Old school skills, have any?

I thought since I'm at the end of my lunch, I would quickly ask if anyone has any 'traditional' or 'old school skills' like wood working by hand, cabin building, hand made cabinetry construction, knitting, sewing, crocheting and the like. Who knows, maybe skills could be traded!

I "knit, crochet and sew" abominations that get scrapped, but the thought is there. I'm an author and poet. It's not really an old school or traditional skill, mind you.

GLad you're at the end of your lunch and not the end of your rope!

I think many of us here are proud that we have the old school skill of raising and processing our own food! There are also very many highly skilled gardeners on this site who put up their garden crops in many ways.

Incubating eggs and learning how to identify egg development with a flashlight (candling) is a pretty specific skill and while most people here do it, I think we are still a vast minority of the general population.

Heck! HEating your home with Big,Ugly Wood can be considered an old school skill, especially if you have felled, bucked, split and stacked it by hand. But that is one old school skill that plain gets old...putting up 8 cords of firewood every year! We're tired of it!

I think you'll find lots of old schoolers around here that maybe don't consider themselves old school. It's just the way they do things. It's how life is. I look forward to what others have to contribute.

Still living and learning,but so far I knit, crochet, weave, spin, dye, art pastels on suede board animals all the way, make cheese, butter,milk goats, raise chicks , just started pottery long way to go with that one LOL, sewing horse items and clothes.
just a few.

For myself, I would say I have a few old school skills. I do the following:

Hunt and process most of my own game I skin and dry hides, and would love to learn taxidermy
raise my own poultry
grow my own garden
bake bread, cakes, cookies from scratch (many might not classify this an old school skill, but for me it is as many people my age no longer do this!)
sewing
canning (I can my own meat, pickles, vegies, potatoes, jams and jellies, pie filling, tomato sauce, salsa, and will be trying mushrooms this year
We are in the midst of getting set up to start doing some farming with horses, mainly as a hobby, but still an old school skill. We already train our own horses, and are looking into breeding a few (Tennessee walkers and Canadians), and I trim my own horses feet but want to learn how to shoe them properly. Although this year I had a farrier come and trim most as the preg belly gets in the way! LOL
I also do a little knitting, and crocheting, but mainly just the basics of this.
Will be milking cows, and hopefully learning how to make cheese, yogurt, ect.
I also can braid leather, or nylon rope, and am in the midst of learning to tie rope halters.

I knit mittens and have knit hats and sweaters in the past. We grow a vegetable garden every year, hatch, raise and eat our own poultry. When we owned cattle, I milked cows, separated the milk and cream with an old fashioned cream separator which we still own, and made cheese on one occasion (though it didn't turn out all that great). I also enjoy writing - mostly poetry.

I'm a dry wall taper ho was taught by old school men ho did lath and plaster and I do it to some times

I make my own gang lines for my sled teams.
I also can braid leather horse tack and such. Some pretty cool braids, up to 12 plaits. Flat, square, rectangular, round, alligatored, smooth etc.

When I have time I do woodwork. I like to start with rough cut lumber. I've also done some mechanical work, electrical wiring and black and white photography with an old fashioned camera with the cloth over the photographer. I usually split firewood every day and look after the farm animals.

Interesting post idea!
Horses are someday to be our primary source of income, so much of the skills my Hubby and I possess are central to that. Riding/training, trimming feet (not especially well or fast, and only in a place like this where there aren't any good farriers), breeding/foaling and general husbandry. I did take a driving class while attending Olds College, and very much enjoyed it. One day I hope to run a chore team. Smoky, you should share your horse farming escapades when they begin, I know more than just myself would be interested!

I grew my first "all by myself" garden last year, in the midst of a flood. That was interesting. Canned some pickled beets for the first time as well.

I have so far knitted exactly one half of a chore scarf Oh well, winter has been mild so far anyway.

Hunting and tanning hides was something I learned as a youngster, we do pioneer re-enactments so I have some degree of wilderness experience. My favorite firearms are percusion cap muzzle loaders (traditional, not those inline things.) Have a bit of gunsmithing and amunition reloading experience as well.

Raising and prossessing chickens!

The highly valued (though certanly not lost) art of Baler Twine Repair.

