On a backpacking trip in Alaska, I found the broken base of a moose antler. It gathered dust until I thought it might provide part of the stack handle on a knife. I had some seasoned walnut for the rest of the handle, but I lacked the key ingredient of a blade.
Horace Kephart (1862-1931), famous as the “Dean of American Camping,” began his professional life focused on scholarly pursuits. At a time when only about 6 percent of Americans graduated from high school, he attended college and was a librarian at Cornell and Yale Universities. Cornell’s first librarian, Daniel Willard Fiske, later employed
Those who go into the outdoors prepared rarely need rescuing, but when they do it’s usually not a disaster story. Most people lost or stranded in the backcountry of the lower U.S. states are found within the first 72 hours. Fortunately, they are usually found even sooner today thanks to cell phones.
Anyone with an interest in bushcrafting knows the origin of the topic. Before it was camp craft it was necessary survival for those who came before us—like Horace Kephart. Which helps explain why the Kephart knife pattern is still a prolific design. The AA Forge Mini Kephart Knife While considering this article
A lot of people think of beadwork as being the quintessential Native American decorative art, but long before Europeans brought glass beads to these shores, tribal artists were crafting beautifully decorated clothing and objects. The media they worked with for hundreds of years were porcupine quills. Using these stiff, hollow hairs, native
This might come as a surprise, but the amazing pipe tomahawk in these photos isn’t from a museum collection. It also wasn’t made 255 years ago. It was made this year, exactly like it would have been made 255 years ago, by three artists in the Contemporary Longrifle Association. The Pipe Tomahawk
