Blogs BuddasBlog October 2010
Quote of the Day
Wednesday, October 27th, 2010
” Life is not measured
by the amount of breathe’s you take,
but by the amount of moments
that take your beathe away”
Idiocy, Improvisation & Organisation
Wednesday, October 27th, 2010
Seems Ive been too busy having every packed or in the process of repacking all my gear ready for bugging out or for upgrades to gear. The moral is I had nothing on hand for short term emergencies within the home, without having to go through boxes and boxes of supplies. It started a few days ago, something as simple as running out of matches. I couldnt light the stove to cook dinner. (I havent ran out of matches in 10 years) Easy fix, have a microwave meal and get matches the next day. Been flat out trying to finish a few articles to post, design a sling bow, going through gear, prepping a rifle action to reblue, testing new blades, taking photos, the list goes on and on. Forgot the matches.
That night grabbed one storage box where I knew a dodgy ferro rod was kept, not a good quality one but good enough for a backup. After a few attempts the stove was alight. For two days I kept forgetting matches. Was waking up at 5-30am and finishing my chores before working on my projects to have them finished by the end of the week. Still forgot the matches. Had the dog walked before the shops had even opened in order to get ahead.
Tonight, the ferro rod didnt work. Tonns of sparks but not getting the stove alight before gas started to build up. This was getting a little too dangerous, just because I was too slack to start going through boxes in the shed to find the numerous butane lighters or better quality ferro rods that I owned for emergencies. HAHA. Ended up putting a rolled up paper towel into the toaster to light the stove. Doors and windows open to avoid the smoke alarms going off atleast. Not enough sleep and doing too much and concentration wasnt the best. The neighbour is a smoker, could have asked for a spare lighter at anytime within the last three days during visits.
After having everything packed a certain way for such a long time ready to bug out using a certain means of vehicle. After deciding to sell my bus, had also decided to repack and go through all my gear and upgrade items that I should have done when first purchasing them, but I like to try out gear first just to make sure it all works like it should and know how to use it properly. Pitty I had no idea where anything now was. Crap everywhere.
Surrounded by survival supplies, but wasnt organised enough to light the stove for dinner without it becoming a headache. I had let things get out of hand, trying to do too much at once. I must own a dozen high quality ferro rods, a couple of butane lighters, flint and steel kits, self lighting stoves etc and nothing on hand unless searching for it. 15 mins is all it would have taken but I should have been better organised even if I was repacking.
Even though I have items stashed all over my home for long term use such as water purifiers and numerous bug out bags in limbo and in 44 gallon drum cache containers. I should have had a better organisation system for where the items were stored while in the process of going through them. So over the weekend Im going through all my gear and finding where it all is. Placing unfinished projects in one box, firearm and archery equipment in another etc etc, while repacking. Trying to balance articles, photos and practicality got on top of me.
By the time yourve brought an item, practised with it, written about it, done a few dozen drafts, gotton fed up, taken a couple dozen pics that dont turn out(maybe 3 in 20). It ends up in a box or pile of other items ready to be packed. Essentually CRAP EVERYWHERE! Funny thing is within 5 mins of starting to write this blog post. I remembered where I had three other methods of lighting a fire including on the kitchen table, sitting right in my wallet within a credit card tool. The next morning opened the first box in the shed and there was a small butane stove with a self lighting function. Gotta take a break and sort out my shit. Been relying on living in a very boring place other than the feral population when they run out of drugs.
The chances of having to bug out are slim and if it was neccessary, the traffic and roads system would make it better to stay where I was for two weeks before attempting it. Thats just not a good enough reason not to be on my game. Im trying to decide whether to get another bus thats larger but already decked out or go smaller with a 4×7 trailer and keep everything packed and ready to go or a caravan with cheaper registration than a motorized vehicle would be. That decision seems to be holding me back.
Heavy Duty EDC Knives
Saturday, October 23rd, 2010
These are probably more a niche market item, not exactly designed for skinning bunnies . As the blades would probably weigh more than most small game . The other option is to carry two tools. A cutting blade and a prybar. H/D EDC’s are made more for when carrying a prybar is inconvenient. The two knives on the market that I own fitting into this catagory are the Busse Game Warden Fatty made from INFI steel and the Boker Vox Prymate in N690 steel, both with a spine thickness of 7mm.
Small enough not to be considered offensive in nature, but thick enough that they can be used for not only for cutting but also as a make do prying tool or hacking knife in an emergency situation. A hack knife is a tool used in the roofing industry for cutting through Colourbond/Galv roofing by hacking when using a grinder isnt practical, due to electrical cables or the length of power cords etc. Hacking is similar to battoning but through steel sheeting.
The GW and Prymate are tough enough to be used in the same fashion if needing to batton through a vehicle roof if the windows are unaccessible. Well built to suit both military or SAR use. Another blade worth considering are the raidops models with a spine thickness of 6mm and made from CPM S30V. Ive yet to own one of these, but intend to eventually put my name down for a Bad Worm, Battle Crab and Stryker Prybar defensive tools in Titanium.
