a little bit of cordage

In an effort to tie together the preceding weeks sessions on shelter building, wild food cooking and fire lighting I though we should have a go at making and developing some cordage or rope as its better known!

Like wild food and fire lighting there are plenty of materials in the wild which we can make use of for a range of tasks and tools, that’s how our ancestors managed! True story, I once heard in a meeting someone say  ‘hey we can run ancient bushcraft courses’  is there any other type of bushcraft?

Here on Winnall Moors we can make use of a number of materials for cordage. Willow bark is one example although this does need some preparation and processing including boiling and in our small time window it is better to achieve something and have the finished article in one session if possible.

With that in mind it was thought best to have a go with two different materials of which there are plenty- brambles and hard rush, I know hard rush is not the best rush for this but it does work with a little preparation  eg a little bashing!

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When using the bramble or blackberry branches use this years growth which should still be green, remove the thorns by holding the branch under your boot and pulling this should scrape them off. Once cleaned  hammer gently along the length of the branch and you should start to see the fibres coming apart, this needs to be gently done as to not damage beyond repair. You can pull out the fibres and plait, alternatively if you take each end of the fibre and roll between forefinger and thumb in opposite directions the fibres should intertwine. As the fibre comes to an end add in another fibre and continue twisting.

This method is really good for Rush fibres too with a very similar preparation but a little more gentle with the rush.

The thoughts of an attendee
The last few months have flown by; I’ve finally experienced some first hand bushcraft which was thoroughly enjoyable,…learnt some great skills in the woods, From shelter building and  skinning and butchering rabbits, to making safe fires to cook a cake on from hollowed out oranges and cake mix. Its all information and practical knowledge with which to build on .

Essentially what I got from these last few weeks is a rejuvenated zeal for the world around me. It was lovely to again be at one with nature, and to know elements of bushcraft . Not being one to be the best at everything I was happy that others excelled in areas, as my true satisfaction was that others got enjoyment out of this as much as myself. It’s wonderful to get this additional experience and can now see why people devote so much time to these outside pursuits.

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‘Get the burn…’

Break out the fire steels!

This week we were looking at the process, well one of many actually of lighting fires with natural materials and fire steels. Fire steels are great for approximately a tenner you get about 12000 strikes from a steel that much cheaper than matches, lighters etc. They work in the wet and should always be kept together. There are many materials in the wild that providing they are kept dry are really useful to the wildcamper to get that fire lit, more on those later!

The plan for the day was illustrate a few kindling materials and one fail safe fire lighting method and to make some artists charcoal in of all things a small syrup tin.

The method I have been shown for lighting fires as I have said is one of many and anyone who watches Bear or Ray will have seen many different ones. However, when you have finished you should always leave the site the way you found it. So we started be removing the sods of earth and creating a space large enough not to scorch the grass.

Now starts the part which mystifies most people, I learnt this as part of my Forest School training and mostly it never fails, mostly! We build a pyramid fire with the largest sticks/logs at the bottom with each layer at 90 degrees to the layer below and each layer the sticks should get narrower and shorter, hence the pyramid shape. The final few layers should be really dry small fine twigs  and topped off with plenty of dry and I mean bone dry kindling, this can be many different materials. Now for most people the idea of having the fire on top of the fire is strange as normally you light the fire at the bottom and the flames lick up and set fire above. Now if the twigs and sticks are damp or ‘green’ then this is difficult. With lighting the fire on the top, if it fails first time you do not need to rebuild the fire also if the lower wood is wet/damp the heat of the ember as they drop will dry it out, belive me it works.

For the kindling we looked at many different materials. A great one is wild clematis or travellers joy or old mans beard. it has fluffy seed pods which take a spark really well, also working well is sliver birch bark which can be peeled from the tree without suffering any adverse effects to the tree or stripped from fallen trees. Cotton wool is also good very similar to clematis seed pods. on the day we also used King Alfreds Cakes a  black fungus ball which grows predominantly on Ash trees, when dried takes a sparks and glows like charcoal, very hot, to which is added further kindling with a gentle blow will catch a flame. Finally on the day we used char cloth, this is part burnt tea towel, is ideal, a cotton cloth burnt without much oxygen so it doesn’t completely burn. Again when a spark is added it glows very hot and can be added to very dry tinder/kindling.

