BS: Secrets of Traditional Skills

Subject: BS: Secrets of Traditional Skills
From: GUEST,Arbuthnot
Date: 16 Feb 04 - 12:31 PM

Just found this little item on how to make moonshine -   http://www.bullnet.co.uk/auctions/product_16648.htm

Wonder how many other traditional skills you aren't encouraged to know can still be got from books, apart from bomb-making?

Subject: RE: BS: Secrets of Traditional Skills
From: Thomas the Rhymer
Date: 16 Feb 04 - 02:47 PM

...like not being ashamed of being hardworking and happy?

Subject: RE: BS: Secrets of Traditional Skills
From: katlaughing
Date: 16 Feb 04 - 03:02 PM

You don't have to pay for an auction book to learn how to make moonshine; just search google and you'll find: The Story of Moonshine and How to make moonshine.:-)

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Secrets of Traditional Skills
From: Mark Clark
Date: 16 Feb 04 - 03:32 PM

Kat, Thanks for the link. The great thing about your second link is the three original recordings in RealAudio format including Bascom Lamar Lunsford's original Mountin Dew and George Tucker singing Kentucky Moonshine. George Tucker was featured at the Chicago Folk Festival one year. I still have the 45 RPM single he was selling of Bright Morning Stars. Ralph Stanley was featured that year too and was so moved by Tucker's rendition of Bright Morning Stars he recorded it as well.

I hope others take time to listen to the songs.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: BS: Secrets of Traditional Skills
From: Folkiedave
Date: 16 Feb 04 - 03:33 PM

For my sins I was a customs officer. I came across moonshine once about three days into the job when we raided a house in Manchester. The guy was producing "rum" for the West Indian community (this was 1963) in Manchester/Birmingham etc. Silly bugger crashed a car full of hooch outside the SIB in Buxton(SIB = Special Investigation Branch) who all came rushing out to help him. Found the hooch in the car and sent Customs in Manchester to take a look.

He had a 50 gallon oil drum around a worm and was using a wash of all sorts of fruit of the sultana raisin variety. The remarkable thing was that his gas bill was about £50.00 per month!! The stuff he made varied to the drinkable (as measured by proof) and the highly undrinkable. Clearly he had no real control of what he was producing. Prefer the factory made stuff myself.

Regards,

Dave
www.collectorsfolk.co.uk

Subject: RE: BS: Secrets of Traditional Skills
From: Mark Clark
Date: 16 Feb 04 - 03:44 PM

I decided to include a link to another piece I posted sometime back about the way stills were built in Tennessee.

As Dave suggests, the quality of ’shine can vary a great deal but the best of it can be very good indeed.

      - Mark

is this it? - joe clone -

Subject: RE: BS: Secrets of Traditional Skills
From: Amos
Date: 16 Feb 04 - 03:51 PM

That dog won't hunt, Mark -- it is written locally and uses an obscure .cfm call that won't respond for some reason.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Secrets of Traditional Skills
From: GUEST,petr
Date: 16 Feb 04 - 03:54 PM

one thing to watch out for is to discard the inital batch that comes out of the still, as it is methyl alcohol (leading to death or blindness) so you definitely want to know what youre doing.

Subject: RE: BS: Secrets of Traditional Skills
From: curmudgeon
Date: 16 Feb 04 - 03:56 PM

Hence the custom of pouring off the first cup "for Jesus."

Subject: RE: BS: Secrets of Traditional Skills
From: GUEST,Coppersmith
Date: 16 Feb 04 - 04:29 PM

Now then - what did Coppersmiths do ?

Subject: RE: BS: Secrets of Traditional Skills
From: sian, west wales
Date: 16 Feb 04 - 05:48 PM

In the early days of the 20th century the only 'cash money' that was doing the rounds in my mother's home village was generated by moonshine. The Law said that the village had to have a sheriff. My grandfather (lovely man - lots of rude parodies of respectable songs and hymns; wish I'd writ them down) was the village drunk in a village of drunks. Therefore, the village elected him as sheriff ... because he was the least likely person to close the stills down and dry up both the livers and the cashflow. I like to think of this as Government for the People, by the People.

