Packing

Today ive spent entire day,by trying to pack up my gear,and removing them,just to re-pack em again with something added and something removed.its prety good excercise to think these over and over again,and try to be reasonable with your kit. Im minimizing my cookware and shelter,and also throwing away all un-necessary spare clothes as no one gives a damn how clean youre there ,as long as your underwear and breath are ok). But one thing is,that i will not cut and reduce and thats nutrition so ive packed up pretty decent amount of food already and i think i will add more if package from Solution foods makes it here before take-off.Other than their supply,im having stuff to eat from Finn-Savotta,and some items from British army mre´s,as well as one whole Finnish military MRE portion as back-up & emergeancy nutrition. Kitchen is made out of that Primus Gravity VF multifuel burner,Primus EtaPower kettle,one Spork and aluminium windbreaker thingy. On my daypack im carrying Varusteleka´s us army field canteen and cup it has,theyre good for dayhike,even in winter as you can toss the cup in fire and melt more water out of snow,boil some coffe and things like that. As a spare,im taking one flameless heater along too,it doesnt take space at all,if reliable at any climate and does it job more than well.

Ok now im heading to have a sauna with my gal and buddies,ill be back im sure :)

Lapland kit thoughts

I am starting to gather up my kit for the trip now,and stressing about it,heh.

Theres this one factor setting me some boundaries,and its the list of gear"you need" set up by instructor(s),heres what they require us to bring with us:

-Rucksack & raincover

-Winter sleeping bag

-Ski ´s

-Ski ´ing boots(as we use wilderness ski ´s,most uf then have bought rubberboots having proper toe and heelshape for the skis,which are used military ones)

-Camp boots (warm and high)

-Clothes suitable for ski ´ ing

-Clothing for camp life (insulated/warm,lots of)

-Cloves and mittens

-Neck protection,like scarf or something

-stormglasses (im using motocross goggles anyway)

-Utensils

-Thermosflask

-Personal first aid kit

-Toilet paper

-Matches

-Knife :)

-Headlamp &flashlight and sparebatteries

-ice spikes? (as we will walk and work on icy lake too,when fishing there)

-Compass

-Some fishing kit

Plus these,if you are having someone as partner,you will share these:

-Camping stove

-Rope

-Food

And what we all,participants will share are:

-Military type tent with wood burning heater

-Coffee pot

-Ski wax

-Two shovels

-Axe

-Saw

-Spare pair of ski´s

-Garbage sacks,few.

Quite a list,aint it?

Im adding these t o my own kit,no matter what they say or what wil it weight

-My own tent (if i cant sleep under bare sky,which im about to do.They wont sleep when i sleep due to my hidious snoring)

-Folding saw,bahco laplander

-More food :)

-Camera & spare batteries

-One more knife

-One multitool ( i think it will be Leatherman Core)

-Us army field canteen with belt poch and steel mug in it

-Camelbak M.U.L.E,military issue version,without bladder,to act as my possibles pouch in camp and nearby,its big enough to carry spare socks,first aid kit,thermos flask,and sort of stuff.And it rolls up in tiny space in my rucksack.

-Neck-kit,concisting of Victorinox OH Trekker,Scout firesteel,tiny led flashlight and Suunto´s compass&thermometer-combo,all attached into Vic´s kydex neck sheath,which has some length of paracord,so its comfortable to have hanging from your neck all the time.This will provide me aids to fire,navigating,light/visibility,and tool to make shelter or what ever.This kit is around my neck even at home.

-Cooking device.I havent got new good one,for winter,so im bringing my trusty old MSR pocket rocket & Primus Etapower kettle there.Plus Esbit cooker in my camelbak with stainless steel mug.With tyese two small objects i can heat a meal,drink or boil water for my hiking dryfood,if the gas burner wont operate in cold climate,which wouldnt be odd at all.

