5 Bushcraft Essentials to Start YOUR BUSHCRAFT Journey | For £100!!
Join me in discussing the MOST essential items needed to begin YOUR bushcraft journey, all for £100!!
Here are the items I’ve discussed:
1) Axe – https://geni.us/9g030S5 (have never used this one but this is an example one you could buy relatively cheaply if you were on a budget)
2) Knive – https://geni.us/Zi1lWDy
3) Folding Saw – https://geni.us/tIIusy
4) Crusador Mug & Lid – https://geni.us/w6h8 https://geni.us/DrZJA
5) Helikon Poncho and Tarp – https://geni.us/33IWd https://geni.us/lAAi
6) Bonus KNOWLEDGE!
The other videos you should watch that I’ve spoken about in this video:
Axe Care and Maintenance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZJsYSrRO0U
Mora Knives video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZz3vZ9xT0w
Crusador Mug Cooking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEEqsQgvwss
My uncle had a kukuri, it had a knif and could be use for chopping. He got it in india while serving in raf ww2.
Good bit of kit i remember.
I have a bacho folding say come with sheath and 3 blades for different things.
I use a usa tarp, and dutch bivvy sack a nd 2 german flectarn ponchos.
All good items nick
Another cracking video – cheers Nick
Good one.
Bushcraft, from Mors Kochanski is worth reading. I try always to bring some bandaid with me. Nice Video.
Good books , Lars Fält ( Outdoors the Scandinavian Way – Summer Edition and Winter Edition)
He is a Swedish survival instructor .
Top advice Nick. Sensible comments about cost, I recently bought a pair of surplus boots. Less than 40 quid, waterproof and will outlast any thing for the same price from the usual outlets.
This is the Best Bushcraft video advice I watched yet!!! Well done sir !
7:48 Had a chuckle when the tarp bag took off on its own. What a great no-nonsense video.
One book I re-read often, and take with me when I step out away from the paved pathways, is an old 1970’s Boy Scout handbook. Is has an amazing amount of General knowledge. I rarely come across anything that it doesn’t have something to say, even if it is not totally complete. That’s what libraries are for.
Loved this video as someone who has just starting taking more of an appreciation of the beautiful woodland around where I live and seeing my kids enjoy it as well. Was just in Lidl after watching this and got myself a folding saw for £4!!
Tom Cimbrer has the nicest little axe – he uses it for spoon carving. Its TINY but deadly sharp.
👍
Just found your channel and it’s great thanks for all the advice and knowledge
Anyone wants a good bushcraft knife without having to break the bank, look at the BPS knives. I’ve got the adventurer and it compares to the big boys yet is under $40 in most places. As for knowledge, i like looking up the American pioneers, settlers and cowboys and how they lived. You get the benefit of all their tested in the field knowledge on how to do things and survive with the tools of our modern age.
I would suggest any of Tom Brown’s books. He was trained by Apache Elder in the 1950-60’s as a small boy. This man brings a different perspective to bushcrafting.
Camping and Woodcraft vol.1&2 by Horace Kephart.
An excellent book – ‘Outdoor Survival Skills’ by Larry Dean Olsen; I’ve had my copy for over 40 years.
Absolutely love watching. The mora knives seem to be out of stock everywhere any recommendations for another of similar quality? cheers
Nick…it’s basically a kids’ book. But you’ll LOVE it! It’s called ‘My Side Of The Mountain’ by Jean George. It’s about this young boy called Sam Gribley who runs away from home to go a d find his great-grandfather’s farm, the only remaining trace of which is an old dry stone wall. He makes himself a home in a huge old beech tree. Amazing book. I think you’d also enjoy Charmian Hussey’s lovely book ‘The Valley of Secrets’. Also a teen read but I was already in my 60s when I read it for the first time and was ENCHANTED by it.
Of course it’s never about the gear as much as one’s mastery of the gear. The one I want my wife to see is the bushcraft mallet; the one made from a small log. I have shown her and she is still skeptical.
A maz ing.
The metal camping mug is a must.
I think mine is a Dutch? version of the British Crusader design that is a fraction of the price. But having a nesting water bottle that slides into a metal camping mug, and all fits neatly into a pouch, is golden. That means more than half a litre of water and a cooking tool, all nicely nested together in a pouch. Stick a couple of instant noodles and some coffee sachets in your pockets and that will carry you over a weekend.
It recently dawned on me that if you have a Crusader Cup (or some equivalent), that means you dont have to bring mess tins and a whole lot of other cooking crap. If you want to camp for recreation then that is great and I absolutely respect it. But if you just want to carry a few calories and the ability to boil brews and sterilise water, then all you need is a water bottle and a steel mug. I have already cooked a few meals in that damn mug and since its steel, you can scrub off all the carbon when you get home <3
My outdoor bible for my area is called "foraging New England" by Tom Seymour. He provides both flora and fauna for each region: coastal, forest, mixed, etc. And, its not overwhelming. He simply chooses some easy to recognize plants in each zone, and easy ways to prepare them. I take it with me all the time.
Kiwi here, your videos are brilliant mate!
✨🦋🦋🦋✨
your channel is such a massive source of knowledge. Thanks!
