pgandy
Moderator
Senior Forumite
Posts: 10,296
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Post by pgandy on Aug 31, 2016 22:20:35 GMT
I could go for a knife like that. Fortunately for the pocket book I am well set at the moment. Thanks I'll definitely keep that in mind.
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Post by jwest on Sept 1, 2016 0:05:37 GMT
Came here to post about the Skrama but I see Mok beat me to it. I've been looking at the Terava stuff for a few months now. Also a big fan of Varusteleka.
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Post by MOK on Sept 1, 2016 13:23:56 GMT
Nowadays, our cups really runneth over, regarding selection of quality bush knives at all price points. Condor, CS, Ontario, and so many other brands have been getting into the game. Yeah, there's some really good and surprisingly innovative stuff out there. Although at the same time, all the best things are also surprisingly simple and conservative. A well weighted and balanced blade, just large enough for the heaviest task it's intended to do, made of good steel treated right, with a subtly shaped handle that's comfortable to grip in a number of ways, no superfluous bells and whistles - that really describes all the best offerings on the market, and it's a formula that's worked since the Paleolithic!
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Post by demonskull on Sept 1, 2016 19:19:04 GMT
Nowadays, our cups really runneth over, regarding selection of quality bush knives at all price points. Condor, CS, Ontario, and so many other brands have been getting into the game. Yeah, there's some really good and surprisingly innovative stuff out there. Although at the same time, all the best things are also surprisingly simple and conservative. A well weighted and balanced blade, just large enough for the heaviest task it's intended to do, made of good steel treated right, with a subtly shaped handle that's comfortable to grip in a number of ways, no superfluous bells and whistles - that really describes all the best offerings on the market, and it's a formula that's worked since the Paleolithic! And I thought I was one of the oldest guys here. :D
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Post by MOK on Sept 1, 2016 20:04:29 GMT
Remember, technological ages are only very loose categories and there's a lot of local variation. For example, my personal prehistorical period covers the early 1980s...
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Post by bluetrain on Sept 1, 2016 20:52:29 GMT
I've been tempted to buy a pocket axe myself.
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Post by howler on Sept 1, 2016 22:48:52 GMT
Nowadays, our cups really runneth over, regarding selection of quality bush knives at all price points. Condor, CS, Ontario, and so many other brands have been getting into the game. Yeah, there's some really good and surprisingly innovative stuff out there. Although at the same time, all the best things are also surprisingly simple and conservative. A well weighted and balanced blade, just large enough for the heaviest task it's intended to do, made of good steel treated right, with a subtly shaped handle that's comfortable to grip in a number of ways, no superfluous bells and whistles - that really describes all the best offerings on the market, and it's a formula that's worked since the Paleolithic! OMG, they had good steel treated right in the Paleolithic? Just kidding (I know what you meant) . Agree with everything you just said.
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Ifrit
Member
More edgy than a double edge sword
Posts: 3,284
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Post by Ifrit on Sept 3, 2016 1:50:13 GMT
My survival pack contains a pretty big kukri (big as my forearm), a buck combat knife and a Swiss Army knife. That is my preferred combination. While this is hypothetical, there is no reason why I wouldn't have all three, as opposed to just having one or two of them.
I would prefer something specialized to the situation, but these three give me the versatility I need
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Post by bluetrain on Sept 3, 2016 2:46:03 GMT
Ultimately the reason is, you can't take everything with you, which leads us back to the point of the thread. Of course, you're the one who's going to carry everything, so take whatever you want. In my own experience, pack weight seems to jump from 20 pounds to 40 pounds without even thinking about it. It takes a lot of thought to get the weight back down--or a lot of carrying if you don't.
Frodo carried just one sword, didn't he? Personally, I want a knife just like Jungle Jim carried, the one that he killed crocodiles and leopards with. There aren't any animals like that around here but the way things are going, I figure it's only a matter of time.
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Post by howler on Sept 3, 2016 5:18:38 GMT
Ultimately the reason is, you can't take everything with you, which leads us back to the point of the thread. Of course, you're the one who's going to carry everything, so take whatever you want. In my own experience, pack weight seems to jump from 20 pounds to 40 pounds without even thinking about it. It takes a lot of thought to get the weight back down--or a lot of carrying if you don't. Frodo carried just one sword, didn't he? Personally, I want a knife just like Jungle Jim carried, the one that he killed crocodiles and leopards with. There aren't any animals like that around here but the way things are going, I figure it's only a matter of time. Hell, just an exacto blade would be a nightmare for poor Frodo, what, with that damn ring. It all probably starts with a light fixed blade, like a mora, as there is no reason not to bring that. Time in (and type of) environment, and, of course, how you get there (maybe just a car camping trip, for instance) will dictate the need for more cutting tools. If it is wet and freezing and your in the woods, a boys axe or at least a sturdy hand axe. Warmer, dry areas, a large knife/machete would work. A day backpack in the woods, a thicker fixed blade is good. A little swiss army paired with a mora and large bush knife/machete is a real good combo (with only the bush knife/machete being the real weight burden).
