Bahco Laplander- my favourite folding saw.

ok, as i wrote the food review,i remembered that i used my BAHCO´s Laplander ( lap 396 ) saw as a weight in one picture,and also snapped a few shots of it too,so im goin to put em up here as well.
Laplander has been so far the best folding saw ive used on my trips,and at home too.

A choosed due to the reviews i saw about it,in newspapers,youtube etc and it sure aint bad reference to any tool if USA military forces issue this to their soldiers,and its NATO approved as well,and carries the number : #5110-25-147-4344

Its pretty sturdy,and yet not bulky or heavy in my pocket,the blade locks in open and in closed position too so it wont open up accidentally to rip the gear you have in you ruckasack,or tear apart your trouser pockets,neither your skin.

I´d say its something like 9 inches long when folded,so it rides easily in uniform pants pockets if you dont carry any backpack or similar,and theres now few belt sheats for these in Ebay too and im goin to sew one for myself too,as i really do like to carry things attached to me,in belt,so i always have necessities at my hands and i dont have to search thru packs and bags when i need some tool.

The blade is superb,it really holds up its edge and sharpness,and ive used this a lot,thru rotten,iced,moist,soft and hard woods,and plain ice too,and it keeps going on.Lately i managed to get a hold of some 5 spare blades from local scout shop,and due to this i think i wont be looking out for another saw for long long time.....if i dont drop this on trails,that is.From my classmate i got french,large Opinel saw but i havent used it at all yet so its my spare now.

I think its ok to carry axe in the woods,but to someone it might be too heavy and even more dangerous if youre not used to axe working,so the saw is lighter,safer and more accurate if you need to do some grooves and notches,smooth ends etc.With axe you can cut off a thicker tree faster but with stumpy saw like this,you can do it too,with some thought and it takes longer but its ok to me.Anyways,this will beat any(?) saw included in multitools and folding knives anyday of the week,when making any bigger tasks like cutting away material to build up a three stand for cooking,lean-to,or other shelter stuff and similar.

Anyways,if youre looking for good folding saw,for reasonable price,these are pretty easy to find nowadays ( mine came from Uk ) here,even from bigger markets like Prisma for under 20 Euros.Its not bad for hi quality item like this.

Personally i rate this as high as 4 points of 5,if id have to,and i dont give it five,cause any tool can be made better someday.BUT this is the best ive seen so far.

Hot Pack-flameless heater & Wayfarer hiking food field test

Well im back from a hike i did,and there i got a chance to do a little test and take some "how-to" pictures for your eyes,later on i wil add a short video film here and to youtube where i show the use of these cool light weight food & drink heaters.

First you just pick up the food you want to eat,and one of HOT PACK heaters.
Then you peel away the upper end of the heater,it has clear marking and cut-away´s too to ease out this step.After this,open up the food of your choise,in this particular case its WAYFARER´s
Chicken,pasta & mushrooms.Wayfarer is one of my favourites as it resembles those used by US military forces MRE ration packs.It does NOT need any water to be added,and it can be eaten cold too but it makes it digest and taste even better when warmed up.If you have one of those meals that need water,make sure you can close up your food pouch after you have added the water,since these heaters work best when theyre laying flat on ground,or roc or something.
If you cant close the pouch,make sure you put the meal,inside the Hot Pack,in a way it really stands against some support,tree stum or some similar.And it aint so effective when its standing,ive noticed,but still better than eating cold foods,especially those that require water,theyre bit hard to chew :).

Anyway,then you drop the meal that is in its own pouch,into the hot pack,and see that the clothbag in the hot pack,will be between the meal and ground/support,it heats up the portion better this way as the heat rises up to the meal,and wont escape,as it would do if its on top of the meal.

Then,you poor about 45 milliliters of water from your container to the heater,it has also been clearly marked where you stop pooring,as its bit hard to measure that amount in the woods if you dont carry a mug or something with proper measurements in it.

