Bushcraft: 10 Cool Things You Can Make in the Woods

In this episode we're going to learn how to build a bushcraft ladder using just a saw and some paracord, turn this bag of fish guts into a usable survival item, learn why I'm smashing this log to bits and delve into why I think this plant is one of the best survival plants in the world. Stay tuned. You can make a simple but effective ladder using just a saw and some paracord. Cut two straight sturdy poles to be used for your ladder frame. The length you cut these two will be the height of your ladder. The longer you cut them the higher your ladder will be. Remove any protruding branches so the log is smooth. You can still make a ladder with these on but they will often get in the way, so it's best to remove them. Depending on the height of your ladder you can either build it on the wooden floor or you can lean the ladder legs against a tree. Now grab yourself some paracord. I'm using some bright orange stuff to make it easier for you guys to see. Put the two ends of paracord together and find the middle point of the cordage. At the halfway point form an overhand loop by putting your right hand over your left hand. Then form another loop right next to it again going right over left. Now place the second loop underneath the first loop and hook this over the top of one of the poles. Cinch it tight. This knot is called a clove hitch. Now do the exact same thing to the other ladder pole. Make a loop right hand over left then make another loop right next to it. Place the second loop under the first and pull it tight over the pole. The distance that you set these poles apart is the width that your ladder will be. Now with the remaining line go down about a foot, wrap it around the pole and through itself. This is called a half hitch. Keep doing this all the way down the pole. The distance you make these half hitches will be the distance the ladder rungs will be. I find about a foot works best. At the bottom tie it off using either another clove hitch or a constrictor knot. Now do the exact same thing to the ladder pole on the other side. Try to make sure that each half hitch on this side is level with the half hitches on the opposite ladder pole. Now cut some short sticks to act as the ladder rungs or steps. This needs to be just slightly wider than the width of the ladder. We're going to be building this ladder from the bottom up as we climb. So starting from the base, put a stick underneath the paracord and push it down to the half hitches. As each stick is placed in the cordage will tighten on itself. Work your way up the ladder and build it as you climb. And now you've built yourself a wood ladder with very minimal tools. The ladder is sturdy but it's worth mentioning only step on the middle of each rung. This is so that your weight is distributed evenly. When you're finished just unravel the paracord and wrap it back up. You can even use it to wrap up the ladder rungs and then you can carry your ladder with you if you need to work up high in a different area of the woods or if you're on a canoe trip you can pack it down and put it in your canoe. Often when splitting firewood for kindling, after each axe swing the log will fly off the chopping block and you'll have to lean over to pick it back up and put it back on the chopping block. A simple trick you can do is tie a piece of paracord or bungee strap around the log and then give it some hits with a small axe or hatchet. Then undo the paracord and you have yourself an instant bundle of kindling without having to bend over to pick it up each time. Try to tie the paracord around the lower third of the log otherwise you can end up cutting it with the axe like this. It's not really a big problem as more often than not you will have split most of the kindling by the time this happens and you can just re-tie it but it definitely works better tying it slightly lower than the middle. When using a ferro rod to light a fire, most people will either use the back of their knife, a saw or a thin striker to get the sparks to come off the metal. Another alternative to this is the blast match. It's a unique ferro rod in that you only need to use one hand to operate it. Flip open the cap to reveal the ferro rod inside. Underneath the release catch is a thin piece of metal which you can push down on with your thumb. As you push this into the ferro rod it showers sparks like any other one. Scrape some of the surface of some silver birch bark and push the blast match into the dust pile with one hand. Within seconds I'm able to light the fire and place the dry tinder on top with the other hand. I still prefer to use the back of a knife and a separate ferro rod. However, this method does offer much more control. Did you know that you can actually make a lantern from fish guts? This demonstration was done inside a garage with a gas burner but it can easily be done over a campfire. First, boil up the entrails for at least 30 minutes. Then strain off the entrails into another saucepan. Boil again for another 10 minutes and then leave it to cool. If you want to further refine the oil you can strain it off again and boil it once more. Once cooled, pour it into a separate container. Now you can either place a piece of rope in a jar and pour the oil into that and it will act as a candle or in this case a paper clip was used to make the wick stand up. Pour the oil into the container and pour some over the wick as well. Now light the wick and you have yourself an oil lamp. You can also use this oil to make fire starters so that when you're next out in the woods you can get fires going quickly. The best fish species to use for this type of method is