The original sharpened prybar type knife was the Strider DB. The DB was a collaboration in the early 90’s between Duane Dwyer of Strider Knives and Darryl Bolke (hence the name DB), It was designed from the ground up as a concealable tool for law enforcement officers; a hard-use backup knife that was suitable for any task thrown at it; cutting, prying etc, hence the Strider DB was born from that need. . The DB has 1/4″ thick CPM S30V blade, 3-1/4″ long.
Any article on heavy duty edc’s wouldnt be complete without mentioning, Razels (by CRKT), maybe not as thick as the others at just under 4.6mm but still along the same design concepts. Graham Knives in Cleveland, Tennessee, developed their custom Razel in 2001, most knife blades came to a single point but the Razel is more like a tanto in nature. It’s a cross between a chisel and a razor with a knife handle. The result gives two useful Razor-Sharp edges, one for pushing or tapping, and the other for precise cutting. You also get two strong blade points. The Graham brothers have both custom and production versions in a variety of sizes and styles.
The production Razel models follow the Graham concept, with very thick full-tang blades of premium 9Cr18MoV (similar to 440C) stainless steel in a brushed finish and hand-contoured Micarta handles. A host of craftsmen can use Razels in the following ways: scraping gaskets, removing paint and stickers. Chiseling to make reliefs, mortises and tenons. Prying tight-fitting parts. Cutting things like paracord, wire insulation, radiator hose, plastic ties and tubing. Taper reaming a hole with the twist of the wrist. Reaching into tight spaces and push cutting with the chisel edge. Opening feed bags and cutting through bales of hay, etc. Doing the research for this article has actually prompted me to put an order in for the Ringed model Razel. Thinking along the lines that it would suit a messenger bag every day carry, as a multi functional tool.
http://www.messerforum.net/showthread.php?t=82822
http://www.deathsheadcustoms.com/docs/selfdefensetools.htm
http://www.tactical-life.com/online/tactical-knives/blunt-force-blades/
http://www.canadianwildernesssurvival.com/reviews/Reviews/CRKT%20Ringed%20Razel%20Review.html
Pics to follow
Bug Out Food Updates
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010
FOOD FOR THE TRAIL
The following list of food is historically correct and can be varied per trek length and personal taste. Although the list is relatively small it offers a surprising verity of fair. When supplemented with wild game, fowl, and fish it can not only keep you going but can provide an excellent and tasty diet.
1. A cloth or leather sack of Stone Ground Corn Meal Flour (generally carried in the fry pan with the handle folded over it).
2. A sack of Unsweetened Hunks of Chocolate and a Sugar Cone (Sugar Cones are made from the left over or junk sugar remaining after the processing of sugar. It is like brown sugar with a slight taste of molasses) This sack is carried inside my Corn Boiler.
3. A small sack of Ground Coffee (also carried inside the Corn Boiler). Loose leaf tea can be carried in place of the coffee or in addition to it. Roasted Coffee Beans may be carried but must be pounded or ground before use.
4. A sack of dry Split Peas.
5. A sack of Flour Mix ( I make this using brown flour, cornmeal, and brown sugar – see Stick Bread in the recipe list below)
6. A sack of Dry Corn (whole kernels)
7. A sack of Parched Corn (see recipe section below)
8. A cloth sack of Jerk (Jerky was simply called Jerk in the 18th century. If carried in a cloth sack where air can get at it, Jerk will last indefinitely)
9. A greased sack of Smoked Salt Slab Bacon (This type of bacon does not require refrigeration).
10. A sack of Stone Ground Oatmeal (Scottish Oatmeal).
RECIPES FOR THE TRAIL
Corn, corn, and more corn. Corn was the staple diet of the longhunter, backwoodsman, early colonist and Indians alike. Woodland Indians could travel for days on no more then a handful of parched corn a day.
The standard corn ration was a handful a day given to hunters of organized hunting parties, militia groups and some military groups and one pound ( 1 lb) of corn was considered a months ration per man.
True, these hunters supplemented their meager supplies with game meat from the hunt but when traveling in hostel territory where hunting was often out of the question they survived primarily on the supplies carried with them.
Here are some simple and tested recipes for the trail along with preparation tips.
1. Johnny Cakes
Open your corn meal bag and form a little divot in the corn meal (corn flour, or wheat flour) and add a small amount of water. Mix with you fingers until you have a dough (add more corn meal or water as needed) that can be formed into a round flat cake.
