Quite agree, Leka has one that looks good, have not tried it though. Fairly expensive at my present rate of need.
SOLOGNAC jackets
- Thread starter Wushuplayer
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yeah, my large blister would certainly agree with you! Well at least my right hand will be a little more conditioned. Sending it back to Amazon for a larger one.
For what you describe - i.e. sitting around the campfire and dealing with the odd shower and the occasional short hike I would go for something like this:
Men's Country Water Repellent Wax Jacket Dark Khaki
Waxed cotton field jacket made in Britain from world-leading British Millerain fabric. Hard to beat for its breathability and durability, this iconic fabric can last a lifetime if treated well. Originally designed over a hundred years ago to resist extremwww.regatta.com
A UK made waxed cotton jacket for £52 will last you ages and looks better the older it gets. I had one similar that lasted 20 years and I wore it in the wood, on the moors and even on the motorbike - everything except lightweight backpacking (for which it is totally unsuitable). It isn't forces or 'bushcraft' uniform (something I hate).
Or, if you want a more versatile jacket (but not spark proof so just take a bit more care) how about these:
Men's Elmore Waterproof Cargo Jacket Dark Khaki
Five-pocket field jacket in Isotex 5,000 performance fabric.Originally designed over a hundred years ago to resist extreme weather in the North of England, the iconic field jacket is a wardrobe mainstay. This summery take on an outdoors classic uses water
Breathable, lightweight and waterproof.
You don't have to go to Germany to get gear
I've been looking at some of the hooded wax cotton jackets, they look pretty robust. Thanks
@Wushuplayer My axe is the Gränsfors small forest axe. In my oppinion that´s about the minimum size for splitting wood = 1kg and 50cm handle.
When I read your post asking about the M65 my battery was nearly empty.
So I didn't open the link.
Now I opened it.
I misunderstood you. I thought you would ask for a Chinese copy of the US M65.
After I have seen, what you meant I tell you:
Unissued Austrian Army Goretex jackets in M65 cut are very very rare. That's a reason why I didn't recommend it.
The here offered jacket would cost out of civil production minimum 3 to 4 times more. It is an incredible good offer and it is a really good jacket.
It isn't as light as the German Army Goretex rain Jacket, because it has more pockets and an additional lining inside.
I wouldn't put it in my full trekking rucksack just in case. For that summer use you could buy later a lighter summer hiking rain jacket.
But if the weather is cold enough, so that you are sure that you will wear it all the time, Spring, Winter and Autumn this jacket is one of the best options that exist, perhaps the best option if we count in the price and try to avoid camouflage patterns but want something in olive green, what is a very good idea.
Here you would make a far better deal than Decathlon offers you. I recommend to buy that jacket. And I recommend to buy it immediatly, because he has only 6 of this and I didn't see unissued ones during the last years.
The used ones usually aren't in good conditions any more, because that's an old model and the stuff was expensive. So they used them as long as possible.
The Austrian Army is an army that orders every young man to serve, different to for example the British army, where a few professionals serve perfectly equipped in hard duty.
The germans stopped that service a few years ago, that's why you can get German stuff in good conditions pretty cheap.
But the Austrians used the expensive Goretex jackets as long as possible. They still give out old patterns to new equipped soldiers just to wear off the old stuff. I think they usually sell this Goretex jackets if the tapes over the seams start to leak or if the jackets have other little but real damages. All I have seen had been like that.
I know very well what I recommend here to you because I own such a jacket. And I tell you: If you like the design, buy it now from the seller you gave us in the link!
Here you can compare the price with the cheapest regular seller for Austrian army stuff which I know:
50 € for a used, perhaps not really waterproof one!
You can see here how it looks if the hood is stored inside the collar.
army-warehouse.com
Sitting in Austria, offering the complete personal equipment of the Austrian Army in new and used conditions this guy isn't able to offer you this jacket in unissued, new conditions!
Perhaps you found the last unissued ones on the market. I think so!
Your second link shows a smock which can't be opened totally. I wouldn't buy such a smock for use in usual British weather conditions. For hiking as well as every days use a rain jacket has to have a full length zipper in my opinion. May be that such stuff is usefull in Alaska, Canada and Lapland in cold weather conditions. For bushcraft in Britain and traveling in Europe that would be a bad choice in my opinion.
So I didn't open the link.
Now I opened it.
I misunderstood you. I thought you would ask for a Chinese copy of the US M65.
After I have seen, what you meant I tell you:
Unissued Austrian Army Goretex jackets in M65 cut are very very rare. That's a reason why I didn't recommend it.
The here offered jacket would cost out of civil production minimum 3 to 4 times more. It is an incredible good offer and it is a really good jacket.
