Amazing shelters "primitive" skills can produce, ancestral knowledge meets modern ideas

Hey folks, I have been busy working on my homestead and only have internet when I come into town. So I haven't been participating too much on the forum. I have been reading threads some, but just don't have the time to spend like I used to. I am visiting family and so have been catching up on the internet a bit which some might have noticed spurred a rash of new posting from me and joining in thread conversation more. I found something I just had to share, and hope you all like it.

While watching a youtube video I saw an interesting video in the recommended section to the side. Clicked and was just amazed. Not even finished I opened the channel and saw the maker had a lot more videos similar.

Here is the 1st video I came across


BTW this is just the beginning of this build, in later videos he adds on more and more. Really making this a super deluxe shelter.

The channel name is Tube Unique Wilderness https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJjheeAVwFB0S5HlWbBwIfQ/videos
And he has some amazing shelter builds as well as some crazy food vids.

Now this stuff reminds me a bit of a channel we all are probably familiar with, Primitive Technology https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAL3JXZSzSm8AlZyD3nQdBA/videos and if not well worth checking out, but this new discovery is taking things a lot further. Taking luxury western living and using "primitive" shelter making skills to duplicate what might be seen in multimillion dollar homes.

But this was just the tip of the iceberg, there are more channels like this. I started to notice in the recommended section other similar videos but from other channels. At first I assumed it was the same guy with different channels, but when I started checking the videos out. I found they were completely different channels.

Here are just a few of the ones I found.
Building Skill https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpNH_wHy-5JI4vNlWhu60Gg/videos
Survival Skills Primitive https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChUP6B_3zcdFYZnOdMM21og/videos
Brave Wilderness Primitive https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1DknEnT8P0Pvls8LpE3aVA/videos
Primitive Skills https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs8DNFOxYen3kuj87aWKG9g/videos
Primitive Technology Ideas https://www.youtube.com/user/stockytheduke/videos
(who I had been subbed to already back when they had just started out, but had missed their evolution into a rather prolific channel.)
Primitive Life https://www.youtube.com/user/laws507/videos *edit, Had to add this channel to the list just because it was so awesome and I had missed posting it

There are just too many amazing videos to pick others to post here, I would end up just filling this post with amazing videos. These channels listed vary a bit, some are more hunting and eating wild foods, others more shelter building, others more inventive primitive technology. They all have some awesome content, and are worth checking out to see how simple materials can achieve amazing things.

There are a bunch of similar channels that are just the hunting and eating of "exotic" foods. I am sure if you start down this rabbit hole of youtube channels you will discover a lot more, just as I did. I just wanted to cover the basics here and focus on the ones that had amazing crazy shelter building and primitive technologies.

Amazing thing too, a lot of these videos have 8 million + views already. The channels have millions of subscribers. So these channels are very popular.

As my brother pointed out, these folks have resources we don't in these rain forests. From abundant vines for lashing, to choices of wood for poles, and so much more. However I still think the skills, inventiveness, and ingenuity demonstrated in these videos can hopefully inspire us to up our game for building "primitive" shelters. After watching some of these videos I have a hard time calling them primitive, they are complex and sophisticated. What we are doing out in the woods with some of our best bushcraft shelters is primitive, but what these folks are doing is building modern shelters with "primitive" skills.

Not all of these shelters are built with practicality, durability, or safety in mind - most are done for entertainment purposes only, and the builders don't live in them or build their own houses this way.

The techniques/inspiration are good, though, and I love the Primitive Technology videos!

I agree , I've loved watching different "primitive tech" YouTube channels.

There was a cistern with a water filter with sand and charcoal , the concrete for the cistern was all made primitive method. I thought wow this would be great to water cattle.

I'll look for the video later. I think these videos are informative for homesteads and the permies people. You can take an idea an update it or use modern tools to make labor easier.