-Sleeping mattress,its Finn-Savotta´s military version,which is about half inches thick and covered with tough waterproof cloth,and it has these sleeves folding aside,so its wider that way.I dont trust my cheap self-inflating one,at all in trips like this,in harsh froxzen places.And i kind of fell in love to this sturdy army mattress when i was in army,and now,finally i will have my own.

-Tripwire,duct tape,needles,pins,buttons,thread,spare zipper pullers,tent spares,in small pouch,as ive learned the hardway the murphys law.

-These are items ill be carrying around for sure now...i think:)....should i add or throw away something...?

Oh hey,this aint all,no.We will be spending two night during going to the place we start to ski,in cabin,and one when we return from trip,as well,in cabin,thats where we will change to hiking clothing and back to normal clothing,and scrub away the sweat in sauna,so we must take some bathing gear and spare,clean clothing too along....GRRRREAT.

Varusteleka´s hand-out.

So,just this morning i received another nice reply to my email,from this Finnish Surplus & military gear shop,Varusteleka. They are sending me US Military´s full,modular sleeping bag,along with few other items too. Im then about to test the sleeping bag and see how it stands out in laplands temperatures in winter,as theres not much info or published writings about it,saying does it allow you to sleep in comfort,in finnish winter. I think it might actually as us army does dot screw up things when it comes to gear,usually. Its more likely to notice the gear surviving better than expected but this bag just got me(and few others) intrested,cause its rugged,and the modular design allows you to adapt to the elements youre facing. Its combination of thinner sleeping bag for "better",warmer climates,and thicker one,for those below zero-temperatures. And as a crown of all,it has this removable Gore-Tex bivy bag,where you can stuck eithe rone or both of these sleepingbags,making it (i assume) pretty awesome kit,as the bivybag makes it more insulating and offers shield against rain and wind. It comes in black sturdy compression sack.this is what i know it so far,and after the trip,im much more wiser about the bag.Till then i can just wait it to arrive :)

So,what more can i say now,than Thank you Varusteleka,for your generous support.

Winter ski-trip to lapland,preparations

Ive been sending few e-mails to few companies & shops,and asking for their intrest,to offer some gear,to be tested and reviewed,during the trip im making,with my classmates,to lapland. Some companies have been intrested and ive received replies,its so good to get those from big companies thatt are surely busy all the time and im just one guy asking for gear,as sponsorship stuff or just bit cheaper,and all i can give in return to them,is photos of their products,in real field conditions,and story about how the equipment managed through the trip,links to their shops,and publicity in my modest Blog.

But,in this particular case,today i received just awesome,kind co-operation reply from Finn-Savotta,offering me a chance to get some stuff cheaper,and some for free samples,including rucksack and hiking meals,etc. So,id like to say thanks to them now,and ill be writing more as i get my hands on the products.

Ill be making a pre-trip review then,and after i get back,12 or 13th of december,im making a full scale post-trip writing,as thats when i really know how it all went,with me and the gear. But,a sive been using the rucksacks from their line,during my service in the army,and scouting,im pretty convinced that this kind of gear wont let me down. Their line of pack are very highly respected here in Finland,and some backpacks ive seen,are actually inherited from father to son. Thats something you dont see much these days. Its kind of ecological too,when gear is lasts for decades when its been taken care of and maintained,properly.


Thank you, Finn-Savotta.


M.

Few wilderness food course pics more.

"new" Jacket,British used DPM camo Windproof Smock

Postman brought me today,once again,some military surplus,from my favourite shop Varusteleka. Its British,issued,dpm camouflage pattern,windproof Smock. Close relative to precent soldier 95 jackets they use. No experience yet but soon i will tell you what thoughts i raised. I ve been hearing opinions that its well made simple rugged jacket,and im trying it out now with modest expectations,although i wish it suits my needs well,as i really like the design of it,and DPM is my favourite pattern,along with american tiger stripe camouflage.And i also choose surplus as its somehow more economical IMHO,than buying the latest gear from the outdoors shops.Although i rarely find anything into outer layer of garment, from those shops,as the colour schemes give me headache :).