This cake can be cooked in a frypan, on a hot flat rock, or in the hot ashes of a fire. My favorite method is to first fry up a few pieces of bacon, remove the bacon from the skillet and set aside on a piece of bark and cook the cake (or cakes) in the bacon grease until the cakes are lightly browned.. Stick Bread
2 .This is made from a Flour Mixture I prepare in advance of a trek. The mixture consists of 2 cups brown (wheat) flour, 1 cup of cornmeal (or corn flour) and 1/4 cup of brown sugar. Note: The brown sugar must be left out in a bowl to dry first and then sifted into the flour before mixing.
As in the Johnny Cake above, open your sack, make a small divot in the flour mixture, add a small amount of water and form a dough with your fingers. Because of the natural glutamates in the flour this will form a better and more elastic dough then if made with just cornmeal.
Wrap the dough around the end of a green willow stick and hold or support the stick over the coals until golden brown. Eaten with a cup of coffee or hot chocolate this is a rewarding treat.
Note: On a trek once, we were in a dry camp having only a canteen of water each to get us through the night. One of members of our small party had a small bottle of homemade apricot wine (almost a brandy) and we used this to make our stick bread dough with. The result was a very tasty treat that was enjoyed by all on that cold wet night.
3. Hot Chocolate
Add a few chucks of unsweetened chocolate with equal amounts of sugar carved or hacked from your sugar cone to some water and heat over the coals stirring until the chocolate has melted. While not as rich and thick as homemade hot chocolate it still produces a good hot beverage.
For a thicker hot drink add some cornmeal to your hot chocolate after it is made. Stir in the cornmeal while reheating the chocolate. The will be especially enjoyed on those cold damp nights.
4. Corn and Jerk Soup
Add a handful of dry corn and some pieces of Jerk to water and boil over the coals. Add salt and cyan pepper to taste. The dry corn will reconstitute itself and this makes a tasty soup.
5. Cornmeal Mush
Cornmeal mush can be prepared in several ways to provide some variety to the diet.
(A). REGULAR CORNMEAL MUSH
Mix cornmeal with water in your fry pan and heat over the coals stirring until it becomes thick (add more cornmeal or water as needed). Add salt and cyan pepper to taste.
(B). CORNMEAL MUSH AND BACON
Fry up some bacon , set it aside, and to the bacon grease stir in some cornmeal and then some water. Heat until thick stirring occasionally. You can crumble up the bacon and add to the cornmeal mush or eat it separately. The cornmeal mush will be flavored by the bacon grease. Add cyan peeper and salt (if needed) to taste.
(C). CORNMEAL MUSH AND CHOCOLATE
Make your cornmeal mush using some of your hot chocolate drink in place of water to give it a chocolate taste.
6.Split Pea Soup
Place a handful of dry split peas into your boiler and add water. Boil over the coals of you fire stirring frequently until the peas are soft, add some pieces jerk or cut up bacon and continue to cook. Spice with salt and cyan pepper to taste. Depending on the amount of peas used and how well the peas are cooked they can be mashed up with your spoon and can be almost the consistency of porridge.
7. Hot Oatmeal
Easy to prepare and makes a great breakfast. A cup of hot oatmeal will stick to the ribs and is a great way to start a new day of trekking.
Add a handful of oatmeal to your boiler. Add water and bring to a boil stirring constantly. You can make your oatmeal as thick or thin as you choose by adding more oatmeal or water while cooking. Stir in some sugar while hot. Lacking milk or cream on treks I like to make my oatmeal a little on the soupy side.
8. Parched Corn
To make Parched Corn you will need corn which has been dried on the cob. Dry corn was produced by opening the husks (but not removing them) and hanging the corn in the rafters of the cabin to dry.
Prior to leaving for a trek remove some dry corn from the cobs and place in bowl. There are two methods of making parched corn. The first method is to place no more then a hand full at a time into a hot dry skillet. Stir constantly until the corn pops and becomes a light brown in color. Remove from the pan, separate from any burnt kernels and lightly salt. The trick here is to parch the corn and not let it burn.
The second method is to fry some bacon and while the bacon is frying add a hand full of dry corn stirring constantly as it browns and pops in the bacon grease.
Place the parched corn in a bag for travel. Parched Corn can be used as a trail snack or as a quick meal along with some Jerk. It can be ground to a powder, mixed with water to form a paste and eaten as is until camp is made. The ground parched corn can be used like cornmeal though it has a much smoother consistency
NOTE: If the Parched Corn is to be ground the dry parch method works best. One of the best types of corn to use for this is called Hickory King. This is an Heirloom corn that has been around for over two centuries and it produces large flat white kernels.
From Bills World Gateway to the Past
Basic Bannock Recipe
courtesy Karen Hood
This recipe for bannock will come in handy during a day hike or an overnight camping trip. Mix the ingredients at home and then seal them in a zip-lock bag. The basic mix will stay fresh for up to a month if kept sealed, dry, and reasonably cool. The quantity given will yield four bannock cakes, each approximately 3-1/2 to 4″ in diameter.
