The Blackwater Woodsman Guide
All 12 chapters and 101 designed pages of the Blackwater Woodsman Guide on your phone: the axe, the knife, the edge, the shelter, the knots, the fire and the map, with steps, measurements and a pass-or-fail standard for every technique.
Open the guide in your browser
Works in Safari or Chrome on any phone, tablet or computer, with no download. Chapters 1 and 2 are free to read. An unlock code opens the rest.
For iPhone, iPad and Android. Get it on Google Play. Coming soon to the App Store.
Read the chapters in order, run the drills, and check the field cards when you need them.
What it is
The Blackwater Woodsman Guide app is the complete advanced bushcraft guide, offline. It is not a thin list of tips. It is the full 12-chapter book with 44 illustrated techniques written as 228 numbered steps, a practice drill and a field check for every chapter, full-text search, saved pages and private notes. Chapters 1 and 2 are free, one $2.99 unlock opens the rest for good, and it works with no signal, no account and no subscription.
It was written by Rodney Thompson of Blackwater Outdoor Journeys, who paddles and camps the blackwater rivers of South Georgia and North Florida, and it teaches woodcraft for wet ground and tea-colored water. Learn it at the kitchen table, practice it in the yard, then carry the same pages to camp.
Inside the app
Every chapter opens with the outcome you are working toward and lists what you need. It ends with a rule box, a safety box, a practice drill and a field check.
Chapter 1
Build a woodsman’s awareness practice that turns observation, patience, resourcefulness, resilience, and stewardship into daily field habits.
Chapter 2
Choose, inspect, carry and use an axe for controlled notching, limbing and splitting of wood that is already down, and know why felling a standing tree needs a trained instructor.
Chapter 3
Use a fixed blade with calm control to make tinder and clean utility notches while keeping every part of your body outside the blade path.
Chapter 4
Choose a sharpening system, raise and remove a burr, sharpen a knife and axe with a steady angle, and maintain both edges in the field.
Chapter 5
Choose a safe blackwater campsite and pitch a tarp that sheds rain, blocks wind, vents moisture, and leaves little trace.
Chapter 6
Tie and inspect the five core camp knots, tension a line, and lash two poles into a dependable field joint.
Chapter 7
Select sound wood and build a stable stool, camp table, cooking tripod, and drying rack with notches, lashings, gravity, and safe camp layout.
Chapter 8
Choose a fire lay for the job, make an ember with a bow or hand drill, manage the fire with purpose, and use a coal to hollow a small wooden vessel.
Chapter 9
Identify a suitable fiber, process it without damaging the stand, reverse-wrap a dependable cord, and make a simple bark or gourd container.
Chapter 10
Identify a small set of plants with care, harvest only when it is legal and sustainable, and handle plant food and minor first-aid questions without guessing.
Chapter 11
Read a topo map of blackwater country, orient yourself with land and sky, and travel a planned route when electronics are unavailable.
Chapter 12
Use a resilient decision process, run a low-impact camp, and pass on woodsman skills without damaging the place that teaches them.
How it works
Read each chapter in sequence, or search the complete guide for a tool, task, knot, plant or decision and open the exact page. Save the pages you need again.
Mark illustrated cards complete as you go and run one drill for every chapter. Practice history and private notes stay on your device.
Field checks bring the main rule, a realistic scenario and the safety stop together.
A page from the guide
This is how every one of the 44 techniques is written: numbered steps, the measurements that matter, and a standard you can pass or fail.
The standard. Pass: the bowline stays a fixed loop, the taut-line slides only when deliberately adjusted, and the trucker’s hitch holds tension with two half hitches. Fail: a loop capsizes, a hitch creeps under a gentle load, or the tail is lost in the knot.
Safety box. Never use these camp knots for climbing, rescue, suspension, or fall arrest. Keep hands clear while tensioning. Do not burn cord ends near a tarp, tent, fuel, or dry leaf litter. Cut cord away from your body, and keep the knife sheathed when it is not in your hand. Do not stand on poles that rest on the ground, because they can roll. A tight line can fail suddenly. Lower the structure before retightening a shifting joint.
