Make a Rawhide Pack Basket

This is a primitive skill that my old survival mentor taught me.  He said that was how some Native Americans made their pack baskets.  I’ve never seen one in a museum and I can’t find any documentation on the internet, but it does make a dandy pack; very light-weight, very strong, and comfortable to carry.  This would make a good trekking pack if you are a buckskinner, longhunter, or mountain man re-enactor.

The basic parts of the pack are two wooden hoops with rawhide netting made like the target hoop from my last post, and one wooden hoop without netting.  Of the two netted hoops, one should be pretty near round and the other should be more oval shaped.  The un-netted hoop should be oval shaped.  Pictured below:  The basic parts of the pack basket

To assemble the pack, take some wet rawhide and lash the two netted hoops together as shown below.

Now take the un-netted hoop and lash it to the two netted hoops as shown below, then set the whole thing aside and let it dry overnight.

When the pack has dried out take some more wet rawhide and net in the sides of the pack.  To do this you follow the same basic procedure that you use to net the hoops.  Pictured below:  One side of the pack basket netted in (the other side is secured with a rawhide thong to keep the drying rawhide from pulling the basket lopsided) Net in the other side and let it all dry.  You may want to add a twisted rawhide handle to the top of the pack basket to make it easier to pick up.  And here’s your finished pack basket:

Now we need some straps for the pack.  In my next post I will show you how to make a set of pack straps that are sewn together with real sinew using the old-time method of sewing.