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The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
a little five-day Dez Thingy
- Thread starter vector001
- Start date
yeah.
funny though, i woulda sworn i saw you there... laughing uncontrollably at times, in fact....
:thumbup:
vec
you'll never pin me with it. theres no proof.
ryan
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2007
- Messages
- 1,745
it's a Fast Axe 2 that i had TOPS cut down, and i bought a hundred of them to alter further, but they are so dang good as survival knives and Ulus, i haven't been able to bring myself to do anything permanent to them. i'll eventually get some sort of composite detachable handle made up for them - i made a non-detachable version already that was as effective as a machete for most uses in the swing, with a bit more penetration because of the mass distribution, but with a few losses of drawknife utility, etc. which is no big deal usually to me.
these two tools are an effort to make my gear very compact when feasible. - i still love a proper long hawk and a machete as my optimum GP main tool/weapon combination for my field tastes, at this time.
here's a closer look at the Fast Axe 2, compared in size to the standard ECO.
the slanted butt of the Fast Axe 2 helped dig as an improvised probe, as i checked for water level in the washes.
these are wierd tools, i admit it freely. they break a lot of rules and maybe some preconceived notions.
when ya get them in your hands, your instincts usually take over and they become pretty intuitive, from what i have observed in my friends; the ECO is used a lot as a knife, for instance - even on the hafts, and as a reaper - which not many regular hawks are good for. - i use it a lot that way cutting reeds for a bed, etc. the ECO is also a great scraper and can be modified to be a chisel tip - we tell folks to mod them after trying them in stock condition, if they like. they were designed to be cheap but effective for what ya get, and ready to be perfected by the end user.
the Fast Axe 2 will do plenty on a haft, but it is one of the few knives (to me) that are perfect for batoning anything i would care to do that on. if i had to fell a small tree with the unhafted Fast Axe 2 i'd just baton it around the base of the tree at an angle if i wasn't going to use mud and fire, as is my usual practice when possible....
and they fit in an itty-bitty bag. i can't do that trick (yet) with my Gen 1 Mk V hawks.
i was hoping i would find a road-killed deer or desert sheep on this last trip, to get some butchering pics of these two blades; they would be handy as gleaning tools, i reckon.
regardless, i will post some more Dez pics ASAP....
you brethren interested in plants and stupid pet tricks? har!
HTH.
vec
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2007
- Messages
- 1,745
Plants.
everything bit ya.
these lined the washes. they are covered with quarter-inch hooks that like to tear into clothing, especially the defoliated dead branches.
i am not a botanist, i am kind of a plant retard in fact - but me and the coyotes wanted to eat these.
brother ed was braver at touching this than i was, but i thought i saw a deliberate slow-down on the clench, when he went to grab these little flowers.
pretty little six-inch-tall flowers. lots of different species with the same yellow color scheme, i noticed.
cholla(?)
more purdy-ness. i ate a lot of flowers, but my inner rat brain told me to leave these alone for some reason.
not scientific, i know, but i am still here, what else can i say....
some sort of parasite plant. help me out. no idea here.
not many of these big bushes in full bloom yet, but the rest are probably flowering this week, if not in the last few days. these were covered with happy little desert bees, so local desert honey couldn't be too far ...numma-numma....
here's ol' Quote the white coyote-dawg checking out the high terrain for a rattle snake lunch, as seen from the Wash. succulent little plants of several edible varieties grew in the filtered light under the dead limbs of the prickly plants in the first picture, but as soon as you walked up the steep slope, the land rapidly went from dew-bearing boulders and pea gravel to sunblasted pan, strewn with yucca and some really beautiful red barrel-type cactus and many other goodies.
i also saw some of what looked like a cousin of wild lettuce and fennel, both observed growing together in the intermediate zones between the Wash and the high trail on the finger into the first box canyon by our camp. they both tended to grow at the base of large rocks, on the north sides, so i imagine the rocks acted a lot like natural dew traps and gave them the water they needed to remain lush, while still being out on an otherwise exposed area.
there were some little paddle cactus as well, with no spines and a lot of fruit. - lots of the fruit remnants were observed in predator and chuckawalla scat.
