common misconceptions that bother you?

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siguy

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Aug 26, 2006
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what are some common misconceptions about the outdoors or outdoors gear or techniques that really bother you. either local folks or on the forums or wherever/whoever.

i'll start with mine: carbon steel does not strike a firesteel any better than stainless. the only thing that matters when striking a firesteel is a sharp edge. 90* works best, but as long as its sharp it doesn't matter what its made of. glass, stainless or carbon steel, rocks, etc.

when using a knife to try to do flint and steel firestarting (the real kind, with a rock and steel) then only a simple carbon steel will work, not stainless or higher alloy carbon.

what are yours that drive you nuts whenever you hear someone say it? things like outdated comments or arm-chair-commando wisdom...

(by the way, not trying to sound like a woods-snob, i'm no expert, but i think this can help us all learn some things that we have always assumed to be truth are actually wrong)
 
A little pet peeve of mine is about the water.Boil it for 10 min.,boil it for 5min.,boil it for___,etc.

It's already been scientifically proven that all you have to do is bring it to a rolling boil.That's always what I did & I never got sick.

Doesn't bother me much,just shouldn't even come up anymore IMO.
 
Along with bearthedog's, and this one is very common out here in Nebraska: Don't drink downstream from the herd. :D
 
JTR357 said:
A little pet peeve of mine is about the water.Boil it for 10 min.,boil it for 5min.,boil it for___,etc.

It's already been scientifically proven that all you have to do is bring it to a rolling boil.That's always what I did & I never got sick.

Doesn't bother me much,just shouldn't even come up anymore IMO.
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Thats a good one bro. Bugs me too.:thumbup:
 
Some people do not understand the concept of layering. it gets cold here in the winter and I see people with their cliche puffy North Face parka. And they wonder why the immediately freeze once they unzip their jacket.....:rolleyes:
 
Hmm,

-You need a .25" knife to baton wood - false

-Rust will form on the edge of a carbon steel knife preventing it from staying sharp - false

-Choils weren't designed for you to place your finger in them, they are designed to .....[insert some cockomany explanation claiming it from the knife makers guild or so forth]....I'll use the choil the way I want to thank you

-That thing is dangerous because it is too sharp (you don't get that around here, but you get it the real world all the time)
 
One from the Boy Scouts, moss grows on the north side of trees. Oh..and the sun/moon are accurate in determining direction.


Both of these are only sporadically accurate.
 
mmmotorcycle said:
Some people do not understand the concept of layering. it gets cold here in the winter and I see people with their cliche puffy North Face parka. And they wonder why the immediately freeze once they unzip their jacket.....:rolleyes:
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+1:thumbup:
 
That military people always want / need a big, thick knife.

The majority of military tasks such as opening MREs, cutting parachute cord, opening ammunition crates etc do not require a 7" bladed 1/4" thick mega knife.

For the amount of weight of a mega knife you could carry an extra magazine for your rifle.
 
kgd said:
Hmm,



-That thing is dangerous because it is too sharp (you don't get that around here, but you get it the real world all the time)
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:eek:Oh My God!You have no idea how many times I have heard that ridiculous statement!!:confused::D

....another one like it--"Why do you need it sooo sharp?":rolleyes::confused:
 
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A certain T.V. show personality that dramatically noodles for catfish here in the South. I usually get pretty irate watching his show (so why can't I stop watching it?) but why does he have to groan about the fish biting him? It promotes a misconception about cats that is totally false. Of course, it goads me to wonder about everything else that gets over dramatized.
 
things that bg me:

city/urban people that think people who wear muted earth tones or camo in the woods must be some kind of criminal or crazy person trying to hide. (when in fact i'm trying to blend in with nature and not strand out like the neon sheeple)

city/urban people that think that people who carry knives in the woods are dangerous or breaking the law.

>:(
 
Just to get warmed up -

1] The superiority of carbon steel.

2] Buzz phrase here “the possibles pouch”.

3] Handmade is necessarily better.

4] Any gray haired person calling themselves the “Silver Fox”.

5] The diuretic property of coffee exceeding its moisture content.

6] Guru worship and proscriptions such as “a knife should be...”

7] Quoting guru proscriptions in non-antagonistic way.

8] Wool always getting compared to the weakest link, cotton, so as to elevate its status.

9] A blanket is a good substitute for a sleeping bag.

