Primitive technologies you can make without tools
07/13/2018 / By Edsel Cook
You don’t need tools of any sort, a military background, or survival training to build primitive technologies that can save and sustain your life in the wilderness. Just be like bushcraft master “John Plant,” as reported by The Prepping Guide.
The quiet host of YouTube channel Primitive Technology is famous for his videos where he turns sticks, stones, and clay into livable huts and effective tools. He achieved this level of expertise by taking what he’s read on primitive tech and survival resources, testing his research in the nearby Australian jungle, and refining the methods through trial-and-error until he perfects them.
His videos are highly informative because his captions thoroughly document every step of the construction process. That makes it easy for his viewers to follow and replicate his methodologies.
In addition to his YouTube channel (which has more than seven million followers), Plant also writes a blog where he discusses the bushcraft technology he investigates and puts to the test.
Primitive but effective
Throughout his 28 videos, Plant demonstrates many impressive achievements in bushcraft. His creations might appear to be crude and rickety, but they’re surprisingly capable, even when they’re compared with modern-day counterparts.
The mud bricks that he made served as all-around construction materials for advanced bushcraft technology such as bases, buildings, and foundations. His hunting bow fires just as hard and accurately as a more advanced, modern bow.
He also wove bark together to make a fiber that could be used in mat-making, The Prepping Guide observed. (Related: Survivalist skills: Make your own lamp from available materials.)
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There appears to be little in the way that John Plant cannot built if he sets his mind to it.
In need of a furnace and forge? He built those out of bark, clay, fiber, and wood. He thoughtfully included a blower that could stoke the fires inside the heating devices.
Want to start a fire in that furnace? He showed how to make a cord drill that does the blister-inflicting work of rubbing two sticks together for you. His next step was to upgrade it into a pump drill that did the same fire-starting job with less effort.
Need fuel for that fire? Good thing he knows how to turn wood into charcoal, which burns hotter and more efficiently.
With just whatever he can get his hands on in the wild, John Plant can make pots that can hold water with no loss. He follows up on this feat by heating a clean rock that he places inside the pot to kill the microorganisms present. Voila, potable water.
He also demonstrates clever ways to automate tiresome tasks such as grinding items into powder. When you’ve got a water-powered hammer, a lot of chores start looking like rocks begging to be pounded.
The best bushcraft tech you can build
His most popular video features the construction of a hut with a tiled roof using many innovative processes. Highlights include building a kiln out of scratch in order to bake the clay tiles for the roof, turning tree bark into sturdy twine to secure his hut and creating a heated bed to ward off the cold.
The Prepping Guide recommended memorizing the video where Plant built an even more impressive wattle-and-daub hut. From the first cutting device to the completion of the hut, the video covers every survival bushcraft skill a viewer will need.
- Starting a fire with sticks
- Making an axe
- Making basic fire-blown clay pottery instruments
- Insulating a shelter for warmth
- Waterproofing a roof
- Making a chimney
If this article whet your appetite for more information on survival skills, try out Survival.news.
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Tagged Under: bug out, BUSHCRAFT, disaster prepping, hut, John Plant, mud brick, off grid, preparedness, prepper, prepping, prepping guide, Primitive Technology, SHTF, survival, Survival Tips, survival tools, survivalist
