Recent content by MartiniDave

Too sad for words!

I pinched some particularly garish pink-ish nail varnish from my wife and used that. Helps spot it if I drop it on the ground - that and the blaze orange paradors loops I put on them too.

Like others on here I'm reading/browsing more than one book. Fiction - I've just finished the later in the "Jack Reacher" series by Lee Child. Factual - Paul Kirtley's Axe book, Mor's "Bushcraft" & Les Stroud's "Survive"

Whatever else I try I usually end up back with a Victorinox, mostly a Farmer, Hiker or Huntsman. Never managed to break one yet.

If you track down Mors Kochanski's you tube channel you'll find he was extremely fond of the jam knot, especially for use in 550 cord. Well worth a look.

Surprised there's been no mention of either the Canadian Hitch/Arbor Knot or the Anchor bend.

I thought Leylandii, carves quite nicely and dries very light weight.

Neatsfoot oil should do the trick on the handles. Don't know how rare they might be, sorry.

You might try Lakeland, I think that's were I got some from recently (that is, in the last 10 years!).

Thanks for that. The 304 outer would explain the poor performance with ferro rods, it's quite soft for a stainless.

40 years in engineering, about 10 of those as an instrument maker actually making things, I used a lot of 01 lathe tool bits to machine a lot of very varied materials. I still find it works well enough for carving a few bits of wood and striking a ferro rod. I don't know what precise steels...

Bradley Walsh seems to be doing everything else at the moment!

Nothing so far this year, just bottled last year's Victoria plum vodka though.

My first "bushcrafter" too. Very fond of them, especially the ambidextrous sheath. Got my first for a tenner, including an army size fire steel, long time ago!

As a youngster I used to munch a stalk or so of raw rhubarb when I fancied an afternoon off school!!