If you were away traveling, what would you take?

[Highbinder]

Just curious really,

So riddle me this,

If you were going away traveling for an extended period (3-12 months), what would you take? Assume you spend some time in cities, and in effect are living out of a rucksack, but also spend a good portion in the woods, hiking, bushcrafting, etc.

Presumably most would pack a fixed blade. What about an axe or saw? Space would be at a premium but I can see the merits of an axe and pocket knife rather than a large knife.

Are there any knives you couldn't part with and would have to take along?

Off on a tangent, I'm also interested to know if you would take any bushy knives or items in general of you were traveling with no intention of doing any hiking or bushcraft?

 

[Wayne]

My usual travel Kit.

Tactical man bag.
Leatherman juice. Non locking.
Mora fixed Blade. Leave the expensive knives at home. Baggage handlers and officals like nice shiny things.
Either a SFA or a GB mini.

Craghopper trousers.
A couple of Mid Layers.
Wool jumpers are more resistant to sparks than fleece.
A Waterproof – Windproof.
At least 3 pairs of socks.
1 smart shirt and tie. Important when dealing with officialdom.
Boots and a comfortable smart pair of shoes.
Small tent
Sleeping bag
A silk liner.
Inflatable sleeping mat.
Cutlery and mug
Wash kit, Pack Towel. I use Lush shampoo tins. Gets on the plane.
Water bottle
Personal First Aid Kit (Include plasters, pain killers, blister kit, tweezers and personal medications).
Headtorch with plenty of spare sets of batteries.
Sat Phone
Camera.

Note book and pencils

I almost never leave home without some sort of bladed article. If its just a walk then its my Flexcut Carvin Jack. Doesn't scare little old ladies on the tow path when whittling a spoon.

 

[Totumpole]

Excellent question!
SAK or leatherman would come regardless - even if it is just to open bottles of beer or wine.
I think if you were planning on spending a lot of time in the woods then a fixed blade is a must, and if your planning on doing a lot of bushcrafting and heavy work then an axe is a good idea. I would probably go along the lines of a trail tomahawk (there is a post on here for a modded coled steel trail tomahawk somewhere), so that you could carry the head in the city, and fashion a handle as your first bushcrafty activity when out in the woods. With an axe on board you could carry a smaller lighter fixed blade, or some would say even get rid of a fixed blade all together.
Option 2 is no axe and a heavy duty bushy, like a good 4mm blade that will take a beating/heavy batoning.
Thats my 2 pence worth on the matter. Interested to see what others will say.

 

[satosato]

In an ideal world I would probably go for my leatherman, a fixed blade and laplander saw. I was on a 7 nights treking and wild camping in Borneo jungle with a group of mates many years ago, my Buck and a parang came in very handy.

 

[HHazeldean]

My Billhook, my fixed blade knife and probably my survival tin just in case.

Also a lifesaver water bottle.

 

[beenn]

Lots of white t-shirts and a few black
Few jeans and some tracksuit type trousers
fleece and jacket
shemagh
fixed blade- buck river knife most likely
folding saw
fire steel
titanium spork
metal mug and id just use a water bottle from a shop
head torch
p38 can opener
first aid kit
paracord
and if i had space a military poncho
led torch most likely

food, water and brew can be bought when in the town
id also take a hygiene kit or it would be the first thing i bought

also the phone, laptop and wallet.

This would mostly be for the trips to the woodland but a spork is good for take away food, can opener is always handy, you will always have a mug and a first aid kit if needed and the torch is good for woodland and powercuts etc

 

[Retired Member southey]

Just normal travel clothes for me, crag hoppers cause there light and easy to repair, a sewing kit, leatherman pst, undies and normally a two litre water bladder with drinking tube, wash kit and a micro fibre towel(good for lenses too). I have always bought local if bigger tools are needed.

 

[sandbender]

"...what would you take?.."

I have a little experience of this kind of thing and the best advice I can give it to travel with nothing that you wouldn't want to lose, have stolen or confiscated, most things can be replaced, the things you really need you can find wherever you are going, perhaps not the brand or exact style, but something that will suffice.

