[quote]SexMachine wrote:
And slingshots are great for small game. And you don’t need to bother carrying lots of shot; just collect a few round pebbles as you go.[/quote]
The Karen tribesmen I trekked with are absolutely deadly with their little Huck Finn slingshots. They could pick off birds and squirrels and jungle rats with unsettling ease. River pebbles constituted the mainstay of their ammunition, but I discovered a tree with bitter, inedible fruit whose seeds were semi-spherical, hard and heavy. Perfect practice ammo. I got so that I could regularly hit small targets at ten paces with these, although I wouldn’t trust them for reliable killing shots.
What excites me is a recent modification to the old wrist rocket-type slingshots that allows you to shoot full-size arrows with longbow accuracy and velocity. Imagine bringing down deer and boar with a slingshot! I am going to experiment with this over the winter and take one to Thailand with me next year.[/quote]
I bet that could get ugly if the band breaks, which they are prone to do.
Your system should be charged via solar, bike, and wind power generators, backed up by a diesel gen set that is run once or twice a week for a half hour to top everything off to 100%. This set up is FAR more efficient and will allow your fuel to last far longer than any other system.
Anyone handled one of the new L T Wright Genesis Bushcraft knife? They’re a world class knife. Absolutely beautiful workmanship, ergonomics, design and toughness. My best knife is the Ray Mears SWC I posted a pic of with the Iroko wood handles. It’s made to exact Woodlore spec by one of the best bushcraft knife makers in the world. As I said, since Ray Mears popularised bushcraft with his TV show, the price of his knives has quadrupled and there’s literally a ten year waiting list to get one. That’s because they’re all handmade, labour intensive and it takes a great deal of skill to make a knife of that quality.
So for that reason I literally don’t use my SWC. I just care for it to maintain it in as new condition:
to keep it razor sharp I use an extremely fine slurry(10000 grit) waterstone to polish the bevel then strop it on the rough side of a leather belt then I use a series of finer items to polish it - eg, I use a thick piece of velvet stretched over a hard foam board. I finish with silk just to get that super shine mirror polish that makes a nice look new. I don’t usually bother with polishing pastes as the above method works for me.
the sheath it came in is the best quality I’ve ever seen in a knife sheath. Extremely high quality leather work. I like to see the natural grain in the leather so I never choose black sheaths. My SWC sheath is a beautiful mahogany colour and I darken it with linseed oil so that it matches the Iroko dark wood handles. After wiping off the excess linseed oil I give the whole stealth, inside and out a thin later of dubbin that I then polish off with a soft textured buffer. Then finally, I melt some pure bees’ wax in a metal tin and give the whole stealth a layer then buff the excess off. This is basically how I care for all my leather - although I don’t put linseed oil on my leather boots or jacket. A little bees’ wax can help water proof it better than the dubbin alone.
and finally, the blade. The SWC is a full tang carbon steel blade tapered towards the handle end to balance the weight in the handle. There are many different oils people use but I’ve always used camellia oil. The Japanese have used it for centuries to treat their high carbon steel swords and tantos and so on.
Anyway, so I don’t really use the SWC. I have a number of bushcraft knives with similar specs that do the job. My bushcraft workhorses are the Spyderco Bushcraft Gen 2 with black micarta handles, my L T Wright Genesis and a cheap Condor Bushlore that was only $30 bucks so I abuse the heck out of it. And it can handle it too. It’s a great knife for the money.
Anyway, pictured is my favourite workhorse knife that I use most often. If you have a budget for around $160 this would definitely be one of your best options. It’s US made too. They come with different specs and sheaths. I opted for:
The brown leather sheath with both a belt buckle for wide belts and a dangler for those who find belt loop sheaths stick into you when you’re sitting down. The quality of the sheath I got was varied - high quality, thick leather and a great design but poor stitching and the burr wasn’t a great fit. They also put a leather lope for a fero rod on the right side of the sheath. Not too bad though, but no where near the quality of the SWC.
I choose the black micarta handle. It’s not shiny black like ebony. It’s a dull black. The makers spent a lot of time sanding the handles so they feel really nice and comfortable. Perfectly balanced knife.
