Lone Wolf Project: Post All Your "Experiments" Here

[flyfishrman]

I think that living in this modern age of large disposable incomes, its easy to fall into the trap of thinking we need all this stuff we horde around us.

Yes, the question is how much do really need?

How much indeed. It's funny, this whole experiment thing. I've never really been what I would call poor, but having moved out at 17 I've always worked and never have had alot of disposable income. I got married at 25 and got a family going not too long after. Now at 35 I've finally got a bit of truly disposable income and I find that in recent years its like I've been trying to make up for lost time.

I was by no means deprived when I was young, but I did miss quite a bit due to not having the funds to do things with. I always loved outdoors, but never could afford a gun to hunt. I have always had knives, mostly SAK's early on, and a Spyderco for years. In recent times though my gun and knife collection has grown and has in some ways become a burden. I was once told that the more "stuff"you have the more time you spend fiddling with it or caring for it and it takes away from what is important, for me what's important is my wife and kids. It's funny, I've got most of what I've always wanted in the way of big boy toys and I have hit this period of being fascinated with getting by with less. It's so easy to become a slave to your possessions. I have to a great degree, but I'm learning. I think the key is learning to be content, to have balance. Too much of anything can be bad. Don't get me wrong, I'm not tossing out my guns and knives, but I am reconsidering what drives the collection. For a while I'd buy anything I could get my hands on. It started to bother me that I didn't use more than a fraction of what I had. Heck, I didn't even like alot of what I had. I started doing some trading and selling and now my collection is smaller, but there's more quality to it and I'm not afraid to use what I have.

It's really funny to me that the less concerned I am about what I selfishly want the more apt I am to get what I want. Does that make sense? For example if I spend more time on honeydo's my wife is more likely to suggest I go hunting. If I give her the opportunity to have some time away she's more likely to suggest that I have some time away. It's when I get selfish or stingy that my hobbies or possessions cause problems for me. Balance is key, being unselfish. In fact I enjoy my interests more when they don't run me. I have knives that I've spent hundreds of dollars on and my favorites are probably worth less than $50. My outdoor passion is, you guessed it, flyfishing. I get to go on 2-3 good trips a year, but I love them and since they come rarely they are even that much more enjoyable.


In any event to each his own, our difference are what make this world an interesting place to be. This time next year I may look back at the way I think and feel completely different, but who knows. This is a heck of a journey though!!!

Man, who would have thought just carrying one pocket knife for a year would lead me or should I say us to reflect and think so much. Not even a single toddie in me either!

I think this is going to be an interesting year.

 

[mnblade]

Outstanding post, flyfishrman. Great points one and all. :thumbup:

 

[ElCuchillo]

Jaccknife has me thinking. The Iceman had the tools he really needed. A flint knife, his bow and arrows, and some other unkniwn tools. That's all. Well, other then a knife, what other tools do I REALLY need? I don't want to use my knife for things it's not designed for, so I'm trying to take inventory of my daily activities to see just what I really need. Since I started this experiment, I have NOT needed a set of pliers. I have NOT needed a screwdriver. I have NOT needed a saw or file. I have NOT needed a flashlight. I COULD have used a bandana, though. I know to cowboys in the old west, a bandana was a tool used in a variety of ways, from cooling off, to keeping dust out of their noses, to tieing up cattle. A knife and a bandana.
Interesting.

 

[mnblade]

Since I started this experiment, I have NOT needed a set of pliers. I have NOT needed a screwdriver. I have NOT needed a saw or file. I have NOT needed a flashlight.

Still, I'm not sure I support this line of reasoning. I mean, how many sheeple use that same "logic" when it comes to knives? "I haven't needed one recently, so therefore why would I bother to carry a knife?"

For instance, I just took a business trip to Romania. I brought a SAK. I used it exactly ZERO times while I was there. Does that mean I didn't need to have a knife with me? Well you and I know that very thought would be blasphemy! ..... But you see where I'm going with it.

