Ok I think that's four (someone will say 3) people to correct me on that point so well done. I stand corrected.
My main point (again) is that the argument that traditional gear is too heavy to be practical is not a valid one. It's only an issue if you're walking miles and miles day after day. In that case we're not talking about suitability for bushcraft purposes but rather suitability for hiking purposes. And then there is the issue of durability. Generally, modern gear of comparable durability to canvas stuff such as Kifaru is a similar weight to traditional stuff. I'm not saying traditional is better or vice versa, it's just whatever you prefer. Each to their own.
Sent from my phone.
Agree there is no right or wrong, just what each person prefers.
For me personally though the weight is only a small part of it, even if i'm car camping with the kids i tend to take mainly modern kit simply because i've found it works better.
As an example take a modern down filled sleeping bag.
It's light, packs small and is warmer than a toast in a furnace dumped in a volcano in hell.
I've slept with wool blankets outdoors and they were miserable itchy and drafty nights in comparison.
I guess being traditional is a matter of opinion, but ventile is another material that seems popular with the re-enactment type bushcrafters, again i've spent many many a miserable hour sweating buckets in wetted out ventile.
So for me i don't care when a product was designed, where it was manufactured, when it was designed i don't even really care what colour it is, all i want is for it to work better than anything else i've tried.
*Edited to add
I am looking for some wool blankets for the car, as they're cheap, still retain some heat when damp and are easy(ish) to wash.
So i'm not adverse to older tech for certain solutions.
Well the obvious gain of somebody else carrying the gear. But more realisticly it's mainly the nostalgia rather than any practical reason.
Does nostalgia really exist though?
Our summer house is in a small village that has around 30 year round inhabitants, most of those have been there for generations and when i first went in 1999 one old lady there was not yet on the mains power.
In the summer though the folks that have flown the nest return to play at being village folk.
Last easter it was a bit nippy and the guy next door (a guy that NEVER gets his hands dirty when back in Athens but suddenly gets overtaken by romance and nostalgia when returning to the village) decided to use his grandads ancient axe to chop some wood.
Now the vast vast majority of year rounders have wood burners in their house, so wood chopping is pretty much a daily occurrence, so i thought it a bit odd that the axe he was using was rusted up with a dirty (unused dirt) handle.
My suspicions were raised even more when i sat next to his grandad and mates and they were giggling away like school girls.
Turns out the have a automatic foot operated wood chopper and they were all laughing at the guy and taking the mickey because they thought it was funny that anyone would want to go back and do things the hard way.
I think if it were possible to zap back in time and bring someone back from say 100 and 200 years ago to today, they'd think it very funny that folks would have a easier way to live but choose to do things the older harder way.
