SARCRAFT

SARCRAFT is an outdoor skills school based in Waleska, GA. We specialize in the areas of wilderness survival, bushcraft, and search & rescue training.

SARCRAFT is an outdoor skills school based in Cherokee County, Georgia. We specialize in the areas of wilderness survival, bushcraft, and search & rescue training.

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08/31/2026

These guys look like they're about to drop the sickest mixtape of 1993! (The photo challenge at the end was "pose like you're on a '90s album cover)

Last week, we had the pleasure of hosting the shift supervisor team from Dumaplast USA for our first corporate leadership & team building event of the fall season.

We worked on communication skills, shift cooperation, and after-hours team bonding with the outdoors as our classroom and a fire building challenge as our method.

The guys rounded out the evening with DIY campfire foil pack meals for dinner, as we shared a meal and reflected on lessons from the training.

We had a great time and they gained real value on how to improve their team dynamics.

We love doing custom leadership & team building events, and would like to do more of them! So if you or someone you know is in a decision-making role and would like to get your people out of the office and into the woods, drop us a line!

08/27/2026

COMMS IN 90 SECONDS: PACE PLANNING FOR CIVILIANS

Listen up y'all, this is an important one. You'll often hear us harp that all the offgrid comms gear and technology in the world is no good without a comms plan.

And one of the most critical cornerstones of a comms plan is PACE planning.

PACE stands for Primary, Alternate, Contingency, and Emergency, and is a four-layer system of redundancy used by the military and first responders to ensure that mission-critical systems will absolutely, positively work when it matters most.

It's used for many things, but communications is probably the best example. The great news is, you can do it too, and this video explains how.

Because I know we're going to get a million keyboard warriors in the comments saying "tHaT's nOt HoW i'D dO iT!!!1!1!", bear in mind that the illustration we discussed in the video is ONLY ONE EXAMPLE.

If you live in an area with no cell service, are discussing sensitive information, have your general-class HAM license, don't have a good GMRS repeater network, etc., your PACE plan will look different.

The important thing is to have one, communicate it clearly to members of your group, and test and train on it.

What does your comms PACE plan look like? Tell us in the comments!

08/26/2026

WILD EDIBLE WEDNESDAY: COMMON CATTAIL (Typha latifolia)

Today's plant for Wild Edible Wednesday is one of the big ones. If you're just starting out in foraging, bushcraft, survival knowledge, or general woodsmanship, you need to know cattail.

One of the most common semi-aquatic plants on earth, cattail can be found almost anywhere in north America. Hardy and adaptable, all it needs is some still, shallow water and it's pretty happy.

Its uses are way more than we can dive into here, but it's not called the Wal-Mart of the Swamp for nothing. Whether it's fire, food, shelter, or medicine, cattail has your back.

If anyone has a better way of processing the roots, whether it's roasted whole or refined into flour, let me know in the comments. Every time I've tried it, it's a muddy, fibrous, mess. Survival food for sure, but not appetizing.

This is an extremely prolific plant and hard to kill, and where you find it, you typically find a lot of it. So our advice is just to start experimenting with it. Try out the seed heads for firecraft, try your hand at weaving something with the leaves, and snack on it in season. It'll grow back quickly, and you'll have gained some knowledge.

Share this video with someone who needs to know about cattail, and follow us for more survival and foraging tips! Happy Wednesday!

08/24/2026

FORTY DAYS OF FIRECRAFT: DAY 8 - FERRO ROD VS FLINT & STEEL

One of the most common firecraft misconceptions I see, especially among beginners, is the confusion between a ferro rod and a flint & steel.

Now, if this were a one-off occurrence, I'd probably let it ride, but I have seen this literally hundreds of times over years spent teaching survival skills.

If you're a total beginner and don't know the difference, I'll cut you some slack - you are learning, and that's okay. But it still pays to know your tools.

But I have seen videos and articles by people who are experienced enough to know better on "how to use a flint & steel" who then proceed to pull out a ferro rod.

Irksome.

A flint & steel is just that - a piece of high-carbon steel and a hard rock with a sharp edge, usually something like flint, chert, quartz, or agate. It makes a small spray of low-temperature sparks that need to be caught by some sort of charred material and blown into flame. Flint and steel has been used for centuries, and has a pretty steep learning curve to get good at it.

A ferrocerium rod, sometimes called a firesteel or a metal match, is a soft metal rod made of an alloy called mischmetal that's a blend of iron, cerium, magnesium, and sometimes other metals. It was invented a little over 100 years ago, and makes a shower of high-temperature sparks when scraped with a sharp metallic object like a knife spine or a striker. It is also far easier, and can be used to throw sparks directly on tinder with no char needed.

So now, consider yourselves educated! Follow for more survival tips, and share this with someone who needs to know the difference between a ferro rod and a flint & steel!