Dry Ingredients
1 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. margarine
2 tbsp. skim milk powder (optional)
Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and milk powder. Cut in the margarine by hand or with a mixer on low, until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Seal it in a zip-lock bag. Squeeze out excess air.
Bannock on the Trail
Grease and heat a fry pan or foil. Add enough COLD water to the prepackaged dry mix to make dough. Form the dough into cakes about 1/2″ thick. Lay the bannock cakes in the warm frying pan. Hold them over low heat, rotating the pan a little. Once a bottom crust has formed and the dough has hardened enough to hold together, turn the bannock cakes.
Cooking takes 12-15 minutes. Test readiness by inserting a clean toothpick or wood sliver into the loaf. If it comes out clean, the bannock is ready to eat.
If you don’t have a fry pan …
Roll the dough into a ribbon, no wider than an inch. Wind this around a preheated green hardwood stick and cook over a fire, turning occasionally, until the bannock is cooked.
Cornell Bread
Cornell bread is also a high protein bread, very interesting book. He started out making the first protein bread for low meat diets and tested his theories on mental patients.
http://www.cornell.edu/search/index.cfm?tab=facts&q=&id=188
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/1981-09-01/McCoys-Miracle-Loaf.aspx
http://www.soyinfocenter.com/HSS/mccays_and_ny_state_food_commission.php
Survival Quarterly Magazine
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010
WT Knives Shikra (Special Order Pikal)
Friday, October 15th, 2010
The Shikra is one of Warren Thomas’s knives made by sandwiching titanium between either G10 or carbon fibre scales. With a blade length of 3.5″, handle length 3.25″, overall length 6.75″ and blade width 0.1875″ or 1/8th. I had been meaning to buy a Shikra for some time and having recently become a pikal convert, thought combining the two designs would be an interesting concept.
It was just a matter of changing the chisel bevel from the curved side of the blade to the flat of the spine, forming a warncliffe edge. By leaving the finger choil in the original position, it then makes it applicable for use with pikal/reverse icepick techniques. Using the new bladetech belt clips would make it sit close to the body for a low profile carry option. It’ll make a nice Christmas present for myself and should be ready just before then. Pics to follow when project completed. I choose the plain black G10 finish just for a tactical look.
Urban Prep Test Update
Saturday, October 9th, 2010
Havent had a chance to do much writing. The motivation hasnt been there to work on an article covering counter survielance cleaning runs. Working down 300 pages to a decent size to post is frustrating. Been doing some practical work instead. Have built the workshop and just need to put in a bench. Almost finished landscaping the front yard between the shed and front of main house structure. I now have a small 2.2m x 3m pergola over this area for extra shade during summer.
Decided to sell my small 20 foot bus. The mechanic is retiring and work has slowed. Its going to be easier to either buy a small bug out trailer to store my gear and work on finding a permanent BOL, or to buy a larger 30 foot bus that already has power steering and auto gear box and cut 4 foot off the back end to fit in my front yard.
Still saving to have the decking cut up to make storage departments underneath. Need another $400 to complete that job for the framing. Ran into a little trouble cutting into the tucker box freezer to make a cold store. Ends up that older fridges are stainless steel underneath the white powdercoat. The stainless just tore apart the hole saw bit. Will need to take it to a stainless steel workshop, not far from where I live to use their tooling to make a better cut or it’ll just turn into a mess.
Improved security immensely. Now have a 1.8m steel gate with only vertical slats , (as opposed to horizontal slats) that make it difficult to climb and extended the rear gate to a similar height. All fences and entrances are now around the 7 to 8 foot mark with the trellace extending the height well above legal requirements. Had a locksmith come in and redo all the door locks. Found out the frame work and door construction are heavy duty. All doors now have not only standard door handles but dead locks, door chains and panic bolts. There is a key safe dyna bolted to the exterior wall for emergency entry. From what Ive been told , take 40 minutes of grinding to penerate one. One tip. It doesnt matter how much you spend on a lock if the strike plates on the opposite frame only have small screws installed. Go around and make sure they all have atleast 40mm screws. I found mine had not even half that. Too easy to kick in otherwise. Also add another door hinge. If a door has only two hinges it will not be strong enough. The screw length in these is also worth double checking.
Will be building a couple of cache containers from 44 gal olive oil drums and using 60 litre screw top plastic containers inside of these with two pack expander foam as 2 inches of insulation between both containers. a good way to store items inside sheds and can be dropped off at mates who live further out from the city. I keep running out of cash. Customs have been cracking down on knife importations and I wanted to get my wish list out of the way before it was too late. Pitty most knife crimes are done with a $10 kitchen blade from the local supermarkets. Not $200 knives legally imported by collectors. I guess they think its better to make it look as though they are doing something, than nothing at all. Same as crimes involving firearms. Very few involve registered firearms, but they are now talking about central storage facilities. Idiots!