I also think they are good projects for kids to do on the homestead for fun. It's like extreme camping . Out in zone 4 or 5 or on the edge between them (as to not disturb zone five ) to go out and make a shelter over a few weeks or months. I've seen some amazing buildings and pools and kilns built , they would make the ultimate fort for a kid. If these videos and YouTube was around when I was a kid I know I would have tried to replicate some of the things I've seen.

Good thread .

My daughter loves these videos!
I hope to do simple lashed sapling structures with her this summer, inspired by the projects we have seen.
Mind you, I will use wire or jute, Im not willing to make my own lashing, yet.

Dustin Rhodes wrote:Not all of these shelters are built with practicality, durability, or safety in mind - most are done for entertainment purposes only, and the builders don't live in them or build their own houses this way.

The techniques/inspiration are good, though, and I love the Primitive Technology videos!

I agree, they are not all practical. Some definitely temporary and built more as entertainment than functionality. However the skills involved even in the entertainment ones are worthy of admiration. Some of the stuff however is very possible to be lived in or lived in with slight adaptation. Remember that what we consider livable is not the world wide standard.

This guy, if he is not living in this place, has at least built a working functional home and farm. Including a water powered hammer, rice paddy, even iron works.

T Sousley wrote:I agree , I've loved watching different "primitive tech" YouTube channels.

There was a cistern with a water filter with sand and charcoal , the concrete for the cistern was all made primitive method. I thought wow this would be great to water cattle.

I'll look for the video later. I think these videos are informative for homesteads and the permies people. You can take an idea an update it or use modern tools to make labor easier.

This might be the one you are thinking of



Or there is this one



And this one is desalinating, getting fresh water and salt at the same time



While indeed some of the stuff is entertainment and less practical, there is a lot of very practical stuff in these channels as well. Even the shelters that are less than practical have a lot of skills and ideas in them that could be used to make more practical shelters.

I think it is awesome these folks are sharing these skills and knowledge, especially for people who have lost their traditional skills long ago and can only trace traditional skills back to after the iron age. There is a lot of lost knowledge to be picked back up. Even if it is only used making an amazing fort/play houses with the kids. These are important skills to keep alive and pass down to newer generations so they aren't lost.

I added another channel I had missed, Primitive Life.

It was too good of a channel to not have in the list above. He is working with a lot more permanence. Using stone work and primitive concrete.

I found this video last night and thought I would share it on this thread. It is a psych explanation why we like to watch the videos produced by Primitive Technology.



Of course the maker of this video assumes we are just the typical couch potato who doesn't get outside.  So mileage might vary for those on this forum.

I know plenty of you roll your eyes at the impractical shelters in some of these videos. How some of these channels are just playing for entertainment of westerners who don't realize that these shelters are not going to hold up or last.

The biggest thing some of these less practical channels do for me, is show just what is really possible. While plenty of it is not so practical the skills and knowledge could be used to do more practical and still very impressive bush shelter stuff.

Too often I think people rely on the same handful of shelter ideas without thinking about what they might be able to do to make a better design. While some of this is due to these repetitive designs being tried and true structure designs. I also think it is difficult for people to break out of a rut and think creatively.

That is what I loved about this site http://100wildhuts.blogspot.com/ Which started with pretty basic designs but quickly broke the mold and got creative. Sadly he never reached the 100 mark, and only got to hut 21

For example the hut 21 is a round shelter with staggered bunk beds, that is just awesome innovative thinking in shelter building



My point being that there is likely some amazing shelter designs we can be coming up with. While most will end up being one offs, and not useful for others except as inspiration, some might actually be useful designs that can really help folks who are into bushcraft and primitive skills. We can take some inspiration from these channels as well as from things we learned from the past shelters and even toss in some modern ideas with some pure creative ingenuity.

Which is why I titled the thread on other forums "We need to up our bush shelter game folks" since it is pretty obvious there is a lot of unused ideas on shelter building out there that could be utilized. Who knows one of us might end up inventing a shelter design that takes off and becomes the go to bush shelter for the future bushcrafters.