Author

Paul Kirtley

Paul Kirtley is an award-winning professional bushcraft instructor, qualified canoe leader and mountain leader. He is passionate about nature and wilderness travel. In addition to writing this blog Paul owns and runs Frontier Bushcraft, a wilderness bushcraft school, offering bushcraft courses and wilderness expeditions.

Posts by Paul Kirtley

Spring Into Your Bushcraft Year

Spring Into Your Bushcraft Year

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By getting out and about from the early spring onwards, you not only learn a lot more about nature and how it can be useful to you through the medium of bushcraft, you also start taking your personal skills and knowledge to the next level relatively early in the year. The spring represents months of opportunity of pushing various techniques up a notch or two and, ultimately, ending the year at a higher level of proficiency than if you didn’t really get going will your skills until the summer, when half the year has already gone by. In this article I suggest some ways to dust of your bushcraft knowledge, sharpen your skills and sample the best that springtime has to offer…

Swedish long log fire known as Nuorssjo closeup of steady flame
Nuorssjo: The Best Log Fire?

Nuorssjo: The Best Log Fire?

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While in Sweden, I locate the right materials in the correct environment to build nuorssjo, a two-log fire, referred to by some as “den bästa stockelden”, literally the best log fire. Watch the process in the video embedded in this post…

Ask Paul Kirtley episode 66 title card with Paul Kirtley
#AskPaulKirtley 66: How To Reach The Northern Forest, Generating Interest In Bushcraft, Multi-Purpose Bivvy Bags

#AskPaulKirtley 66: How To Reach The Northern Forest, Generating Interest In Bushcraft, Multi-Purpose Bivvy Bags

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In this episode, I answer questions about how to get to the Northern Forest, how to combat loneliness on wilderness trips, how to get people interested in bushcraft, the many purposes of a bivvy bag and share some thoughts on cooking sets for canoe trips…

AskPaulKirtley Episode 65 front card
#AskPaulKirtley 65: Tips For Fires Under Tarps, More Bushcraft On TV, Typha Fibre Extraction

#AskPaulKirtley 65: Tips For Fires Under Tarps, More Bushcraft On TV, Typha Fibre Extraction

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In this episode, I answer questions on tips for having fires under tarps, will there or should there be more bushcraft on TV, what might the causes be of getting pumped forearms when making feathersticks, is there a best time of year to harvest wood for carving, and details of Typha fibre extraction.

#AskPaulKirtley 64: My Best Bushcraft Moments of 2017, Introducing Kids To Canoe Camping, Bow Drill Material Selection, Match Storage

#AskPaulKirtley 64: My Best Bushcraft Moments of 2017, Introducing Kids To Canoe Camping, Bow Drill Material Selection, Match Storage

Comments 14 comments

In this episode of #AskPaulKirtley I talk about my best bushcraft moment of 2017, some advice on introducing kids to canoe camping in Scotland, bow drill material selection troubleshooting, up-to-date alternatives to film canisters for match storage, some considerations for topping up a brown bag and sterilisation of billy cans, cups, etc.,…

Paul Kirtley answering questions for show 63
#AskPaulKirtley 63: Water, Withies, Camp Routines, Compass Bubbles, Fire Saws & Edible Ant Larvae

#AskPaulKirtley 63: Water, Withies, Camp Routines, Compass Bubbles, Fire Saws & Edible Ant Larvae

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In this episode of #AskPaulKirtley, I answer questions about water purification protocols in areas where water is mostly clean to drink, how to use withies to create a tripod with canoe paddles, useful daily camp routines for personal admin and hygiene, the consequences of compass bubbles, an overview of the fire saw with bamboo, and whether ant larvae are edible…

Man under tarp in snow with fire in front of him
PK Podcast 028: Joe Robinet On His Love Of Camping, Bushcraft & Making A Living On YouTube

PK Podcast 028: Joe Robinet On His Love Of Camping, Bushcraft & Making A Living On YouTube

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Joe Robinet is known for making videos documenting his bushcraft and camping adventures, as well as having appeared on the first season of History Channel series Alone. I’ve been intrigued by the proliferation of outdoor video blogs and specifically bushcraft & camping videos on YouTube. Given Joe’s success on the platform, I figured he would be a good person to help discuss this area in more detail…

Paul Kirtley delivering #AskPaulKirtley Episode 62
#AskPaulKirtley 62: Fires On Rock, Group Morale, Dangers of Wood Smoke and The Differences Between Traditional Scouting and Modern Bushcraft

#AskPaulKirtley 62: Fires On Rock, Group Morale, Dangers of Wood Smoke and The Differences Between Traditional Scouting and Modern Bushcraft

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The appropriateness of having campfires on rock, what to do when group morale is low, a recommended magnifying glass for lighting tinders, the dangers of exposure to woodsmoke from campfires and the differences between traditional Scouting and modern bushcraft…

Tree ferns and mountain ash in the Dandenong Ranges, Victoria, Australia
Wild Wanderings 11 – The Dandenongs: Strangers In A Strange Land

Wild Wanderings 11 – The Dandenongs: Strangers In A Strange Land

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The Dandenong Ranges or simply, the Dandenongs, are a range of hills near Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. I’ve been to the Dandenongs before but I wanted to return because the forests there are simply magnificent. The slopes and in the gullies of this area are characterised by towering mountain ash, a.k.a. stringy gum, Eucalyptus regnans, and rough tree ferns, Cyathea australis but within this canopy there is much more to explore, a lot of it strange in one way or another….