My Finished Bottle Gourd Water Bottle.

Leaving no Tracks By Robert Griffing.

Leaving no Tracks By Robert Griffing.

https://lordnelsons.com/gallery/frontier/griffing/107LeavingNoTracks.htm

Two good 18th Century Forums worth Joining.

The Woodsrunner Forum: http://neclhg.freeforums.net/

The Minuteman Forum: http://minuteman.boards.net/

Tools of the Trade.

My tools of the trade.

Trail Foods. William Byrd.

Trail Foods. Byrd. The Secret History.

William Byrd II (March 28, 1674 – August 26, 1744) 

“The Portable Provisions I would furnish our Foresters withal are Glue-Broth and rockahomini : one contains the Essence of Bread, the other of Meat.

The best way of making Glue-Broth is after the following method: Take a Leg of Beef, Veal, Venison, or any other Young Meat, because Old Meat will not so easily Jelly. Pare off all the fat, in which there is no Nutriment, and of the Lean make a very strong Broth, after the usual Manner, by boiling the meat to Rags till all the Goodness be out. After Skimming off what fat remains, pour the Broth into a wide Stew-Pan, well tinn'd, & let it simmer over a gentle, even Fire, till it come to a thick

Jelly. Then take it off and set it over Boiling Water, which is an Evener Heat, and not so apt to bum the Broth to the Vessel. Over that let it evaporate, stirring it very often till it be reduc'd, when cold, into a Solid Substance like Glue. Then cut it into small Pieces, laying them Single in the Cold, that they may dry the Sooner. When the Pieces are perfectly dry, put them into a Cannister, and they will be good, if kept Dry, a whole East India Voyage.

This Glue is so Strong, that two or three Drams, dissolv'd in boiling Water with a little Salt, will make half a pint of good Broth, & if you shou'd be faint with fasting or Fatigue, let a small piece of this Glue melt in your Mouth, and you will find yourself surprisingly refreshed. One Pound of this cookery wou'd keep a man in good heart above a Month, and is not only Nourishing, but likewise very wholesome. Particularly

it is good against Fluxes, which Woodsmen are very liable to,

by lying too near the moist ground, and guzzling too much cold Water. But as it will be only us'd now and then, in times of Scarcity, when Game is wanting, two Pounds of it will be enough for a Journey of Six Months. But this Broth will be still more heartening if you thicken every mess with half a Spoonful of Rockahominy, which is nothing but Indian Corn

parched without burning, and reduced to Powder. The Fire drives out all the Watery Parts of the Corn, leaving the Strength of it behind, and this being very dry, becomes much lighter for carriage and less liable to be Spoilt by the Moist Air.

Thus half a Dozen Pounds of this Sprightful Bread will sustain a Man for as many Months, provided he husband it well, and always Spare it when he meets with Venison, which, as I said before, may be very Safely eaten without any Bread at all.

By what I have said, a Man needs not encumber himself with more than 8 or 10 Pounds of Provisions, tho' he continue half a year in the Woods. These and his Gun will support him very well during that time, without the least danger of keeping one Single Fast. And tho' some of his days may be what the French call Jours maigres, yet there will happen no more of those than will be necessary for his health, and to carry off the Excesses

of the Days of Plenty, when our Travellers will be apt to indulge their Lawless Appetites too much”.

“After these necessary Matters were settled, I ordered 1000 lb

of Brown Biscuit, & 200 lb of white to be provided, & 6 Baggage Horses to carry it, at the rate of 3 Baggs containing 200 lb. each Horse. As for meat I intended to carry none, but to depend intirely upon Providence for it. But because the Game was not like to be plentifull till we got above the Inhabitants, I directed all the men to find themselves with 10 day's Provision. I augumented my Number of Men to 17, which together with 3 which Firebrand undertook to get made up the Complement of 20. For these I provided Ammunition after the Rate of 2lbs of Powder a Man, with Shot in proportion”.

Byrd. The Secret History.

“We, on the part of Virginia, that we might be sure to be punctual, arriv'd at Mr. Kinchin's, the place appointed, on the 19th, after a Journey of three days, in which nothing Remarkable happen'd.

We found three of the Carolina-Commissioners had taken Possession of the House, having come thither by water from Edenton, By the Great Quantity of Provisions these Gentlemen brought, and the few men they had to eat them, we were afraid they intended to carry the Line to the South sea.