After this,just close the leftover part of the pouch that doesnt cover the meal pouch,use it like a lid/flap,to seal up the package,but DONT use any heavy items to make it 100% leakproof,this thing becomes VERY hot,and generates hot water steam,for quite a while,amd if its sealed up with tape or something,it might blow up.As long as you remember this,and that the package is laid flat on good surface ( it wont start a fire though,dont worry),youre doing just fine and its safe to use,really.

Let the whole package be there,for some time,from 7 to 12 minutes ( to my experience,this is),and then carefully pick it up,rip away the second marked part of the pouch ( this eases out removing the hot meal inside the hotpack).Be careful,the package can be still quite warm,use gloves if you want.Remove the warm meal,in this case you need just to open up the wayfarers factory-closed bag,check out that its warm,and start to eat straight from the pouch or poor the meal into your plate of choise,and enjoy.

MAKE SURE YOU GET RID OFF THE GARBAGE PROPERLY,DONT EVER WASTE NATURE. Its pretty odd you if you dont have the muscles to carry away the empty cans,pouches,packings if you had the energy to carry them along in to the woods.
Hot Pack has instruction for its use written on it very well,now in finnish too,which is great for us.



I found out,during our short trip,in our natural park,the Hot Pack,very useful and easy way to heat up the meal,so did my buddies,especially i noticed that my brother really liked it,as hes a beginner and does things on low budget intentionaly,and reduces weight of gear too,if he can.So this is also lightweight method to do food,and offers an low-cost way to get started your hiking and outdoor activities as you dont Have to buy any gas cartridge or liquid fuel operated stoves at the first point at all.And even later,im goin to carry these,cause they work well in cold climates too,where the gas stoves arent best things usually to carry around.And hey,it wouldnt be bad idea at all to add these into you cars emergeancy kit,not to mention other just-in-case uses,in boats,cottages or anywhere.These pack up in small space and dont cost much,think about it.

The food i tasted this time ( there will be few other taste testings soon too,folks.) was that Wayfarer chicken,pasta & mushrooms.I found it pretty damn fine meal,compared to multiple others ive eaten,and ive eaten a lot.It weights about 300 grams which is quite ok,as you usually eat few of these per day,and this stuff is anything but thin,its drowned in tasty filling creamy sauce,that suits me atleast,better than well.The stuff in the cream sauce is large chunks of tasty chicken.I was quite amazed about it actually as usually any hiking meal containing chicken,seems to contain only tiny crumbs,and almost non-visible particles of chicken.This meal made an positive
exception to that as it has about fingertip sized reddish chunks of it.The pasta is good,and not dry,points for that too.Not to mention the good amount of mushrooms,that i like,some dont but hey this is my tongue speaking now:)
My brother who is on novice-level when it comes to outdoors living,rated this the best stuff he had eaten on trails this far,and if youd know him,you would be sure that the meal cant be bad as this guy is picky one and eats a lot in restaurants etc.

Packings are sturdy,which is good,as in your rucksack sometimes meal pouches get some rough rides and get pierced,but these luckily didnt.I think you can even take away the outer packing away from any wayfarer meal,before hitting the trails,and it will not break easily.This just just to reduce amount of trash and weight in your backpack.I think it wouldn be stupid also to put the acyual pack containing the meal,inside the Hot Pack-bag,before you pack up you things and head out to your trip,and when the lunch break hits you,you dont have to look around for the hotpack and meal as they are togethe ralready and you only need to fill it with water,and eat away....

Both,the Heat Pac´s and Wayfarer rations along with many other food items can be found from SOLUTION FOODS webshop.

And as i said,i will be adding some short video clip as i get it edited,and few other meal tests here pretty soon,im bit busy now as im havin quite a lot of jobs,school classes and one trip in nearby future.

Hope you liked this one !?

Food test incoming

Ok,

Ive been talking thru emails to this one shop here that sells ready-to-eat meals,that i could possibly make a review & sort of field testing about them and now it seems that i have a green light from him and we just spoked on the phone about this matter.Later on this wweek i might get the items and then ill head out to some trip in the outdoors and take the foods along,cook em and take photos of those too,and then a si return to home ill post my review here.

