Making a Primitive Burn Bowl | Bushcraft Essentials

Knowing how to make a burn bowl is an excellent primitive skill to have under your belt, and best of all, it's fun and easy to practice making one!
What would you do if you found yourself in a survival situation and had no way of carrying or boiling water? Well, making a burn bowl is just one solution and it's easy enough so long as you're able to start a fire. Choose a suitable piece of wood, place hot coals on its surface and blow gently to keep the coals aglow until you find that they've burned deep enough to make a bowl. Depending on the dept you're seeking, this process can take several hours. Scrape out as much soot as you can, but don't be alarmed with the blackened edges... charcoal can actually be a great tool for helping clear toxins from your gut, so ingesting some won't hurt (unless you're experiencing constipation, in which case it could make the problem worse.) To boil water in a true survival situation, you'd simply throw some rocks in your fire, wait until they're burning hot, then place them into the water in your burn bowl to heat up the water. Once the rocks cool down, swap them out for the next bunch that are heating up in the fire. Repeat until your water has a reached a boil.
For this burn bowl, I used a chainsaw to help get the process started, then my Fiskars hatchet to knock out some more wood. I know, not very primitive, but it was just to get the process started. Perhaps in a future video, I'll do the whole thing using only primitive tools and primitive skills. But since this cedar log will be serving dual purposes - to demonstrate how to make a burn bowl, but then to also be carved into an actual wooden bowl that I hope to give to my wife as a Christmas present - I didn't want to bang up the edges of the bowl too much, so when I thought I'd chainsawed and chopped enough, I stopped and waited for the hot coals. That's when the true burn bowl experience began. All in all, this took me about 3 hours to make.
I hope you'll join along as I bushcraft this piece of cedar into a fine burn bowl (and in a future episode, continue to carve it into a wooden bowl fit for a kitchen!)
Eric ‪@GreybeardAdventures‬
------ Video Soundtrack ------
Communion by Brett Richardson
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons...
Music promoted on www.soundclick...
Little Prayer by Brett Richardson
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons...
Music promoted on www.soundclick...
This is Beef Broth by Gagmesharkoff
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons...
Music promoted on www.soundclick...
----- Keywords ------
#bushcraft #primitive #greybeardadventures #primitivelife #primitivetechnology #burnbowl #bushcraftadventure #fiskars ‪@FiskarsInEMEA‬‪@Fiskars1649‬ #survival #survivalskills #survivalseries #outdoorsurvival

[@catawampus3079]

I like to watch your videos while getting ready for bed - they feel very easygoing. My favorite part of this video was the tip about putting mud on the edge. What a great technique!

[@GreybeardAdventures]

Thanks so much for the kind comment! ☺️

[@theamazingoutdoors]

neat project. the ridges on the edge will provide some really interesting character to the finished project. Can't wait to see how it turns out!

[@GreybeardAdventures]

Thanks so much for checking it out. I’m looking forward to seeing the finished product too, haha! I’ve got my fingers and my toes crossed that it looks good 🤣

[@RealBradMiller]

Found a log with a weird burned indentation, and decided to make a bird bath, planter, animal feeder, or like incense holder or something... Nine seconds in and what my log looked like is what yours looked like! Feel like I'm on the right path!! Now I need to make burn troughs and bowls for little watering and feeding areas for wildlife now.

[@GreybeardAdventures]

It’s funny, I was thinking of doing another burn bowl but as a shallow bird bath! Glad to hear there’s someone else who thinks this would be a good idea. Thanks for watching my video and best of luck with your burn projects!

[@Anndyinthewoods]

Looks great so far! Can't wait to see how it turns out

[@GreybeardAdventures]

Thanks Andy!

[@gagmesharkoff8993]

From one Erik to another, wanted to say thanks for using my music in the outro. Very cool instructional.

[@GreybeardAdventures]

Hey Erik, thanks very much for checking out the video, I'm glad you enjoyed it. And thanks for making such great music! Keep it up!

[@carolannontario]

Love this! Looking forward to part 2

[@GreybeardAdventures]

Thank you!

[@unitytira4954]

Thank you for sharing this video. The burning method is interesting idea of carving. I am excited for the outcome on your part 2.

[@GreybeardAdventures]

Thanks for watching! I hope to get Part 2 up soon (it’s taken me far longer than I had planned to get around to it.) Stay tuned!