I had a friend whose Dad was, by trade, a freedom fighter in the Ukraine prior to WWII. My friend said he was kinda like a boyscout leader, as he had a gang of youths in his care. But when he taught survival skills, he taught USEFUL stuff like how to escape mounted police in a crowd ... Don't suppose a lot of that can be found on the 'how to' shelves at the bookstore.

sian

Subject: RE: BS: Secrets of Traditional Skills
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 16 Feb 04 - 06:38 PM

allegedly stale catpiss is useful for disrupting mounted police... oops, now where did I get that from... :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Secrets of Traditional Skills
From: Bobert
Date: 16 Feb 04 - 07:11 PM

My name's John Lee Pettimore
same as my daddy and his daddy before
hardly ever saw granddaddy 'round here
only come a town 'round twice a year
he'd buy a hundred pounds of yeast and some copper line
everybody knew he'd make moonshine...   

Well, the revenue man wanted grand-daddy bad
headed up the holler with everything he had
it was before my time but I've been told
never came back from Copperhead Road...

(Steve Earle)

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: Secrets of Traditional Skills
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 17 Feb 04 - 05:15 AM

There's a whole generation missing now, and it's rapidly becoming too late to note down these skills.

The sort of skills my parents and grandparents taught me are dying out. If Limpit wants a new dress, she'll buy one. I suspect that of all the children in her school(about 500), I'm one of the few parents who could make her school uniform from scratch. If her future lessons are geared towards her getting a career, when will she learn to be self sufficient? They don't do needlework any more, or Domestic Science - they do 'fashion', 'design' and 'Personal Sciences'. I forsee the next generations being unable to cook for themselves and unable to clothe themselves. Every meal will be bought ready made, or ordered takeaway; clothing will be off the peg, fabric shops will diminish even more than they are now; food poisoning will be rife as children don't seem to learn good kitchen habits or how to cook properly.

These are just skills to live - the skills used to create and care for things (woodworking, animal husbandry, proper building & roofing techniques, etc) are disappearing faster than we can record them, and with them is going the pride and care we took in our work. Why do you think the job market is suddenly interested in older workers? These are the people who still know how to create and care, who still have the 'work ethic', the knowledge that there is no such thing as something for nothing.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Secrets of Traditional Skills
From: GUEST,Ed
Date: 17 Feb 04 - 06:00 AM

There's a whole generation missing now, and it's rapidly becoming too late to note down these skills.

John Seymour did a good job with his book: The Forgotten Arts and Crafts.

Sadly, it appears to be out of print now.

Subject: RE: BS: Secrets of Traditional Skills
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 17 Feb 04 - 08:24 AM

LTS wrote: Why do you think the job market is suddenly interested in older workers?

'taint so over here, older workers = ex-workers. They are the long term unemployed (& older can mean anyone over 40!!)

Maybe as Oz is a copycat place it will be a trend & by the time I take early retirement in 3 years, I'll easily be able to find part-time work.

sandra, listening to flap, flap, flap of wings as a flight of pigs go by.

Subject: RE: BS: Secrets of Traditional Skills
From: Rapparee
Date: 17 Feb 04 - 08:46 AM

Shucks, the "Foxfire Books" list such trad skills as moonshining, still building, making your own dulcimer, how to make gunpowder from scratch (old manure and stale urine are good ingredients), quilting, fold medicine and lots of other things.

Each of my nieces and nephews know how to make wine and whisky -- after all, we own my grandaddy's still (the worm's got a split in it, but that's fixable). They have been taught to hunt with flintlocks and bow, and can set a decent snare or catch a fish using a gorge as well as rod and reel.

But even such traditional skills as thatching a roof required a thatcher, if possible.

I've found that these skills are NOT lost -- they're just so bloody expensive that the ordinary person can't afford them. So you either learn them or forget about them.

Subject: RE: BS: Secrets of Traditional Skills
From: Mark Clark
Date: 17 Feb 04 - 02:23 PM

JoeClone, Yes, that is the story I meant to link in my post above… or at least one of them. It turns out I've posted that story a couple of times and you linked the earliest instance. The faulty link should have been to this instance of the story. I found the story using SuperSearch and it returned a link with a message number but no thread number. You'll see the working link here does refer to the same message ID no.

