A tubby suburban dad watching hunting and adventure shows
on TV and wondering could I do that?
This is the chronicle of my adventures as I learn to learn to Forage,
Hunt and Fish for food that has lived as I would wish to myself -
Wild and Free.
From the "whodathunkit" files: Dutch wildlife photographer Han Bouwmeester had been cutting up some meat hoping to bait a Golden Eagle into snapping range when the bird swooped and snatched up his Mora 510 and made off with it. At less than a tenner for the knife, a small price to pay for the shot of a lifetime!
The Daily Fail quote him as reporting
'I was happy with the absolutely cracking and unique picture. The eagle is holding it exactly as we should do with it. What a crazy once in a lifetime moment this was.'
More soon
SBW
There's an amusing debate that regularly gets an airing on the outdoor forums between the kind of guy who maintains: that a dullard GF is every bit as good as a smart one, all whisky tastes the same, and cheap outdoor gear mass produced by democracy protesters in slave camps is just as good as gear made by people who A have free time and B spend it outdoors, and those of us who know better. For some people any old crap will do, good luck to them.
From you-get-what-you-pay-for to good-enough, choices in outdoor gear are seriously contentious with brand loyalty sometimes so strong it can cloud judgement and latest-and-greatest so skilfully marketed that, to read the flowery prose, you'd wonder just how humanity survived so long without the yah-dee-yah-dee-ya-3000 and its attendant benefits.
As regular readers, the observant ones at least, will have noticed I'd rather live on beans and rice, bake my own bread, eat only road kill, and limit dates to 'dead certs' if it meant I'd have the cash to 'buy the best and only cry once'.
1. & 2. Boots and Bag - if you're not in one you're in the other. The only thing worse than a day of cold wet feet, is following it up with a night of shivering in a crappy sleeping bag. I've tried both on your behalf, trust me on this one, don't bother. To me unlined boots make a lot more sence than the insulated ones; as they are easier to dry out, and when you've worn through the lining lined boots are very hard to repair.
BOOTS
Money no object: I wear Lundhags Rangers which Nordic Outdoor do some great deals on [often not on the website ring for availability]. But if I really had the money I'd have a pair made for me either by Altberg of Yorkshire or Russell Moccasin of Wisconsin.
Bargain alternative:
The Northern Monkey wears Scarpa bought very heavily discounted from a market stall and loves them, I've never heard a good word said about US military issue boots [and lots of words unfit for family viewing] but the lined British army boots have their fans and are a tenth of the list price of a pair of Lundhags.
BAG
Money no object: Kifaru Regulator for me. Demonstrated here by Goofy Girl
Bargain alternative: The Northern Monkey has the British army issue bag - warm but big and heavy. Our friend serving in Afganistan sings the praises of the US army issue system of bags.
3. Jacket
Whatever it costs to be warm and dry (or second best damp but warm) is a bargain.
Money no object: I wear a Ventile Arctic smock by West Winds and, when its a bit colder, a Kifaru Parka. It took a lot of patience to get them at a price I could afford. If I'd had the coin I was tempted by having one of Wiggy's Parkas made up for me with a Ventile shell. [Wiggy will make up in any combination you ask for for a small premium].
Bargain alternative: I've also got a US airforce issue Goretex Hardshell which is excellent.
Personally I'd rather have a heavier pack that fits and lasts, than an ultralight that doesn't and won't, how much money you have to spend to find this out for yourself is up to you.
Bargain alternative: I wouldn't be the person to ask.
5.Shelter
My kids have an awesome pop-up tent that cost £70 ($100) and that was for the better model. It doesn't pack away very small but it's streets ahead of the tents we had as kids and they saw out some hoolies in the highlands and very wet weeks in Wales. You can have a really kick-ass hammock and tarp set up for less than £100 ($165). Admittedly up in the mountains the game is played for slightly higher stakes "Your tent is your make or break piece of gear between a hunt turning into an inconvenient adventure or a life threatening event. Choose accordingly."- An un-named pal of Hodgeman
6.
7.
8.
9.