Who it is for
What it is not
It is an educational reference, not emergency service, professional instruction or medical advice. Felling a standing tree needs a trained instructor, camp knots are never for climbing or rescue, and you should never eat or use a wild plant on an app's word alone. Laws, closures, fire rules and conditions always come first.
One lifetime unlock
Chapters 1 and 2 are free. Pay once through Google Play and the rest of the guide opens for good. No subscription, no account. Restore it on a new phone with the same store account.
Private by design
Reading progress, saved pages, practice history and field notes stay in the app's private storage on your device. Read the privacy policy.
Built in South Georgia
Blackwater Outdoor Journeys is run from St. George, Georgia, filming real camping, paddling and fishing trips in the Okefenokee, the Satilla, the Suwannee and the St. Marys. Camping Wilderness Skills is its training community. Some illustrations in the guide are AI-generated where marked.
Meet Rodney → See the CWS field guides → The Camping Wilderness Skills trip-planner app →
Questions
It is the complete Blackwater Woodsman Guide, an advanced bushcraft field guide, as an offline app for iPhone, iPad and Android: 12 chapters, 101 designed pages and 44 techniques covering axe and knife craft, sharpening, tarp shelters, knots and lashings, camp furniture, firecraft, natural cordage, plants with strong safety limits, navigation, mindset and Leave No Trace. It is built by Rodney Thompson and Blackwater Outdoor Journeys in South Georgia.
The download is free and includes chapters 1 and 2. One lifetime unlock for $2.99 opens the other 10 chapters, paid once through Google Play. The App Store version is coming soon. There is no subscription and no account.
Yes. The whole guide and every illustration are inside the app, so there is no download after you buy it and no signal is needed. Search, saved pages, practice tracking and notes all work in airplane mode.
Axe safety, stance and controlled cuts; knife grips, feather sticks and notches; sharpening a knife and an axe; choosing a campsite and pitching a tarp; the bowline, taut-line hitch and trucker's hitch with pole lashings; no-nail camp furniture; fire lays, bow-drill and hand-drill practice and coal-burned bowls; natural cordage and bark and gourd containers; careful plant identification and ethical harvest; topographic maps and sun and star navigation; and a decision process with a complete Leave No Trace camp.
Yes. Each of the 44 techniques is written as numbered steps with measurements and a pass-or-fail standard, and each chapter has a practice drill and a field check. You are meant to work the skill, not only read about it.
No account, no ads, no analytics and no tracking. Your reading progress, saved pages, practice history and private notes stay in the app's private storage on your own device.
Android phones and tablets through Google Play, with the App Store coming soon. It also runs in Safari or Chrome on any phone, tablet or computer, with no download.
Yes. Open campingwildernessskills.com/woodsman/app/ in Safari or Chrome. Chapters 1 and 2 are free to read. An unlock code opens the rest of the guide on up to three of your devices, and once it has loaded it keeps working with no signal. Unlock codes are $2.99 at our booth at outdoor events.
Use it as a field reference and practice with care. The guide puts a safety box on every chapter and says plainly where an app is not enough: felling a standing tree needs a trained instructor, camp knots are never for climbing or rescue, and you should never eat or use a wild plant on an app's word alone. It is not emergency service, professional instruction or medical advice.
The store age rating is 13 and up, because the guide covers tools, fire and plant questions, including minor first-aid information. Younger readers should use it with an adult.
They are separate products. The Camping Wilderness Skills app is the trip planner with offline maps and the AI Coach. The Woodsman Guide is a standalone book-in-an-app: free to download, one lifetime unlock, no account, nothing to sign in to.
Install Blackwater Woodsman Guide from Google Play with the same store account and restore your unlock in the app.
Email support@campingwildernessskills.com or open the support page. Include your device, the app version and the chapter and page where the problem happened.
More help: support · privacy policy · terms of service.
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