Backpack Bushcraft 2017 Christmas Special

Hey guys and welcome to a very merry Backpack Bushcraft blog! Before we get started I do want to take the opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays, however you choose to celebrate. The end of the year has very special meaning to me, not just because it's a time to get together with family, it' also a time for me to reflect over the year and analyze whether I have met my goals or not. I thought this would also be a good time to do that with my website and my YouTube channel. I wanted to share these reflections with you the viewer because if weren't for you I wouldn't be where I am now.

I would like to first begin talking about the website. I started it up in March, it's been about 10 months now. Overall the website has got 6,971 views which is phenomenal. I never would have imagined that I could have achieved this when the first time I tried to write a blog I was barely getting 7 views a week. I was also able to break three milestones that I had set for myself in getting 500, 750 and 1000 views in a month. We broke 500 in March, 750 in July, and 1000 in November and I couldn't be happier. In terms of the most popular blogs on the website, number one is 1, 2, 3 Start Lashing With Me, with 345 views overall. I don't know why. The title seemed silly to me and I came up with it on the fly. In second place was Bet You Never Saw it coming with 325 views, this was a discussion about saws in the middle of my cutting tool series. Finally number three is All Packed Up and Ready to Go with 292 views, just barely on the cusp of 300 and I am waiting every day for it to roll over. Again, none of this would be possible without you all.

Now let's talk about the YouTube channel. It has been active for 5 months now and in those 5 months I have posted 24 videos. Those 24 videos have gotten me 25 subscribers, about 3 comments per video and 804 views across my channel overall. This is breathtaking, guys. If you enjoy the blog, check out the YouTube channel. I make videos that correspond with the blog so you can see exactly what I'm doing.

While we are on the subject of YouTube I would like to take some time to shout out three people who have helped me out a lot this year. This isn't in any favoritism order, this is just the order that I met them in. The first guy goes by the name of Hike ‘N’ Deep: Click Here He does have a YouTube channel with a trailer on it, but his own videos will be coming out next year. He considers himself a curator of Bushcraft videos with various playlists of useful information. If you ever find yourself bored, check out some of the playlists he's compiled and that ought to get you in the bushcrafting mood. I met him because he had commented on almost every one of my videos so I messaged him to thank him for the support. This opened up a dialogue which lead to a phone conversation in which we spoke for 3 hours and each of our phones died twice. Guys, if you get time, check out his playlists, subscribe to his channel, and buckle in for some great content in the future.

This next guy I've known since grade school, he ended up marrying my cousin and moving 10 minutes away from me. The reason he is second on the list is simply because I didn't know he was into bushcraft until he sent me a picture of him and his little girl watching my videos on their tv. Since then we have talked a little every day. I've tried encouraging him to write for the blog, but he is a busy man. He doesn't have a YouTube channel or anything either for me to point you in his direction, he just asked to be called "Ol' Nick" when I shouted him out. So, Ol' Nick, this is for you. Next year he is going to be teaching me a few things so hopefully that means I will be able to teach you a few things.

The third and final guy I'd like to thank is Yankee’s Outdoors Adventure: Click Here. I met him through Hike N Deep who recommend that I get in touch with him. Yankee does a meet and greet every Thursday where he introduces a YouTube channel into the community. I sent him a personal message that said I would like to do a meet and greet, but I didn't feel like I was at that level where I should do one yet. A few hours and several views to my channel later I get a reply back that says "Yes." My Meet and Greet video has not been released yet, but keep an eye on his channel for that. He's also given me a shout out on a different video when he received his ornament, he was the other winner of the contest besides Nathanael Desmedt: Click Here. Not only is it the meet and greet, but Yankee is just a great guy to get to know anything. We have talked about everything from black powder guns to Bigfoot. So I just want to return the shout out to Yankee.

Before 2017 ends I would like to make a few announcements for what is coming up in 2018. Starting January the 3rd we are going to be posting the Bumbling Bushcraft comic drawn by my wife. I have several years of buschraft experience and she has had several years of laughing at me through those experiences. If you just want to laugh or have an "I know what that feels like," moment, check out the comic. Next is another YouTube segment I am going to be doing called Gear Gab. Basically I am going to get a piece of gear, talk about it, tell stories about it, share with you how I got it, and so on. I am also going to take that time to shout out another YouTuber and have them review the gear, and so on and so forth. The first one will be coming out in January and we will try to continue on in February. If you are interested in being a part of the Gear Gab, email me at the community email address bpackbushcraft@gmail.com. Of course this isn't exclusive to Gear Gab, you can also use this email to ask me questions, give me a topic, and so on and so forth.

