2021-029 | CREATIVITY

WISDOM TRAILS: The dexterity of the hands and the mind produces creations beyond the ordinary order of things.

 

First seen in Facebook

July 10, 2018

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CREATIVITY AND THE WILLINGNESS to improvise tools and things from nature are part of the territory of bushcraft. These are exercises of both hands and the mind which prepares an individual for unforeseen events like survival. During survival, the environment is subject to man’s needs and the demands of his security. 

Bushcraft is labor-intensive. The individual does not rest until he arrives at a point where his well-being enjoy a sense of comfort and security. He sits first and let himself settle down and then he thinks. His thoughts would propel him to identify his priorities and proceeds with the diagrams of his inspirations.

 

In survival, there are hierarchy of needs but, in bushcraft, it could change according the whims of the individual and of the priorities at hand. For example, hunger and weather could crowd out one’s initial plans. At a drop of a hat, priorities change quickly in bushcraft and it is where Blend, Adapt and Improvise comes in. 

The crafting of tools are essential in bushcraft. With a blade, tools can be made. It is a skill that is learned by the individual on his own or from outside influence. Actually, two skills are applied each time: the skill with the blade and the skill with the craft. Each material has its own specialty, its own inherent design and its level of work.  

Whether it be bushcraft or survival, tool-making is inevitable for everyone. Tools would depend on where it would be used. When foraging for food under the ground or just punching holes for your shelter posts or your latrine, you need a foraging/digging stick. It is a very basic and proletarian tool, which design never changed.

 

For dining and cooking, tools can be produced from what is available; but the most preferred is the bamboo, which is abundant in the tropics. Spoons, ladles, jugs, plates and slicer can be carved from a short bamboo pole. An impromptu cooking vessel made from bamboo saves your day where you could cook anything save frying. 

Likewise, you could make traps and snares from a combination of wood and bamboo and, maybe, with proper utilization of terrain. Wood or bamboo are your best chances of creating fire from friction. On the same manner, you could produce sparks if you scratch forcefully flint, quartzite, pyrite or chert on the spine of your blade. 

A cord is also a tool. It saves you of carrying all those things on both hands. Bind it all with a certain bark, a fiber, a vine or twined leaves and it will leave your hands free to do other tasks. Weapons made from nature are also tools. These are important in your hunt for food. It could be spear, bow and arrows or even a throwing stick.

 

Early man invented his tools which made living for him and his clan tolerable. For example, the blade. It is a simple machine that has processed their food and saves their teeth and fingernails from abuse. And this tool simply metamorphosed from stone into what it is today. The good thing is it helped to create other tools. 

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WARRIOR PILGRIMAGE BLOG, personified by this writer, is synonymous with the Outdoors, since Bushcraft and Survival is its niche. Safety and Security are its bedrock when it ventured into organizing outdoor events that involved people as in adventure/pilgrimage guideships and seminars; and explorations and expeditions.

 

Through tutorship, experience, folk knowledge and good old common sense, this writer was able to collect useful information which he is currently documenting in a book titled, ETHICAL BUSHCRAFT. He shares some of this information and knowledge in his training sessions; in his social-media account; and in this blog.