-One thing i noticed immediately was that i must modify the hood a bit,as i will run an electric wire thru some seam of hood,so it gives me an option to shape it better.The hood drops badly in front of my eyes now,but i will work on it to get it sorted out.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smock_Windproof_DPM

Day well spent indeed

ok,

today i packed up my old backpack,with some food portions,cofee making gear,few knives etc,for me and my girlfriend,and picked up my kid bro,and head out to trail nearby,walked for a while,and just stopped at this nice rocky hill,where you could watch the beautiful fall colours,army training planes(old propeller planes) flying low over us,blue skies and these nice nice colours,of the falling leaves.

At the same time i used my F1 for the first time,i batoned it thru 3 inch branches,rotten stumps,carved freshly dropped pine with it,and hacked it thru some wood lying there,and it did sure perform as i suggested,flawlessly,without almost any effort,except for cutting this 3 inch branch in half,as the f1 aint as long as s1 that has longer blade with more leverage and hitting power. The handle has nice angle offering very accurate handling which might help with some detail work in future,as this was just a pleasant test drive to me with this famous knife.
My bro tried it too,and seemed astonished about how sharp it is,and it sure is,i dont deny.
He was there testing his Hukari,which is a beast for a knife,its more like an machete,and cut thru thicker woods easily,is easy to sharpen and worth its value,although its crude in finish but hey,function over design and coolness as ive said before. The only thing it needs is better sheath,but its easy to make it using the factory made as liner to new leather sheath or what ever he decides to use for it. Also he took his Esbit cooker there and i throw him a pack of the tablets so he could go and try it,and after we recovered this half rotten stump of a log cutted ages ago,which offered nice shelter from chilly fall winds,it took only some 5 minutes to get half litres of cold water to roll-boil in my cheap stainless steel measure mug. So we just enjoyed our time there,by testing out some equipment,made these few outdoor meals,and did coffee and cocoa for dessert,which always tastes better when your ein the wild.oh hey i also used my Aurora firesteel,gathered up some tinder from old juniper´s bark,birch bark and some tiny but dry ( it has been raining a lot for last days)i dug out under trees shadows. It took just some three strikes to get tinder into fire,and me smile or grin as my bro said. Then we "had" to get back to home areas,to take and heat up the sauna to crown the day well spent.

Fall and winter ahead.

1.10-2009

So,tonight will be officially the first night,here at my home area,when the night temperatures go below zero.Just a few grades but still.
i have been wondering where the fall is as it hasnt been raining much,its suspicious even,and if i guess,its again fault own mankinds greedy actions and careless attitude against earth,nature,mother north.Its been very dry id say,and that aint so bad but it should be raining at fall i know,a sit did when i was kid and from then the weathers has been going odd. Short summers,long winter on one year and on next the opposite.It must have something to do with greenhouse effect too.But then again i dont have any degrees on high grade,on physics or maths so i can be wrong all as well :).

But but,im waitin eagerly to see this nights weather,as it has been cooling all day long and during weekend we might get storm as a guest here.Last fall it was pretty intense as the storms cracked off few trees in our yard and the roof tins were about to break off.

For last few days ive been dreaming at night of the winter trips,that im about to do,to drag a sled on ski ´is,to sleep in simple log cabins and lean to´s,while the frozing trees make the snappy sounds and winds blow. I just love the sound,which you hear for few seconds when the fire starts to go in the smoke pipes,when you light up the wood-ovens and heaters. Somehow its almost hypnotizing,to watch fire,no matter is in in the open fire in the camp,when you lie in the lean-to,or make some food over fire,or just sit around fire and talk with your buddies.