Ferro rod: Exotac
Knife: Chris Elkins

08/22/2026

Well, it looks like last Wednesday's video on Sassafras struck a chord with a lot of y'all - 209k and counting, so far. ⁠
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We've received so many comments on the video that we dug up this Wild Edible Wednesday blog post we did way back in 2018 to share with y'all. It's a long read, but it's very detailed and addresses most of the questions and comments that we just didn't have time to talk about in a short form video.⁠
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Check it out here at https://sarcraft.com/sassafras-edible-and-medicinal-uses/

Enjoy!⁠
⁠

08/21/2026

COMMS IN 90 SECONDS: YOUR BAOFENG IS NOT A PREPAREDNESS PLAN

Here's one to satisfy all the Baofeng haters that love to show up in our comments.

Hopefully everyone understands that your phone alone is not enough when it comes to planning for grid-down and offgrid comms. I think we've moved past that point.

But hot take - neither is a radio. We're really not hating on the Baofeng specifically. We love it as a cost effective radio training solution for beginners. Everyone should have one. (Although once you've got the basics down, you REALLY should upgrade)

The broader point we're addressing here is what we call either the "gear safety blanket" or the "preparedness box checkmark" effect.

It's the same mindset of carrying a compass with no map and no land nav training. Or a medical kit that you've never even checked the contents of, much less trained with. Or a pre-made "go bag" in your vehicle with gear you've never used that isn't specific to your needs.

It's the warm fuzzy lie of "Well, I'll have it if I need it" with no experience or plan of using it. In radio, it usually shows up as throwing a radio in your bag with no idea of who you're going to talk to, on what frequency, or what time.

At that point, your radio is dead weight, regardless of whether it cost $35 or $350. Gear is only part of the equation. You need a comms plan, and you need to train on executing that plan so that when you need it for real, it's second nature.

Follow us for more Comms in 90 Seconds!

08/20/2026

FORTY DAYS OF FIRECRAFT: DAY 7 - THE SOLAR DEATH RAY

In our last Forty Days of Firecraft video, we talked about the pros and cons of the basic 3x5 fresnel lens that's found in most survival kits.

They're a great way to save your lighter fuel, matches, or ferro rod when conditions are good, but they can be finicky about when they do and don't like to work. Conditions have to be great, and it still takes a lot of practice.

Enter the Solar Death Ray: An 8.5x11 fresnel lens that harnesses the full force of our closest star to incinerate anything you point it at.

While it still has the limitations of any fresnel lens (it won't work after dark or in super overcast conditions), your margin of error is a lot larger, and it's far faster and easier.

And although it's big, it's still light and slim so it's totally reasonable to slip this into a bag behind your other gear. There's no particular brand we recommend and they can be had for under $20, so go get you one and have some fun! (Pro tip - they're often sold as a "full page magnifier")

Follow us for more Forty Days of Firecraft!

08/19/2026

WILD EDIBLE WEDNESDAY: SASSAFRAS (Sassafras albidum)

Today's plant for Wild Edible Wednesday is one of our coolest and most recognizable native understory trees.

Sassafras has a long history in both native and pioneer herbalism as a powerful anti-inflammatory and fever reducer. Sassafras tea was a mainstay of old folks in Appalachia as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and just general aches and pains.

It was also one of the ingredients in the original root beer, along with sarsaparilla, wintergreen, and/or black birch.

It's an ancient tree, with early subspecies showing up in the fossil record well back into the time lf the dinosaurs.

But if you want to make use of it, you need to harvest your own... because it's illegal to sell this plant.

Sassafras was the subject of a hit piece commissioned by a major pharmaceutical company back in the late '50s, with the goal of getting the tree removed from United States Pharmacopeia. It worked. The study claimed Sassafras caused cancer in lab rats, and it's been illegal ever since.

But here's the kicker that the "trust the science" crowd likes to ignore - the rats were injected (not how sassafras is consumed) with thousands of times the amount of safrole it would be possible to ingest (unrealistic to actual use conditions), and most importantly, the study has never been duplicated.

So use it and enjoy it, just like how your ancestors did. You'll be fine.

I could have made a much longer video on this tree and its uses, and how unique it is. So if you have another cool Sassafras fact, share it in the comments. Happy Wednesday!

08/18/2026

BASKETRY ESSENTIALS, 8/16/26

Swipe ➡️ to see all of the awesome baskets our students made in this past Sunday's Basketry Essentials class!

Our primitive skills instructor Jeff Gottlieb walked students though weaving two different styles of baskets, and with one exception, none of them had any prior experience. And all of their work turned out great.

This is a super fun and hands-on class that's great for all ages, and a very approachable introduction to primitive skills.

We will be offering this class again, so don't miss it when it goes on the schedule next time!

08/17/2026

HUNTING ESSENTIALS 8/15/26

This Saturday's first ever Hunting Essentials class was a lot of fun to teach, and a great introduction to the craft.

We had a small crew, but that allowed us a lot more time for questions and woods time than we would have had otherwise.

This was an "everything but the hunt" class, meaning we went over all of the basics of staying legal with licensing and tags, how to find land to hunt, what gear you really need, and the importance of hunting when it comes to conservation.

We spent the second half of the day walking the property, learning animal tracking, feeding/bedding/watering areas, tree and plant ID, and how to read the terrain to maximize your chances of success.

It was an awesome turn-key beginner class, and we can't wait to do it again.

Address

Cherokee County, GA

Website

http://www.SARCRAFT.com/

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