View Full Version : Back To Basics
I am due to get married later this year and the better half was nagging about clearing out the spare room to make way for a larger family. Anyway I spent most of Thursday in there sorting through all those "Essential" bushcraft pieces I have been collecting over the last 6 months. Well I was totally shocked at what I have been buying and never got around to using, these items included a Karrimor Sabre 75, Hennessy Hammock, Optimus Nova Plus Stove, Mountain Equipment Sleeping Bag, British Army Sleep System..... etc etc.. The list went on and on, and when I finally counted up what I had spent it totalled nearly £1000 on equipment I have never used.
Truth be told I have spent all this money on items and then been too scared to use them for fear of damaging/losing them. When I went to my garage to check my current grab bag I was amazed at what I actually do use.
I am currently using a second hand British Army Bergan, I have a British Army Basha to sleep under, lots of paracord, the smelliest sleeping bag known to man (But it always seems confortable), an old Bivi Bag, a couple of old aluminium water bottles and a crusader cup and hanger for cooking with....and that is it all (Apart from Knife and Firesteel).
I have spent many a night with just these items on my back and had to build/fashion a shelter, no fancy hammocks or tents. I have spent hours in the pouring rain trying to get a small fire going to heat some soup in the crusader cup with no hint of a multifuel gas stove, and this has always been carried in the same old second hand dirty rucksack which doesn't bother me when it gets snagged on a tree or comes home smelling worse than I do.
My appologies for the rambling but the point I was getting to (and am curious to find out your views) is that it is pointless buying the latest rucksack, hammock, stove if you are too scared to use them as I were. I guess I became a little bit of a label junkie.
Has anyone here ever bought anything for bushcraft only to keep it under lock and key, always waiting for the right time to use it? I have now currently put around £850 worth of stuff on evilbay and when it sells I might just treat that old sleeping bag to a dry clean!!!
Eric_Methven
10-06-2007, 00:37
I have some very expensive kit, but I use it regardless. My atitude is to write it off as soon as it's paid for. Then it just becomes a quality bit of kit. Much of my stuff is home made though and I generally only use the quality kit if I'm doing something extreme (which isn't a lot these days). I do have multiples though, mostly camping and bushcraft kit - three tents, five sleeping bags, a dozen or so knives and a handful of axes, four or five different stove types. Many were bought because they were bargains or were swapped, most second hand, and my grandkids go with me a few times a year so they dip in to my stuff. If I added it all up though, I'll bet there's not much change from five grand.
Eric
RobertRogers
10-06-2007, 02:45
Yes, it seems like usually the most simple old tried and true stuff gets used the most.
You can often tell who the newbies in the forest are: they have the latest and greatest equipment all in perfect shape. Us experienced guys who know what we are doing are comparatively dressed in rags and using old fashioned partly damaged equipment!
Dougster
10-06-2007, 09:03
You would be a popular man if you posted here before the bay.
It is quite comforting when you reach that point with your kit. Having two very small people in the house, I just seem to be out of practice.... must get out more.
I found that any (new) activity for me meant a whole load of new kit. From biking to bushcraft.... I now almost exclusively find that after "doin it" for a while loads of it is superflous... So now i try always to do as much as i can... listen to as many as i can.... and buy as little as can. Not just bushy stuff but kitchen utensils to food... My only exception is books.....love em.....
Your problem seems to be your getting rid of quite the wrong kit.
(And Im too cheery to elabourate on that)
-Switch-
10-06-2007, 22:04
I try to go as cheap and home-made as possible so if I buy something expensive for wild camping then I fully intend on using it as much as possible. I cannot understand why anyone would buy something practical and not use it :confused:
All these fancy labels and expensive items mean nothing to me, and I'll never be found bragging about the latest 'in' bit of kit that I've bought.
There was an obsession with kit that started quite a while ago and it's what put me off the hobby for a good few years. Instead of going out and getting on with it, people were just sitting around comparing all their 'gucci' kit and being too afraid to use it because it cost hundreds of pounds.
By the way, does anyone else find the phrase ''bit of kit'' incredibly irritating? As in ''I got the new titanium-lined nuclear powered neo-phenylalanine HyperCamp500 hammock today, it's a fantastic bit of kit.'' :rolleyes:
Eric_Methven
11-06-2007, 00:40
By the way, does anyone else find the phrase ''bit of kit'' incredibly irritating? As in ''I got the new titanium-lined nuclear powered neo-phenylalanine HyperCamp500 hammock today, it's a fantastic bit of kit.'' :rolleyes:
I don't. I use the phrase all the time. When I describe a bit of kit that's exactly what it is, a bit of kit. It's either a fantastic bit of kit, or a crap bit of kit, or a bit of kit I wouldn't mind having. It's probably an army thing. What I don't do though is gob off about the label or how much it cost. It has to earn it's place in my affections by it's functionality. If it does the job it a good bit of kit. If it does more than one job it's a fantastic bit of kit. If it lets me down it's a crap bit of kit.