Before I go I just wanted to take this chance to thank you all again for everything and give you the same advice I gave a friend of mine. Bushcraft doesn't have to be just blogs and YouTube videos. Anyone can represent bushcraft as long as they have the knowledge, passion, and their own individual skill. As always feel free to comment by clicking the comment link at the end of the blog, hit the follow button in the top right corner, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one on Sunday 10pm (est). If you want to keep up with me and what I’m doing, Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. Lastly if video is more your style check out my YouTube Channel backpack bushcraft where there is a video version of this with the same title. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.

This Little Lamp of Mine: A Review of UCO's Collapsible Lantern

Last week we wrapped our candle selection video and I said that we would be reviewing another candle lantern that I purchased this week. This lantern is light, compact, super tough, and the candles themselves are very powerful. I am of course talking about UCO's collapsible candle lantern. This lantern is 6" tall, 4" when collapsed, and there are two main parts to it. There is the candle chamber and the lantern body itself. The lantern's body has a 3" long, 1.5" wide glass globe, the body of the lantern which is just a bit bigger than the globe that has a peep hole in it so you can see how much candle you have left, and the top of the candle which fits into the grooves of the body, a cap to protect against weather, a bell, and a chain. The chain is a bit annoying because it gets caught on everything. When assembling the body of the lantern make sure you line up the fingers of the lid with the grooves of the body and slowly slide it into place. Once it is fully collapsed you want to make sure you get each finger around the glass globe at the bottom. If you go too quickly you could scratch the globe or break one of the fingers of the lid.

Now let's move on to the candle chamber.  This is made up of the candle shell, a spring and a plug. There is also a cover plate for the spring to protect it from melting wax. To assemble, insert the candle into the candle chamber wick first. Then you are going to find the cover plate and insert it concave side first. Next take the spring and the plug and carefully put it behind the candle. You don't want it to spring back on you. Once everything is fit together you will take the candle chamber and insert it into the body of the lantern and twist to lock it. Now, you can light the candle in the candle chamber prior to putting it in the lantern, or, you can slide the globe down, light the candle, and slide the globe back up into place and lock it.

We will be repeating the same tests from last week with this candle. First we will try to light this candle with a spark, with charcloth, and the candle itself. This was the first candle I was ever able to catch with a spark. Let me explain what happened. So I lit the charcloth and had my ember going and I held the candle over the embers and some of the wax melted into the charcloth. When I noticed this I started to blow harder to get the ember to melt that wax and get it to release the gas that keeps the candle burning. Once I got that to happen and it started to create a flame, it was as easy as holding the candle to it and lighting it. Honestly, now that I know what I'm doing I think I could light any candle this way, but I have to give it to the survival candle for being the first.

Next is the illumination test. This candle claims to have 20 lumens, but I am mainly going to see how well it lights up my area and we will take it down to the track and see how well we can read the signs. This lantern is very similar to the electric lantern in its ability to light up my work area. I estimate it to have about a 5 foot area of illumination. I could very easily be doing something at night at my camp with this lantern on hand. On the track I had to get about 1 ft away from the sign to be able to read it, however, I didn't have to be right up on it like I did with the other candles, so I'll give it props for that. I will say that it has done much better than the other candle lanterns I've made, but I do think I can improve them. Since I haven't yet I'll give it to this candle. The only problem I have is that it didn't do as well as I wanted it to on the track, however, UCO makes a cup that looks like it may be for this lantern that covers the back and makes the light more concentrated in one spot. Honestly, I always carry a flashlight with me, but it may be something  you're more interested in for your kit.

Now we will be doing a burnout of this candle. It claims to burn for 9 hours. This candle burned for 13 hours and 40 minutes. I lit the candle at 3 pm and it didn't go out until 4:40 am. It was a long night. This is more than double the time its competitor the squat candle burned.

On to field repair. The only concerns I have are with the glass globe or the fingers of the lantern body. If the globe were to crack, I'm not sure how well this lantern would work. The globe puts pressure on the fingers and the fingers put pressure on the body to hold everything in place. With the globe gone, it's uncertain how well your lantern will actually work. The second thing I worry about are the fingers. If one finger breaks the whole system will be unbalance and will likely not work. Now I don't think they are so flimsy that they will just snap, but I do think you could easily break one if you are being careless while inserting your globe. This lantern is made out of stainless steel and is pretty sturdy. As long as you keep maintenance on it, it should last you a long time. This is another point I want to make. It's not necessarily about field repair, but it is a relevant point. The only candles that will work with your UCO lantern, is a UCO candle. Surprising right? You MIGHT be able to get by with a stick candle, but no other candle will fit.