A shop named "Solution Foods" (www.solutionfoods.fi) in Oulu,sells these foods,theyre bit special here,atleat i havent seen many other,if even one,hiking foods that you can eat straight out of pouch too,with or without heating em up in any way,but you can make em better by heating in hot water,in an un-opened pouch.

To my eyes they are very handy and intresting,since these dont require water,in times of crisis when the water supply gets broken,shut off or polluted,and this happen can the natural water sources like streams,pollution i mean.And this way wayfarer offers way to hydration too,due to the water it has already in it.You should consider these to be added in that "just in case" pack everyone should have in storage,along with all the other items like water purifiers,first aid kit,etc.

But thats it for now,ill post more thoughts and opinions after i get my field testing done .

(my) Hiking kitchen pt.1

Ok,i thought id post some shots of the cookware ive bene haulin with me in the woods for about yar now,and i havent been disappointed many times :).

This is just one set up i like,it aint the only i have,but its the only gas gartridge powered i have now,as i sold,due to empty wallet,my two other gas stoves @ last winter.

Included are:
- MSR Pocket Rocket gas burner/stove.
http://cascadedesigns.com/msr/stoves/fast-and-light-stoves/pocketrocket/product

-Primus Etapower pot, 1.0 liters capacity.
http://www.primus.se/Templates/Pages/ProductSheet.aspx?ItemId=66905

-Primus folding spork-thingy.
http://www.primus.se/Templates/Pages/ProductSheet.aspx?ItemId=66907

-Primus windshield
http://www.primus.se/Templates/Pages/ProductSheet.aspx?ItemId=87476

-Primus gas can support
http://www.primus.se/Templates/Pages/ProductSheet.aspx?ItemId=359

-Primus 0.6 L alu-bottle
http://www.primus.se/Templates/Pages/ProductSheet.aspx?ItemId=38027


Youll notice maybe,that im pretty much equipped wih Primus brand gear.Thats only due to nice pricetags attched to them,and cause i like the price/quality ratio of them.I used to use Primus Techotrail II burner too,it was good cause it dropped nicely into the pot itself,and made the whole set-up more compact when all packed up in my rucksack.But that was then,before i,moron,went and sold it,but i had to.

So after that i managed to grab one of these popular MSR pocket rocket´s an di have to say,that it has only two things i kinda miss.The forst is that its bit larger than technotrail,making it too big to pack inside pot,but i think i can bear with that,and survive.The second minus point...kinda....id give to Rocket,is that its lacking the piezo-ignition device,so i have to remember to always carry some method of throwing spark or fire to get the burner goin.

Other than that im happy with my burner,its compact,yet durable to its size/weight.Although i dont care about weight of my gear so much,im chasing always for long lasting stuff,more than that hi-tech,li-tech stuff,but hey,different strokes for different people.



The pot is regular Primus pot,from their ETAPOWER line up.So it has these heat transfering ribs/fins in the bottom of it,that that really aint marketing departement lie,that it makes the boiling time shorter as it seems to do so,it boils cold water to rolling boiling in minute or two,depending the climate/weather where you use it.

The Teflon treatment it has,also is tough,and will serve you well for a long time especially if you dont go and use those sharp edged titanium,aluminium or steel sporks and other utencils to scrape scratches into teflon coating.So just keep on using wood or plastics,man,it´ll save your hard earned money on the long run.

The lid of pot acts as small,more like tiny pan,but its ok for frying some small game,bacon,fish or even eggs.Its packing a nice locking handle too,with swivel in it,for compact size and form.Oh,the pot too has this two piece out-folding handle,good enough.

Many burners do fit inside pot,but it all depends also if you like to pack the gas canister in the pot or not,so if youre lookin out for compact system,try to stuff your gear in the shop,inside the pot,but inform the shop staff about your acts so they dont see you as a thief stuffing gear inside the pot :).