10. KnifeMora of Sweden, and a diamond sharpening stone. Done.
Money no object: Chad has a stunning Charles May, if I had the money I'd have something by Stuart Mitchell. If fact I'd have a drawer full by Stuart Mitchell's to go next to the drawer full of Charles May's!
Bargain alternative: There is no better bargain than a Mora. Anywhere. End of Story.
Six through to nine? I'd welcome your thoughts.
We've come a long way from when buying from the Sears catalog was the only option for outdoorsman supplies.
Here's a round up of other bloggers thoughts on buying gear:
Dave Petzal's been writing for F&S since god was a boy, he's spent a few bucks over the years and has no regrets
PS I saw this one the other day "The pleasure of buying really good quality kit is that the pleasure of using it will long outlast the pain of buying them.The downside of buying really good kit is that you don't need to buy it ever again." Heym SR20
The Forrest has been out for a while now, so I thought it was about time we compared the new model to the benchmark Clipper. When I posted my 1st review of the Forrest, regular commenter and wise blogger Hodgeman commented that 'Mora is probably the biggest bang for buck outfit in existence' and I make him right. You can spend crazy money on a knife and you get style, fit, finish, and the joy of owning something made by a real craftsman, what you don't get is a knife that's any better at cutting than the £10/$10 Mora Clipper. They take a wicked edge and hold it pretty well too. Several bloggers and You Tubers have repeated Mors Kochanski's demonstration and beaten one into a tree trunk then stood on it. Some of them pretty big fella's too.
As you can see the Clipper is made to a price, a low price. The bade is stamped from sheet steel and then has the cutting edge fairly crudely ground on to it before being set in a plastic handle. In the picture you can see the marks left my the grinding process, not great looking but that's not what you're buying at a 10 spot. All the money is in the steel i.e the bit you cut with.
The Forrest is all together a classier proposition, almost as though Mora realised they'd already cornered the market in the cutting-tool-for-low-price space, and have now set out to teach the vendors of £30/$30 knives how it's done. The blade has benefited from some sculpting, which does add something to the usability of the knife. I'm massively impressed. It's not easy to define the difference ( post a comment if you feel you can put it into words).
The sheath has benefited from a design re-think, with the old clip-on design replaced by a through-the-loop system which not only offers added security, but lets the knife move in relation to the users posture.
So in short the extra cash has gone on the blades grind - much neater, the blades shape - one part for slicing cuts one part for pushing cuts, and the sheath - a vast improvement.
When even The Northern Monkey says it's worth the extra cash, you know it's value for money!
Lets get ready to ruuuuuumble! Two giants of the swedish knife making industry are squaring up to.... Nah it's not really fair, one is a heavy weight survival knife that can happly be used to pry floorboards up and the other is a svelt bushcrafter.
I've never had a survival knife that was so confidence inspiring as the F1, maybe it could be an inch (25mm) longer, but then it wouldn't be quite as wonderfully stow-able as it is. The blade could be a tad thinner, but then it wouldn't be as strong as it is. It could be easier to sharpen, but then it wouldn't hold an edge as long as it does. I've beaten it into a log 'till the mallet disintegrated, I've pried 70+ year old floorboards up with it, I've taken it into the Tuscan hills and used it for everything (food, firewood and green wood) for a week and it would still take hairs off my forearm. It's weaknesses are it's strengths. Hell of a price these days if you buy it in the UK, still very reasonable in the US of A.
How do you take the worlds best value utility knife and make it even better? Well the chaps at the Mora knife worx must be talented because they've made it look easy. I'm hoping to get a few years of use out of mine so I haven't pounded it into any logs, but on past experience of their other products I suspect it would come out, if not unscathed, at least still useable. It's certainly a better food preparation knife than the F1, easier to use, and easier to sharpen, like all Mora knives it takes a wicked edge and holds it well to. As well as the F1? No - but very few steels hold an edge like VG10, all of them a lot more costly than the bargain Mora Forest knife.
But which is best?
To be frank with you I wouldn't be without either of them, the Forest knife is the one I reach for for most tasks, it's an excellent craft knife and butchery tool. But on a canoe trip, or hunting in the Tuscan hills I'd want to know the F1 was there.