They choose A2 tool steel for the Genesis which is an unusual steel for bushcraft and survival knives - or any knives for that matter. I’ve been really happy with the A2 steel. It keeps an edge really well; just takes a little longer to sharpen. It’s more corrosion resistant too apparently.
They also sharpened the spine of the blade to get a perfect 90 degree angle for scraping and for getting a massive shower of sparks from a fero rod.
This photo is side on - 1/8th inch thick A2 tool steel with a proper zero degree scandi grind.
And here’s the side view of the L T Wright Genesis…
This really is a top knife and I highly recommend it. The Spyderco is good to but I think I prefer the Genesis. I’ve for heaps more prepper stuff in my car in my pack so I’ll post some more pics in the new year when I get around to it.
One of the great things about the Genesis is the ambidextrous thumb groves that allow you to choke up on the blade for fine work or to get a nice “reverse grip” for tasks requiring it.
Your system should be charged via solar, bike, and wind power generators, backed up by a diesel gen set that is run once or twice a week for a half hour to top everything off to 100%. This set up is FAR more efficient and will allow your fuel to last far longer than any other system.
[quote]SexMachine wrote:
And here’s the side view of the L T Wright Genesis…
This really is a top knife and I highly recommend it. The Spyderco is good to but I think I prefer the Genesis. I’ve for heaps more prepper stuff in my car in my pack so I’ll post some more pics in the new year when I get around to it.
One of the great things about the Genesis is the ambidextrous thumb groves that allow you to choke up on the blade for fine work or to get a nice “reverse grip” for tasks requiring it.[/quote]
Beautiful knife. That is similar to the design idea of my next knife build. Only with micarta handles, and I want to make my own sheath from pvc.
[quote]SexMachine wrote:
And here’s the side view of the L T Wright Genesis…
This really is a top knife and I highly recommend it. The Spyderco is good to but I think I prefer the Genesis. I’ve for heaps more prepper stuff in my car in my pack so I’ll post some more pics in the new year when I get around to it.
One of the great things about the Genesis is the ambidextrous thumb groves that allow you to choke up on the blade for fine work or to get a nice “reverse grip” for tasks requiring it.[/quote]
Beautiful knife. That is similar to the design idea of my next knife build. Only with micarta handles, and I want to make my own sheath from pvc.
[/quote]
[quote]SexMachine wrote:
And here’s the side view of the L T Wright Genesis…
This really is a top knife and I highly recommend it. The Spyderco is good to but I think I prefer the Genesis. I’ve for heaps more prepper stuff in my car in my pack so I’ll post some more pics in the new year when I get around to it.
One of the great things about the Genesis is the ambidextrous thumb groves that allow you to choke up on the blade for fine work or to get a nice “reverse grip” for tasks requiring it.[/quote]
Beautiful knife. That is similar to the design idea of my next knife build. Only with micarta handles, and I want to make my own sheath from pvc.
[/quote]
What type of sander do you have for grinding?[/quote]
Part of the reason why my first knife build didn’t turn out as nice as I wanted. I didn’t and don’t currently own a belt sander. I used a bench grinder to remove most of the stock to give me the basic shape, then hand files from then on. After that it was sand paper from 320 in stages up to 1000 grit to polish it. The picture in here is after I had the blade mirror finished but came back and changed the handles and caused some damage. I went from wood handles to the homemade micarta experiment.
[quote]theBeth wrote:
Well I’ve got a loaded 12G on one side of my bed and a loaded Kimber 45ACP within reach. Is that enough for you? Cus I am just a weak lil girl after all…
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Lol, I’m a 205 pound former Marine and I have a 12g under the bed and a Kimber Custom II 45ACP within arms reach so…
[quote]usmccds423 wrote:
Did I miss it, does no one else have one of these bad boys?[/quote]
Is that a tactical fire starter? So you can knock someone out and then set them on fire without resorting to matches?
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Lol, well I don’t think you could knock them out with it (it’s about 4" long), but you could certainly light them on fire without matches (assuming they’re rather flammable)!
I should say, it’s probably not very easy to knock them out with it, but possible I suppose…