[@unitytira4954]

I will my friend

[@cheyenneblackfoot2935]

Interesting process! I remember my grandfather doing something similar

[@GreybeardAdventures]

That’s cool! Did he ever explain why he was making the burn bowl?

[@Rayzer2368]

“Just gonna give the coals a quick blow to get a fire going…dammit! Now I have to rename my KZbin channel!” 😂

[@GreybeardAdventures]

😂

[@janetporteous4794]

Loved this video’

[@GreybeardAdventures]

Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed it!

[@beautyofthebackcountry]

This is very cool - this bowl is going to be amazing! We've not seen this technique before...thanks for sharing!

[@GreybeardAdventures]

Thanks for watching! I’m keeping my fingers crossed 🤞🤞 that it turns out ok in the end!

[@ontinterests3604]

Good work can’t wait for part 2!

[@GreybeardAdventures]

Thanks! Part 2 hopefully coming soon 😁

[@guypageau7308]

C'est super cool ça!

[@GreybeardAdventures]

Merci!

[@liveandgrow]

Big fan of these!

[@GreybeardAdventures]

So much fun to make! Great campfire pastime.

[@gatodomatoacampamentoesobr7288]

Gosto muito deste tipo de atividades mateiras eselente vídeo amigo 🔥🔥👏👏Tmj

[@GreybeardAdventures]

Muito obrigado, eu realmente aprecio isso!

[@fieldguideoutdoors]

Nice work!! Hope it turns out!!

[@GreybeardAdventures]

Thanks! 🤞

[@michellefraser8374]

Luv it!! Wanna see the finished bowl how do I find it?? I bet ur wife just absolutely loved it!!

[@rubenskiii]

I hope your wife liked it, the bowl looks really cool just like that already. Combined with a hefty piece of wood with a rounded edge this would probably also make a neat mortar and pesttle. I have never tried any of these methods but would starting your bowl from the side (going with the grain i guess?) help with preventing splits?

[@GreybeardAdventures]

My wife loved it, even though I showed it to her before I was actually done LOL! I’m hoping to have the final product up on my KZbin in the coming weeks. 🤞

[@davescanoeingadventures]

That is going to look great when it's done. Does the act of burning the log actually help to seal the grain as well as remove material? Kind of like shou sugi ban wood burning helps to seal the surface. Also what finish do you plan on using?

[@GreybeardAdventures]

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it’ll look good. I think most people who carve wooden bowls would not start with a burn bowl - I simply thought it’d be fun to combine the two projects into one LOL! I’ve never carved a bowl, so this is new ground for me. We’ll see what happens. One thing is for certain: burning the wood hardens it, which made carving tougher than if I’d just started with fresh wood, so if I carve another, that’s what I’ll do.

[@johnsnyder4143]

Where is part 2?? Would like to see the finish product. 😕😕😕

[@GreybeardAdventures]

Hi John, thanks for checking out the video! I had hoped to get Part 2 up soon after this one, but life got in the way and I haven’t yet been able to finish the video. Check back though, it should be up before I start posting my Missinaibi River trip this fall. 👍

[@TruthIsTheNewH8]

What ever happened to part 2. I'd love to see tge finished bowl.

[@thomasdykstra100]

Hope you get around to that "second video" sometime (couldn't find it on your channel)?! Oh well...there seem to be a few others in the "side list' a little hungrier for subscriptions. "If a job is once begun, never leave it 'til it's done; be the labor great or small, do it well...or not at all."

[@GreybeardAdventures]

Thanks for checking out the first video. And apologies for not getting the second one up yet - life has been hectic and I’ve had other priorities. Doing my best to get it up sometime soon.

[@cawiltu]

Don’t hyperventilate and get dizzy. Thanks. I’m stuck with a very big oak stump. This looks like what I should do. And plant plants in it.

[@GreybeardAdventures]

Doing this with a big oak stump could be a fun project. Good luck!

[@homie-gtv322]

Primitive then starts off with a chainsaw

[@GreybeardAdventures]

I used the chainsaw to speed up the process since I was short on time, but I get your point and fully plan on doing another one with just primitive skills.

[@Bushmanschool]

Very nice video.I sub your channel and I waiting for new videos.Thumb up.

[@GreybeardAdventures]

Awesome, thanks so much man! I should be getting a new video up soon :) Stay tuned!

[@Bushmanschool]

@@GreybeardAdventures ok brother,I will

[@thegobots]

No part 2?