Hey, I LOVE this experiment and find it very interesting. But let's not all start carrying obsidian chunks, ok?

 

[ElCuchillo]

Hey, I LOVE this experiment and find it very interesting. But let's not all start carrying obsidian chunks, ok?

LOL.

 

[ElCuchillo]

Hey, I LOVE this experiment and find it very interesting. But let's not all start carrying obsidian chunks, ok?

LOL.
You know what I mean. You didn't carry your tool box when you went to Romania. You carried what you thought you'd need to get you through the day, and it turned out to be more then you actually needed, which is good. Better to be prepared then not. I'm just trying to see what all I need to be prepared.

 

[mnblade]

I'm just trying to see what all I need to be prepared.

Well heck, I can tell you that!

* 45 caliber automatic.
* 2 boxes of ammunition.
* 4 days concentrated emergency rations.
* 1 drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills.
* 1 miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible.
* $100 in rubles.
* $100 in gold.
* 9 packs of chewing gum.
* 1 issue of prophylactics.
* 3 lipsticks.
* 3 pair of nylon stockings.

 

[freekboi]

In recent times though my gun and knife collection has grown and has in some ways become a burden. I was once told that the more "stuff"you have the more time you spend fiddling with it or caring for it and it takes away from what is important, for me what's important is my wife and kids. It's funny, I've got most of what I've always wanted in the way of big boy toys and I have hit this period of being fascinated with getting by with less. It's so easy to become a slave to your possessions. I have to a great degree, but I'm learning. I think the key is learning to be content, to have balance. Too much of anything can be bad. Don't get me wrong, I'm not tossing out my guns and knives, but I am reconsidering what drives the collection. For a while I'd buy anything I could get my hands on. It started to bother me that I didn't use more than a fraction of what I had. Heck, I didn't even like alot of what I had. I started doing some trading and selling and now my collection is smaller, but there's more quality to it and I'm not afraid to use what I have.

I've actually been feeling pretty similar to this myself lately. I think it's a side effect of coming here and reading this forum.

Man, who would have thought just carrying one pocket knife for a year would lead me or should I say us to reflect and think so much. Not even a single toddie in me either!

Ah, the Zen of Slipjoints...now there's an idea for a book title...got any ideas to go with that one Jackknife?

 

[ElCuchillo]

Ah, the Zen of Slipjoints...now there's an idea for a book title...got any ideas to go with that one Jackknife?[/QUOTE]


You know, I've actually thought of maybe writing a small book on this year's experiment, how it's made me look at myself, change my ways, etc., and how it will impact any other aspect of my life. The Zen of Slipjoints. Sounds cool. If Jackknife will ever write a book, I will bow down and let him have at it.

 

[freekboi]

That would definitely be an interesting read, one I would have to own for my library. I say go for it, after all, you've already got a title now!

 

[jackknife]

You know, I've actually thought of maybe writing a small book on this year's experiment, how it's made me look at myself, change my ways, etc., and how it will impact any other aspect of my life.

That's what happened to me when I took my cross country motorcycle trip in September/October of 2000. I had one pair of Willie and Max saddlebags, and one Harley Davidson T-bag that went on the low sissy bar. I took a month to agonize over what I was taking, and what had to be left behind. This was a couple years before Karen and I did our first of a couple downsizing. I stripped down to what I considered bare minimum gear for a month on the road. if it did not fit in the T-bag or saddlebags, it was left behind.

When I got back to Maryland after just about 3 1/2 weeks camping out in all environments from hardwood forest in the Missouri Ozzarks to high country Rocky Mountains, to Pacific Northwest rain forest, I had gear in the bottom of the T-bag I had not needed.

It was a startling lesson in what was not needed, and it had an effect on my life in general. That trip started my quest for maximum minimalisim.

 

[jackknife]

Hey, I LOVE this experiment and find it very interesting. But let's not all start carrying obsidian chunks, ok?

