Steve Watts Bow Drill (1985 video)

As our great friend Steve Watts says, “…without the context, it’s just arts and crafts.”

To briefly put into context, the video below was shot in 1985, almost 30 years ago. That was BEFORE the internet. You remember, that time in our history when people actually shared outdoor living skills in person because they didn’t have a choice.

In reality though, it wasn’t that long ago that folks like Steve, Larry Dean Olsen, David Wescott, Errett Callahan, David Holladay, and others were rediscovering these skills… skills that so many people are proficient at nowadays because of the internet.

As a reminder, the book Outdoor Living Skills written by Olsen was published in 1967. It was around this time people became interested in outdoor skills again. I say again, because I believe the first time was during the Golden Age of Camping (1880 – 1930) of which Watts is so fond. A time when folks like Ernest Thompson Seton taught these skills to his Woodcraft Indians (which eventually became the BSA) and was reintroducing primitive skills to Native Americans like in the picture to the right. Interestingly, the Indians originally from the area which is now the lower 48 states pretty much used the hand drill.

To me, this video is a late snap-shot of that recent history to be treasured for what these men and women contributed to our knowledge of practicing primitive, both the skills and the context.   Thank you to you all!

http://youtu.be/46c-8q5rKno