I have been making some inventories in my lockers,drawers and where ever i have my stuff lying. Ive been collecting some sort of winter-EDC ( every day carry) from these hides,and i put up small pocket size pack,its some maxpeditions small pocket pouch,to hold these:
-chapstick
-water purifier tablets in tiny stainless holder
-wiresaw BCB ( small size,better than nothing and better than multitool saw´s when sawing any thicker wood)
-Waterproof match contaner with matches and button compass
-Old leatherman supertool (good,locking saw,pliers,and good dedicated screwdrivers,these are reasons to choose this.)
-Small amount of snare,paracord and gaffa tape
-fishing line,few hooks,split weights,two needles,and safety pins,in tiny capsule.
-tatonka space blanket ( due to minimal weight and packing size)
-some piece of heavier tin foil(as it can be used to form a cup etc)
-Fox 40 whistle
-small keychain led light
-a small cheap diamond shapening rod

and as i nearly always still carry Victorinox OHT in kydex neck-sheath,with firesteel,led torch and proper small compass atached to it,i think im able to to take my dog for a walk around our yard any time :).

Seriously,this kind of stuff i just found,from old pencil boxes,from my wardrobe shelves,from pockets,and i just stuffed em into this belt pouch,and it seems good to go with me.

I tend to carry some gear with me always,but i love to lern to get along without gear,or with minimal too,so ive been learning to make fire with firebows etc,old but vise skills. Still,id rather put some knife or multitool on my belt,some energy bar on my pocket,and things like that,when i head outside the door,as they dont weight at all to my opinion and aint a problem to carry anytime.Its also a form of preparation to me,to gear up a bit "cause you never know when the SHTF". This kind of gear wont save me from apocalypse of zombie attack,nor from the massive plague,not to mention major meteorite falling from my head mbut it will surely help out a bit,if i get in some trouble in the trails,especially if i add some first aid items and food to me and my dog,in my daypack. And if if i take one more step and pack up a light sleepingbag,field canteen,some pot to cook up, and pair of dry socks,im ready to walk to the my favourite local every-mans-right cabin nearby.

And that wouldnt be bad start for this cold long season,to hike there,put up a small fire,feel the cabin to warm up,drink some soup and give my dog buddie some snacks,and just chill out till you fall asleep. It aint the great survival hike but man,its relaxing to me.

Fällkniven S1

I saw an intresting review of Fallknivens S1 knife,at "SurvivALL" blog,and as i happen to be owner of the same knife,i thought i´d throw in a few words about this knife too.This aint nothing more than my humble opinion of that knife. Be sure to check out SurvivALL´s review of the knife too,its based on real field testing,done by person who knows what he speaks of clearly.

Im not big fan of some reviews seen in youtube where guys read the catalogues,order expensive knives,dont use em in real enviroment,and just show off their gear in front of camera and tell some stories,and just disgrace or hype the item. I understand that someone is collector,someone is user,and theres still enough space for the folks on the other sides.BUT,telling about that rare,hi end,expensive,never used dusty knife,kept in safe or drawer, made from un-identified material dropped from the space,without actual use of it,still aint based on real-life experiment,hands-on,no matter how well the steel cleared the labratory tests,as the life,the knives element is somewhere,in the woods and thats where you see how it actually works. Many exotic handmade knives with pricetag over thousands of bucks,get beaten by factory made 10 buck Mora knives,as funtionality still rules over coolness factor :).Once again,in my opinion,and i respect yours,what ever that might be.

In my opinion this particular knife is about one of the best factory made knives ive used this far,and this aint ass-kissing.This is based on about 6 month perioid of use of it,without shame or particular mercy to the knife,although i use knives for jobs intended for knives. So im not used to bash em into steel surfaces,onto concrete walls or similar stuff,which ive seen done to many hi-end knives too,beaten till breaking up in these odd youtube videos where they intentionally try to break knives in any method they can to achieve snapped blades and similar harsh damage.

