Building a cabin in the wilderness

[Timberwolf]

Honestly, I dont' get all the hate here.  The guy is pretty transparent if you take the time to view his video feeds.

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I don't either...I didn't get the impression that he was attempting to teach anyone about survival, or how to build a cabin out of whatever is at hand and nothing more...We saw up front that he hauled material, tools etc in a U-Haul trailer so we know he was near a road..We know he didn't make the cast iron stove but we know that he has some knowledge of metal working....He didn't make any "fine furniture" but he has some woodworking ability.

[Kansas City Fireslayer]

I watched the whole video and really enjoyed it. He chose to do different than Mr. Chickadee per say. His 1.5 hour video was well done and documents his experience nicely.

I find it funny how he’s been discredited on this forum. I can’t help but think how less than 1% of this forum could realistically do what he did. Hard to say it’s all phony, IMO, but I’m not a PHD or engineer either. He’s a well rounded outdoorsman and handtool carpenter. He may not be able to cut perfectly fitting narrow DT’s by hand but so what.

We should be grateful the content was shared with us. I think it’s far from being a grand hoax.

[Derek Cohen]

Hopefully this is my last post in this thread since I realise that my comments have caused some angst, which was not my intention.

Firstly, would I like to build a cabin in the woods? Absolutely. My early childhood was filled with raw camping in the woods with my father. It remains a fantasy to which I continue to aspire (I once came soooo close to purchasing a piece of forest) - achieving it is unlikely as my wife does not share this dream (she is a city girl and we live alongside a river), and I prioritise the reality of living with her over a fantasy that excludes her. But I dream, I dream ...  

Secondly, the hero of our video is doing what I would do, and I am envious, as you can imagine. I love what he is doing.

Thirdly, and finally, what he is doing is camping - not the elusion of surviving alone that was part of his title. The title is misleading ... for the likes of me and others who share my view that this suggests something else. Clearly for those who are less discriminating, he is the Real Deal. I am not questioning whether he is a nice guy, but just that the fantasy he attempts to create at the start is not followed through in the way he alluded to, and at no time does he correct this. Indeed, he moves further and further from it with no expense spared. He ends up having a fine old time, which is great for the viewers. It is indeed good viewing. That this is a business venture is only for the cynical-minded, like myself. Saying this spoils the fun for some. My apology for that.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[ez-duzit]

...what he is doing is camping...

To summarize what the man is doing as "camping" is simply wrong, especially in today's world of RV's with slide-outs on both sides, satellite TV and power everything.

[hbmcc]

To summarize what the man is doing as "camping" is simply wrong, especially in today's world of RV's with slide-outs on both sides, satellite TV and power everything.

For those of us older than color TV--my closest universal memory to that chronological time--camping works just fine. As a child our family adventures included using maps about 30 years out of date. Now, if you want to play wilderness traveller, that's an option that probably won't happen today. Interstates started carving up and obliterating the old roads in the 1960's. Before that, engineers made a new path.

Cabins in the woods were usually attached to homestead and mineral claim laws, a form of indentured slavery as I recall. Federal leases have long since been retired. Some few of us can experience the old fire lookout towers that were saved from destruction the 70's. 360 views can be awesome. 

One thing I will never miss from these adventures is the swarms of biting bugs, the dust in summer heat, crazy hunters in fall; and, the utter boredom. I am pretty sure, Shaun(?) probably joined his family in AC'd civilization during those horrible days. 

Oh, and this thread is its own microcosm of the trolling, flaming, and infantile dirges grizzly old farts play around the wood stove.  

Pass me a cracker.....

[bandit571]

What is lost amongst all of this....when the settlers arrived at their new homestead....the old, worn out Conestoga wagon provided everything to make a shelter, long enough for the family to build the new home.....forest needed cleared off, to allow for planting....logs then became the building blocks for the new home..

They could also set up a Pit Saw, to cut some of the later logs into planks....until then, the Mrs. swept a dirt floor.  Sometimes, they would stretch out the canvass cover from the old wagon to serve as a roof on the cabin....flap that was the back of the wagon became the front door. 

have a few such Log Cabins still standing in the area....may have to slip over to one, and take a few pictures.....most were made from "Squared Logs"   where they would chop flats on the mating and outside parts of the logs flat...

(last time I went "camping", was getting paid $53 a day....and the "prey" could shoot back)

[Timberwolf]

What is lost amongst all of this....when the settlers arrived at their new homestead....the old, worn out Conestoga wagon provided everything to make a shelter, long enough for the family to build the new home.....forest needed cleared off, to allow for planting....logs then became the building blocks for the new home..

They could also set up a Pit Saw, to cut some of the later logs into planks....until then, the Mrs. swept a dirt floor.  Sometimes, they would stretch out the canvass cover from the old wagon to serve as a roof on the cabin....flap that was the back of the wagon became the front door. 

have a few such Log Cabins still standing in the area....may have to slip over to one, and take a few pictures.....most were made from "Squared Logs"   where they would chop flats on the mating and outside parts of the logs flat...

(last time I went "camping", was getting paid $53 a day....and the "prey" could shoot back)

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You made big money...I was paid about $140.00 plus room and board {for one month including combat pay} and all the "C" Rats I could stand..Of course, the "room" was a 6 man tent with a kerosene heater in the center..and the temp would sometimes hit minus  20*...... the prey did shoot back...a lot !!!!  
 But so did we.....
 The good ol' days......20yrs old....Dumb and happy.....


1st. Marines at the Chosin Reservoir.."Camping in the snow".......Luckily, I am not in that photo....

[AHill]

This thread would not have been so divisive if the guy would have just said up front it took him 2 years to build a cabin in the woods all by himself.  Nobody is disparaging his grit and his tenacity.  Just his poor and ambiguous at best choice of a title for the video.

[Downwindtracker2]

I think you call that Click Bait ?

[lovatet]

In fact, construction is always very difficult, you need to make a construction plan, then order the material and kill a lot of veremeni for construction.