10] A good way to remove ticks is to stifle their breathing apparatus.

11] Sewing your own wounds closed is a good idea.

12] Adders - Vipera berus - are dangerous. [ Yeah, if you are rare case that gets anaphylactic shock. Meantime, try what I did. Watch one pathetically attempt to bite through your boot. Even when real miffed they're feeble. It's like you trying to bite through a tractor tire].
 
siguy said:
what are some common misconceptions about the outdoors or outdoors gear or techniques that really bother you. either local folks or on the forums or wherever/whoever.

i'll start with mine: carbon steel does not strike a firesteel any better than stainless. the only thing that matters when striking a firesteel is a sharp edge. 90* works best, but as long as its sharp it doesn't matter what its made of. glass, stainless or carbon steel, rocks, etc.

when using a knife to try to do flint and steel firestarting (the real kind, with a rock and steel) then only a simple carbon steel will work, not stainless or higher alloy carbon.

what are yours that drive you nuts whenever you hear someone say it? things like outdated comments or arm-chair-commando wisdom...

(by the way, not trying to sound like a woods-snob, i'm no expert, but i think this can help us all learn some things that we have always assumed to be truth are actually wrong)
Click to expand...


You stated my main peeve perfectly, then you addressed the misconception perfectly, and explained the correction well too. Great post.

The other is that a Choil makes a knife more usable. The opposite is true. Choils are an ugly assed fad that ruins a design.
 
stanley_white said:
That military people always want / need a big, thick knife.

The majority of military tasks such as opening MREs, cutting parachute cord, opening ammunition crates etc do not require a 7" bladed 1/4" thick mega knife.

For the amount of weight of a mega knife you could carry an extra magazine for your rifle.
Click to expand...

LIES! It must be HUGE with TIGER-STRIPE camo and PARACORD all over and SERRATIONS or SAW-TEETH down the back! RAWR!
 
Fiddleback said:
The opposite is true. Choils are an ugly assed fad that ruins a design.
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Another issue I have had with them is the idea that they allow better leverage for heavier cutting.....I still have no idea how that works in the real world:confused:
 
DOC-CANADA said:
Hey doug, can you be a little more specific regarding solar navigation as being inaccurate? Thanks.
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I can.

1. Moss grows on any surface ideally suited for growth of moss. It's not difficult to find moss that grows on different parts of a tree, particularly as you move further South. Never rely on moss to determine direction: there are faster, easier methods using local terrain that are much more accurate.

2. I think Doug is referring to a pet peeve of mine in which a stick is placed on the ground, and small rocks are placed where the shadow of the stick ends up. A line drawn between the rocks points due East/West.

Except it doesn't need to. The misconception is that the shadow of the stick moves in a straight East-West line like this |

It actually moves in a curve like this )

East/West would be a straight line drawn between the end points of that close parenthesis.

The net result is that if you only give yourself 15-30 minutes, as if commonly advocated, your "straight line" will be placed along the curve of that parenthesis, and so your straight line will actually point Northwest in the early part of the day to Northeast in the latter part of the day, at any angle between there.

You wind up being very inaccurate unless you do the measurement around midday. And wander for miles, wondering why the Sun seems to be moving further and further South.

The more time you devote to placing rocks at the sundial (2-3 hours), the more accurate the measurement becomes.

Prove it for yourselves: with a compass, perform the "15-minute time tested method" at 0900, 1200, 1500, and 1800. Compare each to your compass.

Surprise!

Here's my beef.

Typical way it's taught, right off the web.

Compass_stick1.gif


Wrong. Here's a graphic that can show why:

shadows.gif


Ignore the soldier: look instead at the hour markers.

Imagine, following the method in the first picture, you took a measurement at 0800 and another at 0900. Thats a full hour, four times longer than the method usually taught.

A straight line drawn between 0800's rock position and 0900's rock position will actually point you NNE. Way off the mark! That's with a full hour of measurement. Had you done the 15-30 minute technique, you'd be even more incorrect.

Faster and way more accurate method of using the sun is the analog wristwatch method, or failing that, placing 12 rocks in a perfect hour-like circle with a stick perfectly centered in it... each rock exactly one stick length away from the base of the stick. Do that, and recreate the watch trick. Can be done in less than a couple of minutes, and self-corrects for the procession error.
 
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