I have been batoning this into branches and small logs,in size of about 3 to even 4 inches in diameter,without any real damage,visible that is,to blade.It hasnt made difference,has the tree been frozen,fresh or dry,it has been pretty easy to split by batoning it with aid of other wrist thick branch or other part of some tree.And it does-surprise-survive all the other stuff too,easily,from carving up spoons,to making lean-to´s,and as its made very hygienic,its good for any hunting related tasks too,from skinning to guttin,a sits can also be cleaned easily and also sterilised in boiling water. This is one fine detail in any fallkniven fixed blades,as the thermorun handle material is somehow cast permanantly to the blade itself,so there aint any cuts or seams for germs to get in, to pollute meat of any type.

The handle hasnt showed any marks of real wear and it has been used after night in freezing temperatures,so the quality of this rubber is ok in my books. It is called Thermorun,if i recall right. Its nice and grippy in any enviroment ive used it in,no matter the temperature,even when wet,it offers good firm grip without getting slippery. But when ive used it to gut some fish,the slime from fish scales has mede it pretty slick,so you better be careful while doing this (as always when handling sharp tools,that is). The open end of the handle show the tang of the knife,so you can use the end of handle as small tool to pound in nails or something,or if you have to,you can use the steel surface to batoning too,to get that blade through some tough material in some emergeancy,or just to get a hole thru frozen stream,to get water under the ice,as ive used it.
And as always,i found the hole in the handle,left there to attach a loop thru it,is just great,and in my own knife ive attached a 8 inch long piece of multicolour 3mm climbing rated cord with small carabiner,which i use to sequre the knife into its sheath.

My knife came with leather sheath,that i like,its sturdy,not fancy or posh. Durable stitching,sandwhich construct to prevent blade to cut through the seams,and what i like...big enough belt loop,so you can use this also in duty belts. I´d like to get my new sheath done,it will come out with loop for firesteel and a flap with snap closure,to cover the knife more,but this factory one is great too as the knife sit quite deep in the sheath,and the sheath itself rides low,compared to belt so it wont snag your stomach or anything when you sit. The dangler is attached to well formed steel ring that stops the unnecessary swinging.

I have modified the blade,but just to get the spine more sharp edged,as many do to their knives,to make it more handy to scrape out sparks from firesteels and in my case,it works now better for scaling fish. Other than that,i have nothing i might gesture to be done to the blade,cause to this date,ive sharpened it only few times,just because it wont get dull easily. To sharpening i have used fallknivens own DC3 sharpening stone that has two side,the diamond coated,and the stone on the other side,and also piece of fine grit wet sanding paper,glued lightly over piece of mouse-pad,as the pad is soft and contours the shape of the blade well.

So i think this might be money well spent to other outdoors enthusiasts too.


Edit: well ive learned a bit more,and what ive been told is that you can actually use just a drop of autosol polishing stuff,and leather strop together for good edge,so i went and tried and id did work well.

to see more about S1 user opinions,check out this one:

http://survivall.blogspot.com/2009/09/fallkniven-s1-serious-survival-knife.html

Back from the forest.

Well its sad but im back in the civilization again.But it was damn good two days vacation at my friends dads summercabin,made in 50´s. Its simple but compared to to the usual lean-to´s i use it was like overwhelming,but i dont complain at all,no sir. Especially caus ewe had one not-so-into-wilderness girl with us there,so it was good place for her to,as there was warmth and shelter and all the small necessities she has used to use .I was almost around the clock at the lake,fishing with one or two buddies and we had about 30 good sized fishes,which we gutted and salted,and put most of them into freezer,but few we smoked in makeshift smoking box and in one splitted old truck´s air-brake canister which had been there as bbq grill and just lying un used for some 10 yrs,but with little tinkering it was good to go. I whittled some juniper in the bottom of it,followed by about ten sugar cubes and hint of whiskey i had there,to give a nice catch on the taste,and it seemed like we completed the smoking well,deciding from the grins on my friends face when we tasted it. Girls gathered up berries and some fungi too. Rest of the time i was mainly chilling out,having sauna,eating,talking some s--t and planning on next trips,especially one were goin to do at end of summer 2010,it will be pretty harder task as wed like to get as many people with us,so he have to plan the days according to everyones schedules.