They had 500 lbs of bcaon and dry'd Beef, and 500 lbs of Bisket, and not above three or four men. The misfortime was, they forgot to provide Horses to carry their good things, or else trusted to the Incertainty of hireing them here, which, considering the Place, was leaving too much to that Jilt, Hazard.

On our part we had taken better Care, being completely furnisht with everything necessary for transporting our Baggage and Provisions. Indeed we brought no other Provisions out with us but 1000 lbs of Bread and had Faith enough to depend on Providence for our Meat, being desirous

to husband the publick Money as much as possible. We had no less than 20 men, besides the Chaplain, the Surveyors and

all the Servants, to be Subsisted upon this Bread. However, that it might hold out the better, our men had been Order'd to provide themselves at Home with Provision for Ten days, in which time we judg'd we should get beyond the Inhabitants, where Forest-Game of all sorts was like to be plenty at that time of the Year”.

“One of our Men Spy'd three Buffaloes, but his Piece being loaded only with Goose-shot, he was able to make no effectual Impression on their thick hides; however, this Disappointment was made up by a Brace of Bucks, and as many Wild Turkeys, kill'd by the rest of the company. Thus Providence was very Bountiful to our Endeavours, never disappointing those that Faithfully rely upon it, and pray heartily for their Daily Bread”.

Byrd. History of the Dividing Line.

Steel Traps & a Brief History of their use. PDF Link.

http://images.library.wisc.edu/WI/EFacs/transactions/WT1951/reference/wi.wt1951.awschorger.pdf

https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/572379433882654198/

My thanks to MedicineMaker for this link.
Keith.

What You Need To Know About Eating Bracken Fiddle heads!!!

As woodsmen & woods women we spend a good deal of time in the woods whenever we can, one of the things many of us do is seek out wild edible foods to supplement foods that we are carrying. Bracken fiddle heads are widely known to be an edible food, BUT, they can also be dangerous to eat! These fiddle heads are carcinogenic, they are less so if cooked/boiled, but never totally safe! My advice is to not eat them at all unless it was an emergency & there was no other sources of food available. Personally I can't see this happening, we nearly always have the option of eating fresh game. You can survive up to roughly three weeks without food depending on your health, your exertion levels & you must have a good drinking water supply.

Read More Here: https://honest-food.net/bracken-fern-edible/

Debarking Dead Trees, Shelter Roofing, Cordage Material & Bush Tucker B...

Debarked standing tree using a steel hatchet. This could have been done by a Woodsman or an Aboriginal.

At least two sheets of bark were removed from this standing tree using a stone axe, probably done by an Aboriginal.

Living history re-enactors at Maine Wildlife Park.

Maine Wildlife Park volunteer Miriam Bisbee throws the hatchet with Dave Bryant of Maine living history group The Ancient Ones.

http://www.sunjournal.com/living-history-re-enactors-at-maine-wildlife-park/

Digging for Witchetty Grubs with Dorothy Napangardi

Group Forum Moving to a New Site. Please sign up for membership.

As many of you may have realised by now our group forum was taken over by Tapatalk, since then I have had a lot of problems, & the HELP at tapatalk is non existent. SO, I checked with other members on this forum & we decided to move to another site.

There are years of information on this present site which we don't want to lose if we can help it, a lot of work has gone into this site by a lot of present members. If you are still interested in this group/forum, then please go to our new forum & sign up for membership http://neclhg.freeforums.net/ . Some of you have been made Moderators on this present forum, obviously you do not have to accept & if this is the case please let me know. I will need help transferring all the posts from this forum to the new forum, but I know this will not happen overnight, & some of you may simply not have the time to spare to help.

If individuals could copy & paste their own posts to the new forum, this would be very much appreciated. If you are unable to help. then the Moderators & myself will do the best we can. Please check out the new forum, it does not look the same as this one, but I hope that we will have less problems with it.
Regards, Keith.

Southern Cross Free Trappers Latest Newsletter.

Detail from Millmerran 2017 pencil drawing by Charlie Timma.

http://freetrappers.org.au/newsletters/vol-60-november-2017/

18th Century Woodsman Clothing By Keith H Burgess

Update On Our Group's New Forum.

