Beckerhead Camping and Woodcraft Reviews....

Ethan Becker

Ethan Becker

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I am happy to say that I think there are gonna be quite a few nights around the campfire with a copy of Camping and Woodcraft coming soon....

I figure that if we share our reading experiences it will be a happiness.... Short or long, just favorite quotes or a dissertation... Bring it on!!!....Discussion is encouraged! E

P.S. There may be rewards for especially pithy commentary...
 
Ethan Becker said:
... I think there are gonna be quite a few nights around the campfire with a copy of Camping and Woodcraft coming soon....
Click to expand...

Astute observation, I snagged a copy off an auction site about a week ago due to this.

Maybe a boxed gift set, knife and box, might be a good idea.

That is the only pithy commentary I have at this time. :)
 
"In the school of the woods there is no graduation day." Horace Kephart

Can't say it any better than that. I'm not in the woods near as much as I should be. A little more difficult, as I live in the great plains of Illinois. Just patches of woods around here. I spend more time in the woods living vicariously through other's experiences via the internet.

That said, when I do go, I don't necessarily go into the woods to learn something purposefully. To me, there's nothing like a trip into the woods to soothe the soul. There's nothing more relaxing than getting away from the worries and struggles of everyday life, feeling the wind in your face, hearing the birds sing, the coyotes howl, crickets chirping, the smell of the wet leaves on the forest floor, river rushing, etc. We forget how to get away from the fevered hassles of life, and get back to what's important...the basics. When you expose yourself to the basics, it brings into being one of the most incalculable of God's creations, the mind. I'm always reminded of how very little we actually need when not restrained by social convention or usage, and the mind has been relieved of what we "normally" estimate as being important. There's much wisdom in silence and solitude.

As someone who is very much an introvert, I'm a very curious, and observant person by nature. So it's hard not to learn something. I may not even know that I did at the time, but upon reflection at a later date.

Speaking of reflection, I was just thinking how things transpire from time to time...

I was worried about the world situation several years back, and was wanting to assemble a bug out bag. I Googled "survival knives", and the Becker BK2 kept coming up. I ended up purchasing it, and that led me to this forum. That lead me to becoming a Beckerhead, and becoming acquainted with Ethan Becker. Then that led me to other outdoorsy, and bushcraft type forums. I heard of the names Horace Kephart and George Sears for the first time. I had a newfound appreciation for the great outdoors. I was soaking up so much outdoor knowledge that even light itself couldn't escape the intense gravitational field that was forming in the Black hole of my brain. I was quickly becoming one of the most unequaled armchair bushcrafters known in exsistence, unparalleled in all human history. But knowing is one thing, and applying what you know is another. I wanted more than that, and started doing outings into the woods...

I've never owned the book Camping and Woodcraft by Horace Kephart, but have had the .pdf of the 1906 version for some time now. Have always had good intentions of perusing it to completeness, but have never made the attempt. I've seen snippets, and quotes from it, but have never read it. I think it's time...

Isn't it funny how wanting a survival knife led me to Ethan Becker and his BK2, and that led to the discovery of Horace Kephart, which led back to Ethan acquiring a Colclesser Brothers made Kephart, which led to Ethan releasing a Kephart, based off the original, that led Ethan to start a thread about Horace Kephart, that led me to write all this, that made me think about the school of the woods again?

Still working on my diploma...

Dubz
 
Presently, I am reading the books of Enoch, however, my un-read book back log has me closed to new arrivals for several years or decades, which ever I get around to last.
But, I'll add one more, in the interest of personal development, character building, commerce & enterprise, and to boldly read what so many have read before. I need to roast more marshmallows out in the yard anyhoo.
 
Just finished reading the foreword, and first chapter. I was immediately sucked right into the humor and insight Mr. Kephart possessed. I came across a quote that fit right in to what I was saying in my earlier post about getting away from it all. He said, "We seek the woods to escape civilization for a time, and all that suggests it."

He then went on to say right after that, "Let us sometimes broil our venison on a sharpened stick and serve it on a sheet of bark. It tastes better." I've never broiled venison over an open fire, but isn't it funny how bad Ramen noodles taste at home most times, yet seems like a gourmet meal in the woods?

"It is one of the blessings of wilderness life that it shows us how few things we need in order to be perfectly happy." -Horace Kephart-
That is what I was saying in my earlier post, "I'm always reminded of how very little we actually need when not restrained by social convention or usage, and the mind has been relieved of what we "normally" estimate as being important. There's much wisdom in silence and solitude."

Funny how I was putting my thoughts together last evening, only to read about them today, from a book that was published in 1906.
 
dresnor said:
That is very true. Where did you find that PDF of CAW?

Jeremy
Click to expand...
No clue, have had it for months. You can probably just Google it.
 
dres, there's a digital download library on a certain trademarked outdoor forum.
 
Nice insight Dubz. Thereโ€™s a similar quote from the opening chapter thatโ€™s always stuck with me, where he postulates whether people are meant to be stuck in cities, ignoring the natural world around them:

โ€œSeriously, is it good for men and women and chil-dren to swarm together in cities and stay there, keep staying there, till their instincts are so far perverted that they lose all taste for their natural element, the wide world out-of-doors?โ€

Being one of those people who has in fact moved into a big city, I often think about this when Iโ€™ve been working lots and have been unable to get away for a while.