some really cool oaks that i had never seen before peppered the Wash, and there were some more trees upslope in the higher elevations - maybe piñon, i believe, along with more desert oak. lots of places to hide, eat, and get water if you knew how to up there.
soft grasses were also seen in the oddest places.
the Dez is a pretty easy place to survive in this time of year, if you take it easy IMHO.
hope you brethren are enjoying this bit.
vec
everything bit ya.
these lined the washes. they are covered with quarter-inch hooks that like to tear into clothing, especially the defoliated dead branches.
i am not a botanist, i am kind of a plant retard in fact - but me and the coyotes wanted to eat these.
brother ed was braver at touching this than i was, but i thought i saw a deliberate slow-down on the clench, when he went to grab these little flowers.
pretty little six-inch-tall flowers. lots of different species with the same yellow color scheme, i noticed.
cholla(?)
more purdy-ness. i ate a lot of flowers, but my inner rat brain told me to leave these alone for some reason.
not scientific, i know, but i am still here, what else can i say....
some sort of parasite plant. help me out. no idea here.
not many of these big bushes in full bloom yet, but the rest are probably flowering this week, if not in the last few days. these were covered with happy little desert bees, so local desert honey couldn't be too far ...numma-numma....
here's ol' Quote the white coyote-dawg checking out the high terrain for a rattle snake lunch, as seen from the Wash. succulent little plants of several edible varieties grew in the filtered light under the dead limbs of the prickly plants in the first picture, but as soon as you walked up the steep slope, the land rapidly went from dew-bearing boulders and pea gravel to sunblasted pan, strewn with yucca and some really beautiful red barrel-type cactus and many other goodies.
i also saw some of what looked like a cousin of wild lettuce and fennel, both observed growing together in the intermediate zones between the Wash and the high trail on the finger into the first box canyon by our camp. they both tended to grow at the base of large rocks, on the north sides, so i imagine the rocks acted a lot like natural dew traps and gave them the water they needed to remain lush, while still being out on an otherwise exposed area.
there were some little paddle cactus as well, with no spines and a lot of fruit. - lots of the fruit remnants were observed in predator and chuckawalla scat.
some really cool oaks that i had never seen before peppered the Wash, and there were some more trees upslope in the higher elevations - maybe piñon, i believe, along with more desert oak. lots of places to hide, eat, and get water if you knew how to up there.
soft grasses were also seen in the oddest places.
the Dez is a pretty easy place to survive in this time of year, if you take it easy IMHO.
hope you brethren are enjoying this bit.
vec
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2006
- Messages
- 2,437
Thanks for the images.
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- Aug 4, 2009
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looks very similar to the plant life and light powdery soil we have here
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- 1,745
- Joined
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definitely a lot of similarity with desert plants all over the world. yup.
what's really amazing is how much you can learn by comparing the details of each one - i'm getting some ideas about water collection now, after observing growth sites and flora behaviors....
these plants are moving all day. i'd get up at dawn and watch the flowers for a couple hours, they really get busy.
vec
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2003
- Messages
- 13,182
We call something else Dodder around here.
It looks a bit like mistletoe but w/o any leaves.
I'd almost call what Vector posted some sort of Witches Broom.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch's_broom
But I'm on the East cost and names may vary
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2007
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- 1,531
Now is a good time to explore the desert while everything is in bloom. Those of you in So. Ca that haven't done it should. You can hit the south side of Joshua Tree via the Hwy 10 entrance in 2 hours from LA and 3 from San Diego. My last trip I entered at Cottonwood, drove a few miles in and parked at the Turkey Flats board. Just loaded up, walked across the road and hiked west. Wear solid boots and take lots of water.
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2006
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- 8,250
Vec you have me seriously considering the eco. I don't carry a large chopper knife, I instead go for the 3-4 inch belt knife teamed with a hatchet/hawk. The eco would be awesome in a kydex sheath, tip down, on my belt opposite my knife. With a cover for the top of course. That way it can be used as a chopper I always have on me instead of riding in the pack but also as a left handed defensive tool if for some reason I can't get my knife on the right. Dang, the ideas are swirling. I gotta check my bank account. Any birthday discounts?
