Factory over hand made - the knife question??!

Most Bushcrafters are of the impression that a hand made knife of carbon steel is the best they can get and many aspire to this.

But is it?

Is the hand made knife - pound for pound - a better tool?

Of course if you want something special - made to your specs using materials of your choosing like the Leuku below - then a custom job is the only answer but if your looking for a work horse - why spend all that time and money?

Technology is such that many factory made knifes are now cheaper than ever before and yet of the highest quality - perfectly mixed steels of flawless quality and digitally set tempers which can not be matched by the hand maker? Can they?

We are all familiar with the Forst Mora - made popular by Mr Mears and now the standard issue tool by most of the better schools for novices but what of Brusletto or Helle ...... Martinni or any of the other Finnish or scandinavian makers with centuries of tradition behind them?

They all offer a vast array of tools so much so thant even the most picky of people must find one among the range they like!

Of course theres the argument - "well as in any hobby you should have the best tools you can afford" but does price really reflex quality?? Or does price actually just reflect the fact that a hand maker can not make the same type of knife in the same time span and with the lower overheads of a major factory?? If so then surely the "best tool you can afford" isnt a reflection on the tool and its ability but on the name of the maker?? Your paying for a brand name - Alan Wood knives for example, I've owned two and while the workmanship is great they cut the same as a Mora clipper - indeed in use the clipper is more versatile.

Recently (with the down turn in the global and UK economy) I decided to veer away from the hand made ranges and look at the mass produced tools out there ..........and have been pleasnatly surprised how good they really are.


My favourite (pictured above) came from Attleborough Accessories in Norfolk and is the Brusletto Middelalder - a factory custom job aimed at collectors and as such a limited run - which originally was rrp £70 BUT they are now selling at £30. For this price you get a lot of quality in the knife and it now piggy backs with my Wilderness Knife as my field utility knife!! The feel of the tool is excellent and the quality equally so ...........it certainly matches any hand made knife I've ever owned!


Other knifes in the Brusletto range I like are the Bamsen (my oldest knife which I used for many years until I joined the woodlore team) the Granbit and Troll are both equally good and make fantastic utility tools.


Of course ALL of the above doesnt detract from the pleasure you get from receiving and owning a unique hand made tool - but if your looking for a work tool, if your more practical than romantic, and if you want to own many knives for the price of one then a mass produced knife may be your answer .............after all even Mors Kochanski preferred one (the Erikson mora) to a custom job and as a man with a life times more experience than most people how can we fault him.....................


So next time your pondering a new cutting tool - give the factory ranges a thought - with the money you save you could even afford to go out into the wilderness and use it ")

Out with the old in with the new part 2

During our recent Fasach Ile course the old style Kelly Kettle won its strips ............now since they moved production of the kettles to eastern Europe I've not been a fan - the older models were bomb proof but the new???

Anyway as luck would have it being so impressed in Scotland I decided to search for a new and better item thats similar to the Kelly ............. and loo and behold I found one ..........made in Britian by the guys who used to make the old Kelly Kettles - happy days!!

Even better - where the Kelly Kettle just has a cork bung - these have whistles, which do two things - whistle when boiled but also by sealing the spout they also ensure both a quicker boil time and no boil over!!

Coming soon to the trading post the new Kettle is known as a GHILLIE kettle and as well as being better made, more varsatile it also comes in three sizes thus making it more adaptable to the users uses from the lone hiker to small or large groups!

It also comes with a decent carry sack which has sholder straps so it can be carried like the old school slipper bag!!

And .............phew the list goes on - if you seal the spout with cling film and replace the whistle its waterproof seal means you can carry it full of water - thus not depleteing you drinking water on day hikes!!

As you can see I'm impressed - thats why I decided to start stocking them!!

The king is dead long live the king!!

Out with the old - in with the new??

Once upon a time the wily woodsman could wander far and wide with just his possibles bag, knife and axe as his only tools.........

Nessmuks trinity - hatchet, knife and pocket knife are proof of this - but can the modern traveller do the same?

Can we, in a day and age of techno gear get by with just a couple of simple tools?

I think not - the trinity still exists but I think if Nessmuk was alive today - even he would use a multitool!




Over the last 20 years I've experimented off and on with various models from the original Leatherman - threw the Gerbers and SOGS - and back to the new Leathermans and I think it safe to say the Leatherman WAVE has come to be my favourite - its certainly earnt its stripes on the last few trips I've had and now if a perminent addition to my kit!

Another modern replacement is the possibles pouch or bag - not so long ago I was told by a top outdoorsman that wearing a possibles pouch made me look like a re-enactor. Not so long ago same said person was wearing one and now even sell them .....so proof of the pudding is int he eating a possibles pouch is a handy bit of kit ........but again in recent times I've found myself replacing my traditional leather pouch with the modern version of it - either a snugpak Responce Pak or the USMC 3 in 1 pouch its modelled upon.