In these times of economic uncertainty the overpriced, and the badly made will - if you believe in the sanctity of Adam Smith's worldview - be driven from the marketplace. Here's how. I've wanted to test out the new Mora's for a while now, so when the chance came to trade for one I jumped at it. The Forest model is about three times the price of the much loved Mora Clipper so I was intrigued to see if the Forest was as big a bargain as it's stable mate.
Designed with the bushcrafter in mind the Forest has a blade length of 106 mm (4.17in), and is 2.5 mm (0.1 in) thick Sandvik 12C27 steel, hardened quite softly [if that makes ant sense at all] to HRC 57-58. The knife currently only comes with a khaki green hand grip and a sheath of the same colour. I'd have preferred orange myself. The sheath design is a vast improvement on the old clipper sheath, the belt loop fully encloses the belt, rather than just clipping on, and it allows the knife to pivot with the wearers movement.
The new design of profile-ground stainless steel blade is a fair bit more sophisticated than the Clippers stamped offering. It follows the idea that as different parts of the blade are used for different tasks the blade can have different profiles to accommodate them. I'm guessing the extra grinding is what's led to the the price hike. The blade works very well. I've never had a stainless steel Mora before, but found it easy enough to sharpen on the Sharpmaker. Leaving an amusing series of bald patches up my arm.
Is it worth the extra cash over the already excellent clipper?
Is any knife? Yeah I'm keeping it. It's very nice to cut with, the new sheath is way better. And I've already decided how to pimp the first one. Gary from Bearclaws Bushcraft has the whole range - and lots of other low cost - high usefulness bushcraft kit at his trading post. If all purchasing decisions were made purely on a 'quality of product' to 'cost of product' comparison, would any other knife companies exist? Seriously.
In a recent email exchange with LSP (the lone star parson) he mentioned he was feeling a little 'under knifed'.Never being one to shy away from lecturing my friends I promised him a post with some of my ideas about what really makes for that most elusive of purchases -
'The one knife to rule them all.'
First up, it's only fair that I give you a bit of background to these opinions. I've owned and traded loads of knives over the years. I'm not a collector, but I am an enthusiast and my stuff is put to hard use.
Most production knives are way over priced, and the semi-custom knives I've owned weren't finished to a high enough standard for the money. I've never been able to justify the cost of a real high end custom but I've handled a few and while there are plenty of other things to spend the money on, yes I do covet one.
'Any job is easy if you've got the right tools' As the guy with a hardware store says. But 'easy' is an entirely relative term. Your favorite might be the most cack-handed thing I've ever held. My 'utilitarian' might be your 'plasticy'. Price too has an effect on perception, 'fantastic' at $20 might be 'substandard' at $100.You need a tool that fits your hand and your requirements. There I've made it sound easy haven't I? If only.
The traditional designs have developed as responses to different environments and needs. The flex in the blade of a fish knife isn't what you need when battening firewood. The 2 mm flat ground Lekeu is a perfect tool for daily use [and sharpening] in the Birch forests of the Sub-Arctic, but something a little thicker with a convex grind suited in the Sweet Chestnut forests of southern Italy. One of your needs might be resale value. I'm more a 'wont snap if hit with brick hammer' kind of guy. Only your choice is going to give you the confidence the 'right' tool gives.
That well known outdoorsman, philosopher and blogger of this parish Mr Albert Rasch heartily recommends the Randall Model 18 Attack and Survival knife, never owned one myself, but I can remember seeing one as a lad and thinking them the mutt's nuts. The handle is hollow giving you room for firelighting kit, a few bucks, or whatever you feel should be in your mini survival kit. It's a bit 'tactical' for my current taste, but may well be just the thing if you've got a lot of hogs to impale.
Inspired by the style of the Randall, but seeking something with even more drama, the producers and props buyers of the Rambo movies helped sales of small swords with a saw back, the Rambo knife was held in high esteem for a few years in the 80's, then came the inevitable backlash. Dour Finns and Sardonic Swedes honed their cold hard stares, and cast scorn on the big knives of 'Hollywood'. Around the campfire anyone who produced a blade longer than 4 inches was mocked as an inadequate .