Ive also installed an 870 litre water tank. Had it done just in time to fill it to the brim and brought an ozpig bbq. So now I have a third option for cooking outdoors. Gas, charcoal and firewood. Havent had a chance to try it out yet. The timber I scored for a slab of beer is still drying out. Have enough now to last atleast a year. Still attempting to split it all.
A few more projects to finish off and I’ll post some pictures.
Quote of the Day
Wednesday, October 27th, 2010” Life is not measured
by the amount of breathe’s you take,
but by the amount of moments
that take your beathe away”
Idiocy, Improvisation & Organisation
Wednesday, October 27th, 2010Seems Ive been too busy having every packed or in the process of repacking all my gear ready for bugging out or for upgrades to gear. The moral is I had nothing on hand for short term emergencies within the home, without having to go through boxes and boxes of supplies. It started a few days ago, something as simple as running out of matches. I couldnt light the stove to cook dinner. (I havent ran out of matches in 10 years) Easy fix, have a microwave meal and get matches the next day. Been flat out trying to finish a few articles to post, design a sling bow, going through gear, prepping a rifle action to reblue, testing new blades, taking photos, the list goes on and on. Forgot the matches.
That night grabbed one storage box where I knew a dodgy ferro rod was kept, not a good quality one but good enough for a backup. After a few attempts the stove was alight. For two days I kept forgetting matches. Was waking up at 5-30am and finishing my chores before working on my projects to have them finished by the end of the week. Still forgot the matches. Had the dog walked before the shops had even opened in order to get ahead.
Tonight, the ferro rod didnt work. Tonns of sparks but not getting the stove alight before gas started to build up. This was getting a little too dangerous, just because I was too slack to start going through boxes in the shed to find the numerous butane lighters or better quality ferro rods that I owned for emergencies. HAHA. Ended up putting a rolled up paper towel into the toaster to light the stove. Doors and windows open to avoid the smoke alarms going off atleast. Not enough sleep and doing too much and concentration wasnt the best. The neighbour is a smoker, could have asked for a spare lighter at anytime within the last three days during visits.
After having everything packed a certain way for such a long time ready to bug out using a certain means of vehicle. After deciding to sell my bus, had also decided to repack and go through all my gear and upgrade items that I should have done when first purchasing them, but I like to try out gear first just to make sure it all works like it should and know how to use it properly. Pitty I had no idea where anything now was. Crap everywhere.
Surrounded by survival supplies, but wasnt organised enough to light the stove for dinner without it becoming a headache. I had let things get out of hand, trying to do too much at once. I must own a dozen high quality ferro rods, a couple of butane lighters, flint and steel kits, self lighting stoves etc and nothing on hand unless searching for it. 15 mins is all it would have taken but I should have been better organised even if I was repacking.
Even though I have items stashed all over my home for long term use such as water purifiers and numerous bug out bags in limbo and in 44 gallon drum cache containers. I should have had a better organisation system for where the items were stored while in the process of going through them. So over the weekend Im going through all my gear and finding where it all is. Placing unfinished projects in one box, firearm and archery equipment in another etc etc, while repacking. Trying to balance articles, photos and practicality got on top of me.
By the time yourve brought an item, practised with it, written about it, done a few dozen drafts, gotton fed up, taken a couple dozen pics that dont turn out(maybe 3 in 20). It ends up in a box or pile of other items ready to be packed. Essentually CRAP EVERYWHERE! Funny thing is within 5 mins of starting to write this blog post. I remembered where I had three other methods of lighting a fire including on the kitchen table, sitting right in my wallet within a credit card tool. The next morning opened the first box in the shed and there was a small butane stove with a self lighting function. Gotta take a break and sort out my shit. Been relying on living in a very boring place other than the feral population when they run out of drugs.
The chances of having to bug out are slim and if it was neccessary, the traffic and roads system would make it better to stay where I was for two weeks before attempting it. Thats just not a good enough reason not to be on my game. Im trying to decide whether to get another bus thats larger but already decked out or go smaller with a 4×7 trailer and keep everything packed and ready to go or a caravan with cheaper registration than a motorized vehicle would be. That decision seems to be holding me back.
Heavy Duty EDC Knives
Saturday, October 23rd, 2010These are probably more a niche market item, not exactly designed for skinning bunnies . As the blades would probably weigh more than most small game . The other option is to carry two tools. A cutting blade and a prybar. H/D EDC’s are made more for when carrying a prybar is inconvenient. The two knives on the market that I own fitting into this catagory are the Busse Game Warden Fatty made from INFI steel and the Boker Vox Prymate in N690 steel, both with a spine thickness of 7mm.
Small enough not to be considered offensive in nature, but thick enough that they can be used for not only for cutting but also as a make do prying tool or hacking knife in an emergency situation. A hack knife is a tool used in the roofing industry for cutting through Colourbond/Galv roofing by hacking when using a grinder isnt practical, due to electrical cables or the length of power cords etc. Hacking is similar to battoning but through steel sheeting.