Source your saw from an industry that caters to the tree growing industry – fruit, citrus, timber, suchlike. Those foldable pruning saws will be very good quality because if they aren’t the tree growers will hunt the manufacturers down and kill ’em! I live smack bang in the middle of a major South African Citrus Area… R180 for a good quality pruning saw…
One thing I’d add to that list is a method of fire lighting, preferably a fire steel in my case.
Regarding books and knowledge. Can I recommend one that isn’t bushcraft, but that has made me look at Trees in a completely different light.
(Just realised it’s in my rucksack in the boot of my car….)
‘The hidden life of trees’ byyy Peter Wohlleben .
If you love bushcraft, you love the outdoors and you have a thirst for knowledge, read this book.
Books I find have been helpful are Tristan Gooley, the natural navigator and the walkers guide to outdoor clues and signs. But all his books are a good read and source of knowledge worth knowing for getting out into the wild.
A lot of people new to it become "kit wankers" buy the expensive gear that "influencers" use and think it equals being a pro and getting likes 😂 most expensive gear I have is my DD hammock
In Denmark the bacho has been out of stock for some time. They just restocked them but at a little more than 34 £. At that cost i dont consider it a true budget saw. Its only a few pounds cheaper than an silky. Do you have another sugestion, If you need to bye in bulk for teaching? Thanks much for the nice content i do enjoy it very much.
Great info, thanks.
Wanna start learning Bushcraft?
Instead of buying X, Y and Z gear..
1) find a good ID guide on trees in your country or local area.
2) take a walk and identify all the trees you can see.
3) return home and search on google/YouTube all the uses of those trees.
4) put your new found knowledge to use by collecting materials and utilising or making stuff with them.
5) once you’ve learnt about trees and are proficient – move on to plants and then mushrooms.
That ought to keep you busy for about 5 or 10 years.
Bushcraft is NOT about buying kit! 😉
So true about army surplus. Since finding a good one here in Glasgow I’ve been loving the deals. Bar having the soul fall off a pair of NATO desert army boots everything has been bombproof. A book I love is that big black white and red SAS survival handbook. You know the one I mean. Covers everything from nuclear war to naval search & rescue. Thanks for the tweet about the Laplander saw Nick. For one coming.
I use a wee saw that I bought in( bright yellow) LIDL for a few quid. It’s neat and folds away great I bought a couple just in case. It has however, done the job for me on many occassions and I even use it in the garden. So again heading out with reasonable tools can be cheap and effective.
Great advice as always Nick!
I had a copy of Lofty’s sas manual in the 80’s as a young army cadet. I always carry a pocket guide of “food for free”. Great as a reference (especially if you have memory issues) and ideal for entertaining companions or the kids with wonderful joys of wild edibles!! 😉
Definitely ex millitary kit. Not only is it designed and tested by the manufacturer, it is then field tested by the troops before it is ordered in bulk. It is all designed to do it’s job well for many years.
Point 6 is so important. Our stone age hunter-gatherer ancestors didn’t have saws or tarps or steel cooking pots, but with points 1, 2 and 6 they were able to survive and thrive.
Totally agree. Knowledge is the most important tool. Followed by trained skills.
Cool video, thanks for sharing!
TWO GREAT BOOKS!!! MORS KOCHANSKIS BUSH CRAFT OUTDOOR SKILLS AND WILDERNESS SURVIVAL AND JOHN WISEMANS THE SAS SURVIVAL HANDBOOK, THAT NOW COMES IN A SMALLER TRAVEL SIZE…
Working through your videos. Yes you have moved on. But seriously best content in this area by far. Knocking Corporals corner out of the park.good success in your new endeavour.
Keep the heavy axe. Use your knife to process the wood and keep something to start fire with. An axe to process wood but no way to start a fire is kinda pointless MR KNOWLEDGE 😂
Knife/axe/saw: great interchangeable items (the saw adds a different dimension but they otherwise occupy the two is one and one is none philosophy). I agree with all your choices (wonder how many people realise the versatility of a poncho?).
As to books:
1) Camping and Woodcraft by Horace Kephart (I managed to pick up a facsimile two in one edition from a 2nd hand book shop many years ago – go looking people, many amazing and useful things to find sometimes).
2) Foraging Pocket Guide by Marlow Fenton and Eric Biggane (picked up from a local surplus store – clear photos and good, concise information).
Just come across this video and now a subscriber! Wanting to get into bush craf properly , dabbled here and there making lean tos and building fires. But as a keen hiker wild camper always wanted to do bush craft camping and your channel is definitely the one for me. 👌🏻
Cheers Nick, good, sensible choices. Richard Grave’s Australian Bushcraft is a good read; not many Australian specific bushcraft books around and he wrote it after WWII from his experiences running a jungle rescue squad. I think he may also have run a bushcraft school for some years after the war.
Another good vlog. Especially that ‘added extra’.
Sometimes we take it for granted. Especially when from a military background.
The question is where can I actually practice bushcraft, it’s all a little vague. I love bushcraft and I practice mostly in my garden but I would love to get out there and do it for real. Any advice for those of us up in the north downs?
Just getting into the idea of bushcraft with my brother. I have had a really difficult year so far, with a breakdown of a long term relationship, a suicide attempt and not being able to see my daughter. I really want to get out in nature and I am finding your videos really informative! Keep up the excellent work, mate.
Where did you get your bag from? An chance of making a video on it?