Acually a flake of obsidian is sharper than a surgical scalpel. They use them for eye surgery. :thumbup:

And come to think of it, a piece of obsidian would maybe make it though TSA security, they wouldn't know what it was if it was on a piece of leather tong around your neck. It would look like a piece of black stone jewlery. You could pressure flake it with a toothbrush handle.

 

[Foilist]

That's what happened to me when I took my cross country motorcycle trip in September/October of 2000. I had one pair of Willie and Max saddlebags, and one Harley Davidson T-bag that went on the low sissy bar. I took a month to agonize over what I was taking, and what had to be left behind. This was a couple years before Karen and I did our first of a couple downsizing. I stripped down to what I considered bare minimum gear for a month on the road. if it did not fit in the T-bag or saddlebags, it was left behind.

When I got back to Maryland after just about 3 1/2 weeks camping out in all environments from hardwood forest in the Missouri Ozzarks to high country Rocky Mountains, to Pacific Northwest rain forest, I had gear in the bottom of the T-bag I had not needed.

It was a startling lesson in what was not needed, and it had an effect on my life in general. That trip started my quest for maximum minimalisim.

I like it when posts referring to your motocamping trip come up because I do the same thing in the summers. My first trip was when I was a poor student on a small rat bike, and my gear was in small Willie & Max bags and a student knapsack; basic to say the least. Now that I'm a real grownup with some disposable income, I have a big touring bike and a ridiculous surplus of accumulated gear, but I feel like I'm losing something of the essence of that kind of travel. It's easy to get sucked into a bad case of the "gotta havits." I may trim things down for my next trip.

 

[navihawk]

I was in on this at the start, but I can't take it anymore. My boss just bought me a Leatherman Charge and between that and my old style Wave it's impossible.I feel lost without one of them on my belt and a traditional slippie in my pocket. Put me down as the first one to crack.

 

[jackknife]

I like it when posts referring to your motocamping trip come up because I do the same thing in the summers. My first trip was when I was a poor student on a small rat bike, and my gear was in small Willie & Max bags and a student knapsack; basic to say the least. Now that I'm a real grownup with some disposable income, I have a big touring bike and a ridiculous surplus of accumulated gear, but I feel like I'm losing something of the essence of that kind of travel. It's easy to get sucked into a bad case of the "gotta havits." I may trim things down for my next trip.

I got that way as well. I got up to a BMW K75 with the BMW locking lugage, rear trunk, and all the amenities of the long range high tech touring bike. I got bored with it after only 3 years, and missed my old boxer twin and a more basic approach. So I ended up selling the beemer and taking over Karen's sportster when her superglide came in. I liked the feel of going back to a more bare bones machine as something had gotten lost along the way. I wanted to go back to having fun on two wheels again, and they were not making the old style boxers anymore like my old R65. Slim, light, and agile.

I think sometimes we can go too far, and loose the essence of what we were doing it for in the first place.

 

[sixgunner455]

I've felt a lot of the same things that have been reflected on in this thread, and it started for me when I was in Afghanistan.

The people there have no money for things that they don't need. If they have a gun, they have A gun. A folding knife is a luxury item for most of them. One pair of cheap sandals, one hat, one set of clothes.

Contrast all that with all the crap I took with me. We had a list of required items, most of them issued, suggested items, comfort items, and I ended up with three duffel bags, a foot locker, a very heavy rucksack, besides my rifle and harness.

My grandfather invaded Europe with one duffel, a smaller ruck, and a .45. I flew, he rode in a boat. I drove around in a truck, he walked.

I actually used about 25% of the crap I took to Afghanistan. I reduced my load to the minimum allowed, plus a few "wants its" for Iraq, and it was a lot easier to get myself around there. I went back to a traditional slippie as my main pocketknife there, too. Case.

I own more stuff now than I ever have, and haven't even unpacked stuff from the last two moves I've made (moved into this house over two years ago). Very tempted to just load all those unopened boxes in the truck and haul it off.

