Two Bushcraft Books From The 1970s, And No Mention of Knives!

T

The Real Hawkeye

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When I was a teenager, back in the 1970s, I was really interested in this Bushcraft stuff. Bought two books on the subject back then. Recently became interested again, and dug those two books up to look them through again (I was amazed I still had them). Not one of them even mentions knife selection, or anything about knives. One of them discusses making knives out of stone, but that's it. Odd, isn't it?

PS The books are Bushcraft, A Serious Guide To Survival and Camping, by Richard Graves, and Outdoor Survival Skills, by Larry Dean Olsen.
 
The Real Hawkeye said:
When I was a teenager, back in the 1970s, I was really interested in this Bushcraft stuff. Bought two books on the subject back then. Recently became interested again, and dug those two books up to look them through again (I was amazed I still had them). Not one of them even mentions knife selection, or anything about knives. One of them discusses making knives out of stone, but that's it. Odd, isn't it?

PS The books are Bushcraft, A Serious Guide To Survival and Camping, by Richard Graves, and Outdoor Survival Skills, by Larry Dean Olsen.
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People have gotten real soft since those times and have to use a knife:o;)
 
I wasn't alive back in the 70's but I imagine that they just used their teeth for most cutting and carving chores.
 
CDRules said:
I wasn't alive back in the 70's but I imagine that they just used their teeth for most cutting and carving chores.
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Man that stings....I hate being the old guy..:D
 
CDRules said:
I wasn't alive back in the 70's but I imagine that they just used their teeth for most cutting and carving chores.
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HEY...I resemble that remark:D I was late and missed 1969 by two hours and see what happened!!! Interesting about not mentioning a knife, I'm sure glad bushcrafting has evolved since then:D

ROCK6
 
The Real Hawkeye said:
Not one of them even mentions knife selection, or anything about knives. One of them discusses making knives out of stone, but that's it. Odd, isn't it?
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Not really that odd, they were published before "First Blood" the movie came out.

The craze hadn't hit yet. :D

Larry Dean Olsen's book is still one of the better books.
 
If the book is full of good information , what the heck. I was born in 1950 and have been very few places without a knife or twosince I was 8. I picked up a book on home security and defense and the author actually did not recomend a firearm , go figure.
 
The Real Hawkeye said:
When I was a teenager, back in the 1970s, I was really interested in this Bushcraft stuff. Bought two books on the subject back then. Recently became interested again, and dug those two books up to look them through again (I was amazed I still had them). Not one of them even mentions knife selection, or anything about knives. One of them discusses making knives out of stone, but that's it. Odd, isn't it?

PS The books are Bushcraft, A Serious Guide To Survival and Camping, by Richard Graves, and Outdoor Survival Skills, by Larry Dean Olsen.
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Its not odd at all. What if you happen to be in a situation and your knife is not on ya?? Or what if it falls down a cliff or in a river and you cant find it.
You need to brush up on making cutting edges out of stones and bones.
Which I'm sure is prolly the last thing we practice... well I have not even done it once. Busy with bow drills and traps ya know. But we cant be all mentally buff thinking we know our shit and then die of starvation because we left our knife at home.
 
I would be surprised if the books mentioned no cutting at all. However, I would not be surprised to find that knives are not specified. Truth is that cutting chores in just about any application are not particularly strenuous on a knife, and any knife could do a reasonable job.

Let's face it. "Bushcrafters" are likely to be knife nuts, enthusiastic about the practice partly as an excuse to use the gear involved. Almost nobody needs to bushcraft in the modern world. And depending on where you are, that modern world goes back a couple millennia, at least. Bushcrafting has largely been popularized by the media, and with that, new markets have opened up catering specifically to the practice. Back in the day, you simply needed a knife. Nowadays, nuts like us are not comfortable unless carrying a very specialized knife of specific steel, heat treat and grind, and above all, one "that you can trust your life to". We're all wanting to release our inner Rambo to some extent. A book telling us to "make a featherstick" doesn't cut it these days unless it's attached to specific gear.
 
I always figured they'd train beaver to cut notches for them. It could've been in one of the later editions.
 
i think that back then most people still had common sense about knives and there wasn't a huge amount of cheap knives in gas stations that people could choose from. i get the impression that back then it was quality or none at all.

i think i might have read the one by larry dean olsen...not positive but i think the title sounds right and and it was from the 70s. there were several shots of knifework, mostly with folding knives that looked like stockmen from what i could tell. i think it was basically assumed that if you were reading that book that you already knew you needed a knife.

but, i wasn't alive back then so this is all speculation on my part.
 
siguy said:
i think it was basically assumed that if you were reading that book that you already knew you needed a knife.

but, i wasn't alive back then so this is all speculation on my part.
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Quite good speculation siguy!!!:thumbup: Common sense still prevailed back then (at least more than these days)...if you were doing "bushcraft" why would you not have a knife? Now days, we have books to tell us how to $hit in the woods...and I even saw a book telling us how to have sex when camping...have we drifted that far? :D

ROCK6
 
ROCK6 said:
Quite good speculation siguy!!!:thumbup: Common sense still prevailed back then (at least more than these days)...if you were doing "bushcraft" why would you not have a knife? Now days, we have books to tell us how to $hit in the woods...and I even saw a book telling us how to have sex when camping...have we drifted that far? :D

ROCK6
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I dont understand... why cant it be that they assume you will not have a manufactured ( modern) knife with you in a given survival situation? And they talk about making knives out of stone. I dont think it has anything to do with knife popularity or knife "culture", for lack of a better word.
I think the book may be written with the assumption that you will not have your knife with you when you happen to encounter a survival situation.
IMHO.
 
You may be correct grateful_fred, but I don't think knives were considered weapons vice tools as much as they are today rather than in the 1970's, hence less attention on thier use (actually used and recognized as tools)...I remember when a small folding blade was okay for an airplane. Maybe we're more knifoholics today than they were back then...I do admit that although the knife is a revolutionary tool for mankind, we do often put more stock into technology rather than skill.

ROCK6
 
Could be, but I think its hard for any of us to imagine not having a knife or three on us at all times, at 7-11 or especially in the bush.
 
SIG GUY - "i think i might have read the one by larry dean olsen...not positive but i think the title sounds right and and it was from the 70s. there were several shots of knifework, mostly with folding knives that looked like stockmen from what i could tell."
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Yep, in my copy of OUTDOOR SURVIVAL SKILLS, by Larry Dean Olsen, there is a picture of him using a Stockman folding knife to strike sparks from a piece of flint.

O.S.Ss. is about "primitive" survival, therefore he talks about flint knives and flint axes.

FWIW.

L.W.
 
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ROCK6 said:
You may be correct grateful_fred, but I don't think knives were considered weapons vice tools as much as they are today rather than in the 1970's, hence less attention on thier use (actually used and recognized as tools)...I remember when a small folding blade was okay for an airplane.
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I agree with the idea that the knives weren't mentioned because they didn't need to be mentioned....everyone knew how to use one. I was a teenager in the 70s and it was normal to carry a pocketknife to school. If anything, people thought there was something wrong with you if you didn't have a knife. I can also remember going deer hunting on Fri morning (opening day) before school and then coming to school and leaving the firearm in the car all day....no one thought a thing about it, everyone (including teachers/admin) knew they were there. I'm not trying to be political, just showing that times have changed a lot.
 
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