I would also sugest we list some skills we'd like to aquire?
Some of myne: "Horse farming"
Wood joinery
Saddlesmithing
Bettering my minute Farrier skills

Arcticsun wrote:I make my own gang lines for my sled teams.
I also can braid leather horse tack and such. Some pretty cool braids, up to 12 plaits. Flat, square, rectangular, round, alligatored, smooth etc.

Now there's a skill I would absolutely love to have.

Swamp Hen wrote:Hunting and tanning hides was something I learned as a youngster, we do pioneer re-enactments so I have some degree of wilderness experience. My favorite firearms are percusion cap muzzle loaders (traditional, not those inline things.) Have a bit of gunsmithing and amunition reloading experience as well.

Tanning is something I want to do this year. We have a few coyotes that are already a little brave around the house; I think they're watching the barn cats. I'm not one to kill anything, but if it comes down to it, I would like to get as much use as possible from the carcasses. Their meat I could give to the cats and dogs, and I do some skull/bone carving (new hobby), so their structure would also be utilized. Brain tanning is something I'm interested in, and though I've read books, I'm a hands on person.

rosewood wrote:When I have time I do woodwork. I like to start with rough cut lumber. I've also done some mechanical work, electrical wiring and black and white photography with an old fashioned camera with the cloth over the photographer. I usually split firewood every day and look after the farm animals.

I'm trying to compile a list of antique woodworking tools to grow a collection of so I can try my hand at planing lumber and all the rest.

Well, I don't have any other skills that the rest of you don't possess, though as I already mentioned in another thread, I do run a pie making business. Most people actually don't know how to make a delicious, flaky pie pastry anymore. My Nana taught me and I've been doing it for about 10 years. I sell around 50 pies per week, but it is very seasonal. Like now, for example, I probably won't sell much at all until Easter. Then it's pretty full-on right through summer till next Christmas.

My hubby, however, revolves his life around an old-school skill! He is a full time blacksmith (NOT farrier, the two are very different). He hand forges hot iron over the anvil to create works of art or functional "stuff" that people commission. You can check out his website for fun. But now the forum will not let me post an external website. Strange. Anyway, the web address is reimerandco.com but I cannot post the link here.[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Quite the talented bunch on here.

Hmm. I can build a chicken run out of pallets and an egg candler out of a coffee can and a shop light. That has to count right?

It all depends on who you are talking to, grin. I ran across a web site on window farming...all hydroponics and pumps and stuff. To those folks, going up the back road on a Saturday morning to gather a huge bag of Keiths beer cups and planting tomatoes in them would seem old school. Nice little started tomatoes they are too, grin. I suspect we can all do some old school stuff. We don't think it's old school, cause we've been doing it all our lives, and so have some of the neighbours. We are in a very windy, exposed location and I wanted a lawn chair that wouldn't blow away...so I trained a cherry tree into a shape that fits me. 25 years later, it's a huge, sturdy lawn chair. Lovely place to lie off with a good book and listen to the birds sing. Most folks here know how to set stone too, build things with stone. We built a stone walk and a garden wall. The neighbours built a retaining wall for where they cut their driveway into a hill. My Mom and I did one when I still lived at home....Mom was the oldest kid, so my Grandfather taught her how. Mom taught me.

jocelyn wrote:We are in a very windy, exposed location and I wanted a lawn chair that wouldn't blow away...so I trained a cherry tree into a shape that fits me. 25 years later, it's a huge, sturdy lawn chair. Lovely place to lie off with a good book and listen to the birds sing.

I don't know about everyone else, but I sure would love to see pictures of this! It sounds beautiful. I don't have any of those skills.

Hopeful Farm wrote:My hubby, however, revolves his life around an old-school skill! He is a full time blacksmith

Blacksmithing is on my list of 'old school skills' to learn. I'm in total awe.

Flicker Chick wrote:Hmm. I can build a chicken run out of pallets and an egg candler out of a coffee can and a shop light. That has to count right?

Of course it does! I wouldn't even know where to start.

I've potted for ages but its kind of fallen by the wayside with the new house here.

I can hay an acre field by hand, including cutting, turning, collecting, transporting and stooking all by myself with a grass cutter, rake, quad and trailer, using only 12 man hours and a whole lotta sweat.

Sue

Schipperkesue wrote:I've potted for ages but its kind of fallen by the wayside with the new house here.