It isn't as light as the German Army Goretex rain Jacket, because it has more pockets and an additional lining inside.
I wouldn't put it in my full trekking rucksack just in case. For that summer use you could buy later a lighter summer hiking rain jacket.
But if the weather is cold enough, so that you are sure that you will wear it all the time, Spring, Winter and Autumn this jacket is one of the best options that exist, perhaps the best option if we count in the price and try to avoid camouflage patterns but want something in olive green, what is a very good idea.
Here you would make a far better deal than Decathlon offers you. I recommend to buy that jacket. And I recommend to buy it immediatly, because he has only 6 of this and I didn't see unissued ones during the last years.
The used ones usually aren't in good conditions any more, because that's an old model and the stuff was expensive. So they used them as long as possible.
The Austrian Army is an army that orders every young man to serve, different to for example the British army, where a few professionals serve perfectly equipped in hard duty.
The germans stopped that service a few years ago, that's why you can get German stuff in good conditions pretty cheap.
But the Austrians used the expensive Goretex jackets as long as possible. They still give out old patterns to new equipped soldiers just to wear off the old stuff. I think they usually sell this Goretex jackets if the tapes over the seams start to leak or if the jackets have other little but real damages. All I have seen had been like that.
I know very well what I recommend here to you because I own such a jacket. And I tell you: If you like the design, buy it now from the seller you gave us in the link!
Here you can compare the price with the cheapest regular seller for Austrian army stuff which I know:
50 € for a used, perhaps not really waterproof one!
You can see here how it looks if the hood is stored inside the collar.
Bundesheer Feldjacke leicht, oliv, gebraucht
Bundesheer Feldjacke leicht, oliv, gebraucht
army-warehouse.com
Sitting in Austria, offering the complete personal equipment of the Austrian Army in new and used conditions this guy isn't able to offer you this jacket in unissued, new conditions!
Perhaps you found the last unissued ones on the market. I think so!
Your second link shows a smock which can't be opened totally. I wouldn't buy such a smock for use in usual British weather conditions. For hiking as well as every days use a rain jacket has to have a full length zipper in my opinion. May be that such stuff is usefull in Alaska, Canada and Lapland in cold weather conditions. For bushcraft in Britain and traveling in Europe that would be a bad choice in my opinion.
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That short handled hatchet you showed us is a wrong construction in my opinion.
The Fiskars X7 has the same steel head but a longer handle and it is a good choice because the wood that's larger than you could process with the hatchet usually wants the owner of the forest for himself.
The X7 hatchet is relatively light and so it's portable. And because the handle of the X7 is longer than the handle of the x5 the X7 is far more powerful.
As a beginner you will several times not hit the target. If you over strike with an expensive wood handled axe you could destroy it immediatly.
I recommend to get the X7 for camping use in Britain and for trekking tours in cold conditions in most parts of Europe.
Larger axes you need to process fire wood for a cottage or your house or perhaps winter tours in Scandinavia, Canada or similar less crowded countries. An axe we use in Germany on the ground we own, never in foreign owned forests.
But I mainly see the hatchet as equipment for a group and camps which are longer in one place. For hiking alone I usually don't take a hatchet with me, especially not in summer and autumn, because than I can find enough well sized wood for a one night camp around my sleeping place.
Usually I just break the arm thick wood with my heavy mountain boots. The best is to construct something like a bridge and to step on it carefully. If you hit with the boot or jump on the wood it can jump up if it beaks and hit your head!!!
In whet conditions I can also split some wood to get my fire started if I use my robust knife and a baton, a piece of wood to hit on the back of the knife. But usually I just find all the sizes of firewood I need dead on the trees. Or standing somehow around. In winter times a saw is more needed and more usefull than a hatchet or axe. My axe stays behind my house door. My hatchet sometimes is allowed to come with me in the woods for camping.
Splitting wood is more a question of knowledge and technique.
If there are branches coming out of the section, I usually don't split the log. If I must do it I split through the middle of the thickest branch, it has to be as high as possible that I hit at first through the branch, but I avoid to do that in camps. I just do it for my cottage with a full size axe.
For the camp fire kindling I cut with the saw or break with the boot pieces which have no branches or larger twigs coming out. That stuff splits easily.
Different wood species split different, some easily, some horribly.
Heavy logs we split with the axe after cutting the living tree down if the water inside is frozen. Than we dry the splitted pieces over three years protected against rain.
In the woods we look for dead standing trees in the right SMALL sizes and choose the place for camping for a night (if its flat, next to a water source, secure against falling dead branches or trees, flood and so on) we usually just pick the wood up in dry conditions or cut down with a folding saw dead standing little trees and section them to handy sized pieces.
Usually we avoid to make noise in the woods if we don't own it and need to bring home the firewood for the winter.
