It is my firm belief that everyone who goes out to enjoy the outdoors should make at least one piece of their gear. something that they can take pride in and something that can be of use to them someway. This way your gear is tailored to how you want it and can feel special to you.
Anyone who knows me, be it on YOUTUBE or FACEBOOK, or through just having spent time in the woods with me knows that I have a passion for making my own outdoor gear. I absolutely enjoy it and get obsessive about finishing a particular project once I start it.
I remember reading about the mountain men of the American frontiers and idolizing them. Their hard but rewarding lifestyle and the image they put in our minds of how a true outdoorsman was like and I especially found it impressive that they had to make most of their own kit and clothing. I remember reading stores of a man's rifle stock breaking and they had to carve another one, or how their shoes would wear out so fast that the men had to keep making and repairing multiple pairs of moccasins so they could keep on adventuring
I remember talking with a guide friend of mine about some of the fur trappers I had been reading about and he turned too me and, a little too dramatically, said "you can't ever be a mountain man if you can't sew. Real mountain men sew their own clothes". It made a lot of sense to me but wasn't a skill I had thought much about since home-ec class back in high school. A proper mountain man should be able to hunt, fish, sew, cook, do his own laundry, build a shelter, ect. He must be able to do everything well enough.
I remember even as a kid that if I didn't have it and I wanted it I first looked at if I could make it. I made swords and snowboards and luge boards all growing up. My dad had a box of three-foot long wooden sign stakes and we would paint those to look like swords and off we went having adventures and pretending we knew how to really sword fight. Lots of times we would make things to emulate our favorite movies or tv shows. i can remember making armor out of cardboard or making a paper tri-corn hat with a feather in it. Whenever I would draw my comics as a kid I would draw the comics I wanted to read because i couldn't find ones that had the story lines i wanted.
Naturally as I became an adult and then after a woodsman, i began to look to examples of how the great woodsmen of the past lived and as such, i tried to emulate them. If there's a piece of gear I wanted badly all I had to do was to figure out how to make it, then craft it into existence.
One of my first custom projects is a classic that I often repeat, and one I think you should try for yourselves; carving a wooden spoon. I remember bringing out a hobo tool with me on my very first week as a wilderness therapy guide. The lead guide on that shift let me know that the kids and staff were required to carve themselves a spoon. My first attempt was atrocious, mainly cause I was hungry and just wanted to eat, so I made a humble paddle-shaped spoon and dug it. As my time would go by on trail I would get more creative with my spoon carving both out of the addictive nature of whittling, and out of necessity because wood spoons tend to break more often than you think! But I do believe every woods-runners out there should be whittling spoons. It gives you a sense of accomplishment when you create something from a log that you use often. And it teaches you a good basics of wood carving. I feel like below are some good beginner gear crafts you can do:
-carving a whistle
-carving a slingshot
-making a belt-pouch
Another great DIY piece of kit is the Possibles Bag. A slung bag, usually messenger style that you can keep a small kit of accouterments in. It's a wonderful Intermediate skill level project and I absolutely love my own bag, and use it almost everyday since i made it. I get compliments on in whenever i wear it out and about in public. If you look to most explorers you will see some kind of slung bag on their person for personal effects, this is the possibles bag! I made my current one back in 2015 and its still serving strong today. I highly suggest you make one for yourself. If nothing else its a nice sized day-bag and the more you get into the outdoors, the more you will naturally try and weed out unnecessary gear. This is where the possibles bag shines. You can keep the most essential parts of your kit inside it and always sling it over your body whenever you go. as long as you have you trusty possibles bag you can take on the world. and the nice thing is, by making it to your own liking, you can make it the perfect bag for you. Even if you're style or needs change down the road of life, that bag will always be a great memento of where you were at the time you made it. Some other great intermediate level crafting ideas are:
Naturally as I became an adult and then after a woodsman, i began to look to examples of how the great woodsmen of the past lived and as such, i tried to emulate them. If there's a piece of gear I wanted badly all I had to do was to figure out how to make it, then craft it into existence.
