Fad items of Bushcraft

[demographic]

I’ve got two Czech bed rolls tucked under my bed. They get used for summer festivals.

I’m not sure that I’d call it a fad. I think that they came on the open market, sold out and settled into our kit collections.
The M40 / 44 “Swedish Army Trangia” is another one. Thousands available for under a tenner twenty years ago. With no more being manufactured they’ve sold out. When a good one comes up it can go for £150. No idea whether they’ve been scrapped or hoarded but I very rarely see them now. I’ve only got four of them

Ha, I gave one of those Swedish Army Trangia things away to a couple of homeless lads a few years ago.
I reckoned they needed it more than me as its fairly good for use on a fire.

 

[HillBill]

I've not seen this mentioned regarding Laplanders and Silky's so i'll bring it up...

Why no mention of tooth size? Silkys can have varying teeth sizes which translates to the distance between them and how much material can be removed. WHo owns a silky with fine teeth? Who owns one with large teeth? Anyone have one with Medium teeth? They all play a big part in what you're cutting. If you have a large tooth Silky and then use it for dry, dead wood... its gonna do a poor job. They are designed for green wood, the larger spacing between the teeth allows for more material removal, which you need for wet, fresh fibres. Fine teeth, are for dry wood, as each tooth wont cut as deep, so wont produce as much waste so you need more teeth, for them to cut efficiently.

A laplander has similar to a silky's medium blades, but has twice as many cutting teeth, due to it having 2 rows of them. Making it a jack of all, master of none. Silky blades are specific to the wood being cut... Laplander blades give no sh.ts. A laplander will out perform a silky with medium teeth, across all cutting scenarios, a large tooth silky will beat a laplander in green wood. A fine tooth silky blade, will beat a laplander, specifically in dry wood.

This is why i feel the laplander is the better woods saw, if you aren't going to cut a certain thing specifically.

Yes, you can carry different types of blades for the silky... but that £25 all purpose saw that is a laplander, just became a £75 all purpose, but more brittle saw.

If they made a big boy sized Laplander, i'd be all over that!!

 

[Kadushu]

It's the handle on the Laplander that I hate. Too slippery, not canted enough and on mine the blade isn't centred in the slot so it won't shut without being pushed over. I have £4 saws from Lidl which I prefer. Just my preference though and I wouldn't call them a fad.

 

[HillBill]

It's the handle on the Laplander that I hate. Too slippery, not canted enough and on mine the blade isn't centred in the slot so it won't shut without being pushed over. I have £4 saws from Lidl which I prefer. Just my preference though and I wouldn't call them a fad.

They all close perfectly when new. They can move, bend etc with use. Loosen the the nut, re centre, re tighten. Worst case scenario, you ned to straighten the blade a little. Easily done without worry.

 

[Ozmundo]

I have a Laplander on my “official bush rafting bag” but the Gerber with two blades is in the car, a (draper?) folder in the greenhouse.
Various hacksaws that have appeared in the garage probably get used more than anything else. Because they’ll do and I’d rather break the cheapest!

 

[Kadushu]

They all close perfectly when new. They can move, bend etc with use. Loosen the the nut, re centre, re tighten. Worst case scenario, you ned to straighten the blade a little. Easily done without worry.

Mine was off centre from new. I wouldn't be criticising it if I'd bent it!

 

[demographic]

Dunno about Silkys but with handsaws tooth size (or more accurately tooth spacing) is more or less determined by the thickness of the expected material being cut (we're not talking dovetail saws here mind) and its recommended to have at least three teeth in the cut. You can angle the saw to increase the amount of teeth in the cut for a better cut.
Theres hardpoint saws listed as being second fix saws.
Who on earth leaves a handsaw cut edge visible? The only time I can think of in a normal home is the ends of stair handrails, thats it.
It might not surprise anyone here when I say I've never bought a single second fix handsaw. I buy either the multipurpose tooth pattern or the first fix saws.
If I do a handsaw cut I use a handplane on it after.
As for tooth size versus dry or wet wood that is a factor, but the set of the teeth is generally more significant. Dryer wood doesn't need as much set on the teeth.

You guys cutting green wood once a month but making hardpoint saws last a couple of years are playing in a different game and in different league than I am.
The work I do varies, a massive amount. I can spend a few weeks shuttering concrete followed by a three month stint of barfitting then maybe a few months of working on short term holiday lets.
Every once in a while I get a properly interesting job and sometimes a handsaw lasts a couple of weeks then on the next job it lasts a few months.

I do have some old style resharpenable Disstons but I don't have a huge amount of spare time and I've got a very important dog to walk. Plus, have you seen tbe price of good sawfiles? Consequently resparpening my old Disstons takes a back seat, even though I don't like disposable items I end up just buying Spear &Jackson saws from B&Q for 12 quid for 2.
I also use a cordless plungesaw a lot so I reckon my useage isn't typical on this board.

 

[HillBill]

Dunno about Silkys but with handsaws tooth size (or more accurately tooth spacing) is more or less determined by the thickness of the expected material being cut (we're not talking dovetail saws here mind) and its recommended to have at least three teeth in the cut. You can angle the saw to increase the amount of teeth in the cut for a better cut.

When i mentioned teeth size regarding Silkys, it literally translates to gap between the teeth on a fixed length blade which i did mention. But you are entirely correct. Bigger gap, more material removal... the wetter the wood its suited for.