Pot has this mesh made fabric pouch with drawing string,its pretty well made,but i know mesh pouches tend to grab in the bush,they collect small branches etc,but it also is good as it dries out fast and lets you see if everything inside the pouch is ok.No complaints from me.


Windshield i grabbed from local big market,it was used in promotion/reviews or something so got it for the half of the MSRP price,althogh it aint so expensive usually either,just some...14 Euros i keep remembering.Its very simple,just two bigger shielding parts,joint together by one riveted,small piece of flexible stainless steel,that acts as attachment point of gas canister´s neck.It just clamps around the neck of can,and has this tension,to keep it in place.No small parts to break or get lost,10 points for that.

When you carry it,just fit the shield over can,as it attaches to it thatways,and fits over can pretty nicely,wont take any space and fits inside the etapower pot,maybe inside other brand pot´s too,who knows,i dont.And when youre preparing to cook,just flip it around,and its ready to block the windblows and other elements.Nice little,ok priced gadget to ease out us on the hunger.

Spork´s just a simple two headed Primus SPoon-fORk-Knife combination,just with added swivel in the handle,to make it smaller.But also it is most certainly making it less durable.But i thought id give it a go,as ive also breaked many LMF Sporks in two pieces.

The bright orange item in some pic is a devive for giving a spark to light up the burner.Its from AMK´s small pocket survival kit,just basically small wheel and spring loaded flint,as found in cheap gas lighter,zippos etc.Its most propably Sparklite brand.

The gas can stand & support gadget is also from Primus if i remember correct,its just a nice plastic made three piece gimmick that opens up and spreads,and forms a three legged support,to make the whole cooking set-up bit more stable especially in rough surface.The complete kit when in use is more like small tower,it sure aint the lowest one,its more like Jetboil set up,that aint stable either but this suppport makes it bit better,and ive noticed that it good at winter if you place some insulating thing on top of packed snow,and drop a handwarmer jelly-pack on that insulating item,maybe a glove or small piece of mattress,and then pile up the gas can,stove etc,on top of these,and it will make the burner run good as the support keeps it stable,the insulation part prevents the handwarmer heatloss,and the warmer keeps gas can in good + temperatures.At your own risk,man,as theres a lot of different handwarmers,some are way too hot and might make the can explode even.

And last of all,the bottle is 0.6 liters Primus aluminium bottle,nothing special,just a simple one with anticorrosive coating inside,and two lids,the sport type with sipping valve and the othe ris more reliable,non leaking screw on type,attached with small red carabiner.This one i havent used at all yet,and im plannig on using it Just for spare-water containing,or just for pure cooking water,not for all around drinking water.

This kit is is what i choosed and i can recommend it without hesitation to anyone intrested in bit smaller gear,as it fits in a small daypack as well,doesnt weight much and it is of a good quality.
Offcourse,if youre planning on kit used much in the cold winter climates or very long trips,i must say that then you gotta realise that gas cans must be kept warm,insulated,with those disposable small handwarmer jelly packs or otherways,to keep gas in form of gas,do not let it turn into freezing liquid or it wont burn,it just spills and spits,if it even ignites.And you must carry cans enough to make it thru your explorations.So do consider carryin a alcohol burner,like Trangias are,too,theyre extremely reliable and trustwothy,though big and heavier gear.But even a small kettle with handle allowing it to be hung above open camp fire,is good Just-In-Case item to be taken along with you.You always have to think the season of the year,the weather,fauna and landscape,distances to nearest shops,refill points etc before steppin into that path.Preparation is the key,i think.

My new "handmade" hiking axe

Oh,after making charred cloth i continued whittling a new handle(?) from birch log i got from my pal some months ago,its been in his shed drying for almost three years.And damned i got it done,i even finished it a bit with sandpaper,just a bit,and gave it a nice reddish brown dye,plus some old school tar-treatments ive studied from my grandpa ( may he rest in peace,the most influencing man ive ever known),and tied up some tripwire as did my ancestors,to prevent shaft from being broked so easily from mis-hits etc.