Of course you should learn to use hatchet and axe, but for trekking and stealth camping in the warm month of the year a hatchet isn't needed to carry around in the rucksack.
Here you have a good video about how to use that tools correctly:
The Fiskars X7 has the same steel head but a longer handle and it is a good choice because the wood that's larger than you could process with the hatchet usually wants the owner of the forest for himself.
The X7 hatchet is relatively light and so it's portable. And because the handle of the X7 is longer than the handle of the x5 the X7 is far more powerful.
As a beginner you will several times not hit the target. If you over strike with an expensive wood handled axe you could destroy it immediatly.
I recommend to get the X7 for camping use in Britain and for trekking tours in cold conditions in most parts of Europe.
Larger axes you need to process fire wood for a cottage or your house or perhaps winter tours in Scandinavia, Canada or similar less crowded countries. An axe we use in Germany on the ground we own, never in foreign owned forests.
But I mainly see the hatchet as equipment for a group and camps which are longer in one place. For hiking alone I usually don't take a hatchet with me, especially not in summer and autumn, because than I can find enough well sized wood for a one night camp around my sleeping place.
Usually I just break the arm thick wood with my heavy mountain boots. The best is to construct something like a bridge and to step on it carefully. If you hit with the boot or jump on the wood it can jump up if it beaks and hit your head!!!
In whet conditions I can also split some wood to get my fire started if I use my robust knife and a baton, a piece of wood to hit on the back of the knife. But usually I just find all the sizes of firewood I need dead on the trees. Or standing somehow around. In winter times a saw is more needed and more usefull than a hatchet or axe. My axe stays behind my house door. My hatchet sometimes is allowed to come with me in the woods for camping.
Splitting wood is more a question of knowledge and technique.
If there are branches coming out of the section, I usually don't split the log. If I must do it I split through the middle of the thickest branch, it has to be as high as possible that I hit at first through the branch, but I avoid to do that in camps. I just do it for my cottage with a full size axe.
For the camp fire kindling I cut with the saw or break with the boot pieces which have no branches or larger twigs coming out. That stuff splits easily.
Different wood species split different, some easily, some horribly.
Heavy logs we split with the axe after cutting the living tree down if the water inside is frozen. Than we dry the splitted pieces over three years protected against rain.
In the woods we look for dead standing trees in the right SMALL sizes and choose the place for camping for a night (if its flat, next to a water source, secure against falling dead branches or trees, flood and so on) we usually just pick the wood up in dry conditions or cut down with a folding saw dead standing little trees and section them to handy sized pieces.
Usually we avoid to make noise in the woods if we don't own it and need to bring home the firewood for the winter.
Of course you should learn to use hatchet and axe, but for trekking and stealth camping in the warm month of the year a hatchet isn't needed to carry around in the rucksack.
Here you have a good video about how to use that tools correctly:
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Oh... and I was just warming to the Flecktarn camo pattern. lol
I will check sizing with seller and order tomorrow!
What about the slightly longer x10, maybe a happy medium and will require less force to split the logs?
Fiskars Chopping Axe S X10, Storage and Carrying Case Included, Length: 44 cm, Non-Stick Coating, High Quality Steel Blade/Fibreglass Handle, Black/Orange, 1015619: Amazon.co.uk: Garden & Outdoors
Fiskars Chopping Axe S X10, Storage and Carrying Case Included, Length: 44 cm, Non-Stick Coating, High Quality Steel Blade/Fibreglass Handle, Black/Orange, 1015619: Amazon.co.uk: Garden & Outdoors
www.amazon.co.uk
And here we have an important point of national differences:
TLM lives next to Helsinki, the local scouts use what the majority of Finnish scout leaders thinks would be the best. Even the Scouts from Helsinky surely go for hiking a few kilometres more northern and they do it usually in colder conditions than the German scouts because it's often a few degrees colder in Finland than in Germany.
German scouts use the X7 or usual kitchen hatchets with 600 g steel heads. The X10 has like the Gränsfors Bruks small forest axe a total weight of 1000g.
German scouts obviously prefere the lighter hatchets in the rucksacks, Finnish scouts seem to need the heavier one, probably the wood is drying later in the Finnish forest so they perhaps really need to split wood, the Germans use it more for peg carving and to hit them in the ground, and to get the fire started they make a bit kindling with it.
Paul Kirtley which you can see in the video recommends the Gransfors Bruks 1000g small forest axe which is similar to the Fiskars X10. The guy lives in Britain but goes a lot for hiking, skiing and canoeing to Skandinavia and Canada.
German scouts you can meet in the long summer holydays in Skandinavia like in the rest of Europe, but in Spring and Autum and winter they usually stay in Germany because the holidays are shorter and they have of course to save some money for the long distance tours.