The Scandinavian Tradition has it that a small light blade is all you need for most jobs, practice in it's skillful use will be of more help to you than the brute force of the 'sharpened prybar'. My favorite iteration of the concept is this Desert Scandi by Todd Hill who writes Primitive Point. Todd's people came to the US from Scandinavia, he has harvested the Mesquite for the handle from the area where he lives, and smiths the blade from scrap steel from the area's disused wood mills. Links it all together rather nicely don't you think?
On the east coast of the USA: That contemporary outdoor legend Tom brown jnr had a look at the 'one knife to rule them all' conundrum and, it would appear, decided to take the 'utility creates form' approach to design. He thought of the jobs he used knives for, part saw, part hide scraper, and part tillering tool for bow making, and tried to carve all those different knives out of one piece of steel. I admit it, there was a brief infatuation, but nothing happened. Phew.
On my side of the pond: a chap called Ray Mears looked out upon the feast of 'survival knives' and sighed, his travels had led him to the campfire of one Mors Kochanski. An ingenious chap, who thought you could thrive where others sought only to survive in the boreal forests of the northern hemisphere. In his company Mr Mears had become a believer in the 'not too long, scandinavian flat grind, not too thick, just make sure its 'double bastard sharp' school of thought. After a while he commissioned a knife of his own, called it a Woodlore, pronounced it the 'perfect bushcraft knife' and a whole industry was born, with most custom makers offering a variation on the design. The last time I looked the endorsed maker was able to charge the price of a new laptop for one.
More recently a cheerful young chap called Bear Grylls was wondering how to make the TV racket pay out [a little more] so he launched a shockingly expensive 'survival knife' and kerching! I'm told he really does have people queuing up to give him £350 for one. I rather like it, but for the money? Well there's fly rods, wool camo, guide fees, wining and dining northern tarts, ammunition, that new compound bow, child support, need I go on?
Of course all this had happened before, almost exactly a hundred years before. When George Washington Sears AKA ‘Nessmuk’ was writing about the outdoor life in the 1880's.
'A word as to knife, or knives. These are of prime necessity, and should be of the best, both as to shape and temper. The "bowies" and "hunting knives" usually kept on sale, are thick, clumsy affairs, with a sort of ridge along the middle of the blade, murderous looking, but of little use; rather fitted to adorn a dime novel or the belt of "Billy the Kid," than the outfit of the hunter.'
Not being unduly impressed with what was on offer, he had a chap make one to his design and the 'Nessmuk' we know today was born. They now come in 57 varieties from the littlest 'Neckmuk" by Guy Stainthop,
Rik Plam's faithful realization of Washington-Sears' line drawings,made from an old file,
and you can get a sense of the idea in Chris Reeve's 'Ubejane skinner'. Which also features a hollow handle a la Randall. Chris Reeve's knives are extremely impressive, being machined from a single billet of steel. He also makes a large range of tactical styled knives, but this is the one I'd go for.
A few years after G W-S was writing the unfortunately named Mr Horace Ke-Phartwas afield, and thought a simpler style would be more suitible to his needs. In the first edition of The Book of Camping and Woodcraft, he outlines his thoughts [and echoes a few others].
“On the subject of hunting knives I am tempted to be diffuse. In my green and callow days (perhaps not yet over) I tried nearly everything in the knife line from a shoemaker’s skiver to a machete, and I had knives made to order. The conventional hunting knife is, or was until quite recently, of the familiar dime-novel pattern invented by Colonel Bowie. Such a knife is too thick and clumsy to whittle with, much too thick for a good skinning knife, and too sharply pointed to cook and eat with. It is always tempered too hard. When put to the rough service for which it is supposed to be intended, as in cutting through the ossified false ribs of an old buck, it is an even bet that out will come a nick as big as a saw-tooth…. Such a knife is designed expressly for stabbing, which is about the very last thing that a woodsman ever has occasion to do, our lamented grandmothers notwithstanding."