The axe head is about 40 yrs old Fiskars,it started its new life now,as it was really beat up one,simple model before i re designed it,forged and welded it in to whole new style,and i also made pretty nice hardening and annealing to it,with help of this blacksmith who has also teached me to make knives better.Finally i put some gun blue stuff in it to make it more durable against rust and wear.

Common man´s charred cloth project

Today i had nothin special goin on,and i felt guilty to waste time inside so i went to my backyard to make some DIY charred cloth in this cheap barbeque grill caus ei was runnin out of char cloth.

So this is how it went.

First i found empty bb gun´s pellet tin lyin in the shack,i took it,cleaned it a bit,punched about 1/8" hole in the lid.Then i cut some 2 by 2 inches pieces of old black BDU uniform pants as theyre mad eof rugged 100% cotton.These bits i piled nicely in the tin,screwed on the lid gently and put in on the on the grill of the bbq fire,for a while.In some point it started to smoke and i took it out,just to notice that black dyed cotton turns into this greyish brown,before it turns out into coal black.So it went back to fire,for a sec again.And in no time it was ready,nice stack of spark catching cloth that i put into small plastic bag and this i put into my fire-kit along with firesteel,flint strikers,and flintstone etc.

Time well spent.

Favourite tools pt.1

Well,as i said that id talk few words about the tools i like to carry almost daily,especially in the woods,or during other trips,heres the first one:

Victorinox Oh Trekker.

-i bought this one overseas,as used but in pretty decent condition (here these cost more than the item combined with shipping from overseas),and its been modified at some point a bit,so it has now a stainless steel pocket clip and the original partially serrated blade is now ground in fully plain shape,as the serrations arent so much needed.Though i really dig the swiss way to put sarrations in the point of the blade,not in the back of the blade,so the blade is good for occasional and even accurate whittlings too this way.If the serrations would be in the root of the blade it would not be good for whittling etc.

Anyways,i like the tool set-up used in OHT ( ohstands for One Hand,as it can be opened with just one hand,liek spydercos do to,caus eof the big hole in the blades spine),it has well made,proper sized phillpis screwdriver,its somewhere in between of official size 2 and 3,which are most commonly used ones.

It also has awesome saw,if you notice the size of it too.its sharp as fangs,and maintains the sharpness too,and does it just fine.Saws are good if youre into tripwires,snares etc that require good notches made,and for other camp tasks as well,from making repairs to cutting small fresh branches.

Other than those mentioned above it also has that useful awl/spike/needle tool,needed often,even at home for making small holes to start yanking some hook screws in to wall and so on,clearing smut from your rifle,or other dirty mechanbical gear that needs some cleaning.
And ofcourse it has the regular can opener/small flathead tool,bottle opener/large locking flathead tool.Although i prefer Wenger´s dedicated can opener over Vic´s,as it opens the can much better...But combinations are also like these and this Vic tool does the both jobs good still so im certainly not complaining about it,its just that ive never had to use small flathead duing any of my trips till now :),but ive opened a FEW cans .

The locking flathead is good as it wont snap on your fingers when jerking that old rusty screw,and as is the blade too,it uses simple,rugged and very reliable liner lockind device that is about sensless to any dirt you come across,compared to any of those hitech locks that have to be clean in order to work properly.

Ive attached a small,more like miniatyre firestarter to oht too,so im always packed with means to make fire too.

Back from the woods

Well im back from the trip in Da woods.I had to bail out bit earlier as i got this horrible migraine "stroke",and i could just stay in dark,and throw up :),but until that i really liked all that action we had,sleeping in emergeancy/hand made shelters,under tarps,sittin around camp fire,fishing a bit too...we enjoyed mushrooms,fish,berries,plant roots,et.



Lots of goin in the moist bushes with only compass to aid in direction,and no idea about final destination,its cool to me,as ive used to put my tarp where ever i stop,and thats my camp that time,i dont need all the goodies,just some warm food,and shelter from rain and wind.