In the cold month it's a bit warmer in Germany than in Finland, of course depending on the areas we compare.
I don't know exactly British weather conditions, but regarding the amount of water you have in dead standing wood in British forests that details are important and so you should perhaps better open an own thread "Fiskars X7 or X10?" to get probably more answers from British members of this forum to that special question. (Siberians probably would laugh about that Toys, most French bushcrafters would ask you why you want to carry a hatchet around, a pocket knife would be perfectly fine...)
And I don't know which size of wood you can take out of a British forest without getting problems with the land owner.
In Germany the farmers have usually just very small pieces of the forest and want to get more or less all which is usefull for the fireplace in the house. Taking larger logs would mean to steel it. My impression is that in Scandinavia you just can take larger ones than here, because there a few people live in very large forests. Norway has for example round about as much inhabitants as Berlin!
I guess as long as you don't come with a motor chain saw they don't care what a camper is doing there for a weekend.
I think, if you want to carry the tool usually around and if you go usually for wild camping during the warmer half of the year and perhaps for stealth camping without land owners permission, the right choice for you would be the X7.
But if you have Land owners permission for a camp in always the same place, if you want to be there also in winter times, if you don't walk more than 5 km with the axe and especially if you want to use it for a cottage or around your own house tge X10 might be a good option.
But the X7 weights round about 600g, which means 400g less than the X10. For a group that isn't a problem, but if you want to go for hiking alone, and if you aren't very tall and strong, you will pretty fast stop to carry the X10 in your rucksack.
If one person goes alone for wild /stealth camping and hiking with a bushcraft equipment, the rucksack is usually at the limit of weight one can carry comfortably over longer distances, especially in Britain, where people tend to carry tents. A modern 1 person tent is round about 3 to 4 times heavier than a light tarp, so not 600 g but 1,5 to 3 kilograms.
But you can't heat those usual plastic tents with a campfire. (A tarp- or poncho shelter you can heat like that.) So the user of a plastic tent usually carries a 1 kg heavier sleeping bag instead of an axe.
Let's say a usual good 3 seasons sleeping bag weighs round about 1 kg. A good 2 kg sleeping bag is still a pretty convincing cold weather bag. 3 kg of sleeping bag allow you to sleep in the snow almost always and everywhere. That's roughly said to explain the question axe or sleeping bag? That's no precise sleeping bag recommendation here.
I think you should buy this Austrian jacket. About the German suit you can think later, because they aren't so rare. The Austrian one you also can wear in town, because it looks relatively civil. Don't forget that!
If you should buy additional the complete German suit for hiking depends mainly on your age, budget and usual job.
People who get payed very well for their work in an office tend to buy not so long lasting light rain suits. People who look like bears because they work on building sites or in similar jobs or strong young men make the better deal with the German army rainsuit.
I am pretty tall and strong but I carry during the German and French relatively DRY summer a light not so long lasting Solognac rainsuit (Solognac 100) just in case with an additional poncho instead of a tarp, but I change in colder conditions to heavier more long lasting rain gear. In the long run that's for me the best compromise between durability, value for money and comfort to carry it.
But off course you can also just carry one and the same good relatively heavy Goretex rain suit all over the year, if you pay attention which weight has the other equipment you buy.
May I ask how old and tall you are and in which profession you work, writing desk or heavier work? That's pretty important if you ask us about recommendations for equipment. Most people simply aren't able to carry the best most durable stuff comfortably over longer distances...
Are you more interested to start with cheaper equipment to try out if bushcraft is the right hobby for you or do you think, that you want to buy the best and most long lasting stuff which will last you a lifetime, even if it's a bit pricier? In which direction do you tend?
Do you want to use your equipment mainly in the woods behind your house or at the end of your tram line, or do you want to use it for trekking and international traveling as well?
TLM lives next to Helsinki, the local scouts use what the majority of Finnish scout leaders thinks would be the best. Even the Scouts from Helsinky surely go for hiking a few kilometres more northern and they do it usually in colder conditions than the German scouts because it's often a few degrees colder in Finland than in Germany.
German scouts use the X7 or usual kitchen hatchets with 600 g steel heads. The X10 has like the Gränsfors Bruks small forest axe a total weight of 1000g.
German scouts obviously prefere the lighter hatchets in the rucksacks, Finnish scouts seem to need the heavier one, probably the wood is drying later in the Finnish forest so they perhaps really need to split wood, the Germans use it more for peg carving and to hit them in the ground, and to get the fire started they make a bit kindling with it.
Paul Kirtley which you can see in the video recommends the Gransfors Bruks 1000g small forest axe which is similar to the Fiskars X10. The guy lives in Britain but goes a lot for hiking, skiing and canoeing to Skandinavia and Canada.
