Doomsday DefenseSection
Shelter, Fire & Bushcraft
Staying warm, dry and capable in the wild: shelters, fire craft, knots and cordage, edged tools and camping skills.
Field notes
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Recognizing and Treating Hypothermia
Shivering, confusion, fumbling hands and slurred speech mean the body is losing heat faster than it makes it. It can happen above 40°F if you're wet.
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How to Build a Fire That Actually Lights
Fires fail for lack of small fuel, not big logs. Gather tinder, pencil-thin kindling and split dry wood first, then build up from the smallest pieces.
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Six Knots Worth Learning First
Square knot, sheet bend, clove hitch, two half-hitches, timber hitch and bowline cover most survival jobs: joining, tying off, hauling and fixed loops.
In the library
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Building with Logs
The Forest Service's 1945 guide to log construction: choosing and peeling logs, foundations, corner notches, roofs, fireplaces and finishing.
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Camp Life in the Woods and the Tricks of Trapping and Trap Making
W. Hamilton Gibson's illustrated 1881 guide to camp shelters, log huts, canoes, and building and setting traps, snares and deadfalls.
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Knots, Splices and Rope Work
A. Hyatt Verrill's illustrated guide to every useful knot, bend, hitch, lashing and splice, with the strength of rope (second revised edition).
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Shelters, Shacks and Shanties
Dan Beard's illustrated 1914 guide to building shelters with just a hatchet or an axe, from lean-tos and bark huts to log cabins.
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The Book of Camp-Lore and Woodcraft
Dan Beard's 1920 handbook on fire by friction and flint, cooking fires, camp kitchens, packing horses and dogs, and axe and saw work.
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Woodcraft
Nessmuk's classic 1884 pocket guide to traveling light in the woods: camps, campfires, cooking, and getting lost and found again.