At one morning.....hah..i felt i havent really slept a bit or more than an hour or so..well...i woke up,all wet and chilly an dother woke at the same time too and said good mornin to me with grin smile on their face and at that point i realised i was maybe the only one who actually slept relatively well and they had just been listening me snoring :) all night long.

Off to survival camp now :)

yep,im headin out to survival camp/trip for 4 nights,im leaving home in some 5 hrs from now,im pretty damn excited,though the gods of weather are lookin me with an moist eye,its pooring down from the skies above now and forecast says it will continue for some 70 hrs on various levels,but theres one good thing about the rains too...We can make open fires,from branches etc,and sleep in lwean-to´s in bit more better conditons as the fire can reflect some heat to our wilderness bunks now.

and again,as i like to get old school and i dont like to horde all the gear in the world,to my possession,i still fancy some items over others,and heres a few for starters.Its just a pic representing some of my most importand things i carry,everyday basis,especially on days in the woods n trails.I think im about to write up some poor-mans reviews from time to time,or tell my opinions about some gear i have,desire or have disappointed in.



well...i muts hit the bed now,and when i return from camp,ill tell about my gear in the pic,and some telltale about our survival excursion.

Some updates

Well.....


Life sucks now,im bit frustrated and totally broke so im not doin or creating anything now,in close past or maybe even in nearby future.I just have to call it stop,now,and hang out in school,try to learn all kinds of animal-bird-plant,many races and types.but im about to take off to 4days long survivalhike&cam with just minimal gear.Well it aint the minimalistic as it could go,but its pretty small list of gear we are allowed carry.Just knife,blanket,compass,pen and notebook,either rainjacket or similar,but i do take my good old german army´s big poncho,as it has these hole-rivets that allow it to be used as tarp etc,so its multifunctional,better than just plain jacket would be.And also im taking stainless steel cup,big one so i can boil water in it,and 2 hooks,some line,hand forged fire steel with flintstones,and thats about it,all im taking there,besides clothes im wearing and small amount of rock salt and 120 grams of chocolate.

I dont think this is the hardes course im goin to participate as ive been in two course before with less gear and no food was allowed in gear.Yes, i will suffer from hunger if i dont catch any fish or eat mushrooms and berries,roots of plants,but its ok,more than fine by me and im taking this one seriously too,as survivalism is close to my soul.

oh,hey heres one knife im making,it aint the finest nut its good to me.

This is just a quick snapshot representing some of my"creations" ive done recently.Its not even near the whole batch of goodies.Theres firesteel,utility hook for hanging a pot or oil lamp,knives,actually few of those.Man cant ever have enough of sharp tools i say :).

Knives & ancient wilderness skills

Well,ive been mostly at school now,for long time,as im so excited about these knife forging&making courses and also the new "ancient outdoor skills" course is just awesome.we´ve bene making tools,backpacks,hunting equipment,bone items and all kinds of cool gimmicks in the style of primitive hunters and out ancestors.During these classes my instructor has bene one well known and highly respected person,who has been giving survival and outdoor skill classes at least for 30 years,he was at first bit cranky,maybe due to my non-mainstream looks but now we speak hellova lot about survival gear etc as he might have noticed that im so intrested about his stories and teachings.Way cool,i really respect his monstrous knowledge and cant wait till we have more classes with him.

Backpack project o´mine

soo,i got hold of pretty large piece of 600d waterproof ripstop nylon,and its even olive drab green,so i thought id give it a shot to become some type of medium sized rugged,simple backpack,im thinking a lot of those sling-packs with just one shoulder strap and waist belt.i bought bag full of locks,adjusters,strap materials,mesh cushio and some other small parts,only few zippers are missing anymore.and someone to sew it together,haah.ill be posting pics of it as i m now startin to cut pieces.

it has to be big enough to carry small gas cooker,pot,mug,blanket or summer sleepingbag,and spaceblanket,and maybe it will have small utility pocket for mre or similar necessities.
it would be cool to add molle webbing to it but it would not be simple then anymore.