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Yes. A wood rasp could be a good idea. I was using a chisel, Mora knife and sand paper. This axe head didn't have an obvious taper to the eye. Maybe I should have had the handle protruding at the top. I will test the axe again when the epoxy has cured. The handle isn't great and was...

I tested the new axe. I could split small logs holding it with one hand Holding it with two hands I was able to chop through a fairly tough piece of what looked like Birch The blade seems very effective and it will be a useful size for smaller people and for carrying in a rucksack...

Whilst sorting out the Scout group hatchets, I found two with heads that had potential. A HB 1 1/4lb and an unbranded one of ~1 1/2lb. They both had terrible handles of around 13-14". The HB had a butchered/home-made effort and the unbranded one was damaged glass fibre. The handles were...

I decided to make my own budget version of a Gransfors Small Forest Axe, I bought a fairly old-looking French Goldenberg 800 axe head for a few quid. It was very pitted, although blued/black. The top corner of the blade showed evidence of a lot of use. It would have taken a lot of grinding to...

"Be prepared" ....but do not be overly-encumbered and spend your whole life on it. If "Prepping" is your hobby, and basically an end in itself, just admit it. The best "preparation" for life is to look after your health, keep yourself in reasonably good physical condition and capable of...

How much ?!!??

Do Helikon do any more generous fit trousers nowadays? 5.11s fit me really well, and I have various pairs in different styles, but most trousers, including Helikon, are too tight around the thighs/glutes. I appear to be an unusual man in the modern day, having muscular legs and a lean, narrow...

I would like to walk/scramble some of the land that they covered.

Yes. I have a (fairly old now) Dutch or UK army 3 layer Goretex/membrane bivvi bag. It is really useful when it is cold in a tent or sleeping outside or under a tarp.

I have used the sleeping bag a few times. It seems best suited to sleeping in a house.... How did they manage to sell so many when they are clearly not very warm. I slept in a tent, sleeping in my Snugpak Elite 3 this weekend. Wearing pyjama long pants and a German army cotton zip neck top...

Dutch Army Norgie in grey. I had a pure cotton British one a few years ago, the Dutch one is a cotton/synthetic blend and is much better. I wore it today for some tree work. Very comfortable. Highly recommended.

This winter feels as if it has been more consistently cool (night frosts, rather than icy days, other than one short cold snap around New Year) overall and remained so for longer than many recent winters.

You are what you do, not what (and how expensive) you buy. I think that a lot of people forget this, and fall into the trap of trying to accumulate money and increasingly expensive possessions at the expense of actually having experiences and the satisfaction of making and maintaining things...

The factory appears to be in Hebron, West Bank, so it will hopefully have more change of surviving than if it had been in Gaza and reduced to rubble

I bought a pair of Helikon trousers a few years ago. Despite sizing up on the waist, they were far too tight around the legs and backside. 5.11s are much better for me.

Some 5.11s are made from heavier material, rather than ripstop. I have bought some of mine used, so I'm not sure what the model names are.

I have had various pairs of 5.11 trousers of various types. I wear black ripstop ones for work and often wear others outside of work. They fit me well in medium or 32. I am lean, but with muscular legs, which is presumably a rare shape in the UK. I need to buy a larger 34" waist in most...

Last year I bought a 1990s Lowe Alpine Walkabout, having owned one and used it for various tough activities in the 1990s (I don't know where it went to). It is a really good bag. Much better constructed than most new rucksacks.

As per my original query, the "inner mittens" are actually MVP mittens with leather palms. The fleecy ones are presumably "inner inner mittens". Having two nominally similar layers of MVP mittens is surprising. The outer ones appear to be less grippy and longer than the inner ones that have...

I have just seen some references to the outer mittens on the www. They are longer and don't have the leather palms. For UK use, the inners plus warm wool underneath are more than sufficient.