German scouts you can meet in the long summer holydays in Skandinavia like in the rest of Europe, but in Spring and Autum and winter they usually stay in Germany because the holidays are shorter and they have of course to save some money for the long distance tours.
In the cold month it's a bit warmer in Germany than in Finland, of course depending on the areas we compare.
I don't know exactly British weather conditions, but regarding the amount of water you have in dead standing wood in British forests that details are important and so you should perhaps better open an own thread "Fiskars X7 or X10?" to get probably more answers from British members of this forum to that special question. (Siberians probably would laugh about that Toys, most French bushcrafters would ask you why you want to carry a hatchet around, a pocket knife would be perfectly fine...)
And I don't know which size of wood you can take out of a British forest without getting problems with the land owner.
In Germany the farmers have usually just very small pieces of the forest and want to get more or less all which is usefull for the fireplace in the house. Taking larger logs would mean to steel it. My impression is that in Scandinavia you just can take larger ones than here, because there a few people live in very large forests. Norway has for example round about as much inhabitants as Berlin!
I guess as long as you don't come with a motor chain saw they don't care what a camper is doing there for a weekend.
I think, if you want to carry the tool usually around and if you go usually for wild camping during the warmer half of the year and perhaps for stealth camping without land owners permission, the right choice for you would be the X7.
But if you have Land owners permission for a camp in always the same place, if you want to be there also in winter times, if you don't walk more than 5 km with the axe and especially if you want to use it for a cottage or around your own house tge X10 might be a good option.
But the X7 weights round about 600g, which means 400g less than the X10. For a group that isn't a problem, but if you want to go for hiking alone, and if you aren't very tall and strong, you will pretty fast stop to carry the X10 in your rucksack.
If one person goes alone for wild /stealth camping and hiking with a bushcraft equipment, the rucksack is usually at the limit of weight one can carry comfortably over longer distances, especially in Britain, where people tend to carry tents. A modern 1 person tent is round about 3 to 4 times heavier than a light tarp, so not 600 g but 1,5 to 3 kilograms.
But you can't heat those usual plastic tents with a campfire. (A tarp- or poncho shelter you can heat like that.) So the user of a plastic tent usually carries a 1 kg heavier sleeping bag instead of an axe.
Let's say a usual good 3 seasons sleeping bag weighs round about 1 kg. A good 2 kg sleeping bag is still a pretty convincing cold weather bag. 3 kg of sleeping bag allow you to sleep in the snow almost always and everywhere. That's roughly said to explain the question axe or sleeping bag? That's no precise sleeping bag recommendation here.
I think you should buy this Austrian jacket. About the German suit you can think later, because they aren't so rare. The Austrian one you also can wear in town, because it looks relatively civil. Don't forget that!
If you should buy additional the complete German suit for hiking depends mainly on your age, budget and usual job.
People who get payed very well for their work in an office tend to buy not so long lasting light rain suits. People who look like bears because they work on building sites or in similar jobs or strong young men make the better deal with the German army rainsuit.
I am pretty tall and strong but I carry during the German and French relatively DRY summer a light not so long lasting Solognac rainsuit (Solognac 100) just in case with an additional poncho instead of a tarp, but I change in colder conditions to heavier more long lasting rain gear. In the long run that's for me the best compromise between durability, value for money and comfort to carry it.
But off course you can also just carry one and the same good relatively heavy Goretex rain suit all over the year, if you pay attention which weight has the other equipment you buy.
May I ask how old and tall you are and in which profession you work, writing desk or heavier work? That's pretty important if you ask us about recommendations for equipment. Most people simply aren't able to carry the best most durable stuff comfortably over longer distances...
Are you more interested to start with cheaper equipment to try out if bushcraft is the right hobby for you or do you think, that you want to buy the best and most long lasting stuff which will last you a lifetime, even if it's a bit pricier? In which direction do you tend?
Do you want to use your equipment mainly in the woods behind your house or at the end of your tram line, or do you want to use it for trekking and international traveling as well?
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Hey Erbswurst, I think I would do as you suggested previously and leave the axe at home if I was going on a wild camp and use a bushcraft knife and batoning and use the X10 on camps with permission with not much hiking with it, although I might end up switching to the X7 if it doesn't fit in my motorcycle bag.
Hurray, I bought the Austrian jacket! but from a different seller as that one was too big. I will consider the German one when a good one turns up, maybe the one in blue!
I'm 5ft 8, age 40, mildly athletic build, I've trained martial arts most of my life, so my back and core strength isn't too bad but don't do a very physical job at all.
