Enhancing the oldest method of generating Bitcoin wallet possible?

[VRExpress]

The only passphrase I've used is via a hardware wallet.
I feel like I will consider the oldest method of generating a recovery seed.

The catch is how will you add passphrase to a recovery seed you generated offline?
No hot wallet, no hardware wallet😭😭😭😭😭😭

Enough is enough

[BlackBoss_]

The only passphrase I've used is via a hardware wallet.
I feel like I will consider the oldest method of generating a recovery seed.

Old or new, if it is a good method, a secure one, you can use it, otherwise you must avoid it.

The catch is how will you add passphrase to a recovery seed you generated offline?

Both wallet seed phrase and wallet passphrase (custom words) are parts of wallet creation and recovery. If you set up a wallet with a wallet passphrase, you will need it together with wallet seed phrase for recovery.

Losing either wallet seed phrase or wallet passphrase (custom words), you will not be able to recover a same wallet, and will lose your bitcoin.

No hot wallet, no hardware wallet😭😭😭😭😭😭

There are hot wallets and cold wallets (like hardware wallets), and if you don't want to use both hot wallets and cold wallets, you won't be able to use bitcoin.
Air gap wallets are cold wallets too.

[Charles-Tim]

I do not think this a relevant question. If it is not a hardware wallet, that means you want to setup the wallet on an airgapped device and you will use a desktop wallet for it but which will not connect online like this one:

https://electrum.readthedocs.io/en/latest/coldstorage.html

You will be able to add passphrase to it on the airgapped or offline device just as when you are using the wallet online, but offline.

[BlackBoss_]

I do not think this a relevant question. If it is not a hardware wallet, that means you want to setup the wallet on an airgapped device and you will use a desktop wallet for it but which will not connect online like this one:

https://electrum.readthedocs.io/en/latest/coldstorage.html

You will be able to add passphrase to it on the airgapped or offline device just as when you are using the wallet online, but offline.

Cold storage is good but it's only if a wallet is generated by a good wallet software so that wallet seed phrase generated with enough secure entropy.

How to create a cold storage wallet in Electrum.
How to set up a Bitcoin Air-Gap computer?
The ultimate paranoid airgapped offline laptop.

[Designer-Cry]

What do you mean by the oldest method here: generating a seed on an offline computer, using dice, or something else? A concrete example would make it easier to discuss how you want to add the passphrase.

[BlackHatCoiner]

The catch is how will you add passphrase to a recovery seed you generated offline?

How did you create the cold wallet? Use the same device to recover the seed phrase, and recover a wallet with the seed phrase + a passphrase instead. You can try with a fresh Bitcoin wallet and see how the passphrase works on your preferred wallet software, if you're afraid with recovering the old one.

Also, the title makes no sense (there is no such thing as "oldest method of generating Bitcoin wallet").

[ActivityPractical]

What is the main reason you want to move away from your hardware wallet: avoiding reliance on a particular manufacturer, understanding the process yourself, or something else? That would help explain what you want the proposed setup to improve.

[MisFoxie]

In my opinion since you want to keep everything offline, you can make a USB  pendrive bootable using Tails OS and generate a seed phrase offline using the iancoleman tool in it.

Of course you have to turn off your internet connection. And after generating the seed phrase and writing it down on a piece of paper, remove the usb pendrive from your desktop it will wipe everything including every activity so your data will never be backed up in the system.

After generating the seed phrase you will boot again using the USB pendrive and enter that seed phrase in Electrum wallet (tails os comes with electrum wallet inbuilt) then just add a strong passphrase and you will get a hidden wallet which in my opinion will be highly secure just as you want.