I gotta check my bank account. Any birthday discounts?
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2007
- Messages
- 1,745
Vec you have me seriously considering the eco. I don't carry a large chopper knife, I instead go for the 3-4 inch belt knife teamed with a hatchet/hawk. The eco would be awesome in a kydex sheath, tip down, on my belt opposite my knife. With a cover for the top of course. That way it can be used as a chopper I always have on me instead of riding in the pack but also as a left handed defensive tool if for some reason I can't get my knife on the right. Dang, the ideas are swirling.
good idea on the sheaths - i've been wanting a pair of bandoleers in the worst way, with an ECO on it....
don't panic, brother - i have seen the ECO Swirling Thoughts Syndrome before - careful though, it's very infectious. it's incurable apparently, but i now how to treat it.
:thumbup:the ECO Hawk's definitely a Thinking Man's Tool. just like carrying a small fixed blade, only with some hawk benefits and maybe some added toughness.
i sucker just about everyone i meet into getting an ECO by having them just hold it - hehehe! i am looking at packaging them with another favcorite of mine, the folding filet knife.
i gave one as a trade item to a buddy in the Teams the other day - he's a fellow knife nut, of course - i could see his SEAL credit card start to glow in his pocket as soon as he took it out and looked at it ...hehehe...! fightin' fair is sucky tactics, sez i.... i teased him and told him to give it to his sons - he shut me right down on that idea as he hopped in his car and screamed out of the driveway with a smile... a good guy with a good tool, God Bless the SEALs....
he immediately started thinking about things to do with it that i never would've thought of.
mine came in real handy on the end of my hiking stick the other day in the washes, for hooking stickers gently out of the way and all....
nice to have a tool ya don't leave behind in the truck sometimes, especially if ya mod it with your own add-ons and grinds... that's what i designed the ECO for - more latitude in a little tool, until you could get to the big boys' choppers, like a good pistol is for gettin' ya to your longarm....
if ya get one, definitely check it out for typical non-hawk tasks, like tearing grasses and reeds and cat tails,
...and flip the head inverted for digging with on the haft and alternate combatives.
also, add some washers to the head when you are using it as a hawk primarily, more than a knife, especially if you screw it onto the haft, and the added weight will make it chop like a much heavier head does - then you can use the washers for fishing weights and on your tarps, etc. - everything multiple uses....
it's an odd tool, the humble little ECO but i am glad to have one.
i don't feel so naked without my hawk anymore, when i have the lightweight ECO kit on me riding ont he back of my belt or on a shoulder strap. - i can't wait to mount two ECOs on one haft for some interesting tools....
if ya pull the trigger on an ECO, make sure and tell Saint Erica that it is your B-Day, brother shotgun! she's a softie!
........
more importantly - you fellow-babies wanna see some of my stupid desert dawg tricks photos...?
vec
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- Joined
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I actually thought it would be a good digging tool in just the way described. Great for getting at tubers. I rethought the sheath idea. Do it tip up and have the cover for the tip attached to the main body of the sheath via a lanyard. You grab it and pull it up out of the sheath, rotate it so the flat edge faces forward, pull straight and up so the lanyard yanks off the cap. Then you have it positioned in the defensive grip you've shown in previous threads.
You suck...dropping hammer...email inbound.
You suck...dropping hammer...email inbound.
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- Aug 4, 2007
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thanks!
i got that hat from Cabelas - it was pretty cheap compared to some others - i think i am going to get another one, since one is none.
people forget that a hat can be life-support gear sometimes.
i like carrying a large cotton bedsheet out there too, when i am going ultralight - i usually do a king-sized - it makes a good turban for when you are walking in between some of these oven-like rock formations, and if i get in a spot where the bugs find me, i can burrito-wrap up in it and be protected from sun and wind too a bit, while being able to breathe still. i can also carry my machete and hawk in it away from prying eyes during an approach.
the desert attracts sun-careless Europeans by the droves - you could make a lot of money selling hats at the trailheads of desert parks in summer....
you get fried out there, a days walk in, and you are in a world of hurt.
vec