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Post by bluetrain on Sept 3, 2016 10:58:08 GMT
It seems like all the reality survival stories on television start with a trip on a jetliner and take place somewhere that most of us would pay money to spend time there. In this country, probably half the land is either cleared or desert and has no trees. For the whole world, way more than half of it is not even land. Bilbo left home with neither a sword or pocket handkerchief and he made out all right. Of course, he had friends and he was lucky, too.
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Post by AndiTheBarvarian on Sept 3, 2016 11:33:12 GMT
There's no way for me to survive outdoors, so my not-survival pack would contain a salami milano, a pocket knife and a bottle of bourbon, perhaps two. But the pocket knife can be a CS Espada xl. ... and of course a rope, you always could need a rope!
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Post by bluetrain on Sept 3, 2016 19:22:10 GMT
Samwise Gamgee thought you should always take along some rope on one's travels, too. But take heart!
The outdoors isn't all that rough (it ain't all that great, either, sometimes). Dealing with the weather would be the most difficult part for anyone. And anyway, it isn't like you'd necessarily have to be out of doors in the first place. The deep dark woods are not filled with all sorts of dangerous creatures, although there will be insects aplenty, but there are plenty of them in the house, too, and besides, your eyes get used to the dim light and it becomes a cool and quiet place to relax in the shade. An axe might be handy but the sound of chopping carries a long ways.
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Ifrit
Member
More edgy than a double edge sword
Posts: 3,284
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Post by Ifrit on Sept 3, 2016 20:07:44 GMT
There's no way for me to survive outdoors, so my not-survival pack would contain a salami milano, a pocket knife and a bottle of bourbon, perhaps two. But the pocket knife can be a CS Espada xl. ... and of course a rope, you always could need a rope! I like your thinking. There is my survival pack. Bourbon.
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Post by howler on Sept 3, 2016 20:41:17 GMT
It seems like all the reality survival stories on television start with a trip on a jetliner and take place somewhere that most of us would pay money to spend time there. In this country, probably half the land is either cleared or desert and has no trees. For the whole world, way more than half of it is not even land. Bilbo left home with neither a sword or pocket handkerchief and he made out all right. Of course, he had friends and he was lucky, too. The Hobbits didn't even have shoes. Think the movies were shot in New Zealand. An elf (or whatever) never gave me a sword, but then again, I'd just drop it in Mt. Doom.
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Post by howler on Sept 3, 2016 20:44:36 GMT
There's no way for me to survive outdoors, so my not-survival pack would contain a salami milano, a pocket knife and a bottle of bourbon, perhaps two. But the pocket knife can be a CS Espada xl. ... and of course a rope, you always could need a rope! I like your thinking. There is my survival pack. Bourbon. Beer is strictly car camping gear (8 times the volume and gets warm). There was a rock climping scene with Clint Eastwood and George Kennedy in the Eiger Sanction, however.
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Post by howler on Sept 3, 2016 20:54:10 GMT
Samwise Gamgee thought you should always take along some rope on one's travels, too. But take heart! The outdoors isn't all that rough (it ain't all that great, either, sometimes). Dealing with the weather would be the most difficult part for anyone. And anyway, it isn't like you'd necessarily have to be out of doors in the first place. The deep dark woods are not filled with all sorts of dangerous creatures, although there will be insects aplenty, but there are plenty of them in the house, too, and besides, your eyes get used to the dim light and it becomes a cool and quiet place to relax in the shade. An axe might be handy but the sound of chopping carries a long ways. In wet, freezing woods (particularly winter like), an axe (boys type size) would be a necessity to get to the dry center of large logs. No messing around in freezing conditions, so the weight penalty of the axe goes out the window in favor of raw power, to get a large wood fuel source. Can you imagine someone trying to minimally bush craft with a small folder slipping out of their frozen fingers while trying to whack at the wet, frozen bark of a dead tree (because the small branches are too wet)?
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Post by bluetrain on Sept 4, 2016 13:38:04 GMT
Oh, I doubt any elf or dwarf would give me a sword or an axe, either, but it'd still be nice to meet one. I never know what to say when I talk to anyone half-way famous or important anyway, even if I have to give them a ride across town, which I have had to do. And another thing, what do shoes have to do with it?
Now, why are we out in the woods again? You know of course that if it's freezing, the woods won't be wet and among other things, it also means there won't be any mud in the usual places where it always stays wet and that's a good thing, sorta. Deep snow is probably the most difficult condition I've ever had experience with (say, about fifteen to twenty inches). Going anywhere when it's like that is exhausting, unless perhaps if you have snowshoes. Nobody here has snowshoes because we only have deep snows like that every two or three years at the most.
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Post by MOK on Sept 4, 2016 14:09:48 GMT
I'm having serious trouble correlating the phrases "deep snow" and "fifteen to twenty inches".
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Post by bluetrain on Sept 4, 2016 14:39:32 GMT
Everything is relative; this is the South, which itself is relative. In Florida, schools close when there are snow flurries. In Minnesota, they only close schools when the temperature is above 70, never because of snow.
Or so they say. How deep is deep? How high is high? How sharp is sharp? And what are we doing running around in the woods again? The answer may be critical, although there is a danger of it resulting in more questions and so on and so forth.
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