View Full Version : 2 items of kit
During a recent visit down here I asked RM if he could only take 2 items into the woods to stay for a couple of days what would they be? ray replied a knife and a cooking pot.
What 2 items would anyone else take if different?
A knife and a keg full of beer.
arctic hobo
03-06-2005, 19:26
I'd take the same, and if I may explain why: the knife, because it's supposed to be able to make everything else. But it's not easy to make a cooking pot with only a knife, unless you make a birch bark container - but you couldn't put that over a fire. So a cooking pot is essential, to heat water of any kind, unless you do the thing where you line a pit with a skin and heat it with hot stones. Obviously most other things can be cooked on sticks, on greenwood grills, or on stones.
Squidders
03-06-2005, 19:37
knife and billy can too... maybe an axe as a replacement for the knife but it's either/or really.
Jennifer Love-Hewitt and my Amex Gold card...sod the woods. :D :D :D
I would take a knife and cooking pot too, because these are the hardest items to improvise and with a knife,pot and knowledge you can live comfortably in the "wild" for a long time :)
a knife and billy for me
allhough it is possible to heat water in a wooden bowl you have carved by placing a hot rock in it
ChrisKavanaugh
05-06-2005, 04:55
The problem with these 'essentials' or minimum lists is the assumption of an idyllic or set scenario. My slant is admittedly toward survival preparedness,and the knife is always #1 in both disciplines. It's #2 where people get into trouble. Lets suggest you went out for a weekend of bushcraft and you A. fell and seriously broke something or B. last night's extra spicy curried fowl was foul and you collapse with severe food poisoning. These are the situations when even making a fire can be difficult and even mild weather can kill you. So, my #2 choice is always a quality sleeping bag.
bambodoggy
05-06-2005, 09:06
If it was only two then I'd go for my knife and firesteel. if I could sneak the firesteel as part of my knife (both in the same sheath after all ;) ) then the cooking pot would be next, although as has been said you can do without if needs be. I am reliably informed that you can boil water in a plastic drinks container on the fire and it will not melt and I know for sure you can do this with a birch bark container too, don't waste time with hot rocks it'll be fine...just don't leave it unattended as if it goes over it'll put out your fire! lol :D
Chris is right below though...if it was just a coulpe of days/nights then I think a sleeping bag and a hamper from fortnums would be very much more in order :rolleyes: :p :D
I will go with RM Patterson on this one (he wrote Dangerous River). A 3/4 axe and a pot (full of stew). :)
I'd go for the axe too - rather than the knife, but it would depend where I was whether I chose the pot or the firesteel for my 2nd item.
George
Knife and firesteel.
Knife for obvious reasons.
Firesteel for fire (duh): stay warm whilst improvising cooking gear. By the way, I'm pants at bow/drill and would want a more reliable method of firestarting.
So, I guess my choice is a based quite a bit on my own personal skills at the moment. Who knows, in the future I might feel confident enough to take a cooking pot instead.
I'd take a Unimog (with sat-nav) and a Harrods hamper. ;)
I'd take a Unimog (with sat-nav) and a Harrods hamper. ;)
...was gunna say that :cool: haha
in all seriousness.. i would take a knife and a billy in any british turain(sp) but that is depending on weather or not we are considering clothing as part of out kit!?
Rhapsody
06-06-2005, 01:32
An axe and a Winnebago.
Or, more seriously, it'd have to be the knife-billy combo, or perhaps an axe-billy or machete-billy setup depending on where I am.
arctic hobo
06-06-2005, 17:11
...was gunna say that :cool: haha
in all seriousness.. i would take a knife and a billy in any british turain(sp) but that is depending on weather or not we are considering clothing as part of out kit!?
I guess we're assuming that we'd have appropriate clothes for the climate, although if you're working hard or you've got a fire on it wouldn't really matter.
Does rucksack full of kit count as one item!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 ;) If so, number two would be RM, he could teach me everything I needed to know if I lost my pack!!
Seriusly, definately my knife & fire-steel cos I'm rubbish at friction fire lighting (mmmmm......must watch some of those friction fire workshops at the Merthyr Mawr meet).
j.roberts7
08-06-2005, 15:42
my knife and likewise the keg of beer, the method in my madness is when i wake up hungry after finnishing my keg of beer i can make a cooking pot out of it
The General
08-06-2005, 16:13
My Project 1 handle has a lot of potential for built in kit, so its not cheating to take that!
I would take that and a water holding container, billy can with lid that can also be used to cook stuff! ;)
I would not even consider food over a few days (survival), far more important is fire, shelter and water. You can go at least a week without food with little danger.
sandbender
08-06-2005, 16:57
My Project 1 handle has a lot of potential for built in kit
What do you normally keep in there?
rapidboy
08-06-2005, 23:48
For me it's a knife and a firesteel because i still can't use a bow drill :o
I carry a firesteel on my knife so my next choice would be a billy can for boiling water.
theorsmeister
03-07-2005, 06:01
I am afraid I am torn between going with Mears, or taking a Knife and a fire steel.
It depends what u do best - make fire with just a knife and no cord, or make a cooking pot with your knife.
Its gonna be knife and fire steel for me. The thing is Mears is a bit of a lejj at making fire, whereas I am not, i can just about but I find cooking pots easier.