What's your favourite trick, cheat or adaptation?

[MikeE]

I've used a furniture "glider" (slippy things from B&Q) in the hole of my firebow bearing block, reduces friction no end!

I recently made a gypsy cooker like the A Finlay ones by cutting a 1m long piece of 6mm rebar in half & bending (again from B&Q £1.66!) tried it and found the "upright" bit was just too short for all but the embers. Answer was I got an extension designed for flat drill bits which just allen keys onto the end and extends it by 25cm. Trying out on next course in half term but it works in the garden so should work in't woods! All fits into a 50cm leather case I threw together for it, just need a way to secure the allen key, s*ds law says it will go missing when I need it!

 

[MartiniDave]

OK, here are a few of mine.

When boiling water to kill the bugs, leave a couple of inches of water in your plastic bottle so that when you pour the still hot boiled water in, the bottle doesn't go all soft and reshape itself.

I keep a stainless Frost Clipper in my pack for food prep, thereby avoiding risk of cross contamination to & from my "main" knife (which is often also a Clipper!). Gives me a back up too.

A knife sheath is a handy place to store things, such as a bit of inner tube stretched over it, some tape (gaffer of insulating) stuck around it, some cord wrapped around it etc etc.

A "Scout" size firesteel fits perfectly into the top of the belt hook on a clipper sheath.

You've never got too many matches.

Fill that lighter, its emptier than you think.

Dave

 

[Cobweb]

Wire S's - Spend a few minutes with some strong garden wire and make lots of S shapes, handy for everything!

 

[DavidJT]

I carry a small length ( about 4ft) of climbing rope as I like to practice
knots whilst sitting by the fire.

 

[FGYT]

use 2ltr coke bottles and drinking top of the smaller drink bottles for a free collapsable water bladder just roll it up when empty
and the 3 or 5 ltr squash bottles with the handles for base camp water
bit of paracord and a jug knot as a handle

if you dont use it for a while just get antoerh one
(the tops fit platipus bladders as well saves buying theirs )

you dont need big heavy sell tripods and a huge chain just carry some small chain from B&Q and use wood

old lighter thumb wheel flint taped to your spoon for sparking up Gas

replace the tooth pick in your SAK with a BCB striker rod (rmove it from the U channel) just need to ream the hole a little you an always whittle a tooth pick.

carry pencil and paper

 

[Cobweb]

Nearly forgot!
Chairs: All you need is a sack and a bit of rope, oh and about ten minutes...

Three bits of coppice about as tall as you are and a bit, as thick as your wrist and a thinner piece for the cross spar...

Make holes in the sack at the top to thread your rope through and then thread it.
Make two more holes for the cross spar at the bottom of the sack on the sides.
Tie the three bits of coppice into a tripod.
Jam the legs into the ground.
Make sure the 'front' of the tripod is wide enough for your bum!
Tie the sack to the top of the tripod
Put the cross spar through the bottom of the sack and let it fall across the two front legs.

You can leave it like that but I prefer to lash the cross spar so I'm not sliding out and after the sack has stretched a bit, a folded blanket in the bum bit helps stop the cross spar digging into the backs of your legs.

The chairs are pretty much designed for those that make them, if you want it to be an all rounder chair then may I suggest the following:

The back leg of the tripod should be shorter than the front two as they tend to have to lean back at quite a gradient for maximum comfortability.

Shorter folk, make your two front legs about 7 foot tall if you can, this means that taller people won't have the top coming together in the middle of their shoulder blades.

--

A quick note, for those of you who don't like the idea of coppicing every time you go out (I don't either) then Dave Budd came up with a good idea for transportable poles...

- A sleeve, made of metal that goes over the join with pins to keep it there would work.

Fore more info on that particular modification, please annoy Dave

 

[firecrest]

I'm a very light sleeper and use blue tack for ear plugs when camping. It's cheap and works better than the foam ones and lasts for ages. I once stayed in a noisy hotel in Italy and, in desperation, used chewing gum as ear plugs. I spent about a week extricating it from my ears. Amazing how such a little goes such a long way.
I use superglue to fix minor cuts on my hands.To speed the process up I use an accelerator which is basically a felt tip pen with a chemical that is applied prior to the glue and allows the super glue to set in about 5 seconds which is great for closing minor wounds.

Are you sure its healthy to introduce industrial chemicals to your blood stream?!

 

[gregorach]

Superglue was invented as wound sealant.

My favourite trick is probably my crusader mug hanger (for use over an open fire), made from a single stick in less than 5 minutes.

 

[FGYT]

Superglue was invented as wound sealant.

