Winge and Moan - video and reviews
- Thread starter John Fenna
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Come along to the amazing Summer Moot (21st July - 2nd August), a festival of bushcrafting and camping in a beautiful woodland PLEASE CLICK HERE for more information.
This doesn't bother me a great deal I have to say; I still get to chose whether I watch it or not!
I'm sure that's right in a lot of cases John. Sometimes a video can be easier though; I'm thinking of cases where someone perhaps can't explain themselves all that well in writing, and where stills don't show the whole picture (as it were), or you need a lot of them from various angles. Here I'm thinking of a video I was watching recently where a chap was showing pot hanging systems. I got the idea pretty quickly from the video (and still didn't need to watch the whole thing!)
To be fair, while I do find poor quality videos to be an annoyance they are not near as atrocious as some other practices I see employed on the web. First and foremost are those who flat out lie about the product they are reviewing wear on my nerves. Then there are those who not only grossly misuse their tools but they give others unrealistic expectations of the tool that they plan to use. This seems especially true with edged tools, particularly axes and knives.
That said, I am not talking about pushing your tools to the limit for the purpose of testing once in the tools life to see if it may survive such a situation. While this is not a practice that I would employ I do understand why others feel the need to do so. However, testing a tool to its limit and pushing it far beyond its expectations are two different things. Well, in my opinion anyway.
I find that many knife reviewers are the worst offenders of this. For example, you get a shinny new mora and you want to process down a small log the diameter of a coke can and twice the height so that you can make a few feather sticks and some shavings for a fire; that is all fine and dandy. Or if you want to process a hearth board, make tent stakes, trap triggers, do some rough carving etc... All fine as well. Now, when you want to separate the pelvis of a moose, fell an oak or baton through the axle of your 55 Buick with your mora #106 you have left the realm of reality. Am I exaggerating, yes but sadly not by much.
Also, pounding tent stakes or driving a wedge with an ax is one thing but smashing large rocks and driving railroad spikes is another.
After having said that, you would think that people would stop watching after that but people, particularly youngsters and those with zero experience with outdoor tools can sometimes be impressionable. Now, while I believe that we live in a society that puts warning labels on too many things, gross negligence and encouraging others to do things that are dangerous is not acceptable either. Sure, if you work with something such as knives long enough you are likely to get injured but by do inappropriate things you are compounding the risk.
Anyway, I guess we all have things that get on our nerves.
That said, I am not talking about pushing your tools to the limit for the purpose of testing once in the tools life to see if it may survive such a situation. While this is not a practice that I would employ I do understand why others feel the need to do so. However, testing a tool to its limit and pushing it far beyond its expectations are two different things. Well, in my opinion anyway.
I find that many knife reviewers are the worst offenders of this. For example, you get a shinny new mora and you want to process down a small log the diameter of a coke can and twice the height so that you can make a few feather sticks and some shavings for a fire; that is all fine and dandy. Or if you want to process a hearth board, make tent stakes, trap triggers, do some rough carving etc... All fine as well. Now, when you want to separate the pelvis of a moose, fell an oak or baton through the axle of your 55 Buick with your mora #106 you have left the realm of reality. Am I exaggerating, yes but sadly not by much.
Also, pounding tent stakes or driving a wedge with an ax is one thing but smashing large rocks and driving railroad spikes is another.
After having said that, you would think that people would stop watching after that but people, particularly youngsters and those with zero experience with outdoor tools can sometimes be impressionable. Now, while I believe that we live in a society that puts warning labels on too many things, gross negligence and encouraging others to do things that are dangerous is not acceptable either. Sure, if you work with something such as knives long enough you are likely to get injured but by do inappropriate things you are compounding the risk.
Anyway, I guess we all have things that get on our nerves.
I do much the same and make sure the sound is off too.
One way around it I guess - but with the slow loading I get on video it is still not ideal ...
I tend to prefer a good tutorial over a review if it's going to.be a video. One of my favourite is a German chap who doesn't speak much English. Though to be honest he doesn't speak much at all. Just show's me amazing things, mostly done done with a SAK. He speeds the video up enough that it's still clear what he's doing and it all comes across so clearly. He also writes books, a lot of which are aimed at teaching kids how to enjoy life in the woods. A real case of actions and written words conveying his deeds.
But at heart I'm a reader; a well structured piece allows me to disect and consume a subject. It's a bit like a good cookbook, I'd rather read a book, prepare and then follow through than try to follow a video anytime.
Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.
