Welcome! I run away to the wilderness every chance I get to keep me sane! I love camping, backpacking, making and testing gear, bushcrafting, geocaching, photography, and more--you get the idea! Please feel free to subscribe and stick around for awhile. Thanks for dropping in!
All depends on your perspective. I currently use natural tinder and a ferro rod exclusively, but there is value in learning by doing, and that was how I approached this experiment. It was less about making a “best” firestarter and more about combining some things I had sitting around my house.
Try what I do. Use a empty paper towel roll. Duct tape one end. Stand on that end and partially fill with desired combustible. Fill tube to just cover combustible and install more combustible. Partially filling ensures the wax will get to the bottom and not dam up. When filled let cool. Now you can cut to any desired length to accommodate desired burn time. Works great.
So, right off the bat you’re using a lighter. Shouldn’t you be using a pharaoh rod to see if that ignite it to begin with, and save your gas from the lighter. Cause I have a crap load of lighters. But I also have two big, huge, feral rods and a bunch of cotton balls with Vaseline in it, which light immediately. So I think you’re on the wrong track right here, buddy. I’m good pass.
Thanks for your comment. I typically use a ferro(cerium) rod and fatwood scrapings for about 98% of my fires. I find the discipline of avoiding matches, lighters, or manmade tinders to be a good one to maintain my fire craft skills. But there are times in inclement weather when a fire starter can be useful for reasons of personal safety, so I was experimenting here and opted to use the lighter because I was conducting a burn test, not because I rely on lighters. I always have a Bic and matches in my fire kit, but I rarely use either in the field. Fatwood is natural, takes a spark, and smells great. However, if I had to start a fire as a matter of personal safety, I would not hesitate to use a Bic with one of these.
Thanks for watching carefully! I think you may mean around the 3:18 mark and following: I intercut a long shot of birdsong in the woods with two clips of me eating--different clips, The birdsong shot was just a long, tripod-based shot that I intercut with the breakfast scenes, but I see how it may feel repetitive. It was so still that morning that the trees don't seem to move.
My timing could have been better! after awhile, though, I got used to it, and it was pretty cool having 40 miles of trail basically to myself 😜 Had to find a bright side!
Thank you! After the lightning passed, I let the rain on the tarp lull me into a nap since I wasn’t going anywhere. It was delightful. Much more rain to come this trip! 🌧️
That awkward transition was just oozing authenticity, it's going to be a while till AGI can imitate this I think believably. Well done, thanks carry on <0
Someone randomly left a brand new one at my house years ago. And I just refound it today in the basement. Being down there lost for 4+ years it's gathered a slight bit of rust. BUT after a little steel brushing it was back to new. I had fiskars chopping hatchets. But didn't own a splitting hatchet so the find was amazing for me to say the least. I honestly feel like it does better over all then the chopping hatchet. But I'm a die hard fiskar fan
maby becasue its a real thin rod and all couldnt handle all that pressure of the knife i suggest if it ever happens again that buying the fatter model that they make. might be able to handle it better
Thanks for the thorough review! Yours is the first I found that actually talks in depth about the utility of this knife, which it seems to have in spades. Looks like a fun little un to learn how to use to it's full potential, great companion to either a bigger knife or a small axe.
I hated that grabber because it gets hot if you hold it too long. I guess if you are going to pour into a backpacking meal, you just put it in the sleeve first.
I wish I could tell you yeh I get up every morning and get the old axe and shave my face lol lol but sorry I can't and would never it's not becoming at all lol lol
I should prolly tell you now a axe has no need the be a razor I been a bushcrafter before there was a such thing as a bushcrafter when I was 6 and 7 years old a ran a trap line that was 5 miles long every morning before school in the Florida swamp get up a 3 O'Clock every morning so I had time to get back get a shower and ready for school I trapped to buy gear I'm 53 year's old now and been doing the stuff Dave Canterbury does but I been doing it all my life no need for a super sharp axe or all this silly fancy steel it's just getting all your money that's all
Thank you for your comment. In my area, there is merit in having a sharp axe because of the prevalence of hardwoods, but I suppose what type of edge one keeps depends on one’s needs and environment. I can’t say my Swedish axes are fancy: their steel is recycled industrial scrap steel; they are irregular because they are hand-forged; the heads are held on to plain old hickory handles with a simple wooden wedge; their masks are simple veg-tanned leather. But the forge that makes them has been forging, grinding, hardening, and tempering axes since 1868; I reckon I just prefer to use a tool that has some old school charm and tradition behind it rather than some mass-produced, soulless bit of plastic and steel. Not saying it’s better; it’s just better for me. Cheers! I hope you’ll post some trapline vids. That sounds like quite the experience.