My favourite trick is probably my crusader mug hanger (for use over an open fire), made from a single stick in less than 5 minutes.

actually no it wasnt it was discovered in the 40's

quotes from Wikpedia

Cyanoacrylates were invented in 1942 by Dr. Harry Coover and Fred Joyner of Kodak Laboratories during experiments to make a special extra-clear plastic suitable for gun sights. Although not appropriate for the gun sights, they did find that cyanoacrylates would quickly glue together many materials with great strength. Seeing possibilities for a new adhesive, Kodak developed "Eastman #910" (later "Eastman 910") a few years later as the first true "super glue."

Superglue was in veterinarian use for mending bone, hide, and tortoise shell by at least the early 1970s. The inventor of cyanoacrylates, Harry Coover, said in 1966 that a superglue spray was used in the Vietnam War to retard bleeding in wounded soldiers until they could be brought to a hospital. As it can irritate the skin, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration did not approve superglue's civilian medical use until 1998 when a variant called 2-octyl-cyanoacrylate was developed.

oh and water is a Super glue acelerator

ATB

Duncan

 

[Wayland]

Some great ones here so far.

A couple of others of mine, I carry a small light bit of chain with hooks on each end in my billy for hanging the pot from a tripod or gypsy hanger.

I have a couple of pieces of angle iron in the van for supporting pots over a fire like this:

and there is my tarp water collector based on a commercial one that Stuart showed me.

 

[Humpback]

Carry a shemagh/keffiyeh at all times. They are one of the most adaptable things I own.
Neck pillow (it takes a particular fold to work properly but once you've got it it's not too far off the proper inflatable ones), bag, hobo-style bag-on-a-stick, towel, scarf, hat, hood, full head wrap, sun shade, sit mat... I'm sure there's a couple more I'm forgetting too. Strangely, with all those uses (and I've used mine for all but the hobo one) I've never needed to use it for 2 things at once... I still think I'll get another just in case though.

Do you have a linky or pictures of the pillow fold, please?
Alan

 

[gregorach]

actually no it wasnt it was discovered in the 40's

Heh... Looks like I've been caught out by an urban myth. Thanks for the correction.

 

[Greenbeast]

not exactly a cheat or adaptation and i've not yet taken it camping, and its probably for car camping instead of light-weight travel but i bought a kilner jar and some steel wire (also tried copper) and built an olive oil lamp
It'll burn very cleanly for hours and hours and can be shaken to douse the flame, leave it to cool for a minute and it can be sealed and packed away (it's not completely water tight but its pretty good unless tipped on end for a few minutes)

 

[Shewie]

and there is my tarp water collector based on a commercial one that Stuart showed me.

Can you explain the tube please Gary, is it just part of the original bottle cap ?

 

[scrogger]

I was wondering about that Rich it looks like a Sigg type bottle but with a hole drilled through it for the filler tube. Does the filler tube sit lower down so that as the cup fills it runs down the tube?. Looks like a good bit of kit!!

 

[FGYT]

Sigg sell a pouring cap it has the tube to pour out and a small air hole drilled through the other side i guess on Waylanders the water goes in the little hole and the tube acts as the air release
you haveto take it off and put the normal on to seal it

i did a mock up for my lemonade bottle cap one that also fits platipus and other bottles with the same thread ( i dont use it tho )

 

[Wayland]

Can you explain the tube please Gary, is it just part of the original bottle cap ?

The tube stops it air locking.

There's more info here.

 

[BushTucker]

I used to like a fire lighter block to help get a fire going, very smelly and i have found that they can dry out. So now i make my own, Big bag ( about 200 ) of cotton buds from a 99p shop plus a large jar of petroleum gel ( cheaper vaseline ) from 99p shop and some old dry wood shavings.

Open the buds and roll them out, use a knife to smear one side with petroleum gel, then sprinkle with wood shavings, roll it back up and light, will burn for 7 mins.

I took some out of my shed from last year and still work, not dried out.

£2 for 200 fire lighters, not bad..

 

[Wayland]

The BBQ lighting blocks that the supermarkets sell are made of some waxy fibrous stuff that doesn't dry out, doesn't stink and doesn't mess up your pockets.

They're pretty cheap but at the end of the summer season they reduce them to pennies.

I stock up with a few packs each year and I've always got some blocks in my tinder pouch, my billy cans, my wanigan and a spare pack or two in the van.

 

[forestwalker]

Another trick; in winter carry a washing up brush (as in doing the dishes) for brushing snow off your clothes. Drill a hole and you can even have a lanyard, and cut down the handle if you want a more compact brush.