But at heart I'm a reader; a well structured piece allows me to disect and consume a subject. It's a bit like a good cookbook, I'd rather read a book, prepare and then follow through than try to follow a video anytime.
Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.
If they don't get down to business within 20 seconds I leave the video. I don't want a Bear Grylls wannabee telling me all about how he's been doing bushcraft for 20 years, and on his last trip to Timbuctoo he rode on the local buses, ate sheep's eyes, got a hole in his sock that he mended with gaffer tape, and oh yes, he took this model stove. Here is the box so I'll open the box, unsticking the tape as I go, look! Isn't it well packed? Here is the stove, I'll hold it in front of the camera for the next 20 seconds, tilting it from side to side but never giving a good enough view to be useful. Here is the instruction book, I'll just go and get the bottle of fuel from the cupboard ... and so on ad nauseam.
Very true, not only are they only using the forum as unpaid advertising but they think the rest of us are too stupid to notice. Extremely rude.
I prefer just the photos posted one after the other - not as a slideshow!
That way I can spend as long as I like looking at each photo...
I think this threads being a bit cheeky, unless you've tried doing one yourself.
Give us a list then of who's worth watching then?
My youtube subscription list changes, but a quick glance at the moment includes; [in no particular order]
Waldhandwerk
Paul Kirtley
MCQ bushcraft
alaska outdoors tv
survival lilly
far north bushcraft and survival
jack mountain bushcraft school
norwegian bushcraft
native survival
susanne williams
raymearsbiggestfan
lars monsen vids
AirarmshuntingSA
The best one I saw today was Hamish and Fionns Scandinavian adventure.
Give us a list then of who's worth watching then?
My youtube subscription list changes, but a quick glance at the moment includes; [in no particular order]
Waldhandwerk
Paul Kirtley
MCQ bushcraft
alaska outdoors tv
survival lilly
far north bushcraft and survival
jack mountain bushcraft school
norwegian bushcraft
native survival
susanne williams
raymearsbiggestfan
lars monsen vids
AirarmshuntingSA
The best one I saw today was Hamish and Fionns Scandinavian adventure.
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Yep theyve both been off and on my lists in the past, along with bumbling bushcraft and others.
I like some of those - some I do not know but will have a look at sometime
As to having a go ... I will pass on doing video reviews as I think stills and written words do the job best - they have kept me busy for many years
As to having a go ... I will pass on doing video reviews as I think stills and written words do the job best - they have kept me busy for many years
When your life could depend upon a piece of kit then mere product endorsement or some shill reading reading through a list of features hardly qualifies as a 'review'.
After watching several videos extolling the virtues of a particular folding saw I kept getting a weird deja-vu almost as if they had been instructed to mention things in a particular order.
The other thing is that why should I trust the purchasing judgement of somebody who's bought six similar sized backpacks and nine flash-lights in the last 12 months?
They must have one hell of a kit locker or are turning the gear over on Ebay, either way they're not using the items and that not a good advertisement.
I won't say who that is as I have a rule about not upsetting women that own rifles.
After watching several videos extolling the virtues of a particular folding saw I kept getting a weird deja-vu almost as if they had been instructed to mention things in a particular order.
The other thing is that why should I trust the purchasing judgement of somebody who's bought six similar sized backpacks and nine flash-lights in the last 12 months?
They must have one hell of a kit locker or are turning the gear over on Ebay, either way they're not using the items and that not a good advertisement.
I won't say who that is as I have a rule about not upsetting women that own rifles.
I've made two instructional videos, I believe they are the kind of brief and succinct video that is required. One I posted here in a thread on Polish laavus. Luckily my daughter is quite a good camerawoman.
[video=youtube;qV9qRDSSOZk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qV9qRDSSOZk[/video]
[video=youtube;qV9qRDSSOZk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qV9qRDSSOZk[/video]
Here's an example of the German chap Felix Immler who is one of the few I've subscribed too. Not much talking but very informative. It's a pleasure to watch him work.
[video=youtube;IlXI19lPS9E]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlXI19lPS9E[/video]
[video=youtube;IlXI19lPS9E]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlXI19lPS9E[/video]
That was an enjoyable vid, whole time watching i was trying to think of a function for the wheel but then once he was done i realised it was enjoyable aesthetically and that was enough, if i had a stream like that running through my garden i could imagine several of those hooked up to various cams and cogs and have all manner of bizarre water powered objects moving about controlled by various little flood gates to let water flow onto the wheels or not
