Modern rustic furniture developed out of necessity and much of it was built for camp settings in the wilderness. Many of the early explorers, trappers, and settlers to the new world were accustomed to European style furniture. When they travelled into the remote areas of North America, they found themselves cut off from such items and out of necessity, started to create their own.
These early creations were the beginning of todays rustic furniture. They began by using simple tools to utilize available material. Knowledge was also obtained from aboriginal people in terms of using new materials and techniques.
The tools used to create their rustic furniture probably consisted of an axe and a knife. These tools can still be used today to create functional furniture in a remote camping environment from available material.
Knowledge from aboriginal people played a large part in the development of rustic furniture by teaching the early Europeans to use new materials such as birch bark, roots (such as spruce root), animal skins and fur.
To begin a project a person would first harvest the raw material from the surrounding environment. An axe or a knife can be used to collect sticks, larger post, or twigs.
When choosing your type of material, keep in mind that dried material, such as dead standing trees, will save you time in drying. (Please refer to my article on "how to prepare wood" for further information) If you are going to use green wood, it is best to use a hard wood, since the bark can be left on and the sap is not quite as sticky.
An axe can be used to split the material, flatten one or more sides, or to make notches. A knife can also be used if you are using smaller material. To attach your material in the wilderness, you can use the roots of trees (white spruce works best in my part of the world). They can be harvested by cutting the root close to the trunk. It can then be pulled out of the ground by hand.
Once you have the root, it can be cleaned in water, debarked and split down the center, using your fingers, after its been started with a knife. The root should be used for lashing as soon as it is prepared, although it will keep its plyable properties for up to a week, if it is kept in water.
During the winter months it is impossible to harvest the roots if you live in the northern climate. During this time of the year rope can be used for lashing. Also, raw hide, a traditional material, can be utilized.
To produce raw hide, a person must first harvest a big game animal such as a moose or a caribou. Once the animal is skinned, the hide must be dehaired and cleaned. The hide would then be cut into strips and soaked in water to soften it. The hide strips would be used for lashing, when wet, and left to dry.
Raw hide is an excellent material to use because as it dries, it shrinks, and therefore tightens. It could also be used to make seats when webbed, like a snowshoe.
Raw hide can be purchased today from specialty shops which would save you a lot of hard work and the life of a big game animal. Other materials can be harvested in your camping location and will cause little to no harm to the environment.
Building rustic camp furniture can also be made easier by using the natural shapes of your material. You can also utilize the flexability of green material to shape it or create tension to help hold pieces together.
Creating rustic camp furniture can be a very rewarding experience and made easier today by bringing along modern technology ie. nails or rope. Developing the skills required to build this furniture can help lighten your load when you are travelling into the bush. It can also make your stay a little more comfortable.
For more information on how to build rustic furniture please look though my other articles. If you would like to see rustic furniture and other creations, please refer to my website.

www.unique-rustic-creations.com