What eight tools make a "Proenneke Package"?

I am sitting now and talking with Taylor about an idea.

If a person wanted to come and do the ant village thing (or deep roots) and they wanted to do it "Proenneke style" then maybe one piece of "candy" would be eight tools that Dick Proenneke would use.

What are those eight tools?

Surely:

- an ax
- a draw knife
- a saw
- chisels

What else?

Brace and bit or some sort of auger.

paul

a trauma first aid kit. Not joking. And a fire extinguisher. Was there not an incident when Proenneke cut himself really badly in the early days of the book?
We have a small pouch with clotting agent and trauma padding that is mandatory to have on hand when using the chainsaw.

Mokotaugen or Crooked knife would be very high on my list. Eight tools might be enough and for me, this is what I would choose.

Axe
Draw knife
Crooked knife
Larger 1" chisel
Bow or cross cut saw
Hammer (small sledge)
hand drill (with 1" and 1/2" bits"
Tape measure

I would need more than 8.

All listed plus files and stones to care for tools.

Froe And/or rip saw
Gouge or two
Scribe or marking gauge
Multiple saws: rip, cross or miter, and bow with multiple blades
Adze?
Block and tackle gear
Tin snips

It depends on what they plan to pull off.

Shovel, mattock and heavy bar for digging. A really sharp mattock can be used as an adze and for limbing softwoods.

A tool kit for tool care:

You cutting tools are only as good as the edge you can put on them. No point having good knives if you can't maintain them.

I'd also add in a basic shave horse and basic pole lathe. Yes you can make them with hand tools if you don't have them, but having a shave horse speeds up lots of wood shaping tasks.
I'd maybe add in a few hours basic instruction on the various tool uses and care as well.

Decent rope.

spoon gouge/crook knife - you can make cups, bowls, ladles, utensils etc... to kit out a kitchen in a few evenings relaxing by the fire carving.

Also, do you have any blacksmithing facilities on site?

I did a one day blacksmithing course and on a simple forge in a small workshop we made some great bits and pieces in little time:

Chunky hooks to hammer into posts to hang heavy tools, adjustable tripods for hanging pots over fires, ornamental pokers etc...

Exploring this chaps forge was fascinating as well - bar the anvil itself pretty much every tool was custom made in the workshop. It was a great example of bootstrapping -> tools making tools to make ever more sophisticated products.

Access to a forge on a "bring your own metal and charcoal" basis would go a massive way towards making independent living feasible. Hinges for heavy doors and gates, pretty much anything for fitting out a home interior that could be made from bent or shaped metal etc... And the metal itself can often be found as scrap to be re-purposed.

well I would think of: axe, froe, small sledge hammer, chisels, tong/plier, draw knife, saw, hand drill.
and a part from tools a first aid kit and cast iron pan/skillet

I asked Steve for a list.....

bucksaw 28"-30" blade (and files)
axe 5" sideax on 19" straight handle
knife 5" Mora/frost
drawknife (best with shaving horse)
froe
1" and 1/2" chisel
1" and 1/2" T auger? brace?
1" and 1/2" gouge


plus.... a rifle, canoe, rope, forge, anvil, hammer.......

Hello all,

In the latest podcast - https://permies.com/t/47255/permaculture-podcast/Podcast-Wilderness-Story-Dick-Proeneke - Paul and Evan talk about building the way Dick Proeneke built his cabins in AK. He packed in basic tools and made the handles for the tool heads.

My question is what tools would you recommend for a round log type jointery for the structure? Furniture and bowls/utensils also? My search found everything from 3"wide timber framing chisels to small hand carving gouges. Any other hand tool suggestions?

My "everything I can think of" list.

small stuff - pencils, scratch awl, squares, chalk line, levels

Rip saw - Suggested saw size? length?
Crosscut saw - same
Bow saw - same

Chisels and Gouges - length, width, straight and bent. Corner chisel?

Draw knife - sizes?

axe heads - maybe a special offset, weight, style?

Hole drilling - ?


Anything to avoid?


One would make mallets and any tool handles on site. (Paul, are there any hardwoods at the Lab?)

I thought there was a post already about a suggested tool kit list, but I didn't find it. Maybe the professionals can shed some light. I hate buying the wrong tools. Buy once, cry once.


Thanks, L. Daniels

Hello All,

I think Judith's list looks really good, and each one has its merits. Some of this is specific to the individual "tool user" as well. I would suggest folks reading all the little "tidbits" on google at Proenneke tool Package.

Something that really seems to be glaringly absent (unless I missed it...) is the mandatory assortment of stone/hone/strop to keep these tools in working order. Without those, these tools are worthless in short order, and/or only have as good an edge as the sharpening they get, and in turn..."only work as well as they are sharp."

Wonderful subject...

Regards,

j

Note perhaps a "must have" but really nice to know its in my pocket...Carving jack

A list of Proenneke's actual tools was:

1 a rip saw
2 a cross-cut saw
3 two auger bits (no brace-he made the handles out of spruce)
4 a draw-knife
5 two flat socket chisels (made the handles out of spruce)
6 a gouge chisel
7 a combination square
8 a set of dividers
9 a double bitted axe
10 a mallet (that he made out of spruce in the field)
11 a hammer
12 an adze
13 a trowel
14 a pocket knife
15 saw files
16 an oil stone
17 a pair of tin snips
18 and later a jack-plane from his bush-pilot friend that he restored to working condition

This is a pretty minimal set of tools for what he was able to do. Most people I don't think have the knowledge and skill set to do what he did even with as many tools as he had. So limiting it to 8 less than Proenneke would be pretty hard.

If I had to limit myself to bare minimum I come out to 13 tools. 10 if you don't count the knife, saw files, and water stone

1) double bitted axe
2) draw-knife
3) cross-cut saw
4) rip saw
5) hammer
6) adze
7) auger and bits
8 ) flat socket chisel
9) gouge chisel
10) combination square
11) fixed blade knife
12) saw files
13) water stone

Trying to lower the count,

Substitute the 2 saws, with one single large buck saw. 36" or so. Leave out the water stone and find a stone in the field to sharpen with. Leave out the gouge chisel and make due with the flat chisel. That still leaves me with 10, 2 over the 8 tools idea and I really would not want to try and cut anything else out of the list, or even go down to that few.

Framing chisel - Draw knife - Corner chisel sharpening - www.barrtools.com








L. Daniels

You can do OK with just a pocket stone, but if you want to get your tools to the point where you can shave or split paper, you need to finish off on a higher stone grit and maybe even a buffing compound with a strop. Since water stones can be expensive, a better option (if you're afraid of the investment or you won't be sharpening often) is to use (wet/dry)? sand paper on glass. This is still more expensive than water stones in the long run though, because the paper will rip. Paul Sellers explains this technique in the video.

never heard of Proenneke Package, I do have 15 of the 18 items.
I will not be moving to The Great White North of Call of the wild!
I like a little snow now & then, but I love harvesting carrots, onions,turnips, greens all Winter long, without a greenhouse.
So I am going too watch the video, but stay in zone 8.
Thanks for the infomation on Mr. Proenneke.