The GW and Prymate are tough enough to be used in the same fashion if needing to batton through a vehicle roof if the windows are unaccessible. Well built to suit both military or SAR use. Another blade worth considering are the raidops models with a spine thickness of 6mm and made from CPM S30V. Ive yet to own one of these, but intend to eventually put my name down for a Bad Worm, Battle Crab and Stryker Prybar defensive tools in Titanium.
The original sharpened prybar type knife was the Strider DB. The DB was a collaboration in the early 90’s between Duane Dwyer of Strider Knives and Darryl Bolke (hence the name DB), It was designed from the ground up as a concealable tool for law enforcement officers; a hard-use backup knife that was suitable for any task thrown at it; cutting, prying etc, hence the Strider DB was born from that need. . The DB has 1/4″ thick CPM S30V blade, 3-1/4″ long.
Any article on heavy duty edc’s wouldnt be complete without mentioning, Razels (by CRKT), maybe not as thick as the others at just under 4.6mm but still along the same design concepts. Graham Knives in Cleveland, Tennessee, developed their custom Razel in 2001, most knife blades came to a single point but the Razel is more like a tanto in nature. It’s a cross between a chisel and a razor with a knife handle. The result gives two useful Razor-Sharp edges, one for pushing or tapping, and the other for precise cutting. You also get two strong blade points. The Graham brothers have both custom and production versions in a variety of sizes and styles.
The production Razel models follow the Graham concept, with very thick full-tang blades of premium 9Cr18MoV (similar to 440C) stainless steel in a brushed finish and hand-contoured Micarta handles. A host of craftsmen can use Razels in the following ways: scraping gaskets, removing paint and stickers. Chiseling to make reliefs, mortises and tenons. Prying tight-fitting parts. Cutting things like paracord, wire insulation, radiator hose, plastic ties and tubing. Taper reaming a hole with the twist of the wrist. Reaching into tight spaces and push cutting with the chisel edge. Opening feed bags and cutting through bales of hay, etc. Doing the research for this article has actually prompted me to put an order in for the Ringed model Razel. Thinking along the lines that it would suit a messenger bag every day carry, as a multi functional tool.
http://www.messerforum.net/showthread.php?t=82822
http://www.deathsheadcustoms.com/docs/selfdefensetools.htm
http://www.tactical-life.com/online/tactical-knives/blunt-force-blades/
http://www.canadianwildernesssurvival.com/reviews/Reviews/CRKT%20Ringed%20Razel%20Review.html
Pics to follow
Bug Out Food Updates
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010
FOOD FOR THE TRAIL
The following list of food is historically correct and can be varied per trek length and personal taste. Although the list is relatively small it offers a surprising verity of fair. When supplemented with wild game, fowl, and fish it can not only keep you going but can provide an excellent and tasty diet.
1. A cloth or leather sack of Stone Ground Corn Meal Flour (generally carried in the fry pan with the handle folded over it).
2. A sack of Unsweetened Hunks of Chocolate and a Sugar Cone (Sugar Cones are made from the left over or junk sugar remaining after the processing of sugar. It is like brown sugar with a slight taste of molasses) This sack is carried inside my Corn Boiler.
3. A small sack of Ground Coffee (also carried inside the Corn Boiler). Loose leaf tea can be carried in place of the coffee or in addition to it. Roasted Coffee Beans may be carried but must be pounded or ground before use.
4. A sack of dry Split Peas.
5. A sack of Flour Mix ( I make this using brown flour, cornmeal, and brown sugar – see Stick Bread in the recipe list below)
6. A sack of Dry Corn (whole kernels)
7. A sack of Parched Corn (see recipe section below)
8. A cloth sack of Jerk (Jerky was simply called Jerk in the 18th century. If carried in a cloth sack where air can get at it, Jerk will last indefinitely)
9. A greased sack of Smoked Salt Slab Bacon (This type of bacon does not require refrigeration).
10. A sack of Stone Ground Oatmeal (Scottish Oatmeal).
RECIPES FOR THE TRAIL
Corn, corn, and more corn. Corn was the staple diet of the longhunter, backwoodsman, early colonist and Indians alike. Woodland Indians could travel for days on no more then a handful of parched corn a day.
The standard corn ration was a handful a day given to hunters of organized hunting parties, militia groups and some military groups and one pound ( 1 lb) of corn was considered a months ration per man.
True, these hunters supplemented their meager supplies with game meat from the hunt but when traveling in hostel territory where hunting was often out of the question they survived primarily on the supplies carried with them.
Here are some simple and tested recipes for the trail along with preparation tips.
Open your corn meal bag and form a little divot in the corn meal (corn flour, or wheat flour) and add a small amount of water. Mix with you fingers until you have a dough (add more corn meal or water as needed) that can be formed into a round flat cake.