Now if you ask why I posted the same story twice, I have only my advanced age and failing memory to blame.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: BS: Secrets of Traditional Skills
From: ReeBop
Date: 17 Feb 04 - 03:33 PM

I guess that you would call me one of the young ones, but I was taught many crafts and skills growing up. (I'm not saying that this something that you see a lot here) My school had a program where we made dulcimers...my grandmother taught me how to quilt and crochet...my mother made sure that I know how to mend my own clothing...etc

But, when it comes to some skills such as knitting and crocheting, it is definately cheaper to buy a sweater at wal-mart than it is to buy that yarn to make may own. I remember when we needed a half-knit scarf to use as a prop in a school play. We went out and bought a scarf off of a corner stand and unraveled it rather than buy the yarn and half-knit one--because the scarf was cheaper than the yarn!

I would love to learn more traditional skills, though. If anyone knows where I could around NYC, please let me know. )I want to learn everything!)

Subject: RE: BS: Secrets of Traditional Skills
From: Megan L
Date: 17 Feb 04 - 05:33 PM

I'd never thought about it till now but i guess i did learn a lot from my folks. Dad had me mending shoes as soon as i could hold a hammer (leather of course) not so much fun with modern shoes. Our soldering iron was heated over a primus stove and you had to remember to use flux. He was an engineer building steam locomotives then on to the clydeside, yet he mended clocks and watches when he got home, such fine work for such strong hands.

Mum worked leather for bags, wove cane baskets and sisal stools. She taught me to make frocks and like all the women in our church made things to be sold at the sale of work(yes in those days it wasnt just another name for a jumble sale)

Subject: RE: BS: Secrets of Traditional Skills
From: Bill D
Date: 17 Feb 04 - 07:36 PM

I knew a woman years ago who was learning to raise rabbits, knit,cure meat, and make wine from 'interesting' things...like tea. It is possible to learn everything from blacksmithing to barrel making if one is motivated. (I do woodturning, but not on the old treadle lathes that would wear me out in no time...tried it ONCE. There's something to be said for modern tools in many cases.)

Subject: RE: BS: Secrets of Traditional Skills
From: Homeless
Date: 18 Feb 04 - 04:18 PM

Rapaire - I've read some of the Foxfire books, and while they are great for documenting how life used to be lived they generally don't give you all the information you need in order to create the project that they cover, let alone learn the craft. I've tried a few different projects in them (including the dulcimer) and found that there were one or more key pieces of information missing in each project. I always had to go elsewhere for knowledge in order to finish the project.

Subject: RE: BS: Secrets of Traditional Skills
From: Rapparee
Date: 18 Feb 04 - 07:08 PM

I've made things from them, Homeless, that worked okay. I haven't tried the dulcimer, though. Their recipes for 'shine should work, though.

But the thing is, you can go elsewhere. The knowledge isn't forgotten or hidden away. I have a book at home, "Dick's How The Did It In The 1880s" or some such name, that even tells me how to make nitroglycerin. I certainly do NOT intend to do any such thing (it could be a REAL blast!), but the how-to is there. From milking a cow to carving plaster ornamentation, the knowledge isn't lost, although it can be expensive.

Subject: RE: BS: Secrets of Traditional Skills
From: Sttaw Legend
Date: 18 Feb 04 - 08:17 PM

Coppersmiths

Subject: RE: BS: Secrets of Traditional Skills
From: Sttaw Legend
Date: 18 Feb 04 - 08:19 PM

Thought I'd mention it again - Coppersmiths

Subject: RE: BS: Secrets of Traditional Skills
From: LadyJean
Date: 18 Feb 04 - 11:21 PM

For several years, I sold Rainbow Socks. These are socks that are knitted by refugee women in what's left of Yugoslavia. The money made, less a 5% profit for myself, went to the women, who were having a tough time.
It occurred to me, more than once, that we are well supplied with poor people in this country, and that a similar program might benefit them. But there isn't much demand for sand art, and most people aren't trained to take time and effort to make something.

Subject: RE: BS: Secrets of Traditional Skills
From: Gervase
Date: 19 Feb 04 - 08:16 AM

Don't go knocking the coppersmiths as a bunch of piss-artists! They also made the church weathercocks, the alembics for the local phamacist and the posh copper pans for the big houses, as well as any number of bottles and bowls. Tricky stuff, copper - has to be repeatedly annealed when you're working it, otherwise it gets very brittle. And it's the very bugger to cast.