Bug out bag

[shocker]

or more probably a fiskars brush hook (added undergrowth-clearing (to get to hidden location) functionality over hatchet) (and ditch the large knife, bucksaw, bracelet saw, big axe). In that time frame, especially with travel, you're not going to have time to build any bushcraft/survival structures that require an axe.

I had the old pattern Fiskars Brush Hook and found it one of the best all round tools ever. Around the farm, hedging, making wattles, all kinds of wooding jobs. After a lifetime of billhooks in different sizes and shapes for various jobs and golock/parang/machetes I found the one tool that would do everything I wanted, a very good tool and so damn simple...light too. With its long hollow handle it let you take a long swing for hand-axe work and "strangle" it by holding further up for finer work. I would highly recommend one to anyone as an all round bushcraft tool.

Yes, it is a compromise but not by much. I have not used the new design so cannot comment but if its as good as the older then its a go-er.

Sadly, mine was stolen whilst I was layed up after a serious car accident...along with many other tools..but thats the one I miss the most and have found hardest to replace. I was told that Spear and Jackson had taken on manufacture of the old design but have never seen one. Oh well

[MBJ]

One thing I forgot to add before is to try and avoid premade kits. They're good if you're new and not sure what you need and can therefore be a good start, but you will pay a premium for them; it works out a lot cheaper to buy the items individually and assembly your own kit, you also get the choice of choosing each individual item so you can tailor it to your own needs. I also find it more fun too!

[Plymtom]

One thing I forgot to add before is to try and avoid premade kits. They're good if you're new and not sure what you need and can therefore be a good start, but you will pay a premium for them; it works out a lot cheaper to buy the items individually and assembly your own kit, you also get the choice of choosing each individual item so you can tailor it to your own needs. I also find it more fun too!

That makes good sense, an observation on the gear side of things in general, do you think the market (us but probably more our American friends) have given birth to a rather lucrative industry over the last few decades? I look at these lists and I often think there's an underlying book of prep or bushcraft/survivalism, and a whole load of must have items, the sharpie, the tactical pen/torch, write in the rain pad Man we all want this shit but I honestly feel sometimes like some clever rich *&^% is sat rubbing their hands together with glee at the cash they are making off of our backs, and laughing their arses off at what they have got us carrying around ( I need a cynical laughing smiley here).

What we really need is each other, we clump together online ( many online groups do this) looking for like minded folk sort of longing to feel justified in our thinking.

[Covert]

One thing I forgot to add before is to try and avoid premade kits. They're good if you're new and not sure what you need and can therefore be a good start, but you will pay a premium for them; it works out a lot cheaper to buy the items individually and assembly your own kit, you also get the choice of choosing each individual item so you can tailor it to your own needs. I also find it more fun too!

That makes good sense, an observation on the gear side of things in general, do you think the market (us but probably more our American friends) have given birth to a rather lucrative industry over the last few decades? I look at these lists and I often think there's an underlying book of prep or bushcraft/survivalism, and a whole load of must have items, the sharpie, the tactical pen/torch, write in the rain pad Man we all want this shit but I honestly feel sometimes like some clever rich *&^% is sat rubbing their hands together with glee at the cash they are making off of our backs, and laughing their arses off at what they have got us carrying around ( I need a cynical laughing smiley here).

What we really need is each other, we clump together online ( many online groups do this) looking for like minded folk sort of longing to feel justified in our thinking.

This last paragraph got me thinking , is there anywhere on this site that people local to each other can contact one another and meet up ?
Would be an interesting experience to pool some knowledge maybe make a plan for a SHTF scenario?

[MBJ]

One thing I forgot to add before is to try and avoid premade kits. They're good if you're new and not sure what you need and can therefore be a good start, but you will pay a premium for them; it works out a lot cheaper to buy the items individually and assembly your own kit, you also get the choice of choosing each individual item so you can tailor it to your own needs. I also find it more fun too!

That makes good sense, an observation on the gear side of things in general, do you think the market (us but probably more our American friends) have given birth to a rather lucrative industry over the last few decades? I look at these lists and I often think there's an underlying book of prep or bushcraft/survivalism, and a whole load of must have items, the sharpie, the tactical pen/torch, write in the rain pad Man we all want this shit but I honestly feel sometimes like some clever rich *&^% is sat rubbing their hands together with glee at the cash they are making off of our backs, and laughing their arses off at what they have got us carrying around ( I need a cynical laughing smiley here).

