One of the pesky traits of the wooden handled Mora knives is their lack of grip when wet. One could acquire a Mora with a rubber handle, but, let’s face it: those are ugly. Instead, I cut a piece of 700x35 bicycle inner-tube about an inch wide and slide this just less than halfway on to the handle. The grip is immediately improved. If you were so inclined, you cut a piece the length of the handle and cover the whole thing, but so far it seems that this small piece is enough.
As with the rubberized BIC, this also provides another way to carry tinder that will work even when wet (though it will require a lighter or candle to start).
Here’s a neat trick I picked up from Dusty’s YouTube video. In the video, he shows how to use a couple of old bicycle inner-tubes to make a semi-waterproof pouch for a BIC lighter. That didn’t appeal to me too much: I always carry a BIC in my pocket and his idea added to much bulk for my liking. But, at the end of the video, he cut a smaller piece of inner-tube to make a sort of sheath for the lighter.
I thought that was a great idea. It gives you a nice, rubberized grip for the BIC and provides a simple way of always carrying waterproof tinder.
I’ve now cut off pieces from a 700x35 bicycle inner-tube and made this modification to all my lighters.
The Fallkniven DC4 is one of the more popular pocket-sized knife sharpeners, particulary among bushcrafters, due in no small part to patronage by Ray Mears.
The technique that Ray Mears uses to keep his stone from moving around is to create a frame by hammering 4 small nails around the stone into a log. This works, but, over on the Equipped to Survive Forums, I picked up a better idea: simply cut up a bit of non-stick rubber padding.
This padding is sold in rolls and meant to be placed between carpets and hard-wood floors to prevent the carpet from moving around. The stuff that I use is actually meant to line shelves and drawers. The only different between it and the carpet padding is that the shelf and drawer stuff has smaller squares and a tighter mesh.
I find the padding to be much more convenient that the nails. It’s easier to deploy – you don’t have to take the (albeit small amount) of time to hammer in and then remove the nails; the pad works just as well on a rock as it does on a log; and the pad does not get in the way when sharpening, as the nails will sometime do.
For storage and transportation, I simply wrap the pad around the DC4’s sheath and secure it with a rubber band.
I still carry the small nails in the bottom of the sheath just in case, but I think the pad is a better way to go.
Last week, my Oakley glasses broke, cracking right down the center of the nose piece. I had had them for only a year and a half, which is not very long for a pair of frames. I would have expected to have had the same set for twice that amount of time. Such an event does not bode well for Oakley or my opinion of the quality of their product.
An attempt at repairing the glasses by taping them back together failed. I needed to buy a new pair of frames. Luckily, I was able to take advantage of a sale and acquired two pairs of frames for the price of one, which makes the otherwise obscenely high price of glasses more reasonable. This also gives me a backup pair in case I bust my primary set again.
(This time around, during the period between breaking the Oakleys and receiving the new pairs, I was able to use an older pair of frames with a weaker prescription that I had saved. I should have also been able to use my Revision Sawflys with clear lenses installed, but I have not kept the prescription in the insert up to date. This will be addressed for the future.)
Both the new pairs of frames that I chose had advertisements on either side of the arm. Clearly, that would not do. I grabbed the handy-dandy Sharpie sanitizing tool out of my EDC and, in a few moments, had the problem addressed to my satisfaction.
The sanitation job with the Sharpie is evident when inspecting the frames up close, but, at a distance, from where most people are standing, it is not to be noticed. I’ve also found that the ink will wear off over time. It will have to be reapplied every few months. The small effort is worth it, though, as it helps to clean the environment for all those around me.
Today I went on a longer bike ride than the previous day. I didn’t want to carry the size or the weight of my FAST Pack EDC, so I grabbed the Kifaru E&E. I use the E&E as my alternate EDC bag when I need something smaller.
The items in the E&E are simply transferred over from the EDC items in the FAST Pack, but not every item makes the cut. This is a more minimalist setup. All level 1 and level 3 EDC items remain the same.
Here’s another great idea that I gleaned from scanning the BackpackingLight Forums: using the plastic container from an old bike tube patch kit as a soap bar container.
Whole soap bars tend to be far too large and heavy for any but the longest of travels. Cutting up a bar of soap to make it smaller is easier enough, but prior to this I had never come across a correctly sized container to package it in.
This container is perfect. It measures in at 3.25” x 1.75” x 0.9”, weighs 2.5 oz when full, and holds about 1/3rd of a bar of Dr. Bronner’s Bar Soap. I wrap a rubber band around it for added security.
I took a break during today’s bike ride to dump out all the gear I had on me and snap a few photos. For the most part, this is representative of what I have on me every single day. There were a couple items in my pack that aren’t normally in there, but I noted those on the Flickr photo page.
It’s a very simple device. The top screws into a camera’s standard tripod socket and the bottom slides onto the tapered end of a trekking pole. You can then set the camera’s self timer, hold out the pole, and take a self portrait. Or pretend that you’re Les Stroud and shoot a little video. Overall, an ingenious little device.
My initial worry about the StickPic was that it would fall off the tip of the pole, taking my camera for a tumble down the side of a mountain. So far, that has not been a problem. You can jam the StickPic on the tip of the poles pretty tightly, and also loop your camera’s wrist strap around the pole above the basket for added security.
I usually carry a Joby Gorillapod with me and keep the attachment doohickey for that screwed into my camera’s tripod socket. Switching that out for the StickPic takes only a few seconds.
The Gorillapod is overall a more versatile device, but fails to address the problem that StickPic primarily concerns itself with: when you are alone, in an alpine environment, with no conveniently situated tree branches to wrap the Gorillapod around or perfectly sized boulders to set it on top of.
In terms of size and weight, the StickPic wins out. It weight 0.3 oz, compared to the Gorillapod’s 1.5 oz.
So far this summer, I’ve been carrying both. They each address different needs and only weigh a combine total of 1.8 oz. Not much weight for the extra versatility added to your photography arsenal.