Additionally...

Take a sense of humor.
Take a pocket language guide.
Take a good quality towel, one that is big enough to sleep on.
Take a notebook and pencil.
Make sure you know the exchange rates before you arrive.
Keep your important documents (insurance etc.) and contact numbers on your person at all times.

Presumably most would pack a fixed blade.

Not necessarily, that could land you in trouble in some places.

What about an axe or saw? Space would be at a premium but I can see the merits of an axe and pocket knife rather than a large knife.

Again, not necessarily it depends on the destination, if you are away to Borneo or similar think about picking up something there rather than taking something from home.

Are there any knives you couldn't part with and would have to take along?

No.

Off on a tangent, I'm also interested to know if you would take any bushy knives or items in general of you were traveling with no intention of doing any hiking or bushcraft?

Yes probably.

For most trips I usually pack a Doug Ritter RSK Mk1 and a pouch of bushcrafty doo-dads.

 

[Highbinder]

A knife that I'm not prepared to lose would be showpiece. Imo with any knife that I own and use I know there's a risk I could break it or lose it in the woods, or have it confiscated in a city. So to me taking a cheaper knife doesn't ring true.

Personally I think Id take my brk imp. It's tough enough to do most things and doesn't look mean with the sub 3" blade. Recently I've been out camping with just that and it does really well. Sometimes I carry it instead of a pocket knife.

And fair point anything your missing you could pick up there - a folding saw is pretty cheap. But regardless if you buy or bring with it still ends up on your back. I wouldn't want to buy an axe and then dump it, so I'd still have potential hassle till the return.

 

[JonathanD]

Just normal travel clothes for me, crag hoppers cause there light and easy to repair, a sewing kit, leatherman pst, undies and normally a two litre water bladder with drinking tube, wash kit and a micro fibre towel(good for lenses too). I have always bought local if bigger tools are needed.

I'd take Southey and a large bludgeon. That way I'd have my food carrying all my gear too.

 

[Graham_S]

Edged tools wise?
Just a SAK.
If I need anything bigger, I'll be able to pick one up locally.
I've usually got one on a loop of paracord attached to my belt with a larksfoot knot.

For the rest of it, it would depend entirely on where I was going, and how long I was planning to stay.

 

[Siberianfury]

the Tools i would take would be:

my Maple burl Enzo trapper in D2

My Gb Sfa

a pocket knife, most likley a SAK

and a Folding saw

 

[Xunil]

Case Peanut or Queen Cutlery Canoe pocket knife. Drop dead handy, socially acceptable pretty much everywhere (even here in the UK ) and covers about 99% of any knife tasks I can think of that I'd be doing.

A decent folding saw and, to be honest, I could probably manage just fine with the saw on one of my Swiss Army Knives.

A small axe might be nice for the camping/outdoorsy stuff, but is not essential and is a waste of pack weight for the majority of the time for a tool that will only see marginal use.

Rationale:

Several months alternating between hiking, camping, and city life, changes things a lot.

You have frequent access to additional kit if you decide you want or need it, you have the luxury to gear up depending on your next known location/environment, and you don't want to be packing tons of unnecessary crap with you when wandering around towns and cities.

Regular visits to towns and cities means it might be more prudent not to carry anything that could get you lifted by the authorities, and it also means your outdoorsy stints will be shorter than an expedition style trip.

If I was hopping regularly from city to city by way of woodland trails I would rather carry minimal bushy kit and pack more 'proper' food, drinks, weather gear, better sleeping kit and/or similar supplies.

Clothes, like food, can also be regularly maintained at laundrette facilities or renewed outright if required.

I would rather carry a better tent/sleeping bag/bivi or similar than permanently lug the typical 2lb or so of Small Forest Axe everywhere, which will be used infrequently at best.

Regular access to cities means that your kit, by definition, need not be exotic, and regular exposure to city life also means less tolerance for cutting tools, so low-key makes more sense, to me anyway.

 

[rik_uk3]

Leatherman and a good corkscrew and a battery/solar charger pack for phone and MP3 player go on my travels with me.

