I just came back from a fantastic holiday in Venezuela. Al the time I carried and used my Byrd CaraCara with great success so I couldn’t leave it untold. Here is my little writing about the knife and some jungle travelling tips out of my experience.
The CaraCara needs no introduction. It’s the no-nonsense large folder from the Byrd line from Spyderco. There already are a lot of reviews that tell how well it is designed and about the quality of materials.
My first Byrd is a Meadowlark (FRN PE) bought as urban EDC when my Delica 4 PE was send to the US for replacement. Even since I had my new and flawless D4 back, I only find the Meadowlark in my pocket. So I bought the bigger brother of the Meadowlark for more serious and outdoors work. Also FRN and PE. I have the CaraCara now for about five months and used it mostly around the house. Also on a few short hike's, used it as my main knife (fixed blades stay in the backpack till I need them). So the I already ‘knew’ the knife before I start using it on the other side of the world.
The tour I did was about eight days mainland and a five day stay on Isla Margarita. From visiting national park’s, slow streaming river crossings, small trail hiking’s, lot of boat trips, piranha fishing, snorkeling and chilling at the beach. Everywere were I went, I had my CaraCara cliped in my pocket! Used the knife for anything from cutting fresh fruit and branches till cleaning fish and clearing a small pimple. Even used it as as snorkelknife in seawater and, as a succesfull joke, shaving hair of my buddys lower leg
The CaraCara has seen a lot of work and is used in brackish water and seawater. I did expected ther would form some rust but I was suprised how little rust there is on the knifeblade and almost non on the liners (see pictures). I didn’t bring any special oil of torx screws so the only maintanense it got was washing with handsoap. Once evere two/three days I removed dirt from the lock with small sticks, did some oiling of the lock with bodylotion(!) and sharped it shaving sharp with a triangle ceramic-rod. Only ones there was a small edge deformetion after cutting oranges on a metal underground. This was quickly fixed with the ceramic-rod. Considering the wetness, high humidity, frequent use and little-till-non maintenance, the knife came true the reallife use with five stars!!
At home I disambled the knife, as on the picture. Properly cleaned it and used a matel spons to remove the rust from the knife blade. Some WD40-like oil, sharpening and the knife is ready to go again!
click to zoom in for details of the corrosion
Cloths and gear
Everything will get wet and stays wet. Leather will rot, cloths grow fungus and metal rusts away! Make sure your stuff, cloths and gear are up for even the shortest jungle trip. (I will post some of my gear later on)
- Stay away from cotton cloths they cant get dry if there is no sun and wind to dry them. Use synthetic or modern natural fiber’s.
- Leather jungle boots will protect your feet but rot away, stay wet for days and make swimming very hard. The locals go barefeet. I used light-weight sneakers and syntactic sandals.
- Put your passport and other papers of value in a seal/rollup back and stash them in a dry area.
- Bring only a 3-4 inch fixed blade stainless preferred (a Mora will do the job), SAK or mulit-tool with saw and a EDC folder. If you need a machete buy one in the first town you visit. Get what the locals use...they are good and cheap.
- Even if its just a tour with a guide: have a properly set-up survival kit that can handle water and is light weight.
- Use a rollup bag to keep your stuff dry. I used a 13liter waterproof Ortlieb inside of my daypack. Its also very good to store water if needed.
- Headlamps are necessary because also two arms are needed to walk!
- Speak Spanish or have somebody next to you who does
- Make sure you can trust your guide on his knowledge about the area
Almost forgot about health!
Before any trip, hike or tour...make sure your body and mind are up for it. In the jungle a health body, good immune system, vaccinations, sunscream, anti malaria pills, anti bug spray, a first-aid-kit and know-how are just as important as cash and a agenda is in the city life!
See http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4878097#post4878097 for my other gear!!!
The CaraCara needs no introduction. It’s the no-nonsense large folder from the Byrd line from Spyderco. There already are a lot of reviews that tell how well it is designed and about the quality of materials.
My first Byrd is a Meadowlark (FRN PE) bought as urban EDC when my Delica 4 PE was send to the US for replacement. Even since I had my new and flawless D4 back, I only find the Meadowlark in my pocket. So I bought the bigger brother of the Meadowlark for more serious and outdoors work. Also FRN and PE. I have the CaraCara now for about five months and used it mostly around the house. Also on a few short hike's, used it as my main knife (fixed blades stay in the backpack till I need them). So the I already ‘knew’ the knife before I start using it on the other side of the world.
The tour I did was about eight days mainland and a five day stay on Isla Margarita. From visiting national park’s, slow streaming river crossings, small trail hiking’s, lot of boat trips, piranha fishing, snorkeling and chilling at the beach. Everywere were I went, I had my CaraCara cliped in my pocket! Used the knife for anything from cutting fresh fruit and branches till cleaning fish and clearing a small pimple. Even used it as as snorkelknife in seawater and, as a succesfull joke, shaving hair of my buddys lower leg
The CaraCara has seen a lot of work and is used in brackish water and seawater. I did expected ther would form some rust but I was suprised how little rust there is on the knifeblade and almost non on the liners (see pictures). I didn’t bring any special oil of torx screws so the only maintanense it got was washing with handsoap. Once evere two/three days I removed dirt from the lock with small sticks, did some oiling of the lock with bodylotion(!) and sharped it shaving sharp with a triangle ceramic-rod. Only ones there was a small edge deformetion after cutting oranges on a metal underground. This was quickly fixed with the ceramic-rod. Considering the wetness, high humidity, frequent use and little-till-non maintenance, the knife came true the reallife use with five stars!!
At home I disambled the knife, as on the picture. Properly cleaned it and used a matel spons to remove the rust from the knife blade. Some WD40-like oil, sharpening and the knife is ready to go again!
click to zoom in for details of the corrosionCloths and gear
Everything will get wet and stays wet. Leather will rot, cloths grow fungus and metal rusts away! Make sure your stuff, cloths and gear are up for even the shortest jungle trip. (I will post some of my gear later on)
- Stay away from cotton cloths they cant get dry if there is no sun and wind to dry them. Use synthetic or modern natural fiber’s.
- Leather jungle boots will protect your feet but rot away, stay wet for days and make swimming very hard. The locals go barefeet. I used light-weight sneakers and syntactic sandals.
- Put your passport and other papers of value in a seal/rollup back and stash them in a dry area.
- Bring only a 3-4 inch fixed blade stainless preferred (a Mora will do the job), SAK or mulit-tool with saw and a EDC folder. If you need a machete buy one in the first town you visit. Get what the locals use...they are good and cheap.
- Even if its just a tour with a guide: have a properly set-up survival kit that can handle water and is light weight.
- Use a rollup bag to keep your stuff dry. I used a 13liter waterproof Ortlieb inside of my daypack. Its also very good to store water if needed.
- Headlamps are necessary because also two arms are needed to walk!
- Speak Spanish or have somebody next to you who does
- Make sure you can trust your guide on his knowledge about the area
Almost forgot about health!
Before any trip, hike or tour...make sure your body and mind are up for it. In the jungle a health body, good immune system, vaccinations, sunscream, anti malaria pills, anti bug spray, a first-aid-kit and know-how are just as important as cash and a agenda is in the city life!
See http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4878097#post4878097 for my other gear!!!