Sort of shorty Khukri "knife"

This is managed to do today at forging course,from old leaf spring,that was eight millimeters thick and about 70 millimeters wide. Its banged against anvil,to thickness of an quarter inch,from handle to the beginning of the wider part of the blade,which still is 8 millimetrs thick,measured from the spine,so the weight is mostly on the front of the blade,to improve the performance when choppind down something. The holes on the handle are there merely to lighten up the handle and give better balance,although two of them are for brass pins,which im about to use to attach two slabs of some harder quality wood or maybe G10 scales,to make the handle more comfortable to handle for longer times. It was very hard to do this,as its my first,its very stubborn and hard material to forge. It has quite long bevels,ground with angle grinder,sandpaper,and all the necessary spinning gadgets to give very sharp and long lasting ( it seems the hardening vent well,as did the annealing too )edge,although this aint for whittling :) .Its about 18 inches long by the way.

Now i have a lot more knowledge and knowhow to make next one faster and better,thanks to the blacksmith dude who was our instructor there and understand that some folks just dont have that much of intrest to the traditional finnish puukkos,although i love em too.

Litlle bit of som new handmade stuff

Here you go,my new knife,done entirely by me.

Blade is bit over 10 centimeters,and its 3 millimeters thick,made from hi carbon steel blank,forged and ground,hardened and then annealed into about 59hrc of hardness.

The handle is made from curly birch,which i sunk into pitch black leatherpaint as its longlasting and penetrates wood well,after the assembly ( with epoxy and brass hardware) the handle has been oiled and polished just a bit,and the blade has been oiled with thin layer of food grade oil to prevent rust and od taste if i use it for stuff ill be eating.

It hasnt got sheath yet but im getting that done too when i get some leather.

Blacksmith studies continue.

Tomorrow-off to learn more about blacksmith skills,its hands-on class,i just cant wait till morning.

Sleeping bag for winter

I had my old dirt bicycle 4 sale or 4 trade in one popular website where they sell used stuff,i had it there for over 7 weeks and today finally someone called to me. He sure wasnt the only one but he lived just few miles from my home,and was looking out for a bike for his kid,who had bashed his other market quality mtb´s. I said to him that if he comes to check it out,likes it and takes it,ill give him good discount for it. His kid tested it,and so did the dad himself,and deal was made,and i knew immedialtely what to do with the money,as my favourite market,where they have awesome amount of outdoor gear,even compared to most sport shops here,had these discount days,and all the outdoor products were included to this discount campaign. So off we go and after some 20 minutes of touching and feeling things,i ended up with this Ajungilak Tyin 5-season sleeping bag,as i used to have one ajungilak and they have good reputation among other people too. Im hoping now for first hikes at Minus Celsius temperatures to see how good this one is. The best thing to me in this is,that its for person whos 2 meters tall,and im 192,and the previous was for 190 tall guy,and it was bit tight for me due to this. I was in bit of a stress since im goint o lapland once again before christmas,for over week,and i sleep in snow foxholes,etc,not in cabins or heated tents,and i hope this will serve me as well as did the previous Ajungilak i had,it had extreme at -51C,this one has what...-41c,and the comfort zone is between minus 20 to minus 29.With proper clothing,proper sleeping matress,i think ill survive just fine :).

http://www.mammut.ch/en/productDetail/241000550_v_180/Ajungilak+Tyin+5-Season.html

Blaah.

City-life is SO N-O-T for me.
The more i see the wilderness the more i miss it.
Hike after hike i feel so depressed here in the concrete cube.
I could easily trade my life here,with all the "good sides of modern home" to less equipped log hide-away-home in the woods.
If i only could pack up my small family and gear and take a hike.

A hike for life :).

Good night,fellowmen.