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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.
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    handdrill technique question

    bow drill fire starting is absolutely no deal for me, but sadly i'm struggling with the hand drill (i DID have success with hibiscus tiliaceus in northern Australia and limited success with cacao over here) . my main problem is that my hands get too hot no matter what i try and i end up with...
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    Greg Ovens...

    ... released a video called "10survival tips that could save your life..." on YouTube. one point he addresses is an accident he had recently due to his boot laces of one boot getting caught on the hooks of the other boot. this feature is commonly found on many boots and i've to agree with him...
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    r.i.p. David McIntyre

    according to a YouTube post from "ReallyBigMonkey1" the winner of season 2 of "alone" passed away a few days ago; iirc he was once a member of this forum under the user name "pict" ...
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    what did Robinson Crusoe use to start his fire?!

    i'm currently rereading "Robinson Crusoe" and in chapter12 he finds cave, to explore it he uses self made candles. to ignite them he uses a tinderbox made from a musket lock "with some wild-fire in the pan". i've no idea what he refers to and my google search for "wild-fire" directs me to...
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    aluminium water bottles for carrying fuel?!

    the same jerk who screwed me over with the knife last year (see my thread in the knife section...) also turned up with TWO aluminium water bottles in 2022 when i asked him to bring me a Nalgene "oasis" (despite extremely clear instructions); this morning he left for next half year to go back to...
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    berghaus "centurio" vs. karrimor "sabre" ?!

    after several months of research looking for a backpack for overnight trips (and an upcoming longer trip; volume ca 45 liters) and manufacturers telling me they either don't have a dealer in Costa Rica (or cheerfully telling me about the nearest dealer in Ecuador or the US...) and sellers only...
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    how to SLEEP in a hammock?!

    i know this might sound like a stupid question...: i normally prefer to sleep on the ground and only occasionally used a hammock in the past as a back-up for the few occasions when i could find no suitable spot on the ground. last year i got a hammock in a trade for carving some spoons and as...
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    thank you!

    in march i started a thread about the quest for a new knife. it was supposed to be brought from europe as payment for some work i was doing for a guy, BUT sadly he didn't keep his word.... :-( in october i posted an update regarding this matter with the sole intention of letting the folks...
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    optimus stoves?!

    today i helped a friend of mine to sort her belongings -- she's leaving the country and needs sadly to get eid of most of it in short time :-( most of it will hopefully raise some cash for her in an upcoming yard sale, but my "personal score" is a brandnew-looking stove. there's no description...
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    micarta vs G10?!

    hi! recently i posted a thread about getting a new knife, and my favorite so far is a blank of the "brisa trapper". i'm planning to put on the scales myself to give it some individual touch -- so far i'm not sure between micarta and G10... which one is better?! (i'm currently living in a...
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    quest for a new knife

    as already mentioned in a few posts in the past: during a trip to nicaragua 4years ago i lost my five most-used knives and my pocketboy when being robbed by bandits... my carving knife i replaced with a homemade replacement, in late 2021 i managed to replace my pocketboy and last year i got a...
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    happy holidays from the carribean

    hi! i've been absent from the forum for about five month for various reasons (see my thread " ruediger roll and a rant" for some details): after one incident too many i left my previous employer and moved to an off- grid farm in the jungle -- the owner found himself facing an ocelot in his...
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    how to keep camera interior dry?!

    one of the items in my bag is a fuji xp80 pocket camera (supposedly waterproof and bought in 2015 after posting a thread on here looking for a new toy :-) )which i carry to take occasionally pics of wildlife. i noticed since a while that the screen got blurry around the edges, today (after not...
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    vortex monocular?!

    in a recent thread in the firecraft section i mentioned my frustration with my current situation. what keeps me stuck in this place is some paperwork (as its easier to sort close to town and with internet access vs. living out in the countryside without those things in easy range). well, that...
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    spider's web + moss to stop bleeding?!

    it's raining here all afternoon and i'm stuck inside, so time to grab a book --Bernard Cornwell's "the bloody ground" (about the US civil war) to be exactly... on page 324 (of my copy) is a mentioning of one character stuffing a mixture of spider's web and moss into entry and exit of a bullet...
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    success with ruediger roll and a short rant

    about 30years ago i watchedd a programme featuring Ruediger Nehberg teaching kids basic survival/ bushcraft skills -- one skill featured was the "ruediger roll". we gave it a try afterwards -- poplar seed "wool" and ashes iirc -- but had no success, my guess is bad technique.... i never tried...
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    leatherman: supertool 300 vs. surge?!

    as mentioned several times in the past, three years ago several tools were lost in an armed robbery in nicaragua... one of them was my original "supertool" which i carried for nineteen years around the earth disk and which is sadly not in production anymore : -( recently i mentioned my...
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    re-coating a tarp?!

    i haven't done an overnighter in years (at least not a proper one):cry::cry:o_O, but nonetheless i'm regularly checking (and maintaining) my gear to keep it in good shape and ready. today i checked my trusty "tatonka" tarp which i've since 2002 and which saw action wherever i went... it spent...
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    softwood strop question

    inspired by some recent threads i'm planning to make a softwood strop. yesterday i harvested a piece of balsa (presumably part of a raft discarded by locals) when walking the beach with my little friend Biscuit. today i started processing it BUT that stuff is that soft that i easily can depress...
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    coral snake?!

    most of the snakes you can get around here i'm now familiar with, but today i found a dead snake beside the road which looks like a coral snake -- something i haven't seen before... i know there's "the real deal" and non-venomous look-alikes... my local friends weren't able to enlighten me so i...