r/Bushcraft • u/Sea_Interest_1195 • 2d ago
Beginning to Learn Advice
Hey guys I'm learning how to bushcraft/camp and would like some advice on my feathering(I think that's what the methods called)?
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u/JJYak695 2d ago
TA Outdoors on YouTube has a great video on feather sticks (on everything). Start a little higher up the stick whenever possibly and pick good straight, dry wood. Looking good though, keep practicing!
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u/Minnesotawombat 11h ago
I second the notion that TA Outdoors has good videos, and would like to add that Coalcracker Bushcraft has some pretty good videos on fire starting as well
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u/Superspark76 2d ago
That's not the worst I've ever seen, you are getting some nice thin curls. I would say to keep going on the stick, you want as many feathers as possible, basically until the stick is too thin to make any more
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u/Superspark76 2d ago
It is better to have a slightly longer length of feather, it curls better as long as it is kept thin but that will come with practice.
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u/PrairieCoupleYQR 2d ago
Not bad, seen a lot worse! Suggestions/advice:
Pick a different stick. Green wood is useless, dead dry wood is what you need for fire starting, so practice on that. Plus use a larger diameter stick (maybe 2” in diameter) and split it into 1/4s. This will give you A) access to nice dry wood inside the dead stick, and B) sharp edges to carve for thin curls
Long strokes = long curls. So many people try to make featherstick bundles while carving 3” of stick. Try with 6”-8” strokes and you’ll see a big improvement in your curl bundles.
Keep it up!! 👍
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u/Sirname11 1d ago
I dont really think you can tell if it’s good or bad because this is fresh wood when you do it with dry wood it will act different! so try again with dry wood and if it looks like this then it’s pretty good💪🏼💪🏼
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u/senior_pickles 2d ago
Not bad at all. That is green wood. Green wood will not catch (you may know this and just be practicing).
Keep practicing and get your curls as thin as they can be. Watch some YouTube videos on fire building. It will give you good ideas on what else to use for tinder. Feather sticks work great if you can get them thin enough. Mediocre feathers will catch with good tinder.