This cake can be cooked in a frypan, on a hot flat rock, or in the hot ashes of a fire. My favorite method is to first fry up a few pieces of bacon, remove the bacon from the skillet and set aside on a piece of bark and cook the cake (or cakes) in the bacon grease until the cakes are lightly browned.. Stick Bread
As in the Johnny Cake above, open your sack, make a small divot in the flour mixture, add a small amount of water and form a dough with your fingers. Because of the natural glutamates in the flour this will form a better and more elastic dough then if made with just cornmeal.
Wrap the dough around the end of a green willow stick and hold or support the stick over the coals until golden brown. Eaten with a cup of coffee or hot chocolate this is a rewarding treat.
Note: On a trek once, we were in a dry camp having only a canteen of water each to get us through the night. One of members of our small party had a small bottle of homemade apricot wine (almost a brandy) and we used this to make our stick bread dough with. The result was a very tasty treat that was enjoyed by all on that cold wet night.
Add a few chucks of unsweetened chocolate with equal amounts of sugar carved or hacked from your sugar cone to some water and heat over the coals stirring until the chocolate has melted. While not as rich and thick as homemade hot chocolate it still produces a good hot beverage.
For a thicker hot drink add some cornmeal to your hot chocolate after it is made. Stir in the cornmeal while reheating the chocolate. The will be especially enjoyed on those cold damp nights.
Add a handful of dry corn and some pieces of Jerk to water and boil over the coals. Add salt and cyan pepper to taste. The dry corn will reconstitute itself and this makes a tasty soup.
Cornmeal mush can be prepared in several ways to provide some variety to the diet.
(A). REGULAR CORNMEAL MUSH
Mix cornmeal with water in your fry pan and heat over the coals stirring until it becomes thick (add more cornmeal or water as needed). Add salt and cyan pepper to taste.
(B). CORNMEAL MUSH AND BACON
Fry up some bacon , set it aside, and to the bacon grease stir in some cornmeal and then some water. Heat until thick stirring occasionally. You can crumble up the bacon and add to the cornmeal mush or eat it separately. The cornmeal mush will be flavored by the bacon grease. Add cyan peeper and salt (if needed) to taste.
(C). CORNMEAL MUSH AND CHOCOLATE
Make your cornmeal mush using some of your hot chocolate drink in place of water to give it a chocolate taste.
Place a handful of dry split peas into your boiler and add water. Boil over the coals of you fire stirring frequently until the peas are soft, add some pieces jerk or cut up bacon and continue to cook. Spice with salt and cyan pepper to taste. Depending on the amount of peas used and how well the peas are cooked they can be mashed up with your spoon and can be almost the consistency of porridge.
Easy to prepare and makes a great breakfast. A cup of hot oatmeal will stick to the ribs and is a great way to start a new day of trekking.
Add a handful of oatmeal to your boiler. Add water and bring to a boil stirring constantly. You can make your oatmeal as thick or thin as you choose by adding more oatmeal or water while cooking. Stir in some sugar while hot. Lacking milk or cream on treks I like to make my oatmeal a little on the soupy side.
To make Parched Corn you will need corn which has been dried on the cob. Dry corn was produced by opening the husks (but not removing them) and hanging the corn in the rafters of the cabin to dry.
Prior to leaving for a trek remove some dry corn from the cobs and place in bowl. There are two methods of making parched corn. The first method is to place no more then a hand full at a time into a hot dry skillet. Stir constantly until the corn pops and becomes a light brown in color. Remove from the pan, separate from any burnt kernels and lightly salt. The trick here is to parch the corn and not let it burn.
The second method is to fry some bacon and while the bacon is frying add a hand full of dry corn stirring constantly as it browns and pops in the bacon grease.
Place the parched corn in a bag for travel. Parched Corn can be used as a trail snack or as a quick meal along with some Jerk. It can be ground to a powder, mixed with water to form a paste and eaten as is until camp is made. The ground parched corn can be used like cornmeal though it has a much smoother consistency
NOTE: If the Parched Corn is to be ground the dry parch method works best. One of the best types of corn to use for this is called Hickory King. This is an Heirloom corn that has been around for over two centuries and it produces large flat white kernels.
From Bills World Gateway to the Past
Basic Bannock Recipe
courtesy Karen Hood
This recipe for bannock will come in handy during a day hike or an overnight camping trip. Mix the ingredients at home and then seal them in a zip-lock bag. The basic mix will stay fresh for up to a month if kept sealed, dry, and reasonably cool. The quantity given will yield four bannock cakes, each approximately 3-1/2 to 4″ in diameter.
Dry Ingredients
1 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. margarine
2 tbsp. skim milk powder (optional)
Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and milk powder. Cut in the margarine by hand or with a mixer on low, until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Seal it in a zip-lock bag. Squeeze out excess air.