The group all managed to get a really good fire working and burning well despite protestations that it wouldn’t light as the flames needed to be underneath, oh ye of little faith!

once we had good fire we cut small sticks of willow packed them in to a syrup tin with holes in the lid. This was placed on the fire until the steam had been driven off, little jets of fire could be seen from the holes which then turned to smoke. the wood inside has been dried the wood gases driven off and burnt, then it is time to remove from the fire and prevent air getting into the tin. this doesn’t burn the wood in fact it is distilling it driving off the moisture, we have charcoal!

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Rabbit, Rabbit………

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Following on from the Shelter building day last week, this week Jamie returned with rabbits! what a turn out our greatest ever attendance to a drop in session 15 people in total, as usual it is food that brings people together.

The plan for the day was to bring in so rabbits previously shot and talk and demonstrate removing the offal, skinning, jointing and then cooking the rabbit using some hedgerow greenery to accompany the protein.

Jamie showed with great skills the removal of the offal, showing everyone how then prepare the different parts and what and how it should be cooked. The simplicity of skinning, which is quite a simple method, the easiest I have ever seen a rabbit skinned it has to be said. Finally then with ease the jointing of the rabbit, which when making use of naturals joint within the skeleton, a sharp knife is very simple and leads to very little waste. It was then the turn of the attendees in small groups to get their hands dirty and follow his lead. Everyone really knuckled down and joined in, a great sight. lots of conversation and chatting about techniques, lots of really good questions for Jamie.

Once the animals were jointed it was time for a quick scout around for the woodland accompaniment to the meat. Jamie told us that were many different herbs with many different benefits which grow in our countryside but with the usual caveats- dont take anything below waist height ‘why?’ came the question ‘DOGS!’ came back the reply and never take a mushroom unless you truly know what you are doing!

So we plumped for some blackberry leaves and wild marjoram of which there was a little coming toward the end of its season. The blackberry leaves are good for cleaning your blood Jamie informed us, who knew?!

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Rolling in to October

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Having been requested for a some Bushcraft session including wild food cooking, that to come, we bought in Jamie Corry of Twistedfirestarter. Who with many years experience is an excellent tutor and thoroughly all round knowledgable guy. When I say ‘requested’ to maintain the wildlife theme of this blog I was badgered!

The first session Jamie delivered was on shelter building using both natural and man made materials. Initially we looked at building the structure for a single person shelter which would then be covered with leaves to gain insulation. This is a ‘simple’ A frame and then building up the side with twigs then topping with leaves. We don’t posses a great number of leaves on site, this is best done somewhere like a Beech wood where there is a deep leaf litter. To get a good insulating layer the leaves need to be up to a metre deep on the side!! ‘what a fantastic time I have always wondered how these shelters are made, it will be fun to go and try this on my own…it beats a tent if you are wild camping’

Following this we made our way to the reserve and found a small stand of willows where we could be shown how to hang a tarp using knots with names like the ‘Avenk knot’ and ‘Taut Tarp Hitch’. The great thing about these knots, which I need to practice, are they can be undone using a  single hand with one pull of the end of the rope.

‘Now I know how to put up a tarp really quickly what a great skill to have, really looking forward to cooking session’.

There are truly many ways to erect or hang a tarp and they can be folded into many shapes too. We were starting with the traditional as I like to think of the washing line tarp, with the central long line over which you hang the tarp in two halves. Then taking each corner you stretch out to trees or poles and fix to the floor. this also included the illustration of the figure of 4 knot which acts like a guy rope tensioner. That’s 3 knots now needing to be practised I hope the guys are learning as we will need these skills later in the year!

We divided ourselves up and went to work having followed Jamie’s instructions we all managed to get our shelters up and nice and taut so come the rain we would be fine. Then came the hilarious moment as we have all seen on the television out came the hammock!

There were a few spills but no names… that wouldn’t be fair!

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