Regardless which pouch you go for (the only real difference being the 3 in 1 converts to a shoulder bag) the room for gear is impressive offering us the ability to carry a waterbottle and mug in the main section, first and survival items in the side pockets and or the front pocket ect ect - and yet taking up no more or extra space on our body!!

Out with the old in with the new .............in those two cases I say YES!

Fasach Ile - the movie

Well I've been playing again - sometimes a picture paints a thousand words so enjoy!

Fasach ILE

Well another great course!! Well done to all who attended what was possibly the coldest, windest course I can remember!!

HNEFATAFL - good game good game!

Hnefatafl - The Viking Game
The game was popular in the Viking homelands of Scandanavia as early as 400AD and was carried by the Vikings to the lands that they conquered. Over the centuries the game developed and artefacts from the game have been found as far afield as Ireland to the Ukraine.

The name Hnefatafl means "The Kings Table", and through manuscripts which detail the game, the rules and instructions of play have been gradually worked out, although there is no doubt that there were many different versions of the game.

Hnefatafl was last recorded as being played in Wales in 1587 and in Lapland in 1723. Its decline began in the 11th century when chess grew in popularity.

'Tafl' is a great game for the bushcrafter too - a game requiring all the skills of chess but one of shorter duration buting it a excellent fire side companion!!

Kit husbandry.

Our kit is generally our first line of defence against the elements when we go bush ..........regardless of wether were weekending it in sunny sussex or on a course in the frozen north. It therefore seems obvious to me we should look after it!!

Good care and maint of kit will see it giving you years of service - some times even becoming like trusted friends.

Yet all that common sense above is so found lacking in the individual - more than once I have been told I should design a course about how to be efficient in the field.

For example on a trip to the snowy world the group we lead had to tow Pulka's with their gear in - arriving at the car park everyone quickly packed and harnessed up, well all except one team. Due, in part, to misinformation this pair found themselves packing and unpack their pulka while the whole rest of the group stood around getting cold - having not gone anywhere that wasnt a problem but had we been hauling and been warmed up maybe even a little sweaty - that delay would have chilled us and in extreme bad weather could even have killed!!

More so in the snow Maja maja disou (a mishceivious sprite who hides people gear in the snow until the spring thaw) would have a field day with a disorganised shrafter.

The principle of ruthless efficiency is simple - we use a item and then we put it back.

Study the three pictures below - all are experienced outdoors mens gear - all the kit needed for a week in the mountains at temperatures down to - 25 - see if you can see whose kit Maja maja disou would have the most fun with??

Question - a kero lamp is knocked over - the curtains go up - its midnight and mihus 17 outside - who of the above people is most likely to be able to grab all their kit and flee the building, survivng both the fire and the killer weather outside??

The idea also extends to your personal kit - that which you carry on your body. A possibles pouch for example might contain first aid and survival items but is no good if you unpack it and leave the items all over the table when you go out - as a rule I always carry a small cuts (and a FFD) first aid kit on my person if its not in a pocket its on my belt. The same applies to a cutting tool - which is always clean and kept sharp - a blunt knife is a screwdriver!

Once accused of carrying a load of s**te in my pockets by a fellow we'll call Johnny I challenged this deep and meaningful remark. The kit I carry in my pockets (a old army habit) is plentiful but all of it useful - as was proven when I magically conjured up items needed for a first aid lecture, or on other occasions when I magically produce the contents of a fire lighting lecture from my personal gear - so this isnt a load of s**te quite the reverse its all practical gear which I know how to use and which has won its place there from hard earned experience!! But its also not an item more than I need carry - ruthless effeciancy again!

Last thought on ruthless effeciency - be wary of arrogance, I am the expert I know everything I dont need this, or you have to much of that ect ect sound familiar??

We hear it all the time - but heres the thing, their level of skill and yours might be different, the expert who brings all his kit up in a landrover can afford to carry loads of gear - the expert who works predominently in a cold enviroment or a desert will have a finely tuned kit but will also have all his creature comforts - while you have to carry in your gear - maybe even get it in via customs ect - maybe the enviroments new to you too so you have a few 'just in case' items.

Thats cool as long as you treat the "we live here" or the "we know best" gang with a pinch of salt learn from them thats the whole point but evaluate what your learning - many is the time Ive been with so called experts or natives who've shown major gaps in their skills, their personal hygiene and their ability to function without kit!

So to summarize - carry less by knowing more is our aim - thus lightening our load and proving we have the skills to move through nature at one with her - but where we do need kit we need to show good skills - for kit husbandry is a skill and an important one probably more important than bow drill for example - so its a skill we must master. Be selctive of what you carry and how and where - have safety items to hand always - but most importantly if its not being used its packed - that way if the world turns to a pound of pooh in the night you can grab all your gear in a heart beat and escape the problem - maybe ruthless effiecence is a skill above all others that will be most likely to save your life!!