 

[Soundmixer]

+1 on the Peanut like Xunil.
Some of the places I've been in the world there would be some serious questions asked as to why you had an axe in your pack. Likewise the fixed blade. Can you be more specific about where you might be going?

Personally, since the invention of the screwcap wine bottle, the SAK Farmer would be my knife of choice. Laplander saw next but only if it didn't raise eyebrows with customs or police.

Blend in in the city and you'll not have a problem. Remember the sheriff in First Blood? And the Deputy Gault? That attitude still applies in certain areas in the world. Even a fixed blade of 4" will get you in trouble. There are also areas in the world that you can still carry a 10" Bowie knife on your belt in Walmart and not get noticed but you might not want to travel there!

Be sensible, be aware and you'll be fine. If you can give more details of where you might want to go maybe we could give more advise.

Cheers

 

[Xunil]

The scenario is just too broad.

If we were talking a wilderness trip of several weeks or months the kit would change accordingly (but only a little, in my case, unless the environment was particularly extreme) but any time we talk about a trip involving lots of city/town time with brief, broken up forays into the wilds you are basically talking about a backpacking trip.

You don't want to be always lugging kit that at best will see marginal use and you especially don't want to be carrying it if it may have repercussions socially/legally.

Assuming you got to point X in your journey and you knew it would be a couple of weeks or more until you next reach a town, buying an inexpensive 'disposable' machete could make sense. How many of them could you get during the course of a trip for the cost of a single GB axe ?

These days you also have options to have kit mailed to a holding box at a given location if you want or need to, so again, you have options to meet your kit at a different location for a nominal cost which, again, saves you the effort and potential risk of lugging it around on your back.

Wilderness trips are one thing - tourist-type meandering from place to place with an element of wild camping is something else, with an entirely different set of requirements and related potential issues.

Favourite generic kit aside, you need to rethink and gear up accordingly when wandering the world, to avoid bringing problems onto yourself.

There are places I have been where it would not be prudent to use a military-looking pack, never mind have a selection of sharps with you. Even the ubiquitous olive green (I'm including clothes here, as well as rucksacks) or having high-end or shiny-new looking kit can invite unwelcome attention - a very different approach is required to get the best out of this sort of trip, and there are far too many variables to be anything other than very general is response.

 

[sandbender]

"...Personally I think Id take my brk imp. It's tough enough to do most things and doesn't look mean with the sub 3" blade. Recently I've been out camping with just that and it does really well..."

The Bark River Knives 'Imp' would be acceptable as an every day legal carry knife in this country.

 

[bmartin1uk]

I've been on a couple of 12month+ trips and the biggest tip i ever got when deciding what to take is - lay everything out you think you'll need for your trip, and halve it!!
If you're travelling somewhere cheap, you can buy stuff out there,
but of course you may have difficulties sourcing a GB hatchet in Laos
The items i couldnt live with out were gaffer tape, my telescopic fishing rod, decent deet bug spray.
You've got a challenge ahead of you with the two extremes of cities and bush, but if you take advantage of leaving gear in guesthouses/hotels and using them as jumping off points, maybe you can afford to take everything!

 

[Highbinder]

It's a hypothetical question chaps just got to thinking after having to pack my life into a rucksack when I moved to Spain. I don't have many sharp things so it was easy for me to decide - I just took everything.

The Bark River Knives 'Imp' would be acceptable as an every day legal carry knife in this country.

Yep it's legal carry here, too, but I still wouldn't wear it on my belt around the city, so I'd always take a folding knife. Another thing to think about would be a sharpening kit. I like my frn ukpk because the steel is easy to touch up. I brought a little strop, some compound, and a range of sandpaper grits. At a push I think I could maintain an axe with what I have too.

I like the suggestion of a tomahawk style hatchet head and making your own shaft.

 

[Everything Mac]

I'd be in two minds about the axe. I'd maybe take a wee hawk at most.

Mora
SAK
4" folder.

beyond that it would have to be super light weight kit.


Andy