oily fish such as sardines, smelt or salmon. This type of oil extraction has been used for centuries and is still used to this day. Word of warning though, these oil lanterns can smell pretty bad. If you have a metal canteen or water bottle and you need to boil water over a fire most of the time you will need to get a hot fire going first and place the bottle carefully on the coals and let it boil. However, you can make use of the early beginnings of a fire by cutting a small stick just wider than the mouth of the bottle or canteen. Remove the bark as this tends to hold bacteria then tie some paracord around the stick. Place the stick inside the water bottle and you will be able to lift the water bottle up off the ground. Tie the other end of the paracord to either a tripod or a larger stick and hang it over the fire. Now you can make use of that early flame and get water boiling faster than having to wait for the hot coals. Whenever I head out into the woods I will always carry a small container filled with cooking oil. The primary use of this is obviously for cooking food, especially frying. However, there are a number of uses for this. First off, you can use a small amount to rub onto the steel of your axe head and knife to help prevent it from rusting if you are out in damp environments. Another thing you can do is turn it into a lantern. To do this you would need to make a hole in the top of your container. Now because I don't want to ruin this container I'm going to demonstrate this on a larger glass jar to make it easier. First I cut a small piece of rope to use as a wick and then I soak this in the oil. Pull the rope through the top of the hole in the jar. I took this inside a cabin to show you in the dark. I light the rope and it burns just like a candlewood. It will burn like this for a good few hours. However, because I only have a small amount of oil in the jar, the wick will burn through itself much faster and so to help it slow down the burn, I pour in some water into the jar and then the oil on top. The oil will always rise to the surface of water as it's less dense. I can still light the rope and it will burn just as well as it did before, except now it will burn for longer. In areas of slow flowing water or lakes, you will often find one of the most resourceful survival plants. You can just about see it here on the right hand side of this shot. At first glance it looks a bit like a sausage on a stick, but this is in fact the cattail plant or Tifa latifolia. These are very common in the northern hemisphere. They grow in shallow water. The brown sausage looking part of the plant is actually the female flower. Underneath the water is the rhizome. This is edible and can be cooked over a campfire once you peel back the outer layers to get to the inner fibres. But we can go into detail on that part in another episode. For now, we're interested in the top of the plant. When you open up the top of the plant, it's packed full of thousands of seeds. This was filmed in January and at this time of year, the seed heads open really easily, often to the lightest of touch by hand. During the winter months, the seeds are incredibly fluffy, which means they ignite really easily. It's what's known as a flash tinder, which means the flame burns very fast, so you need to have another, more durable tinder ready to light from it. Another thing you can do is using that cooking oil that we showed earlier. Dip the tip of the cattail in it and light it up. It burns really efficiently and for a long time. In the warmer months, you can place a few in the ground around your camp area to act as a mosquito repellent. Or in the winter months, you can use it as a light source near your camp. Should you go for a wander, you can find it again. You can even use it to light a fire in wet conditions, as the long burn time allows wet wood to dry out and ignite better. A packet of crisps is not something you really think about in a survival scenario. Aside from rapidly demolishing them when you're hungry, it might be worth leaving one or two crisps in the packet. These little crisps could save your life in more than one way. In order for a potato to become a crisp, it is generally cooked in oil. And as we've seen earlier, cooking oil is flammable. Because most crisps are very thin, they can ignite really easily. And because of the oil they have been cooked in, they can actually burn for quite a long time. Long enough to get a decent fire going. To keep your backpack off the ground, you can normally hang it from a branch in a tree. But if you don't have any protruding branches around to hang it off, grab yourself a small stick about the length of your arm and put it through one shoulder strap of your pack. Then put the stick around the tree and push it back through the other shoulder strap. Now the weight of your pack will make the stick pinch against the tree and hold it there. You can easily adjust the height of your pack to whatever suits you. And now all of the contents of your pack are still easily accessible. When looking for natural tinders to help get a fire going, don't neglect the lichens that grow on trees. Especially the bearded lichens that tend to grow on the oak branches. This type of lichen is normally pretty dry even on rainy days. Shower it with sparks from a ferro rod or ignite it with a lighter and it burns really well. Stay tuned for more survival tips and camping videos coming soon. If you enjoyed the video, feel free to subscribe. And if you want to watch more like this, check out my Wilderness, Survival and Bushcraft Skills playlist in the video description below. Cheers for watching and I'll see you guys in the next one.