One of my first custom projects is a classic that I often repeat, and one I think you should try for yourselves; carving a wooden spoon. I remember bringing out a hobo tool with me on my very first week as a wilderness therapy guide. The lead guide on that shift let me know that the kids and staff were required to carve themselves a spoon. My first attempt was atrocious, mainly cause I was hungry and just wanted to eat, so I made a humble paddle-shaped spoon and dug it. As my time would go by on trail I would get more creative with my spoon carving both out of the addictive nature of whittling, and out of necessity because wood spoons tend to break more often than you think! But I do believe every woods-runners out there should be whittling spoons. It gives you a sense of accomplishment when you create something from a log that you use often. And it teaches you a good basics of wood carving. I feel like below are some good beginner gear crafts you can do:
-carving a whistle
-carving a slingshot
-making a belt-pouch
Another great DIY piece of kit is the Possibles Bag. A slung bag, usually messenger style that you can keep a small kit of accouterments in. It's a wonderful Intermediate skill level project and I absolutely love my own bag, and use it almost everyday since i made it. I get compliments on in whenever i wear it out and about in public. If you look to most explorers you will see some kind of slung bag on their person for personal effects, this is the possibles bag! I made my current one back in 2015 and its still serving strong today. I highly suggest you make one for yourself. If nothing else its a nice sized day-bag and the more you get into the outdoors, the more you will naturally try and weed out unnecessary gear. This is where the possibles bag shines. You can keep the most essential parts of your kit inside it and always sling it over your body whenever you go. as long as you have you trusty possibles bag you can take on the world. and the nice thing is, by making it to your own liking, you can make it the perfect bag for you. Even if you're style or needs change down the road of life, that bag will always be a great memento of where you were at the time you made it. Some other great intermediate level crafting ideas are:
-making sandals or moccasins
-making a knife sheath
-making a wood pack frame
Once you've made your spoon, and later on your possibles bag, you will come to point where you need a really good challenge. You need to make a piece of kit that's, simply put, more important to your comfort out in the woods. Below I will list a few options for the advanced woodsman. These Items are ones i feel both myself and others woods-runners make whenever you reach a certain level. I cant say exactly when or what that level is, but It seems to be after so many years of practicing woodcraft I see people make these items as a good challenge to themselves.
-making a knife sheath
-making a wood pack frame
Once you've made your spoon, and later on your possibles bag, you will come to point where you need a really good challenge. You need to make a piece of kit that's, simply put, more important to your comfort out in the woods. Below I will list a few options for the advanced woodsman. These Items are ones i feel both myself and others woods-runners make whenever you reach a certain level. I cant say exactly when or what that level is, but It seems to be after so many years of practicing woodcraft I see people make these items as a good challenge to themselves.
-making a jacket/coat/anorak
-carving an axe handle
-carving a kuksa/nogin
I encourage everyone who reads this post to go forth and craft a piece of kit you can be proud. Go make a piece of gear that you can take with you on your next adventure and know that you can trust in it cause it's exactly what you wanted it to be. Just take your time and fall in love with the process of crafting these pieces of gear. Be patient and focus on what you want it to be. Seek out help whenever you get stuck, and know that once it's finished, this is going to become one of your favorite pieces of outdoor gear you own. And maybe it'll make you feel closer to the frontiersmen and explorers of the past who had to craft their own pieces of gear as well.
-carving an axe handle
-carving a kuksa/nogin
I encourage everyone who reads this post to go forth and craft a piece of kit you can be proud. Go make a piece of gear that you can take with you on your next adventure and know that you can trust in it cause it's exactly what you wanted it to be. Just take your time and fall in love with the process of crafting these pieces of gear. Be patient and focus on what you want it to be. Seek out help whenever you get stuck, and know that once it's finished, this is going to become one of your favorite pieces of outdoor gear you own. And maybe it'll make you feel closer to the frontiersmen and explorers of the past who had to craft their own pieces of gear as well.
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