I can hay an acre field by hand, including cutting, turning, collecting, transporting and stooking all by myself with a grass cutter, rake, quad and trailer, using only 12 man hours and a whole lotta sweat.

Sue

! That, indeed, sounds like something I would enjoy. Where does one get hand tools like that? I can't find a sickle for the life of me, even at an antique shop.

I fix up old schools.


Really, I don't know if I would call it a skill. I pick away at stuff. I tanned a hide once just to see how. I should do some more to get better at it. I garden and cut wood. Do a bit of rough carpentry. Built a mud room onto the house, made a built in cabinet inside, made a headboard for daughter's bed. Got some woodworking tools and books for Christmas and I'm having a go at carving. I'll take some pics of my first attempt as it goes.


This is our bedroom mid-renovation. I used to paint but these days I just do it on our walls. I built a new closet and doubted my ability to make a nice seamless drywall job so I made it to look like a big wardrobe.

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Been residing the house with shingles. This is after the back was completed. You can see the mudroom sticking out and the porch and pergola were built around it. Old school? I don't know. I had to learn a lot of new stuff to do it. Going to have stones laid under the pergola (about half done that job).

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Sweetened wrote:

Schipperkesue wrote:I've potted for ages but its kind of fallen by the wayside with the new house here.

I can hay an acre field by hand, including cutting, turning, collecting, transporting and stooking all by myself with a grass cutter, rake, quad and trailer, using only 12 man hours and a whole lotta sweat.

Sue

! That, indeed, sounds like something I would enjoy. Where does one get hand tools like that? I can't find a sickle for the life of me, even at an antique shop.

Lee Valley has sickles, but I can't sharpen one for the life of me, so I use a Husquevarna grass cutter. Looks like a heavy duty gas powered weed wacker but with a metal blade. Even with the power assist the actual cutting took me 8 hours because I mas meticulous about making neat swaths- and you couldn't cut too much at once. The hay was way too thick. Last year was a banner year for hay.

Sue

Wow - this is so interesting! I love old school skills and have acquired a few - soap making, fresh white cheese (would love to learn how to make soft cheeses), spinning and weaving although I sold all my looms when I moved to the Okanagan, canning, I'm a pretty good baker of gluten free products, landscape design(I have a certificate in design and horticulture), I've installed my own irrigation system, stone carving, scratch board (this is a very old skill- takes forever!), I've been a professional photographer and now I paint in oils.

The skills mentioned above include so many I want to try. So much to do! So little time! It agitates me that I don't know basic things like hand sharpening knives and tools, woodworking by hand, skinning and tanning, pottery and so on. I think the skills everyone has shared here will be able to be used if the worst of the worst happens. Me? I could only offer basic computer repair to computers that don't matter if all goes wrong.

Well, you know, you learn one new thing each time you have the mental energy for it, and by and by, you realize you can do a bunch of stuff. If you are building a stone wall, gravity will tell you if it's OK. If it falls down, you pile it back up again. By and by, you learn that an arch is stronger than a straight wall, and that leaning it back a bit at the top helps too...then you also learn that if you only need to hold back 3 feet of dirt, a straight wall is strong enough. There is good enough, and artizan level. Good enough does for most times, and artizan level comes after doing it a while. The actual process of learning can be a lot of fun. When you've been doing whatever it is a while, you start to notice how others have done that, and are able to learn from just looking.

Jocelyn

LoL, nice Jocelyn.

And Fowler, looking good. But where are the chickens?! All that green grass wasted!

Hopeful Farm wrote:Well, I don't have any other skills that the rest of you don't possess, though as I already mentioned in another thread, I do run a pie making business. Most people actually don't know how to make a delicious, flaky pie pastry anymore. My Nana taught me and I've been doing it for about 10 years. I sell around 50 pies per week, but it is very seasonal. Like now, for example, I probably won't sell much at all until Easter. Then it's pretty full-on right through summer till next Christmas.

My hubby, however, revolves his life around an old-school skill! He is a full time blacksmith (NOT farrier, the two are very different). He hand forges hot iron over the anvil to create works of art or functional "stuff" that people commission. You can check out his website for fun. But now the forum will not let me post an external website. Strange. Anyway, the web address is reimerandco.com but I cannot post the link here.[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I linked on through this site your husband does fantastic work very very nice