“A camper has use for a common-sense sheath-knife, sometimes for dressing big game, but oftener for such homely work as cutting sticks, slicing bacon, and frying ’spuds.’ For such purposes a rather thin, broad-pointed blade is required, and it need not be over four or five inches long. Nothing is gained by a longer blade, and it would be in one’s way every time he sat down. Such a knife, bearing the marks of hard usage, lies before me. Its blade and handle are each 4 1/2 inches long, the blade being 1 inch wide, 1/8 inch thick on the back, broad pointed, and continued through the handle as a hasp and riveted to it. It is tempered hard enough to cut green hardwood sticks, but soft enough so that when it strikes a knot or bone it will, if anything, turn rather than nick; then a whetstone puts it in order….”
His design is still being made today. I've never owned one, but chad is a big fan of the Bark River Knife & Tool Co. version, elevating it to his list of 'things that don't suck'. Should be worth a look.
By the 1917 edition of Camping and Woodcraft Kephart had found a production knife he liked, the Marble’s Woodcraft.
“For years I used knives of my own design, because there was nothing on the market that met my notion of what a sensible, practical sheath knife should be; but we have it now …. It is of the right size (4 1/2-inch blade), the right shape, and the proper thinness.”
Back to the present day: While Mors had the temerity to be able to do it all with a $10 knife from the hardware store himself, he took the time to outline a style guide for what he thought would make the perfect bushcraft knife. One of his students used the style guide to create the Skookum Bushtool.
Basically it's a scandinavian style blade, a full tang with a sturdy pommel welded to it, the the slabs of the handle are secured by hollow rivets. Not Cheap but VERY NICE, and even though the man himself is still using the cheap jobbie from the hardware store, it establishes Mors in the firmament of outdoor writers whose knife designs will still be made a hundred years or so after they've gone to the happy hunting ground. There are alredy lots of makers doing their own 'bushtool clones' and some of them are very nice too.
What is the best shape for a knife?
Is a bit like asking who is the most beautiful woman in the world, or which is the best car for over 100K, assuming you have to good sense to buy a knife designed for the jobs you do, what speaks to you?
Serrations and gutting hooks?
The bushcrafters tend to sneer at serrations, I speculate that that's because either
A: They use mainly natural materials, serrations come into their own on man made materials.
B: They enjoy sneering at everything not used by their heroes or in their favorite book
If you're going to be cutting a lot of multi stranded ropes of man made fibres, you could do a lot worse than carry a serrated blade. Where I do agree with the bushcrafters is that most of the time knife makers put the serration's is TOTALY THE WRONG PLACE. The part of the blade nearest to the handle is bit I use most, the bit with the control needed for the delicate tasks. If cutting manmade rope is one of your requirements, carry a rope cutting folder - I'd look at Spyderco first. When you need to saw wood a Laplander is only £20 and is a far better tool for the job than a serrated back to your knife. If I wanted a gutting hook I'd have one, but it wouldn't be on my main knife, it'd be a tool in it's own right.
Steel Recycled, Tool steel or trick steels (or how often will I need to sharpen it)?
Plenty of knives will take an edge, some knives will still have most of the edge after use. Easy to sharpen, usually equals easy to blunt, on the upside a few swipes a day and your good to go. On the other foot; the extremes of skill and diligence required to sharpen the super steels are repaid in edge retention. You pays your money you takes your choice.
There is some awesome steel just lying around out there, either free or yours for the asking. Road crews will usually give you old blades from their cutting tools, old files are also excellent. Todd from Primitive Point uses nothing but found steel and makes lots of soulful knives that look as though they'd last a lifetime. I have a 'Bushwacker Bushtool' on the way and it's made by Black Rabbit from a recycled file.
At the other extreme the VG10 the lamination that Fallkniven are currently using has A LOT GOING FOR IT, on my recent trip to italy I put an F1 to the test called 'one knife for everything', I harvested and debarked burls, cut roots, shaved parmesan, sliced tomatoes, split firewood, feathered fire sticks and ate my dinner with it. After five days use, it had held enough edge to slice tomatoes in one stroke before I fried them for my pre-airport breakfast on the last day. it's taken me a long time to get even half way competent at sharpening it.
Grind?
To read some people post about this you'd literally think it was a matter far more important than life and death.