I don't mind spending money on the equipment where it really matters as I'd rather not by cheap and buy 4 times but if there are cheaper items (like the fleece you suggested) without a compromise on functionality I'm very happy to make a saving there.
I'm hoping to go to a Bushcraft store after work tomorrow to look at this new shirt from Helikon, it has a similar composition to the Austrian shirt/blouse you suggested and looks more civilian, although quite a bit more pricey. Was going to look at the Mora Garberg Bushcraft Knife as well wallet permitting! https://www.helikon-tex.com/en_eur/ko-wdn-dc-woodsman-shirt.html
Hurray, I bought the Austrian jacket! but from a different seller as that one was too big. I will consider the German one when a good one turns up, maybe the one in blue!
I'm 5ft 8, age 40, mildly athletic build, I've trained martial arts most of my life, so my back and core strength isn't too bad but don't do a very physical job at all.
I don't mind spending money on the equipment where it really matters as I'd rather not by cheap and buy 4 times but if there are cheaper items (like the fleece you suggested) without a compromise on functionality I'm very happy to make a saving there.
I'm hoping to go to a Bushcraft store after work tomorrow to look at this new shirt from Helikon, it has a similar composition to the Austrian shirt/blouse you suggested and looks more civilian, although quite a bit more pricey. Was going to look at the Mora Garberg Bushcraft Knife as well wallet permitting! https://www.helikon-tex.com/en_eur/ko-wdn-dc-woodsman-shirt.html
I think the scouts here mostly use dead standing small pine for firewood. The truth is that a small saw and a large knife is perfectly adequate combo for that. The x10 is to teach them axe use as besides being kicked it is fairly indestructible.
To make fire here one needs a permission from the landowner. On the other hand there are quite a few ready made fire places in public walking areas, often with wood to burn.
Scouts here are split in two, the alcohol/Trangia crowd and the small gas burner people.
To make fire here one needs a permission from the landowner. On the other hand there are quite a few ready made fire places in public walking areas, often with wood to burn.
Scouts here are split in two, the alcohol/Trangia crowd and the small gas burner people.
Congratulations!
Keep the flaps of the pockets closed if it rains. Even if the water doesn't enter to the body, it's pretty unpleasant to collect water in them.
As I wrote, the blue German ones are very rare. They weren't issued so long and our navy isn't so large and when they got sold to civil persons they had been sold very fast. It's the same with the green ones, not issued for long time, sold out immediatly later. The younger Flecktarn version was issued for longer times and because it's Flecktarn not everybody wants to run around in the towns with it, so they are still available in good conditions.
I guess you can find them in British surplus shops too perhaps a bit pricier in the first view but perhaps without higher shipping costs and especially the British surplus shops look through the stuff. If you can buy grade 1 it's worth to invest a bit more money. I always buy grade 1, used but in nearly unused conditions. Like that we make the best deal.
You should immediatly test such surplus rain gear under the shower at home, if the stuff is really water proof.
With your stature and age I recommend generally to buy light but long lasting stuff. You don't need to look for extremely thin and weak ultralight trekking equipment but you should keep the weight in sight if you choose to buy equipment.
If you read in old threads for example in this forum about a good pot you don't know if the guy who writes is a 25 years old 1.90 meters tall carpenter, the owner of a Canadian canoe or even of a Landrover 110. A usual well chosen trekking or bushcraft equipment contains round about 40 single pieces of equipment. If every item is only 25g heavier than necessary the result is, that your full rucksack is in the end 1 kg heavier than needed. And that difference you can feel on your back!
Don't count an unnecessary heavy summer equipment together and think, that you can carry it easily. With water and food, soap and perhaps fuel for a gas burner or alcohol stove it's suddenly quiet heavy and should you go for winter camping with additional stuff, you would realise in the end, that you invested in the wrong stuff, and that would be a pity.
Usually people realise it to late and would need to reduce 50g to 100g on every item to get the whole equipment portable, and that they only are able to do, if they buy every item ones more!
You should buy the stuff as long lasting as possible, as strong as necessary and as light as possible after it fits to the first two points. Or to say it different: Generally you should buy the lightest of the durable options, especially if you carry it always or sometimes in your rucksack. Boots for example can be different to that pretty heavy. They make your legs faster tired than light ones but that's a question of training too. A heavy rucksack stays a heavy rucksack, training helps a lot but to carry exclusively bomb proof equipment for winter camping with food and water you should train 15 hours a day with the special forces, the best directly with the foreign legion in France...
But no reason to buy a weak knife. I own the Mora Garberg in the stainless version.
I was able to shave myself with it - with an office ready result - after I sharpened it with a simple sharpening stone in farmers quality free hand. That means, the steel is a good recommendation.