What we really need is each other, we clump together online ( many online groups do this) looking for like minded folk sort of longing to feel justified in our thinking.

I think there is definitely some sort of exploitation going on by some less than scrupulous businesses but I think the trick is to buy cheap on the items you can but not scrimp and save on the items you really shouldn't. Another good practice is to buy items you would use in normal day to day life anyway. For example, as a bushcrafter, wood carver and Scout Leader, I already use a a lot of camping, carving and bushcraft tools such as tents, sleeping bags, stoves, hook knives, axes and saws etc. These are tools I will be using anyway so if nothing happens I haven't lost. It's also the heavy tools such as your axe that I don't think you can scrimp on; my Ray Mears Wilderness Axe cost me £125 but it's made by Gransfors and Bruks who are the Rolls Royce of axe making and has a 20 year guarantee. I use it all the time so that's a good investment for me.

Similarly, for tents and sleeping bags, you can buy some really cheap kit but they're likely to be very heavy. So what you save in pounds you lose in pounds too, but as a backpacker I don't mind purchasing the light kit as I use it anyway.

Also, the more you know the less you will need. For example, I don't need to carry cutlery or bowls in my bag as I can carve them. So i'd say that skills are definitely far more important than gear. No one can take your skills away from you and they're with you all the time after all, and there's no point having loads of gear if you can't use it.

That's why at the moment I'm working on developing a few more skill sets; I recently got into Herbal medicine and I'm going to try and make a few natural pain killers and antibiotics for long term storage. I'd also like to learn Krav Maga too but you can't do everything at once.

[Plymtom]

This last paragraph got me thinking , is there anywhere on this site that people local to each other can contact one another and meet up ?
Would be an interesting experience to pool some knowledge maybe make a plan for a SHTF scenario?

Well there's more than a slight chance some of us will meet socially (at a shooting range in my case) I've been threatening Briggs with a day at a range I use around his parts for a couple of years now and I believe via PM some of us near each other already do meet. Shocker's not far away either, my problem is getting out at all being a carer and all that.

MJB.... lots of good stuff there, I've got you pegged out as a bit of a Ray Mears Knowing how to use your kit, probably more practicing too, some of this stuff unpracticed will lead to more experience in first aid than any of us want, to that end and as Ray would advise, better to take your time and be careful, Krav Maga does sound interesting for up against someone with a knife has to be a worry for all of us.

[MBJ]

One thing I forgot to add before is to try and avoid premade kits. They're good if you're new and not sure what you need and can therefore be a good start, but you will pay a premium for them; it works out a lot cheaper to buy the items individually and assembly your own kit, you also get the choice of choosing each individual item so you can tailor it to your own needs. I also find it more fun too!

That makes good sense, an observation on the gear side of things in general, do you think the market (us but probably more our American friends) have given birth to a rather lucrative industry over the last few decades? I look at these lists and I often think there's an underlying book of prep or bushcraft/survivalism, and a whole load of must have items, the sharpie, the tactical pen/torch, write in the rain pad Man we all want this shit but I honestly feel sometimes like some clever rich *&^% is sat rubbing their hands together with glee at the cash they are making off of our backs, and laughing their arses off at what they have got us carrying around ( I need a cynical laughing smiley here).

What we really need is each other, we clump together online ( many online groups do this) looking for like minded folk sort of longing to feel justified in our thinking.

This last paragraph got me thinking , is there anywhere on this site that people local to each other can contact one another and meet up ?
Would be an interesting experience to pool some knowledge maybe make a plan for a SHTF scenario?

I think it's a good idea but I think it will only work for people who live relatively nearby to each other. It'd probably have to be a fairly public and neutral location as well as a lot of people in the prepper community, in my experience anyway, are wary of sharing too much information with people.

Well at least we're not as bad as some of the Americans

MJB.... lots of good stuff there, I've got you pegged out as a bit of a Ray Mears

I'm no Ray Mears! I've a long way to go before I'm even on 1/10th of his level but I am a good Scout Leader