The "Brown Flag" thread

Now how do those figures apply to those of us with less hair atop our heads than others??? ;) Never fret, my noggin goes covered. & a thin balaclava fits my pockets when out of doors.

How about using a stun gun to neutralize snake venom?? :0 I'd like to try that on someone just for kicks...

2Door
 
Often when folks start talking on these forums about good knife choices for various situations, someone will pipe up with some old trope about "The best knife is the one you have on you when you need it". Of course, this isn't actually wrong, however (1) it is gratuitous, tautological, useless advice for someone who is asking for specific criteria or products because s/he's trying to figure out how to make a wise selection, and (2) it does circumvent the plain fact that the one you'll have on you is the one you choose and carry.
 
Evolute said:
Often when folks start talking on these forums about good knife choices for various situations, someone will pipe up with some old platitude about "The best knife is the one you have on you when you need it". [/I].
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Oh I hate that, like nails on a chalk board.

Skam
 
ss Dragonfly said:
I believe Mr. Glesser said that.
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He's a smart, wise man... but it's still insipid, worthless advice. At least, in the context I often see it used, here. I don't know the context in which he originally said it.

In any case, he's not any of the many people I've seen say it, here.
 
The whole quote SHOULD read, "The best knife is the one you have on you...so make damn sure it's a good one and the right one."
 
While I agree with the premise of this thread, even so called professionals with all the equipment in the world get it wrong sometimes. Last week I tried to break up a dog fight with my hands (stupid I know) and got what I should have expected which was a badly ripped thumb of the kind where you look at it and it hasn't started to bleed or hurt yet but you know it soon will. I went to the ER where a doc gave it a quick squirt of betadine and sewed it up. She sent me home with antibiotics but it was infected within 48 hours. Two separate incise and drain surgeries were performed and four days in hospital on IV antibiotics before the infection was under control. Even my meager first aid experience nearly thirty years ago trained me better than to just squirt some betadine and close. I have had many sutures over the years and was always made to soak the sound in disinfectant for at least a half hour.
 
Brian Jones said:
The whole quote SHOULD read, "The best knife is the one you have on you...so make damn sure it's a good one and the right one."
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I always took it as "have something practical that you'll actually have on you at all times", which excludes some of the bigger knives or anything that you'd carry on your pack instead of on your persons, rather than looking at it as a smart ass response to an honest question.
 
Outdated books or people that tout the solar still. Yes it CAN work in optimal conditions, but I sure wouldn't want to rely on it.
 
tknife said:
Outdated books or people that tout the solar still. Yes it CAN work in optimal conditions, but I sure wouldn't want to rely on it.
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Are we talking about a piece of clear poly draped over a hole in the ground solar still, or a proper one? Cause Steve Calahan survived 76 days off water from solar stills.

based on the attempts ive seen digging the hole in the ground is a waste of sweat.
 
sketchbag said:
Are we talking about a piece of clear poly draped over a hole in the ground solar still, or a proper one? Cause Steve Calahan survived 76 days off water from solar stills.

.
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Whos he? What still did he use?

Skam
 
I'm talking about the digging a hole in the ground and putting plastic over it. I Don't know about Steve Calahan or the still he used.

Okay I just searched and see that he was lost at sea. Yeah those stills are different.
 
skammer said:
Whos he? What still did he use?

Skam
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He's a sailor who got shipwrecked in the middle of the atlantic during a solo voyage in the 70's. Lived in a 5 1/2' diameter raft for 76 days until he drifted to the Bahamas.

He had 2 solar stills, but only used 1 at a time. They consisted of an inflatable bubble with a black cloth suspended within it. A reservoir on top drips salt water onto the cloth, the condensation drips down the walls of the bubble into a collection bag.

I'm reading his book right now, and I must say it's incredibly well written, his excellent use of metaphors and analogy paint a very vivid image of his journey.
 
Those stills Calahan used are very different from the desert-style stills. In Ron Hood's Volume 13 Desert Survival video, they do an in-depth test on the solar still. The results were dismal, and they expended more sweat than they gained in water. They did everything right, and it "still" didn't work well.
 
Ditto the irritation with the 'the one you have on you' theory. I get the point, but am sick of hearing it.

Re: honey- It's still likely better than nothing (depending on a few things most likely) but I think first aid neophytes would be better off preparing a kit with proper antiseptics (some H2O2, tincture of iodine, etc.). But if it was all you had...
 
At the WLC, we teach students to make transpiration bags over solar stills. Water is more easily collected this way and it requires almost no energy to set up. While stills have their place, they aren't the best option in every climate.

Here is a brown flag related to water,

"You can't get sick from drinking stream water in the winter"

Sure, fewer animals and insects will be active but there are plenty of nasties that can hurt you from drinking untreated water.
 
How about
"Money is no object"
I hate this because for all practical purposes, money is an object to the vast majority of people. I for one cannot afford to have the latest and greatest super duper BOB designed by so on an so forth, only to have to buy the new one next year. Don't get me wrong, I am a total gadget and gear head and I love to indulge, but please.
 
One thing that has bothered me is that you can get a license to carry a concealed handgun (in my state anyway) for personal protection, but a large knife or even a stick is illegal no matter what (if you say it is for protection).
A buddy of mine got arrested for having a baton under the seat of his car. He said the cop asked him why it was there and when he said for protection the handcuffs came out.
Sure seems like BS to me.
 
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