The design has the charme of a German made screw driver. It's a bushcraft tool, no polished beauty. But it's a really good bushcraft tool!
It's without any doubt a very good all purpose knife but a real, nearly unbreakable survival knife as well. The handle seems to be very well attached, unbreakable in intended use. Protective in coldest conditions, different to most other strong knifes with a handle design which doesn't pay attention about extremely cold conditions.
I recommend the Mora Garberg without any doubt.
But I absolutly do NOT recommend the multi mount plastic sheath! I think it's a pretty idiotic and in deep forests really dangerous toy.
I got the Garberg with the multi mount sheath generously gifted by a member of this forum. Thank you very very much ones more! So I own it with the multi mount sheath, but I will buy the leather sheath later. My fear to loose the knife in deep forests where I perhaps could really need it is to big. And that's because the plastic sheath isn't perfectly constructed. OK for use in civilised areas, OK for use around the house. But not OK if the knife is meant as a survival knife. Who carries the Mora Garberg as all purpose knife but just in case as a survival knife too, how it is constructed, should choose the leather sheath in my opinion.
You can buy the Garberg with the leather sheath without any doubt, so far it fits well in your hand. The knife is made very long lasting. The "stainless" version in the leather sheath will not rust so easily even if the leather gets whet. The Carbone blade version would probably start to rust.
But of course also the stainless version is better kept in a dry leather sheath or a dried leather sheath and even this very very slow rusting material is better stored for longer times with a very thin film of olive oil on it if you put it away for several weeks. And the sheath likes to get several times good leather fat from all sides before it goes into the bush.
Other wood handled very good knife options with high value for money cost round about 150 €, look nicer but aren't so extemely idiot proof and tough, but I guess tough enough for use in Britain. So if the Garberg doesn't fit into your hand well, ask here about other options!
But the Garberg offers an outstanding good value for the money regarding the functionality.
(Other similar options cost 50 € more because they have a nicer and shinier finish and more expensive but probably less durable handle materials.)
In my opinion the Mora Garberg is a high end quality tool, compared to similar knifes relatively cheap because it's made industrial and not polished like a mirror. The a bit unfinished edges of the back of the blade you can easily round a bit with a few scratches of every sharpening stone. I guess you can do it at the rough uncoated bottom of a usual porcelain cup as well with a perfect result.
Don't round it too much if you want to use it with a ferrocerium rod! That's the reason why these edges are so sharp as they are.
The without any doubt functional looking Helicon tex shirt has the opposite mixture than a lot of Solognac, Austrian Army or German army clothing.
I recommended as a good spark resistant but also relatively fast drying outer layer a mix fabric with 65% cotton and 35% polyester.
The Helicon tex shirt you showed us has different to that 65% polyester. That shirt is faster drying than the shirts I recommended, it is equally windproof but it is NOT spark resistant!
Surely good for hiking in Britain and traveling in northern relatively whet conditions this shirt isn't the first choice for use around camp fires. The fire protection of this shirt is next to nothing, every spark will produce a tiny hole in my opinion which weakens the fabric. I don't know exactly that shirt or fabric but I know similar fabrics from Fjälräven and Pinewood which I do not recommend for bushcraft use around camp fires, especially not to beginners!
Yes, of course it would work pretty well for hiking and stealth camping, especially fast drying what's a good idea in Britain, but it doesn't protect against fire and sparks. It is a plastic shirt with a few cotton fibres in the fabric!
Keep the flaps of the pockets closed if it rains. Even if the water doesn't enter to the body, it's pretty unpleasant to collect water in them.
As I wrote, the blue German ones are very rare. They weren't issued so long and our navy isn't so large and when they got sold to civil persons they had been sold very fast. It's the same with the green ones, not issued for long time, sold out immediatly later. The younger Flecktarn version was issued for longer times and because it's Flecktarn not everybody wants to run around in the towns with it, so they are still available in good conditions.
I guess you can find them in British surplus shops too perhaps a bit pricier in the first view but perhaps without higher shipping costs and especially the British surplus shops look through the stuff. If you can buy grade 1 it's worth to invest a bit more money. I always buy grade 1, used but in nearly unused conditions. Like that we make the best deal.
You should immediatly test such surplus rain gear under the shower at home, if the stuff is really water proof.
With your stature and age I recommend generally to buy light but long lasting stuff. You don't need to look for extremely thin and weak ultralight trekking equipment but you should keep the weight in sight if you choose to buy equipment.
If you read in old threads for example in this forum about a good pot you don't know if the guy who writes is a 25 years old 1.90 meters tall carpenter, the owner of a Canadian canoe or even of a Landrover 110. A usual well chosen trekking or bushcraft equipment contains round about 40 single pieces of equipment. If every item is only 25g heavier than necessary the result is, that your full rucksack is in the end 1 kg heavier than needed. And that difference you can feel on your back!