But I'm not ready to join this party of only carrying one knife for a whole year. Maybe I'll cut back to just carrying one knife at a time!

 

[James Y]

I've been following this thread with a lot of interest.
Though I myself have not gone the one knife for a whole year route, I am definitely cutting back on what had been my daily carry. In fact, I'd been cutting some things out for the past several months.

Example:
I used to carry daily a Leatherman Blast on my belt; my CRK large Sebenza in RF pocket; Victorinox Executive inside RF pocket; Victorinox Soldier in LF pocket; Leatherman Micra in waist pack when I carry that; an old Gerber LST in a pocket flap of the same waist pack; Spyderco Ladybug on keyring.

Well, I have now relegated the Blast to a backpack I carry in to work, but not on my person. I simply was not using it often enough to justify carrying it around every day.

I actually use the Executive each and every day, and often the Soldier as well, though I now 50% of the time leave the Soldier for home use.

The Ladybug is just always there on the keyring. It's rarely ever used, but doesn't get in the way. I also carry a Photon light on the keyring, and have had numerous occasions for it, and like the Ladybug, it hardly takes space at all.

I lately have been carrying a Case 3.5" stockman for most of my cutting jobs.

The Sebenza stays in my pocket. Lately I rarely use it, but I just like having it. I do plan to probably get a small classic Sebenza to usurp its place clipped to pocket, as the smaller size would be more convenient for EDC for me. But after that, I don't plan on collecting any more high-end knives, I think I already have more than enough.

These past few years, I've severely cut my knife buying. There was always the search for the perfect knife, but it never comes; it's always over the next mountain (of knives). With slipjoints, even the ones that are modestly expensive are cheap by one-hander standards.

I used to get by with just one knife. I carried a Victorinox Spartan SAK as my sole knife from about 1988 through 1997, which included 4 and a half of my over 6 years living overseas in Taiwan. Never had a problem, and some of the tools on it were never used.

I do agree that often we become the slaves of those things that are supposed to be for our convenience. Yet there are features on things I've carried that I did not use every day; not even every week. But when I did need it, it was almost a lifesaver. So I'm trying to balance, for my self, what I feel I may need vs. my desire to carry it every day.
Jim

 

[ElCuchillo]

I was in on this at the start, but I can't take it anymore. My boss just bought me a Leatherman Charge and between that and my old style Wave it's impossible.I feel lost without one of them on my belt and a traditional slippie in my pocket. Put me down as the first one to crack.

LOL. Do what you gotta do, navihawk. It's all good.

 

[sm2]

deleted by me

 

[lampundermyfeet]

The Ladybug is just always there on the keyring. It's rarely ever used, but doesn't get in the way. I also carry a Photon light on the keyring, and have had numerous occasions for it, and like the Ladybug, it hardly takes space at all.




These past few years, I've severely cut my knife buying. There was always the search for the perfect knife, but it never comes; it's always over the next mountain (of knives). With slipjoints, even the ones that are modestly expensive are cheap by one-hander standards.

I used to get by with just one knife. I carried a Victorinox Spartan SAK as my sole knife from about 1988 through 1997, which included 4 and a half of my over 6 years living overseas in Taiwan. Never had a problem, and some of the tools on it were never used.

I do agree that often we become the slaves of those things that are supposed to be for our convenience. Yet there are features on things I've carried that I did not use every day; not even every week. But when I did need it, it was almost a lifesaver. So I'm trying to balance, for my self, what I feel I may need vs. my desire to carry it every day.
Jim[/QUOTE]

You make some good points there. I too am always on the look out for the perfect knife. I thought that I had found it on the SAK Super Tinker, then I thought that I needed the corkscrew for so I added another SAK for Christmas.

I realize that I do not need all of the tools that a SAK has. Most of the time I am near a tool or a corkscrew and I can use that one. We do become slaves to convenience as you pointed out.

Also, what is a ladybug?

Thanks