Well i said i'd do it, a full review of the kit i had with me on my trip to Norway earlier in the month http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25528
I have written a review of my Tora butchers kukri over on british blades here http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44811 so i'll not cover it here, needless to say it was excellent
My hammock is a http://www.mosquitohammock.com/junglehammock.html which i have had for just over a year now i think, no holes or tears, long enough for me (6'1) and a little lighter than the equivalant hennesey and a lot cheaper. Delivery from asia took 2 and a bit weeks but was worth waiting for. Only problem i had was that the tarp could do with being a little longer as the snow was driven underneath it on occasion and this may have helped, but in this country pouring rain is not a problem. As it turned out the built in mozzie net stopped this once i tried it, job done!
As a cold weather jacket i picked up a U'S army fishtail arctic parka, worked really well keeping the snow off and the outer (inner outer seperate) turned out to be very water resistant, not sure how long this would last but nothing some fabsil couldnt top back up.
The hood is huge and wired with a fur trim, very nice in a blizzard i'm sure but got left behind to save some space. The jacket when lined is VERY warm, fine if your static for any length of time but you'll overheat very quickly if your lugging stuff around, found that a mid thickness fleece worked underneath the outer for my needs, but then everybody feel's the cold slighlt differently.
Head wear is not something i use very often over here, with the exception of a wooly hat in my sleeping bag, but decided that i'd try a leather bush hat for the trip, so a Rogue Buffalo leather job was ordered, not sure how accurate the sizeing is as i sneakily tried on a normal leather rogue at a local shop, then ordered the correct size over the internet. Why buffalo leather, well it's more water resistant thus holding it's shape better, also it has a creased apperance, meaning it couldnt look any worse Now it's a dear friend and will be used on every trip to the woods...
Trousers are something i'd not thought much about before this trip, either combats for the woods, or lightweight trekking trousers if i'm walking anywhere, but i needed something warmer this time but also quick drying, after asking around various forums i was recommended http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/StormKloth-De...ryZ36158QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem , they turned out to be perfect, if a little warm for here at the moment, microfleece lined, hardy outer material and plenty of pockets which have been put in areas that mean you don't kneel of lie on them when your shooting and crawling round the undergrowth, perfect for bushcraft. Until last night i had not a single winge about them, but a button's come of now so only 4.5 stars They are actually quite quiet, not to much rustling while walking, thinking about buying a matching jacket now..
The boot's were a difficult decision, i have some Meindl island pro's but can only fit mid weight socks in them and were wearing thin on the bottom, my TNF baltoro snowboot's are excellent at keeping my feet warm but horrid to walk any distance in are make my feet sweat after not too long, so picked up some Meindl dovre extreme's, retail price is steep at £185 but searching around i found some for £125, far more reasonable, and i know they will last, so went half a size up on my other meindl's and bit the bullet.
They are very high collared and designed with the hunter in mind, but for what i want from my boot's i'm very happy. The thick rubber rand around the boot protcts the leather from scrapes and the tread is excellent on all terrains i've tried them on (not been on the rocks yet) .
Only problem i've had is some electric shocks running up my middle toe's when walking on tarmac, believe this is because my feet are used to superfeet footbeds which give lot's of arch support, will buy some to fit and report back. Also due to the cold each morning the poor things were frozen solid (along with my hat), they were reasonably new on departure and had only been waxed a few times so the leather was still wetting out with the constant drudge through the snow, all leather boot's will do this to a extent, but waxing normally eases the problem somewhat. As for socks i use coolmax liners at £12 for two pairs and purchased some Norwegian wool socks from http://www.strauss-direct.co.uk for £3.99 a pair, marvelous, bought 3 pairs for the trip, used 2 pairs, the other the good ladys procured for lounging around the house. They do come up a little large though. As for my Thorlo extreme mountains, the less said the better, last time i gave them the benifit of the doubt as i was using them in snow boot's, this time no excuse, they were, man i can't use the word i want but you can guess. For £19 a pair stear clear, sole burn, pilling up (already), falling down and cold at a standstill, sweaty when moving, bah! and yes they are the right size...
Had a variety of gloves with me, from thin work gloves with rubber palms (£2.00) to insulated leather job's (£4.50) from strauss all worked well, and kept my fingers warm at whatever i was doing. The same can't be said for my ME ultrafleece gloves, got wet on the first day from wiping snow of a tree and stayed that way until i got home, even trying to dry them in my sleeping bag and jacket each night/day, gruesome. Think i'll give them a good proofing before passing judgement.
So onto the sleeping bag, a Rab summit 800, a 21st b'day present from my parents, believe it's the summit 900 now, waterproof outer fabric (not taped sealed though so will leak) and hood inner to stop snow/moisture penetration and top quality down. Have never been cold in it before, i was this time. Mostly down to my use of a hammock and 3/4 thermarest meaning cold feet if my trousers moved during the night. Also it was unbelivably cold if any part of my body pressed the sleeping bag on to the outer skin of the hammock, meaning the down compressed leaving three layers of pertex between my base layers and the arctic cold. Lesson learnt, take a ten t
By the last day the foot area had started to get damp from the snow being blown onto the bag of a night then melting. But i'm alive and i did get some sleep so thats alright then..