I've never owned a chisel grind knife but I have used one in a kitchen, they rock for vegetables but I can't say what they're like for other uses.
Flat grinds are easy[er] to sharpen on a stone.
Convex grinds have some advantages, in terms of robustness and edge retention, but I've found learning to sharpen them a bit of a grind ;-). Here's the case for Convex made more cogently than I can write.
Currently I'm contentedly convex. Ask me again in a year.
Forged or Stock Removal?
Forged means beaten from a piece of steel that was another shape, a lot of fun/hard work at the anvil.
Stock removal means starting with a flat pice of your chosen steel and abrading away material until only the knife remains. things of great beauty and pieces of junk are made using both methods.
Handle Materials?
Um, Errrr, don't ask me. I like manmade materials for their inertness, I admire natural materials for their looks. It's that Angelina or Kate question again. Your choice will mean more to you than anything I could say.
Prices?
It only seems like yesterday when you could have something really great for $100 or £50, sadly due to the current climate, those days are over, in the UK at least.
Fallkniven are now getting to be pretty expensive, you get a hell of a lot for the money, but the prices are now aproaching that of the work of the more affordable custom makers. From the custom makers you usually don't get the super trick steel, but you do get a realisation of your Knife. These are the standard all production knives should be measured against. You get what you pay for.
Here are a few of my current favorite makers. Todd and Black Rabbit aren't included as they don't actively sell their work. YET.
Wild. Out There. Recycled. This guy is truly a son of Vulcan. When you want to see forge work as high art Tai Goo's shop is where you go. Todd from Primitive Point is making a video of Tai at work forging some knives, keep a look out for it.
He's been making knives for a while and recently seems to have hit his stride, developing quite a range of different styles. I love this shocking pink hiker but most are in more traditional handle materials. Get in there now while they're affordable.
Some great work, I particularly like his 'bushcrafter' design - a little bit different to what others are doing and very well executed.
If time [on the waiting list] and money [a fair bit of it] were no object I'd be popping in to the Sheffield workshop of Stuart Mitchell for a 'stalkers set' much better, both in use and aesthetic than those silly gut-hook knives. His website just doesn't do his work justice. Use this search of British Blades to see more of his work. THE BEST.
There's a current fashion for hollow rivets, so the knife can be lashed to a pole. They would have come in very handy in Italy when we'd harvested all the low hanging cherries and were under laddered. Just make sure the tubes are wide enough to clean easily.
The distill taper is surely the sign of the high end hand made knife, it means the tang is tapered away from the blade. You still get the strength of a full length tang, but the weight balance of the knife moves towards your index finger. Classy.
In summation: They all cut, some need more attention than others. You pays your money and you makes your choice. I've never found that ONE knife, but I've really enjoyed looking.
OK OK I give in! This Kydex malarkey isn't as easy as it first appeared, when I had the fit I wanted between to two edges the hold was so tight I needed two hands to unsheathe the knife. So rivets it is. The flaring tool I've got isn't a very good fit for the sexy black rivets the Kydex store sells so I've used a pair in soft aluminum that I found in the shed.
Now if I could only find the big hinges I could make a start on the wood burning stove for TNM's boat.
Thanks for reading SBW PS CORRECTION - I'm going to a kids party in the park.
I like the 'matched pair' look for my knives - Natural handle (wood, bone, horn, antler) = leather sheath, but when it's a man made handle (micarta,G10 ext) it's gotta be Kydex or its cousin Concealex. They have a few advantages over leather being stain proof, waterproof, and a little lighter.
I had a go at making a Kydex sheath a while back and couldn't get the kind of result i was after, but happily I remembered that sometimes the pros have special tools for a reason. After watching a couple of tutorials I rigged up a press and was able to get a much closer fitting finish.
There are two main schools of Kydex sheath the 'pancake' pictured above and the the 'two piece'. I really like the minimalist look of the pancake, and wanted to have a rivet-less design which not many makers seem to go for, but in fairness to them I can now see why, getting a super tight fit between the two sides is pretty tricky.
Hope you're hobbies are as much fun for you this weekend
