Pablo’s Woodlife

Well, I’m coming up to celebrate my first year of my return to bushcraft and the first anniversary of this site. Over the next few posts I’ll try to summarise the year which should culminate in the anniversary of my first post on this journal…pardon me, ‘Blog’.

I thought I’d start by having my own academy awards. I’ve certainly bought some kit over the year to get me re-started in bushcraft and life in the woods. I’ve probably bought more than I should have (as you do), but I hope now to regress a little and start building or making my own kit. So, what have I found the most useful? What’s been the best buy, what can I do without and what is not very efficient? Of course it depends on what sort of excursion I’m doing so I’ve got to be careful not to ignore something that would be useful for say, a longer excursion, when I’ve not really done many. Anyway, here goes.

Category: Best shelter. Nominations: Vaude Ferret 1 tent; Kathmandu tarp. No contest really. I love the tent but I would only take it on a hiking or camping type excursion where hammock hanging is frowned on or impracticable. The tarp is far more flexible and I’ve used it on every major excursion. Winner: Tarp

Category: Best sleeping method. Nominations: Brit Army bivvi bag (ground dwelling); DDHammock (tree-dwelling). Winner is the DDHammock. Again, no real contest. I don’t mind ground dwelling, but the hammock wins every time as long as I’ve got some insulation under me (and of course a couple of trees to hang the hammock from). Even so, the bivvi bag does increase warmth when you slip it over a sleeping bag even if you’re in a hammock.

Category: Best tool. Nominations: Frost clipper; Bahco folding saw; Opinel 8; Granfors SFA; Hunter’s folding bow saw; crooked knife. A big category this one and hard to choose for obvious reasons. For value for money, it’s got to be the Frosts clipper but if I could just take one tool in the wood it would be the axe. So the overall the winner is…the Granfors SF axe.

Category: Best carry system. Nominations: Eurohike day sack; Eurohike Wilderness 55 litre; Raider shoulder bag; 1940’s gas mask bag; Karrimor Sabre 75 litre. I started out with very cheap kit at the beginning of the year and have upgraded. Again, the carry system depends on the type of excursion. It’s not really fair to even consider the Sabre as I’ve only used it a couple of times and not for an expedition it was designed for. So the winner is the Raider bag. The idea of a shoulder strap and back straps is excellent, even though I probably wouldn’t be able to fit ‘overnighter’ kit in it.

Category: Best cookset. Nominations: Swedish Army Trangia; 27-2 Trangia, Crusader cooker. Easy winner: Swedish Army Trangia.

Category: Best utility item. Nominations: Plastic folding kuksa; Webtex folding bowl; pre-mac water purifier; green bungees; Tikka XP head torch; leather possibles pouch. The winner is the Tikka XP head torch. The sliding filter is a great idea. It’s not the most powerful torch in the world, but for walking around the woods (slowly) and camp site work, it’s ideal. Close second is the folding bowl.

Category: Best hat. Nominations: Kakadu mainlander; Tilley T3; Kakadu southern cross; Peter Storm fleece hat; ‘no brand’ boonie. Winner is Tilley T3 although the boonie is a very close second. The brim is smaller which I like, but it’s not as waterproof as the Tilley. What makes you think I like hats?

Category: Best clothing. Nominations: I’ve not really addressed this area in any detail. I buy fleeces from the local market and the only item I’ve bought specifically for bushcraft is a poncho and some cargo trousers. So the winner is the poncho as it can be used as an emergency tarp or lean-to as well.

Category: Best fire-lighting method. Nominations: Matches, fire-steel, fire-by-friction, plastic lighter. The fire-by-friction is a rank outsider from the start because I haven’t got to grips with it yet. Winner is the Fire-steel.

Category: Most useless bought item. Nominations: Spec Ops ‘pack-rat’ bag. Luckily all my purchases have been calculated and researched. I stuck my neck out with this one. It was expensive and although a good idea at the time, I can find no use for it whatsoever…at the moment at any rate. It’s meant to be a pack organiser, but it’s too big in itself. Never mind.

Category: Most used item. Nominations: Everything listed so far (getting lazy now!) and an Aquapac. The winner is the Aquapac. This item is excellent for keeping that necessary (but evil) and debatably ultimate modern survival device safe – the mobile or cell phone. The Aquapac is fully waterproof and will protect the phone (or any other content) from sand, dirt, knocks and scratches. An unexpected but deserved winner. The Thermarest is a close second but that’s only because I tend to fall asleep so much in the woods!

Well, I guess that’s it for this year. Not a great deal but it’s a start. I’m sure there will be more items and categories next year. I’d like to hear other people’s nominations if you have any deserved recipients of your own awards. It just remains for me to thank all the people in the world who made this possible. My Mum and Dad, my friends (sorry friend) … pet goldfish etc etc. Sorry, getting carried away with the award ceremony. Where’s the party?

A great day for a bit of bushcraft. The temperature was down to about 4 degrees C. A bit of frost but the sun was warming the woods nicely. I didn’t really have a project today. I just went out to enjoy the woods.

On the spur of the moment, I decided to build a fire to cook lunch. I always keep a bit of tinder in my shoulder bag and of course the firesteel is ever present. I made a couple of feather sticks (not very goods ones it has to be said) and chopped some kindling. The sparks came off the firesteel and it wasn’t too long before the silver birch bark slivers and dried grass caught. I prefer to start off a fire by the ‘fire bed’ method of layering the kindling parallel to the ground as opposed to the pyramid affair. I also make a small hollow in the ground underneath the fire for extra circulation. I must admit that fire building is not one of my best points, but I seem to be improving and getting quicker at starting a fire.

It was a good ‘lazy-mans’ lunch of beans, sausages, mushrooms and whatever-that-is-at-the- bottom. All from a tin. It did of course taste better being cooked on a open fire. The whole was washed down by a mug of tea. Even though I use my trusted crusader mug, I do like to actually drink out of my wooden kuska cup that is normally found hanging from my belt when not in use.

After lunch, I tried to work out how to put the Karrimor side pouches onto the yoke. The pouches were sold with the Sabre pack, but it came without the yoke. I ordered a yoke last week for £11-50 and I was keen to see whether the conversion of the side pouches into a day sack would work. The yoke actually looked like a spider because it has that many straps, but I finally worked out how to fix it to the pouches (or was it the other way round?) Once I got the hang of it, it only took 5 minutes from taking it off the main pack to making it into a day sack. Wearing it is quite comfortable but there isn’t any padding on the straps. Of course the two pouches total 30 litres so there’s stacks of space for day kit. I’m not sure if I prefer this over a standard day sack. I’ll have to put it through its paces at a later date.

I hadn’t realised that it was so late. I had let the fire go out and it was getting quite cold again. The sun was going down quickly. I would have loved to restart the fire again and stay out even later, but I hadn’t brought a sleep system with me. With the remnants of a cold still lingering, I also didn’t want to tempt fate.

In the last 2 weeks we’ve experienced torrential rain, hot sun, and a cold frost. I’ve been out in it all and I’ve enjoyed every minute. Perhaps I’m not as much as a fine weather bushcrafter as I first thought.