Dartmoor knife survival kit contents, help wanted.

[Nomad64]

You'd be surprised.

Depending on where you go you can be as a little as a day's walk from a village/farm/town. However that is all dependant on how fast your able to move, what the weather conditions are like, and if you can actually navigate.

I'm always surprised by the number of people i've seen wandering about looking for signposts now and then when they've wandered off the marked trail with no map/ compass or GPS. Look up a few stories from mountain rescue teams, you'll see plenty with the person concerned having got lost for 2/3 odd days before someone phoned the police to report them missing, no phone, no map, only took some snacks and a waterproof.

In the highlands the weather can change pretty fast, going from cold to snow and fog in about an hour or less. It isn't a bad idea to just stop, get a shelter & fire sorted and wait it out. Navigating around the top of a munro in a whiteout is an experience to say the least, especially when you end up at a near sheer drop.

All true but there are very few realistic scenarios in the UK or indeed anywhere else that are likely to be improved by having something like a Dartmoor Knife about your person or in the boot of your car rather than a map, FAK, SAK, torch and Bic lighter or other bits and bobs up to the same (nearly 1kg) weight and bulk as a survival knife.

If serious tree surgery is likely a Laplander (or cheap Aldi/Lidl alternative), cheap machete or axe are far more useful (and easier to explain to anyone looking in the boot of your car or pack) than something that looks like a Rambo knife.

Personal confession here - as soon as I got my diving ticket many years ago like everyone else I went out and bought a huge stainless steel knife with a picture of a shark on the handle (about the same size as a Dartmoor Knife) - essential for anticipated underwater battles with sharks, killer octopus, SMERSH agents and lots of other Walty fantasies.

It didn’t take too long to realise that the greatest underwater peril was getting tangled in abandoned fishing lines and nets that get wrapped around wrecks and having a small razor sharp knife, surgical scissors and net/seat belt cutter dotted around your rig made far more sense than having Excalibur strapped to your ankle.

 

[Tonyuk]

All true but there are very few realistic scenarios in the UK or indeed anywhere else that are likely to be improved by having something like a Dartmoor Knife about your person or in the boot of your car rather than a map, FAK, SAK, torch and Bic lighter or other bits and bobs up to the same (nearly 1kg) weight and bulk as a survival knife.

A big knife wont do sod-all for the majority of people.

You can get a full on machete for less than that knife. I carry a mora and a fiskars folding saw. Sometimes a hatchet (also fiskars).

A warm jacket, waterproof, fully charged mobile, map, compass, waterbottle and a few steritabs, decent amount of food, one of those survival bags and a bit of common sense is better survival kit than a knife with fishing line will be, in this country anyway.

 

[Corso]

But what is your point?

As per post #1, can you tell the exact size and finish of the hooks and swivels?

I think your wasting your time your clearly more knowledgeable than anyone on here is likely to be since this is a bushcraft site and that chunk of metal isn't going to fair that well in this hobby

my link to Paul was to suggest maybe ask him since he owns one - I'm sure he'd be happy to answer

 

[Stew]

Perhaps I'm a bit fed up because in post one I was deliberately very very specific and asked for exact info, only to have reply after reply if people totally ignoring the post! .

You'll have to get used to it if you ask stuff here.

 

[Mesquite]

Perhaps I'm a bit fed up because in post one I was deliberately very very specific and asked for exact info, only to have reply after reply if people totally ignoring the post!

I don't think there's ever been a single thread on this forum that stuck to the original topic let alone be precise and supply only the sought information once other people started posting on it.

Good luck with your search but remember when you post on here you have to do a lot of sifting the wheat from the chaff when you want to find something out.

 

[Janne]

Are you even sure the manufacturer used exactly the same type, size, manufacture (and material) of the hook?
Same size of the lead weight?
Fishing line: I assume they supplied a mono. Still, maybe a different thickness and colour? Length?

In production there are variables. They crammed in whatever was cheapest.

Scalpel: Make? Still in protective/sterile Alu packaging?

I understand your frustration. I collect watches and restore cars, and find it incredibly frustrating to find the correct bits...

 

[sunndog]

I think the most honest answer to "as per post #1" is that nobody cares
They were probably fairly random tat anyways. Whatever fit in the handle and was cheap....thats a spec you can fill easily

Sorry mate but you gotta laugh. Hope you find the answers

 

[Barn]

Are you even sure the manufacturer used exactly the same type, size, manufacture (and material) of the hook?
Same size of the lead weight?
Fishing line: I assume they supplied a mono. Still, maybe a different thickness and colour? Length?

In production there are variables. They crammed in whatever was cheapest.

Scalpel: Make? Still in protective/sterile Alu packaging?

I understand your frustration. I collect watches and restore cars, and find it incredibly frustrating to find the correct bits...

Car restoration is even worse than displaying knives lol.
I'm eight months into a twelve month car restoration, I'm currently zinc plating and yellow passivating some brackets that go under the car. Trying to explain why that's done to someone who thinks 'out of sight, out of mind' just isn't worth attempting

As the knives in question were touted to the MOD most of the contents were pretty much from BCB, and it's likely I'll have the correct stuff already. I've got plenty of aircrew or army survival stuff hanging around, but just want to get accurate info so I can display the correct contents.
The quality of the items isn't really important, it's similar to when people criticise the 3rd pattern commando knife or latest issue survival knife, if that is the correct item for the period it's the correct item, full stop