3 teeth in the cut... That's a bandsaw rule (amongst others but this is how i remember it when ordering blades for the TPI) assuming the material being cut is of the same dryness, and refers to thickness, rather than moisture. Where as with a silky, well, no one uses them in that regard. For dry wood, sure. For wet wood, no.

Wet wood requires a larger gullet than dry wood, even when the the material being cut is the same thickness. Which by default, means larger teeth and a lower TPI ( from a bushcraft/none workplace type setting)

 

[Keith_Beef]

3 teeth in the cut... That's a bandsaw rule

It's also what I was taught when using a piercing saw to cut thin sheet metal in jewellery class: at least three teeth. If you don't have a blade with enough teeth per inch to be able to do that with the blade at 90° to the work, you can tilt the blade, but this makes cutting a curve a bit more risky (broken blades, not injury).

 

[demographic]

As for fad items I'm gonna mention knives with a "glass breaker".
The item its self might be better retitled to Nutcracker cos I've been a self employed tradesman for 22 years and part of my work involves replacing windows.
At no point during that period have I felt the need to break glass with a knife handle.
Nor have I ever had to escape from a vehicle thats crashed into a canal and had my trusty knife just handy in the front of my workvan, its delusional.
At work I generally use a hammer (after donning my safety specs) and as every smackhead knows, plant pots are the weapon of choice to break glass in the street.

Seriously, glass breaker?
Nutcracker on the other hand, looks the same, is made the same but is a bit less... melodramatic in its title.

Same thing, less radge title.

 

[slaine_23]

ever had to escape from a vehicle thats crashed into a canal

There’s actually been a few cases in Ireland recently where such horrific things occurred - few years ago a car slipped down an algae covered ramp with a whole family inside, the only one to escape was a baby handed out the window by the father to a guy who dived in as a rescue attempt. I think everyone who heard the story put a hammer or a glass breaker of some kind into the car.

 

[slaine_23]

Fire pistons.... I tried, I really did, but I never got them to work. All I got was frustration and blisters.

The Exotac (predictive text insists that that ought to read exotic! ) firesteels worked but, why bother ? a wee scrape down one worked fine.

I have one of these kicking around, dedicated follower of fashion that I am, but it does actually work. Took a bit of faffing to get it right, but got there. Not but a ferro rod is quicker, still, piston is still an interesting contraption.

 

[Ozmundo]

There’s actually been a few cases in Ireland recently where such horrific things occurred - few years ago a car slipped down an algae covered ramp with a whole family inside, the only one to escape was a baby handed out the window by the father to a guy who dived in as a rescue attempt. I think everyone who heard the story put a hammer or a glass breaker of some kind into the car.

Yes I believe there was another case where the Guarda died trying to rescue someone.

In the first case some had removed the padlocked chain that blocked the ramp off. And the signs had been ignored. Sad.

I have been summoned to locate cars parked along the tidal Thames. Not that uncommon.

 

[demographic]

I've heard of people being struck by lightning, but I don't carry items to ward it off.
It's not like you can keep a sheath knife in the front of yer car just incase you run out of talent mid corner is it.
Well, you could but the constabulary would have strong opinions on the matter.

Just for balance though, I do own a Fallkniven F1 with...erm... a nutcracker on its grip.
It doesn't live in the front of my van though.

 

[Chris]

I've heard of people being struck by lightning, but I don't carry items to ward it off.
It's not like you can keep a sheath knife in the front of yer car just incase you run out of talent mid corner is it.
Well, you could but the constabulary would have strong opinions on the matter.

Just for balance though, I do own a Fallkniven F1 with...erm... a nutcracker on its grip.
It doesn't live in the front of my van though.

Although I think the risk/reward/effort triangle is important here. A glass breaker of some kind is very cheap and you can kind of have it and forget about it unless you really need it.

Most people will never need to treat a catastrophic bleed, but plenty of people who use sharp tools carry tourniquets just in case.

Though I agree with you that it’s probably best in this country not to count on a fixed blade knife for a glass breaker, you’re undoubtedly correct about a policeman’s view on the matter.

 

[Toddy]

The thug who broke into our car forty years ago (brand new car, we'd had it a week) used a nail punch. We know because we found it in the broken glass that covered the baby seat in the back of the car.
Police said it was easy to carry, inoffensive, but held in a fist and thumped hard against the glass it would shatter it.

M

 

[Springchicken]

In a similar vein to the hardened pimples for smashing car windows, the other thing I reckon is a fad are penknives with a special blade for cutting seat belts. They seem to have a curved, serrated cutting edge and the one of which I have experience only opens at a slight odd angle, not in line with the handle. I don't mind a serrated blade but the seat belt cutter I have is useless for slicing tomatoes; if I need to be cut out of my seat belt, I think I'd be happier leaving that to the experts in the fire service.

 

[Springchicken]

This is what I'm on about. The rest of the knife is great.

 

[Broch]

Personally, I think that looks right. To cut a seat belt you repeatedly drag the blade back towards you, not in a sawing motion. By angling that blade the way they have it's easier to put downward pressure on the belt as you do it. Get hold of a piece of scrap seat belt (I have a load if want a piece), hold it taught and have a go

 

[Chris]

My paramedic friend recommends the Resqme car escape tool, which has a spring powered glass breaker and a seatbelt cutter all in one. I keep one in the car.