I have a schrade 52 and I noticed that the sheath blunt the knife, especially the upper part. Strange because it's plastic. I've polished the inside a bit and it's better. But this is strange.
Your adventurous spirit is the essence of this. I really appreciate you creating these videos for us to enjoy and inspire us to get out there and make this life worth it. As someone who has been struggling with it for a while, I find this truly touching. Thank you and wishing you the best :)
I know this is an old video but could you tell me the dimensions of the two pots? I'm trying to see if I can get my twig stove to nest inside the pots. Thanks!
I’ve since given these pots to my son, so I don’t have them handy to measure. I don’t think they are still sold, but there are some reviews that have pictures (one with the well-known GSI cup that fits around a Nalgene) that might help you get a sense of their size: www.trailspace.com/gear/ozark-trail/3-piece-cook-set/
Man i see all these almost maxed out fire kits and all of them are missing the best most fun way of starting a fire. No one has a small magnifying glass.
I used one growing up to incinerate leaves. Sadly, most of my trips in the eastern US tend to be in pretty thick woodlands where such an ignition source would be iffy.
@@BentbrooksRambles i live in northern Minnesota. The woods are thick here. But ok. What i ment was its always the one item missing in those kits. I have my own kit as well. Char cloth and so on. There is a time and place for each item. Wet wood may need something more. But char cloth works with all igniter. A spark. A beam of light. Even friction.
@@aaronzierke9920 yep, you may have noted I carry char cloth in my flint and steel kit. I prefer using fat wood scrapings and ferro rod for 99% of my fires, but then I absolutely love the scent of fatwood. It’s also the best local tinder option in my region (easily found and harvested with little effort), and that little blaze is a heartwarming sight on grey mornings in the Smoky Mountains.
@@BentbrooksRambles fat wood works fine but i like to soak it in sap as well. Once them shavings are lite its nice to put a small soaked piece of it on for extra blaze. All you do is get sap and melt it. Then soak match size peices of fat wood in it . Take them out to dry and cool. They work great on a wet day. Minnesota is not a real dry place. And we have more fat wood than most places. Its a good smell in small amounts . I prefer oak or maple or even basswood to burn. Pine sends to many embers in to the air. And makes to much suit . I alway grab some birch bark for my tinder . Lites way easy and gets a good flame going. I have a tin full of it.
@@aaronzierke9920 I just use fatwood to get things going, hardwood for fuel. I haven’t had to use more than fatwood to start any fire where I live, rain or shine, but soaking it may be a good tip for folks in some climates.
I am not sure about the dimensions of that lantern. I believe it is called the deluxe? But you might be able to adapt a neoprene sleeve for a water bottle. They come in all sorts of sizes, from large ones for the Nalgene 1 L bottles to smaller ones for insulated, taller bottles. Hope that helps!
Any ideas on how to make the "internal frame" actually transfer weight? I was thinking some sewing around the stays and through the back would connect the fabric layer holding the stays to the harness and back pad. Trying to at least experiment with this before spending money on something like an arc blast.
I use a torso-length closed cell foam pad inside as a frame, but I don’t carry heavy loads with this. The Blast basically has flexible stays that “arc” when straps akin to loadlifters are cinched down. Pockets for stays like that could be easily made by doubling a piece of strap and sewing two edges to make a pocket. As for the stays, I’d explore flexible aluminum poles.
Nice kit for its tiny size, but I would remove the flashlight. Natural nigh sight is likely to be enough in many places and given a choise, I would keep non-essential to a bare minimum when having poor visibility. There is just additional risks moving around at night, so better to stay put and don't fiddle around with stuff in the dark. In a civilian context you better move and work in the day if given a choise. Normal night sight may help on essential things that may be needed, like finding a natural shelter or setting up a crude emergency shelter. That is my personal experience anyways.