Don't count an unnecessary heavy summer equipment together and think, that you can carry it easily. With water and food, soap and perhaps fuel for a gas burner or alcohol stove it's suddenly quiet heavy and should you go for winter camping with additional stuff, you would realise in the end, that you invested in the wrong stuff, and that would be a pity.
Usually people realise it to late and would need to reduce 50g to 100g on every item to get the whole equipment portable, and that they only are able to do, if they buy every item ones more!
You should buy the stuff as long lasting as possible, as strong as necessary and as light as possible after it fits to the first two points. Or to say it different: Generally you should buy the lightest of the durable options, especially if you carry it always or sometimes in your rucksack. Boots for example can be different to that pretty heavy. They make your legs faster tired than light ones but that's a question of training too. A heavy rucksack stays a heavy rucksack, training helps a lot but to carry exclusively bomb proof equipment for winter camping with food and water you should train 15 hours a day with the special forces, the best directly with the foreign legion in France...
But no reason to buy a weak knife. I own the Mora Garberg in the stainless version.
I was able to shave myself with it - with an office ready result - after I sharpened it with a simple sharpening stone in farmers quality free hand. That means, the steel is a good recommendation.
The design has the charme of a German made screw driver. It's a bushcraft tool, no polished beauty. But it's a really good bushcraft tool!
It's without any doubt a very good all purpose knife but a real, nearly unbreakable survival knife as well. The handle seems to be very well attached, unbreakable in intended use. Protective in coldest conditions, different to most other strong knifes with a handle design which doesn't pay attention about extremely cold conditions.
I recommend the Mora Garberg without any doubt.
But I absolutly do NOT recommend the multi mount plastic sheath! I think it's a pretty idiotic and in deep forests really dangerous toy.
I got the Garberg with the multi mount sheath generously gifted by a member of this forum. Thank you very very much ones more! So I own it with the multi mount sheath, but I will buy the leather sheath later. My fear to loose the knife in deep forests where I perhaps could really need it is to big. And that's because the plastic sheath isn't perfectly constructed. OK for use in civilised areas, OK for use around the house. But not OK if the knife is meant as a survival knife. Who carries the Mora Garberg as all purpose knife but just in case as a survival knife too, how it is constructed, should choose the leather sheath in my opinion.
You can buy the Garberg with the leather sheath without any doubt, so far it fits well in your hand. The knife is made very long lasting. The "stainless" version in the leather sheath will not rust so easily even if the leather gets whet. The Carbone blade version would probably start to rust.
But of course also the stainless version is better kept in a dry leather sheath or a dried leather sheath and even this very very slow rusting material is better stored for longer times with a very thin film of olive oil on it if you put it away for several weeks. And the sheath likes to get several times good leather fat from all sides before it goes into the bush.
Other wood handled very good knife options with high value for money cost round about 150 €, look nicer but aren't so extemely idiot proof and tough, but I guess tough enough for use in Britain. So if the Garberg doesn't fit into your hand well, ask here about other options!
But the Garberg offers an outstanding good value for the money regarding the functionality.
(Other similar options cost 50 € more because they have a nicer and shinier finish and more expensive but probably less durable handle materials.)
In my opinion the Mora Garberg is a high end quality tool, compared to similar knifes relatively cheap because it's made industrial and not polished like a mirror. The a bit unfinished edges of the back of the blade you can easily round a bit with a few scratches of every sharpening stone. I guess you can do it at the rough uncoated bottom of a usual porcelain cup as well with a perfect result.
Don't round it too much if you want to use it with a ferrocerium rod! That's the reason why these edges are so sharp as they are.
The without any doubt functional looking Helicon tex shirt has the opposite mixture than a lot of Solognac, Austrian Army or German army clothing.
I recommended as a good spark resistant but also relatively fast drying outer layer a mix fabric with 65% cotton and 35% polyester.
The Helicon tex shirt you showed us has different to that 65% polyester. That shirt is faster drying than the shirts I recommended, it is equally windproof but it is NOT spark resistant!
Surely good for hiking in Britain and traveling in northern relatively whet conditions this shirt isn't the first choice for use around camp fires. The fire protection of this shirt is next to nothing, every spark will produce a tiny hole in my opinion which weakens the fabric. I don't know exactly that shirt or fabric but I know similar fabrics from Fjälräven and Pinewood which I do not recommend for bushcraft use around camp fires, especially not to beginners!
Yes, of course it would work pretty well for hiking and stealth camping, especially fast drying what's a good idea in Britain, but it doesn't protect against fire and sparks. It is a plastic shirt with a few cotton fibres in the fabric!
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