Well the help people still haven't replied, either there are a lot of complaints, or they are just bloody useless. I gave up trying to change the forum via their board, & found another way. I have not done too badly considering, & it looks as though the forum is usable. More problems may arise, but if they do I will work on it. Better than having to start a new forum elsewhere & lose all those years of posts & information. The new forum looks different to the old one, I have installed new & different images in some of the sections. Check it out for yourselves at: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/eighteenthcenturylivinghistory/index.php?sid=75d999d1f3064aa04a403a813cc2cb2a

18th Century Period Fire Lighting Methods. Ebook.

Authors, historical, living history, authenticity, flint and steel, burning glass, reading glass, fire-bow, Mountain men, woodsmen, woodsrunners, books, reading, experimental archaeology, plant tinder, fungi tinder, tinderbox, fire lighting, 18th century, 17th century, 19th century, survival, Indians, primitive, fur trade, French and Indian War, Revolution, historical trekking, long term wilderness living, colonial, Australia, North America, cooking, heating, Reenacting, Reenactment, 

Primitive Fire Lighting-Flint & Steel & Fire Bow.

Title: Primitive Fire Lighting
ID: 9784776
Category: History
Description: “Primitive Fire Lighting”, is a hands on guide to how to make fire with flint and steel and fire bow. This includes some history, a variety of methods, tinder plants identification, and tinder production, tips on fire place construction and use, how to prepare and lay a fire, wet weather fire lighting and magnifying glass fire lighting. The skills and methods in this book will be of interest to a wider range of readers including survivalists, historical re-enactors, bush-walkers and campers, historical–trekkers and even historical novel writers. Although the plant identifications list is mainly Australian it also has some information for England, Europe and America.
Publisher: Keith H. Burgess
Copyright Year: © 2010
Language: English
Country: Australia

Table of Contents
Illustrations. 4
FOREWORD. 6
FLINT AND STEEL FIRE LIGHTING. 8
PLANT FIBRE TINDERS: 11
TINDER PREPARATION. 15
Tinder preparation-charring: 15
OTHER FLINT and STEEL FIRE LIGHTING METHODS: 16
Emergency methods: 17
A WORD ABOUT BLACK POWDER: 17
THE CAMPFIRE FIREPLACE: 18
READING GLASS/MAGNIFYING GLASS FIRE LIGHTING 20
WET WEATHER FIRE LIGHTING. 21
A FINAL WORD OF CAUTION. 23
FIRE-BOW FIRE LIGHTING. 24
Introduction 24
FIRE-BOW FIRE LIGHTING. 25
A Brief Overview. 25
The Parts of the Fire-bow. 26
The Bow. 26
The Drill Piece. 27
The Fireboard. 29
The Tinder-board. 30
The Bearing Block. 31
The Bowstring. 32
Tinder. 32
Making Fire. 32
Making Cordage. 37
The Step for making Cordage. 38
AFTERWORD. 40
Fire steel suppliers. 45
About the author. 45

5.83" x 8.26", saddle-stitch binding, white interior paper (60# weight), black and white interior ink, white exterior paper (100# weight), full-colour exterior ink.
Cost: Book $11.00 US. Plus P&P. Download $7.00 US

Purchase orders to: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/KeithBurgess

Or at http://www.lulu.com/shop/keith-burgess/primitive-firelighting/ebook/product-17366659.html

Now Also Available From Barnes & Noble:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/primitive-firelighting-keith-h-burgess/1113663647?ean=9781447567622

Southern Cross Free Trappers Newsletter Vol. 59, June 2017

http://freetrappers.org.au/newsletters/

Colonial Williamsburg plans tomahawk throwing range in Historic Area

Colonial Williamsburg Foundation has submitted a proposal to the city’s zoning board to construct a “tomahawk/axe throwing range” in the Historic Area at the old military encampment site at 311 East Nicholson Street.. (Courtesy Google Maps)

http://wydaily.com/2017/06/06/colonial-williamsburg-plans-tomahawk-throwing-range-in-historic-area-news/

A New Ramrod For My Pistol.

I have made a video on making ramrods this afternoon. Not one that shows the actual making, but a description of the process & a talk on ramrods in general. Right now Part One is still loading, & I have Part Two to edit. But while you are waiting, here are some stills from the video.
Keith.

Ramrod with an antler tip.

Meeting At Dragon's Claw By Keith H Burgess

Free Trappers Australia.

http://freetrappers.org.au/newsletters/vol-54-november-2015/?utm_source=Around+the+Traps+Newsletter&utm_campaign=ba4db0fb59-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f44cd1b79f-ba4db0fb59-245456841