Thereโ€™s an area in Alberta, collectively called the David Thompson country, in which the government had set aside to preserve it in its natural form. Minimal development, located just outside the National Parks, itโ€™s an area Iโ€™ve been to several times, and have grown to really appreciate what it offers. Thereโ€™s places for people to hunt mountain goat and elk, places with pristine freestone rivers with the promise of large cutties, places where motorized vehicles are prohibited, and are only accessible by foot or hoof.

Anyways, I knew who David Thompson was from history classes, but a few years ago, decided to really read up on his life. Kinda became one of my favorite historical explorers. That led into reading up on more explorers of the time - Anthony Henday, Alexander Mackenzie, Lewis and Clark. Started reading offerings from people like Muir, Thoreau, and the like. The internet is a wonderful place for old out of print ebooks and historical papers. Finally this led me back to the topics of camping and bushcraft and survival. Read multiple books on the subject from Mors to Canterbury, Stroud to Lundin, and was inevitably pulled back in time to people like Dan Beard, Nessmuk, Kephart.

I donโ€™t own a hard copy of Camping and Woodcraft, but have been keeping my eye out for it for a while now. My wife is especially good at finding stuff like that at second hand stores and garage sales. In the meantime, I think Iโ€™ll re-read the copy I have stored in my phone.
 
Thanks man. I wish I were more of a reader than I am. It's funny that I like knowledge, but don't care to read. I don't seem to possess the patience for it. When I was at the cabin a few times ago, I read my first subscription copy of Mother Earth News in years. It was so relaxing, sitting on the front porch of the cabin, with a slight breeze, and birds singing in the background. I made it a point to read it from cover to cover, minus ads, etc. I hadn't done that in years. It was very enjoyable.

Have had my eye out at the antique stores myself for a copy. Would LOVE to score a 1906 version.
 
The Warrior said:
Just finished reading the foreword, and first chapterโ€ฆ I came across a quote that fit right in to what I was saying in my earlier post about getting away from it all. He said, "We seek the woods to escape civilization for a time, and all that suggests it."
Click to expand...

It is interesting to see how Kephart, his knife, C&W, Ethan, E TN/NC area, its people,and this knife are now so interconnected.

For the same reasons I'm interested in this knife due to having grownup, lived, and prowled that area and still live close by. My plans for a Becker Kephart is as a tool to escape and return to a place, time and people I once knew although the time and the people are now all gone.

I think it will be interesting to carry this knife on the ridges and hollers I walked as a boy carrying a .22 until dark after an hour long school bus ride home. Using it to build a small fire and making coffee at some of the remote fire sites where I foxhunted with my grandfather and other men who are long gone and wondering how they all managed to eek out a lifetime of living using just their skill and knowledge in such a hard land. ​
 
StrayRound said:
It is interesting to see how Kephart, his knife, C&W, Ethan, E TN/NC area, its people,and this knife are now so interconnected.

For the same reasons I'm interested in this knife due to having grownup, lived, and prowled that area and still live close by. My plans for a Becker Kephart is as a tool to escape and return to a place, time and people I once knew although the time and the people are now all gone.

I think it will be interesting to carry this knife on the ridges and hollers I walked as a boy carrying a .22 until dark after an hour long school bus ride home. Using it to build a small fire and making coffee at some of the remote fire sites where I foxhunted with my grandfather and other men who are long gone and wondering how they all managed to eek out a lifetime of living using just their skill and knowledge in such a hard land. ​
Click to expand...
It all kinda came full circle, didn't it.

You're very fortunate to have grown up in such an area. Like I said, I live in the great plains, and never got to explore the woods growing up. Dad used to take us fishing, but I had never hunted before. I remember as a child, that mom and dad took us tent camping at a campgrounds. There was a severe storm that went through, and as kids, we were scared to death, haha. I remember my dad standing there, holding up the walls of the tent as the storm rolled through. That was the beginning, and ending of our tent camping. Dad later purchased a camper, and we would go to the campgrounds on occasion, but I never got to go to the woods.

I can't help but to think that I will be feeling a lot of history using the BK62 when it gets here. It is unfortunate that we have forgotten, "how they all managed to eek out a lifetime of living using just their skill and knowledge in such a hard land." We can thank people like Sears, Kephart, and others for sharing their knowledge with us, and helping to keep it alive. That said, there still isn't anything like living, and experiencing the woods for real to teach us those ways.

I'm glad that everything did come full circle for us, that's going to get us a Kephart knife, and remind us of a great woodsman, that gave so much.
 
Just finished chapter 2, on clothing. It's nice to be able to comment on a chapter at a time, after just reading it.

I was reading about footwear, and he was highly recommending moccasins as a good footwear to use in the woods. "After one's feet have become accustomed to this most rational of all covering they become almost like hands, feeling their way, and avoiding obstacles as though gifted with a special sense. They can bend freely. One can climb in moccasins as in nothing else. So long as they are dry, he can cross narrow logs like a cat, and pass in safety along treacherous slopes where thick-soled shoes
might bring him swiftly to grief. Moccasined feet feel the dry sticks underneath, and glide softly over the telltales without cracking them. They do not stick fast in mud. One can swim with them as if he were barefoot. It is rarely indeed that one hears of a man
spraining his ankle when wearing the Indian footgear."

My wife was commenting on the moccasins she wore a the cabin last visit. They have rawhide soles, and she was saying that she could feel most of what she was walking on. Later she was complaining that they were hurting her feet, obviously because she wasn't conditioned to them yet.

I've never owned a pair of moccasins. Anyone else use, and recommend them?
 
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