What worked well.
So Karen and I were off to her cousins place in the Shenadoah mountains for a weekend. They have about a hundred acres of wooded mountain terrain, and I decided to make a little experiment in what my pocket edc stuff would do.
What worked outstandingly. My Little Case peanut and Victorinox classic. They were all the knife I needed. I had a Buck sheath knife along in my day bag, but never needed it. Saturday we went shooting down the mountain side from the homestead, and I had brought along a couple of .22's for plinking. Bob, Karen's cousins husband, had set up a little shooting area in a hollow. There were some wood 2X4 target frames, and the Case peanut cut some string that plastic bottles of water were hung from to be shot at. That night, while giving the guns a little cleaning, the Victorinox screw driver tip on the nail file of the classic was just the size to unscrew the screw that holds in the cylinder crane on the S&W revolvers that Karen and I have.
Later that afternoon, Bob and I were making dinner while Karen and her cousin Barbara had some wine up on the hill. Bob was making some salmon fillets on the grill, while I was making a large salad. The Case sliced up bell pepper, onion, avocado, carrots, cucumber, and did very well. Tomato wedges where a piece of cake. The thin blade sliced right through stuff like it wasn't there. It made me remember what my dad always told me; "Doesn't have to be big, just sharp."
Bob was carrying a SAK spartan, and used it for all manner of things. Triming a sticker branch growing out too much on a path by the shooting range, cutting some string, and slicing up salmon. His bolt action .223 was shooting a bit high, and he used the screw driver on his SAK to adjust the scope. Bob gets a lot of milage out of a SAK.
Bic lighter, for lighting grill and candles. It's nice to have instant fire on demand.
Small flashlight. Boy, when it gets dark in the mountains, far away from the lights of civilization, it gets really really dark. I had my year old Fenix EO1 in my pocket, At night, it lit up a great path where you were walking, and inside the big barn that was set up for sleeping and cooking, and whatever, it would light up the inside great. I'd been impressed with the EO1 all along, but after a trip in the mountains, I'm more in love with this simple little lite more than ever. I don't need morse code flashing, strobes, or any other bull hockey on my pocket flashlight. I just want to turn it on and see where I'm going in the dark. The EO1 is more than enough for that. Plus I love the insane long run times of the lite. I'm still on the same battery I put in last winter, and I use the lite almost every night. Sometimes even during the day, looking for something on a basement shelf, I'll turn it on to see the very back of the shelf. My better half Karen, had a little Photon on her keyring, and it too was enough to see the tral or path to walk on in the dark with no moon. We had walked up the hill from the homestead to star gaze, and it was very black, but the small keyring lights were good. More light may even have been counter productive and affected our night vision to the degree that it may have taken much longer to adjust to the dark so we could see all the star constellations. I've noticed that there is a phenomenon where there is such a thing as too much light.
It's surprising how far you can go with a small sharp knife, a small flashlight, and some fire.
So Karen and I were off to her cousins place in the Shenadoah mountains for a weekend. They have about a hundred acres of wooded mountain terrain, and I decided to make a little experiment in what my pocket edc stuff would do.
What worked outstandingly. My Little Case peanut and Victorinox classic. They were all the knife I needed. I had a Buck sheath knife along in my day bag, but never needed it. Saturday we went shooting down the mountain side from the homestead, and I had brought along a couple of .22's for plinking. Bob, Karen's cousins husband, had set up a little shooting area in a hollow. There were some wood 2X4 target frames, and the Case peanut cut some string that plastic bottles of water were hung from to be shot at. That night, while giving the guns a little cleaning, the Victorinox screw driver tip on the nail file of the classic was just the size to unscrew the screw that holds in the cylinder crane on the S&W revolvers that Karen and I have.
Later that afternoon, Bob and I were making dinner while Karen and her cousin Barbara had some wine up on the hill. Bob was making some salmon fillets on the grill, while I was making a large salad. The Case sliced up bell pepper, onion, avocado, carrots, cucumber, and did very well. Tomato wedges where a piece of cake. The thin blade sliced right through stuff like it wasn't there. It made me remember what my dad always told me; "Doesn't have to be big, just sharp."
Bob was carrying a SAK spartan, and used it for all manner of things. Triming a sticker branch growing out too much on a path by the shooting range, cutting some string, and slicing up salmon. His bolt action .223 was shooting a bit high, and he used the screw driver on his SAK to adjust the scope. Bob gets a lot of milage out of a SAK.
Bic lighter, for lighting grill and candles. It's nice to have instant fire on demand.
Small flashlight. Boy, when it gets dark in the mountains, far away from the lights of civilization, it gets really really dark. I had my year old Fenix EO1 in my pocket, At night, it lit up a great path where you were walking, and inside the big barn that was set up for sleeping and cooking, and whatever, it would light up the inside great. I'd been impressed with the EO1 all along, but after a trip in the mountains, I'm more in love with this simple little lite more than ever. I don't need morse code flashing, strobes, or any other bull hockey on my pocket flashlight. I just want to turn it on and see where I'm going in the dark. The EO1 is more than enough for that. Plus I love the insane long run times of the lite. I'm still on the same battery I put in last winter, and I use the lite almost every night. Sometimes even during the day, looking for something on a basement shelf, I'll turn it on to see the very back of the shelf. My better half Karen, had a little Photon on her keyring, and it too was enough to see the tral or path to walk on in the dark with no moon. We had walked up the hill from the homestead to star gaze, and it was very black, but the small keyring lights were good. More light may even have been counter productive and affected our night vision to the degree that it may have taken much longer to adjust to the dark so we could see all the star constellations. I've noticed that there is a phenomenon where there is such a thing as too much light.
It's surprising how far you can go with a small sharp knife, a small flashlight, and some fire.
im surprised the screwdriver on the SAK was stout enough to loosen the crane screw on a revolver! All the Md members need to meet up again, hopefully this time it wont be the only freak snowstorm of the ENTIRE winter on the same day 
If you ever want some more company on a trip like this...keep me in mind, Ill bring a CV bone peanut and a 12" ontario and we'll see what they can do!
