GaryHW
Very Talkative
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Is bushcraft still Popular?
Back in the late late 80's, early 90's before the bushcraft craze really started those of us into what would become bushcraft didn't really have much of a "shopping" option for kit and gear, generally the stuff used was army surplus or regular camping kit. And that was all we seemed to need, if you couldn't buy it you made it yourself. My first billy can was a stainless steel coffee cannister from Sainsbury's with a 10 gauge fencing wire bail handle. All my clothing was army surplus except for a buffalo windshirt.
Then the early 90's into the new millennium saw the raise of Ray Mears and bushcraft tv, slowly over those years the wallet emptying bushcraft industry grew, it grew because bushcraft became very popular and there was suddenly a huge demand for kit as more and more people became interested in the subject. Bushcraft, suddenly popular, never cool, but popular found a lot of people with disposable income starting to buy anything and everything fueling the new industry.
Now I'm not a great one for buying kit, the kit I have has been whittled down over the years until I have what is the perfect kit for me, and it's been a couple of years since I even looked online for gear. So imagine my surprise last night when I did a search for bushcraft kit and found the cyber shelves almost bare!
The bushcraft shops are still there, and hopefully doing ok, but they seemed to have more limited ranges of kit than I remember, and most of it only one or two brand names. Pathfinder stuff seems popular so old DC must be pleased. Ebay, the place historically where we all traded old kit for cash to buy new kit seemed sadly devoid of anything decent or interesting! And even it's online presence seems dulled, BCUK the so called home of British bushcraft, once a thriving social event is quieter than a library at lunch time for example.
So this made me wonder if bushcraft is still as popular as it was or has it returned to that quaint little corner of the woods where us oldens originally found it? And if so why? Have all the fans of the great man disappeared back to the suburban idles now his TV presence has withered and waned? Or am I just missing something, do I remember the cyber bushcraft world being busier than it was, and as such an assumed reflection of the real popularity of bushcraft, or has the economy and covid and old tom cobbly n all effected it?
I'd be interested in your thoughts my friends.
Back in the late late 80's, early 90's before the bushcraft craze really started those of us into what would become bushcraft didn't really have much of a "shopping" option for kit and gear, generally the stuff used was army surplus or regular camping kit. And that was all we seemed to need, if you couldn't buy it you made it yourself. My first billy can was a stainless steel coffee cannister from Sainsbury's with a 10 gauge fencing wire bail handle. All my clothing was army surplus except for a buffalo windshirt.
Then the early 90's into the new millennium saw the raise of Ray Mears and bushcraft tv, slowly over those years the wallet emptying bushcraft industry grew, it grew because bushcraft became very popular and there was suddenly a huge demand for kit as more and more people became interested in the subject. Bushcraft, suddenly popular, never cool, but popular found a lot of people with disposable income starting to buy anything and everything fueling the new industry.
Now I'm not a great one for buying kit, the kit I have has been whittled down over the years until I have what is the perfect kit for me, and it's been a couple of years since I even looked online for gear. So imagine my surprise last night when I did a search for bushcraft kit and found the cyber shelves almost bare!
The bushcraft shops are still there, and hopefully doing ok, but they seemed to have more limited ranges of kit than I remember, and most of it only one or two brand names. Pathfinder stuff seems popular so old DC must be pleased. Ebay, the place historically where we all traded old kit for cash to buy new kit seemed sadly devoid of anything decent or interesting! And even it's online presence seems dulled, BCUK the so called home of British bushcraft, once a thriving social event is quieter than a library at lunch time for example.
So this made me wonder if bushcraft is still as popular as it was or has it returned to that quaint little corner of the woods where us oldens originally found it? And if so why? Have all the fans of the great man disappeared back to the suburban idles now his TV presence has withered and waned? Or am I just missing something, do I remember the cyber bushcraft world being busier than it was, and as such an assumed reflection of the real popularity of bushcraft, or has the economy and covid and old tom cobbly n all effected it?
I'd be interested in your thoughts my friends.