Oh one last thing, i'm now a totla convert to merino wool base layers, bloomin excellent, no smell, no damp feeling and you don't have to buy them skin tight so you can go down the pub and not look like a russian gymnast gentleman
Any questions ask away
Tim
I have written a review of my Tora butchers kukri over on british blades here http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44811 so i'll not cover it here, needless to say it was excellent
My hammock is a http://www.mosquitohammock.com/junglehammock.html which i have had for just over a year now i think, no holes or tears, long enough for me (6'1) and a little lighter than the equivalant hennesey and a lot cheaper. Delivery from asia took 2 and a bit weeks but was worth waiting for. Only problem i had was that the tarp could do with being a little longer as the snow was driven underneath it on occasion and this may have helped, but in this country pouring rain is not a problem. As it turned out the built in mozzie net stopped this once i tried it, job done!
As a cold weather jacket i picked up a U'S army fishtail arctic parka, worked really well keeping the snow off and the outer (inner outer seperate) turned out to be very water resistant, not sure how long this would last but nothing some fabsil couldnt top back up.
The hood is huge and wired with a fur trim, very nice in a blizzard i'm sure but got left behind to save some space. The jacket when lined is VERY warm, fine if your static for any length of time but you'll overheat very quickly if your lugging stuff around, found that a mid thickness fleece worked underneath the outer for my needs, but then everybody feel's the cold slighlt differently.
Head wear is not something i use very often over here, with the exception of a wooly hat in my sleeping bag, but decided that i'd try a leather bush hat for the trip, so a Rogue Buffalo leather job was ordered, not sure how accurate the sizeing is as i sneakily tried on a normal leather rogue at a local shop, then ordered the correct size over the internet. Why buffalo leather, well it's more water resistant thus holding it's shape better, also it has a creased apperance, meaning it couldnt look any worse
Now it's a dear friend and will be used on every trip to the woods...Trousers are something i'd not thought much about before this trip, either combats for the woods, or lightweight trekking trousers if i'm walking anywhere, but i needed something warmer this time but also quick drying, after asking around various forums i was recommended http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/StormKloth-De...ryZ36158QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem , they turned out to be perfect, if a little warm for here at the moment, microfleece lined, hardy outer material and plenty of pockets which have been put in areas that mean you don't kneel of lie on them when your shooting and crawling round the undergrowth, perfect for bushcraft. Until last night i had not a single winge about them, but a button's come of now so only 4.5 stars
They are actually quite quiet, not to much rustling while walking, thinking about buying a matching jacket now..The boot's were a difficult decision, i have some Meindl island pro's but can only fit mid weight socks in them and were wearing thin on the bottom, my TNF baltoro snowboot's are excellent at keeping my feet warm but horrid to walk any distance in are make my feet sweat after not too long, so picked up some Meindl dovre extreme's, retail price is steep at £185 but searching around i found some for £125, far more reasonable, and i know they will last, so went half a size up on my other meindl's and bit the bullet.
They are very high collared and designed with the hunter in mind, but for what i want from my boot's i'm very happy. The thick rubber rand around the boot protcts the leather from scrapes and the tread is excellent on all terrains i've tried them on (not been on the rocks yet) .
Only problem i've had is some electric shocks running up my middle toe's when walking on tarmac, believe this is because my feet are used to superfeet footbeds which give lot's of arch support, will buy some to fit and report back. Also due to the cold each morning the poor things were frozen solid (along with my hat), they were reasonably new on departure and had only been waxed a few times so the leather was still wetting out with the constant drudge through the snow, all leather boot's will do this to a extent, but waxing normally eases the problem somewhat. As for socks i use coolmax liners at £12 for two pairs
and purchased some Norwegian wool socks from http://www.strauss-direct.co.uk for £3.99 a pair, marvelous, bought 3 pairs for the trip, used 2 pairs, the other the good ladys procured for lounging around the house. They do come up a little large though. As for my Thorlo extreme mountains, the less said the better, last time i gave them the benifit of the doubt as i was using them in snow boot's, this time no excuse, they were, man i can't use the word i want but you can guess. For £19 a pair stear clear, sole burn, pilling up (already), falling down and cold at a standstill, sweaty when moving, bah! and yes they are the right size...Had a variety of gloves with me, from thin work gloves with rubber palms (£2.00) to insulated leather job's (£4.50) from strauss all worked well, and kept my fingers warm at whatever i was doing. The same can't be said for my ME ultrafleece gloves, got wet on the first day from wiping snow of a tree and stayed that way until i got home, even trying to dry them in my sleeping bag and jacket each night/day, gruesome. Think i'll give them a good proofing before passing judgement.
So onto the sleeping bag, a Rab summit 800, a 21st b'day present from my parents, believe it's the summit 900 now, waterproof outer fabric (not taped sealed though so will leak) and hood inner to stop snow/moisture penetration and top quality down. Have never been cold in it before, i was this time. Mostly down to my use of a hammock and 3/4 thermarest meaning cold feet if my trousers moved during the night. Also it was unbelivably cold if any part of my body pressed the sleeping bag on to the outer skin of the hammock, meaning the down compressed leaving three layers of pertex between my base layers and the arctic cold. Lesson learnt, take a ten t
By the last day the foot area had started to get damp from the snow being blown onto the bag of a night then melting. But i'm alive and i did get some sleep so thats alright then..
Oh one last thing, i'm now a totla convert to merino wool base layers, bloomin excellent, no smell, no damp feeling and you don't have to buy them skin tight so you can go down the pub and not look like a russian gymnast gentleman
Any questions ask away
Tim
