How to use a fire starter
A simple and short “how to” video on using a fire-steel:. This one is a magnesium alloy rod fire starter manufactured for and retailed by Trek-Mates. This particular model is no longer available, but there are others produced by different companies using a variety of similar materials. Read more…
Sharing is brilliant. It rewards me for my effort and encourages me to do more. Please share...
Opening Your Opinel
The internet is full of suggested “modifications” you can make to either the handle or the blade, to help assist you in opening your Opinel folding knife. But the “Savoi Tap” and the traditional one-hand technique are probably still the best…
Where did this method come from?
Sharing is brilliant. It rewards me for my effort and encourages me to do more. Please share...
All Fired-up : Kelly Kettle
Will it suit you?
OK Let’s get straight to the point: This is a review of a stove that you can use pretty much any time you are outdoors: for pic-nics, camping, trekking or just making a hot drink when you’re out in the countryside. You might be fishing, bird-watching or taking a pit-stop from enjoying a bike, motorbike or car drive around the country.
It’s different because it uses fuel that you gather easily from the countryside. Anything natural you can find from the place you’ve decided to stop; from twigs to bark, pine cones to… well whatever you can find that will burn. And that’s surprisingly simple to do.
Sounds a mad idea doesn’t it? But I definitely wanted to see if it was practical. So I contacted the makers Kelly Kettle, based in Co. Mayo in Ireland. And asked them point blank would they give me one to try. As promised I’ve used it all the time. After a few months I’d found it such an appealing experience, that to improve the quality of this review, I added a few accessories purchased anonymously online. And discovered it suits me perfectly. The question now is: Will it suit you?
Frazzled hair, blistered nose and scalded fingers…
Sharing is brilliant. It rewards me for my effort and encourages me to do more. Please share...
Playing with Fire!
Wondering why we do, what we do, when we do it, is something I just do; I can’t help it. It’s usually when I’m in the zone somewhere amid the hills. I get into the rhythm and with no deliberate intent, I find myself pondering on my own actions as much as I do on the performance of today’s politicians or leaders from history. So when I asked myself the question: Why have I suddenly turned to playing with fire? I gave it some thought; and realised it wasn’t a sudden decision at all …
This then, is a story. A simple narrative about the how and the why I decided to try foraging for fuel instead of carrying it with me. It’s meant to entertain as well as inform. Enjoy it…
Those of us growing up and growing older, in the relative prosperity of a post second world war western world, have become accustomed to acquiring the latest convenience that technological advance can offer us… Read more…
Sharing is brilliant. It rewards me for my effort and encourages me to do more. Please share...
Aluminium cooking pots vs Titanium cooking pots
My backpacking cooking needs are changing. So when scouring the web for something in titanium, I came across this. Some of it surprises me. Aluminium conducts heat far faster than Titanium, so I’m guessing requires different management… still overall I found this useful.
Aluminium cooking pots vs Titanium cooking pots .
Five years ago when I first started to get into lightweight bushwalking I replaced my super heavy MSR Alpine Stainless Steel pots (741.5g) with a two lighter Titanium Snow Peak pots (316.7g), this was a saving of 424.8g, after several years of faithful use, on one trip I wanted to cook a gourmet meal where I needed some slightly larger pots. I therefore went through my collection of pots, carefully weighing each one to work out which combination of two pots gave me the volume that I needed with the lightest combination, the combination that I ended up with was two cheap aluminium pots which I had purchased from my local camping shop. While the Ti pots are very tough, Ti is a very poor conductor of heat and whenever I tried to reheat a meal like a curry the food got burnt…
View original post 473 more words
Best Walks 