Bannock on the Trail
Grease and heat a fry pan or foil. Add enough COLD water to the prepackaged dry mix to make dough. Form the dough into cakes about 1/2″ thick. Lay the bannock cakes in the warm frying pan. Hold them over low heat, rotating the pan a little. Once a bottom crust has formed and the dough has hardened enough to hold together, turn the bannock cakes.
Cooking takes 12-15 minutes. Test readiness by inserting a clean toothpick or wood sliver into the loaf. If it comes out clean, the bannock is ready to eat.
If you don’t have a fry pan …
Roll the dough into a ribbon, no wider than an inch. Wind this around a preheated green hardwood stick and cook over a fire, turning occasionally, until the bannock is cooked.
Cornell Bread
Cornell bread is also a high protein bread, very interesting book. He started out making the first protein bread for low meat diets and tested his theories on mental patients.
http://www.cornell.edu/search/index.cfm?tab=facts&q=&id=188
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/1981-09-01/McCoys-Miracle-Loaf.aspx
http://www.soyinfocenter.com/HSS/mccays_and_ny_state_food_commission.php
Survival Quarterly Magazine
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010
WT Knives Shikra (Special Order Pikal)
Friday, October 15th, 2010
The Shikra is one of Warren Thomas’s knives made by sandwiching titanium between either G10 or carbon fibre scales. With a blade length of 3.5″, handle length 3.25″, overall length 6.75″ and blade width 0.1875″ or 1/8th. I had been meaning to buy a Shikra for some time and having recently become a pikal convert, thought combining the two designs would be an interesting concept.
It was just a matter of changing the chisel bevel from the curved side of the blade to the flat of the spine, forming a warncliffe edge. By leaving the finger choil in the original position, it then makes it applicable for use with pikal/reverse icepick techniques. Using the new bladetech belt clips would make it sit close to the body for a low profile carry option. It’ll make a nice Christmas present for myself and should be ready just before then. Pics to follow when project completed. I choose the plain black G10 finish just for a tactical look.
Urban Prep Test Update
Saturday, October 9th, 2010Havent had a chance to do much writing. The motivation hasnt been there to work on an article covering counter survielance cleaning runs. Working down 300 pages to a decent size to post is frustrating. Been doing some practical work instead. Have built the workshop and just need to put in a bench. Almost finished landscaping the front yard between the shed and front of main house structure. I now have a small 2.2m x 3m pergola over this area for extra shade during summer.
Decided to sell my small 20 foot bus. The mechanic is retiring and work has slowed. Its going to be easier to either buy a small bug out trailer to store my gear and work on finding a permanent BOL, or to buy a larger 30 foot bus that already has power steering and auto gear box and cut 4 foot off the back end to fit in my front yard.
Still saving to have the decking cut up to make storage departments underneath. Need another $400 to complete that job for the framing. Ran into a little trouble cutting into the tucker box freezer to make a cold store. Ends up that older fridges are stainless steel underneath the white powdercoat. The stainless just tore apart the hole saw bit. Will need to take it to a stainless steel workshop, not far from where I live to use their tooling to make a better cut or it’ll just turn into a mess.
Improved security immensely. Now have a 1.8m steel gate with only vertical slats , (as opposed to horizontal slats) that make it difficult to climb and extended the rear gate to a similar height. All fences and entrances are now around the 7 to 8 foot mark with the trellace extending the height well above legal requirements. Had a locksmith come in and redo all the door locks. Found out the frame work and door construction are heavy duty. All doors now have not only standard door handles but dead locks, door chains and panic bolts. There is a key safe dyna bolted to the exterior wall for emergency entry. From what Ive been told , take 40 minutes of grinding to penerate one. One tip. It doesnt matter how much you spend on a lock if the strike plates on the opposite frame only have small screws installed. Go around and make sure they all have atleast 40mm screws. I found mine had not even half that. Too easy to kick in otherwise. Also add another door hinge. If a door has only two hinges it will not be strong enough. The screw length in these is also worth double checking.
Will be building a couple of cache containers from 44 gal olive oil drums and using 60 litre screw top plastic containers inside of these with two pack expander foam as 2 inches of insulation between both containers. a good way to store items inside sheds and can be dropped off at mates who live further out from the city. I keep running out of cash. Customs have been cracking down on knife importations and I wanted to get my wish list out of the way before it was too late. Pitty most knife crimes are done with a $10 kitchen blade from the local supermarkets. Not $200 knives legally imported by collectors. I guess they think its better to make it look as though they are doing something, than nothing at all. Same as crimes involving firearms. Very few involve registered firearms, but they are now talking about central storage facilities. Idiots!
Ive also installed an 870 litre water tank. Had it done just in time to fill it to the brim and brought an ozpig bbq. So now I have a third option for cooking outdoors. Gas, charcoal and firewood. Havent had a chance to try it out yet. The timber I scored for a slab of beer is still drying out. Have enough now to last atleast a year. Still attempting to split it all.
A few more projects to finish off and I’ll post some pictures.
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