Eric
British Red
11-06-2007, 01:13
Err yeah I suspect I use the term in the way Eric describes "good item of equiment" is too posh for me :)
Okay back on topic for eskimo
I think selling off stuff you have decided you don't need is sensible on a number of footings:
1) It gets you cash / space
2) The stuff gets used
3) Its Green
4) Someone else gets a bargain
I confess I went and had a shufti at your gear on e-bay.
My one piece of free advice (which may well be worth exactly what it costs) is that bundling all the stuff in one lot might well deter many buyers who want a specific item or items but not everything. I appreciate it makes your life simpler and postage more reasonable,, but there may be no-one who wants it all in one go. I suspect, if it doesn't sell, you might want to try splitting it up although keeping "sets" (like the henessy and skins) together
Just a thought
Red
I confess to being a bit of a kit hound.
I've bought lots of bits of kit that don't get used in their original form but most of it gets cannibalised for the bits that work well and built into things like my stove set (http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20206&highlight=perfect+stove).
A lot of my earlier kit has been retired because I have replaced it with stuff that does the job better.
If it wasn't for that I guess I'd still be going out with a blanket and a penknife like I did as a kid.
firebreather
11-06-2007, 09:02
By the way, does anyone else find the phrase ''bit of kit'' incredibly irritating? As in ''I got the new titanium-lined nuclear powered neo-phenylalanine HyperCamp500 hammock today, it's a fantastic bit of kit.'' :rolleyes:
:rolleyes: s*o*r*r*y mate not me but then again im a kit monster.
As i dont get out as much as i would like to, i probably fall into the gucci kit "set" you are talking about, but my kit gets used as much as i can and i keep it for years. I dont buy labels as such ,just what i consider good kit and i love talking about it almost as much as i enjoy using it.
Like eric there is nothing i wont use because it cost too much or its too shiny. Its there to do a job and thats what its for. if i am worried about using it then its no good.
my current kit list is a mixed bag of old trusty items to certain gucci kit that over time and use will start to fall into the trusted kit category and as its in my sig i cant hide my love of kit.:lmao:
I confess to being a bit of a kit hound.
I've bought lots of bits of kit that don't get used in their original form but most of it gets cannibalised for the bits that work well and built into things like my stove set (http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20206&highlight=perfect+stove).
A lot of my earlier kit has been retired because I have replaced it with stuff that does the job better.
If it wasn't for that I guess I'd still be going out with a blanket and a penknife like I did as a kid.
Perhaps were all better of as kids !! Blankets and penknives rule OK :D
Aye, but I'm a lot more comfortable these days.
fredcraft
11-06-2007, 17:08
I've bought lots of bits of kit that don't get used in their original form but most of it gets cannibalised for the bits that work well and built into things like my stove set (http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20206&highlight=perfect+stove).
No matter how many times I saw your stove Wayland, I always find it ingenious and love to see it in action !
dommyracer
11-06-2007, 23:15
Jesus Eskimo, how much kit did you have? I bought a load of stuff off you a while back, and you have even more?
That reminds me, I still didn't get those tree huggers - I emailed Royal Mail and they said that it was delivered to a Manchester address, as written on the package.
Could you please double check the address you sent it to and get in touch with me? I haven't really got time to be making phone calls and could do with my tree huggers.
Squidders
12-06-2007, 10:40
Aye, but I'm a lot more comfortable these days.
I think you hit the nail on the head Wayland!
For those with nothing to prove, it's very liberating... I like testing kit out and playing with stuff. One of the joys of being an individual is that I have my own taste and preference so someones advice/insistance that I have this kit or do something this way doesn't apply to me all the time.
Please everyone, don't confuse an abundance of kit with missing knowledge - it's daft.
-Switch-
12-06-2007, 20:59
Please everyone, don't confuse an abundance of kit with missing knowledge - it's daft.
