Cool YouTube channel on primitive skills.

[Jamesey1981]

Just discovered this YouTube channel and thought I'd share it, may be old news but I know there's some people here that will find it interesting.

https://youtu.be/P73REgj-3UE

It's made by a guy in Australia and although a lot of it won't help you from a prepping standpoint unless the world goes very wrong indeed and we're returned to the Stone Age there are parts that will help and it's interesting to watch nonetheless.

In the video I have linked to here he builds a wattle and daub hut, roofed with clay tiles that he makes himself in a mud and clay kiln, using only stone tools (he makes the tools in other videos,) very interesting to watch, in other videos he also makes charcoal using the mound method, and even a forge blower, guessing he's going to do some smelting in future videos, all using only primitive tools that he has made from what is around him.

Well worth a look, he has a whole bunch of subscribers and deservedly so I would say.

[Jan Smits]

Definitely cool.

I've seen a few of his vids and am slightly envious - if I had the location I would definitely aspire to a few of those projects, though he's obviously really good at what he does and has the follow-through.

[Jamesey1981]

I'd not seen him before, someone mentioned his channel so I had a look for it.
He's definitely lucky to have the location, and the time for that matter, some of his projects took him a good while.
I like the hut with the underfloor heating, that's pretty awesome.

[Jan Smits]

Love it. Though I couldn't help thinking about when it rains, gets really cold and having to get wet to stoke it up again.
'course, it is Australia so may not be an issue.

[sethorly]

That's amazing! It's like real-life Minecraft

[Jamesey1981]

Love it. Though I couldn't help thinking about when it rains, gets really cold and having to get wet to stoke it up again.
'course, it is Australia so may not be an issue.

You have got a point there, and it does look like it's raining pretty hard in a couple of the videos.
Watching a later one now with the same hut and he's kept the hypocaust for the underfloor heating but added a normal hearth and chimney as well.
I don't think he actually lives in them when he's doing the projects but it would be nice to have the normal fireplace inside for cooking as well if he were.

[Jan Smits]

I bet he's got a nice campervan nearby, though I'd be surprised if he didn't spend some nights inside there. Would be interesting to see the place set up for living, I guess he could do a lot more than put some straw on the floor for a sleeping area. I get and like that there isn't a running commentary, but it'd be good to have more info too. I thought at first he was into archaeology and reconstructing something, but I now think he's not. Still, if the Stone Age was actually that advanced, it would be a bit of a turn up.

[Jamesey1981]

From what he's said in some of his descriptions I would say he does at least try them out when they're built.
I would say he has a camper van out of shot as well, or at least a ute full of camping gear, there's a complete lack of stuff on view in his videos, no food (apart from some sweet potatoes that he grew) and he only seems to own one pair of shorts and no shoes, so he must have at least some gear with him that isn't on camera, some of the builds took him over 60 days (doesn't say whether that was broken up over a while or all in one go) so aside from anything else he'd have to have some way of charging his camera batteries!
In one of his vids he's set up a loom and weaves some mats for the floor out of strips of bark, and says he has a plan for some softer more cloth like stuff for the future.

I do wonder if he is mainly using knowledge of how primitive people used to do stuff, or if he's mainly using modern knowledge and applying it in a primitive way, would be interesting to know, one way is experimental archeology and one is kind of extreme bushcraft, probably a bit of both is my guess.

[Jan Smits]

Some of the comments on there are pretty off, but that's yt for you. I don't begrudge him a good night's sleep and creature comforts. He may have them with him, but if he had a bag of banana sandwiches and a bottle of coke in shot, the comments would crucify him for that too.

Thing with experimental archaeology is it can't draw on the generations of handed-down knowledge that would have been around. Whatever his angle I admire his work. I've subscribed, and who knows, it might inspire me to do something similar one day. Meantime, it's compulsive viewing.

[Jamesey1981]

I agree with that, any channel will have some unpleasant comments, but as you say that's the nature of the Internet.
He could have a 60 foot luxury motor home with marble floors and satellite TV just out of shot, (he probably hasn't, but I guarantee he's got some beer!) doesn't mean that I think any less of him for it and I still think what he does is interesting.