal and keep it alight. Do not deviate!”. Task completes.
8] All seems chirpy but mundane failure is so close.
9] They try to preserve some meat.
10] A woman fondles her meat and it is too wet.
11] They strip it into smaller bits with the flints but it is not drying quickly enough. It already has eggs on it.
12] It's not like they dragged their heels, and they are already getting a maggot infestation.
13] By the following day the maggot thing has come on a storm. All the processed skins and furs they were given at the start are riddled with thousands of maggots.
14] Safety team bloke comes in and starts combing a blade across a fur to scrape the maggots off. He just generates a rice pudding type paste. The thing has barely got going and they are already having to lunge for the emergency blankets.

Yep, I liked this much better than the Colony. Its far less dramatic, but I think it is a conspiracy of the less dramatic events that can drag one under so readily. I'm looking forward to the next one. Prior to turning up they had been given a manual and a DVD to swat. Tutor guy has been really emphasizing how they need to tighten up just as much as they need to know stuff. Soon he'll leave them to it.
 
first all the steel knives, tools, ammo, etc has to have rusted away. What makes you "think" that you'll be among the 1 in 10,000 that survives the "first 20 years" of shtf, with all the diseases, fires and killing, hmm? Especially when you lack modern fighting gear. what makes you "think" that your livestock and edible plants won't be stolen and eaten? What will you do about all the starving dog packs? What makes you " think" that you wont be enslaved or killed, hmm?
 
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What happened here? I was away for a couple years, and now the Great Outdoors forums here seem mostly dead. Did everyone go to Reddit?
 
YO! Wake up W&SS! Anyone I know still alive?
 
Aiiii lads and ladettes
Any of you fine folks from down under?
If so, what's your go to in terms of wood processing? Do you bother with axes or do you straight to the saw?
I grew up on a rural spread in wa and I have to say, much as I love axes I've rarely had a need for them when lighting camp fires and such because our trees shed such voluminous amounts of fire making materials that when I need to break down timber it's generally lengthways rather than thickness.
Any thoughts?
 
I'm in south east queensland, and while I do have an ax, it only gets used on bought firewood. Most stuff here doesn't split very well at all, or can be dealt with just as easy in the fire. Silky pocketboy is as big of a saw as I generally use, since eucalypt burns so well (short lived thought) and often a star fire is just as effective.
 
I'm in NSW in a rural area. At home I use a chainsaw and a log splitter. In the bush I just pick up sticks and throw them on the fire. For fun I use big knives but don't really need to, except for splitting sawmill offcuts for kindling. The axe mainly gets used for hitting animals on the head that got run over on the highway. Never use a handsaw except maybe in pruning in the garden or the occasional carpentry.
 
Got wood? Yes-18 to 20 cords.
Got an axe?
Yes- I have 10!
Guess what I am going to be doing to stay busy... going outside now, splitting wood under
81D77506-A98D-4124-848F-D303158703AA.jpeg 06DB4258-DB7C-4803-A6A4-0478D6CFF164.jpeg a Wolf Moon
 
Is "bushcraft" a dirty word in this subforum? When it gets mentioned in general, some individuals dismiss it as a marketing ploy, and nothing less. To me, bushcraft is a set of skills, not a specific tool, or design features.

I like bushcraft and hope to discuss aspects of it here.
 
Is "bushcraft" a dirty word in this subforum? When it gets mentioned in general, some individuals dismiss it as a marketing ploy, and nothing less. To me, bushcraft is a set of skills, not a specific tool, or design features.

I like bushcraft and hope to discuss aspects of it here.
It's not a dirty word... I think it's been overused to the point that it has become a cliche to many in the community. Kinda like "tactical".
 
my favourite kind of knife is a tactical bushcraft knife. I use it to carve my enemies into spoons and feathersticks.
 
my favourite kind of knife is a tactical bushcraft knife. I use it to carve my enemies into spoons and feathersticks.
Just as long as there is ample jimping, a blood groove to release suction, a bow drill bearing divot in the bead-blasted micarta scales and a ferro rod attached to the sheath, you're good.
 
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