I couldn't agree more - I don't believe that much of what I learn in bushcraft is a substitute for good kit, or vice-versa. Just because we know of an alternative technique using natural resources doesn't mean we have to use it whenever we go out, for example improvising a bed from spruce boughs rather than carrying a kip-mat. Sometimes simply knowing is enough. :)
I've nothing against people who buy and collect different types of kit, and wouldn't judge them because of it. If that's your hobby then that's good. My problem was with the people I used to go wild camping with. They got to the point where they would meet just to compare and play with kit and compare price tags. Like I said - if that's your hobby then that's good, but that's all they did. And they would call it 'bushcraft'. :(
These people weren't substituting an abundance of kit for missing knowledge, they were accumulating an abundance of kit and missing the point ;)
I have expensive kit, bought because it did the job I wanted it to, not because it was expensive or had the 'right' name on it. My kit helps me to get out and enjoy the woods/ hills and be around nature.
If you're collecting kit because that's what you enjoy, but still getting out there with your old pack and mess tins, then I can see no problem with that.
Just to clarify - I have no problem with owning good expensive kit by certain 'fashionable' brands, some of what I own would definately fall into that catagory.
Perhaps if I had the money then I would become something of a kit junkie, as I wouldn't mind having a good range of reliable kit to choose from. But it would definately get used.:D
Jesus Eskimo, how much kit did you have? I bought a load of stuff off you a while back, and you have even more?
That reminds me, I still didn't get those tree huggers - I emailed Royal Mail and they said that it was delivered to a Manchester address, as written on the package.
Could you please double check the address you sent it to and get in touch with me? I haven't really got time to be making phone calls and could do with my tree huggers.
Hi mate sorry about that. The huggers I sent for you were out of this hammock as I had appeared to have lost the original ones!!! I will chase up today. I made a claim against the Royal mail and they said they would try to retrieve the package, if not they will refund me £26. Does anyone on here know where I can buy the tree huggers seperatly so that I can forward them onto Dommy??? The reason I had so much kit was that I had been sponsored to do 3 expeditions this year but due to a change of time/place I needed to clear most of it out. The majority of my kit is now expedition standard for colder climates and high altitude. I will keep you posted Dommy
I couldn't agree more - I don't believe that much of what I learn in bushcraft is a substitute for good kit, or vice-versa. Just because we know of an alternative technique using natural resources doesn't mean we have to use it whenever we go out, for example improvising a bed from spruce boughs rather than carrying a kip-mat. Sometimes simply knowing is enough. :)
I've nothing against people who buy and collect different types of kit, and wouldn't judge them because of it. If that's your hobby then that's good. My problem was with the people I used to go wild camping with. They got to the point where they would meet just to compare and play with kit and compare price tags. Like I said - if that's your hobby then that's good, but that's all they did. And they would call it 'bushcraft'. :(
These people weren't substituting an abundance of kit for missing knowledge, they were accumulating an abundance of kit and missing the point ;)
I have expensive kit, bought because it did the job I wanted it to, not because it was expensive or had the 'right' name on it. My kit helps me to get out and enjoy the woods/ hills and be around nature.
If you're collecting kit because that's what you enjoy, but still getting out there with your old pack and mess tins, then I can see no problem with that.
Just to clarify - I have no problem with owning good expensive kit by certain 'fashionable' brands, some of what I own would definately fall into that catagory.
Perhaps if I had the money then I would become something of a kit junkie, as I wouldn't mind having a good range of reliable kit to choose from. But it would definately get used.:D
Very well said.
dommyracer
13-06-2007, 14:23
thanks eskimo. I'll have a look and see if I can find somewhere that sells the straps seperately.
Well, I hate to say it but selling all that equipment was the best thing I have done. Just spend 3 days in the woods (with all that rain) and only taking a few small items:
Karimore Sabre 30
Bacho Laplander
100m Paracord
Poncho
Knife & Firesteel
Crusader Cup
Stinky Sleeping Bag
Petzl Tikka Plus
....and the clothes on my back
I originally built a basic half dome shelter and covered it with bracken to sleep in, but when the sky's opened I changed my plan of attack and built a raised platform about 60 cm from the ground and covered with the bracken from the dome shelter for padding. I then made a 'leanto' over it also thatched with bracken and then a layer of thinner branches to keen in place. I wrapped the sleeping bag into the poncho to improvise a bivi bag and found I was just as comfortable as sleeping in any hammock or tent. I stayed dry even though the rain was very severe and was reasonablly warm. The only real problem I found was that I had built the raised platform too high because I couldn't really feel the heat from the fire. The Sabre made a great pillow and collecting water was achieved by leaving the crusader under the left corner of the roof to catch the rain. There was also a small stream nearby and I purified by boiling for approx 5 minutes.
I have come home this morning feeling great but annoyed that we now have great weather again, but with a great sence of achievement as I would have usually relied on the hammock and tarp. Next time I am going to take the paracord off my itinery and see if I can make enough cordage to repeat this build.