Now onto our price point. Before telling you the price, I will say that this lantern has been so much fun to work with and use. I highly recommend you get one and try it out if you have the scratch. The lantern itself is about $17 and comes with one candle. I also purchased a set of $3 candles for about $8 so I spent about $25-26 total. There is a combo pack with these items that I've seen for between $21-23 on Amazon (it changes daily). In hindsight I should have done that, but, oh well. For $8 you get 3 candles which equals out to about $2.66 per candle. If you subtract $2.66 from the $17 for the lantern you get the base price for the lantern which is $14.33. For $14.33 I could make 3, maybe 4 of my candle lanterns including the tools I need to make them. This is if you are going for quantity, not quality. You could also make my candle lanterns a lot brighter by adding more holes, I just don't like to do that. Now for $2.66 I could buy 5 squat candle that give me 30 hours of lighting. for a full $8 which will give me 3 UCO candles, I could buy 15-16 squat candles and get 90-96 hours of lighting. Now that is a lot more candles I will have to carry with me. And yes, I understand that the UCO candles are more expensive because they are smaller and more powerful, I'm just playing devil's advocate to show you what options you have.

In the end I don't think I will be packing this in my bush kit, mostly because of the fears I have with field repair. I do think this would be good for an ultra light backpacking kit (which I am going to make eventually), maybe a hunting kit, and definitely an EDC kit. This won't be going into my EDC kit because as you know, mine is filled to the brim and cannot accommodate it. But another point I want to make is that my bush kit is designed around higher quantity and not higher quality. That's just a sacrifice I'm willing to make. But that'll do it for this year. We will have a Christmas special next week, though. You won't want to miss it! As always feel free to comment by clicking the comment link at the end of the blog, hit the follow button in the top right corner, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one on Sunday 10pm (est). If you want to keep up with me and what I’m doing, Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. Lastly if video is more your style check out my YouTube Channel backpack bushcraft where there is a video version of this with the same title. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.

Wax & Wick: Choosing A Candle For the Tin Can Lantern

Last week we talked about electric illumination devices and chose one for my pack. This week we're going to be talking about the candle lantern, or specifically the candle inside them.  Now if you want to know the ins and outs of how a candle works, go to YouTube and search "how does a candle work," there is a lot of great information there. I am just going to give you the overview.. A candle is made of a wick and a hydrocarbon wax; that is, hydrogen connecting to carbon. When you light the wick, the wax begins to melt releasing a gas which is what keeps the flame burning. You can prove this by lighting the gas above the candle.

What we have today is a contest between three candles. We have a stick candle, what I call a squat
candle, and a tea candle. They will be competing in four different categories: being lit from a spark, how bright they burn, how long they burn, and overall cost effectiveness.

For the first test we must first char all the wicks of the candles. I then got some ferro rod  shavings on a board and was then going to try to use those shavings to ignite a spark from the candle. The only candle that was able to participate in this test was the stick candle and it did not cast a spark. The next test was to get some charcloth in a char tin and cast a spark. This gave us a nice hot ember to try to light our candles on. This time the stick candle and the squat candle got to participate however both failed. I was able to get an ember on

the squat candle, but was not able to light the wick.

For the second test of illumination, we are going to go back to the same track that we tested out our electronic illumination devices. First up is the tea candle which we have to get right up on the sign to see. The same with the squat candle. The stick candle performed slightly better than these other two due to the fact that it has a larger flame. Now none of these did well in comparison to the electronic devices, but this is what we are working with.

For the third test we are going to take a fresh version of each candle, put it into a lantern and burn them until they go out by themselves. For the stick candle we will be using and open top lantern due to the height of the candle. The tea candle burned for 3 hours and 50 minutes, the stick candle for 4 hours and 6 minutes, and squat candle for 6 hours and 15 minutes. I really thought the stick candle would burn the longest since it appears to have the most wax and there fore the most fuel to burn. However, I think where it was in an open top lantern a lot of the gasses that keep the flame burning simply escaped out of the top. Also the squat and tea candles have a metal base that pulls their wicks down. I think for the stick candle there was a moment where the wax was lighter than the wick and it nose dived.

Now looking at cost effectiveness. The tea candles come in a pack of 50 for about $3-5 so individually they are between five and ten cents. Next is the squat candles which are 50 cents a piece and can be purchased individually. The stick candles are 88 cents a piece and are purchased individually. Two tea candles can burn longer than on squat candle, so if you are looking for over all cost effectiveness, the tea candle is the way to go.

Before we talk about which candle I will be using, let's talk about why each candle got the ranking it did. In third place was the stick candle, which technically got a disqualification simply because it does not fit in the lantern. It's not the candle's fault, it's not the lantern's fault, it's just reality. The tea candle is ranked second because it was always playing second fiddle to either the squat or stick candle. It only really excelled at being cost effective, however, I'm not just looking for a cheap candle, I'm looking for a powerful one. The clear winner to me is the squat candle. I almost lit it with a spark, it was only average in illumination, but it burned for an entire 6 hours. Plus, to me there isn't much of a difference in 5 cents and 50 cents.

You may be wondering why we put so much into working with these candles. Next week we will be reviewing a candle and candle lantern that can supposedly burn for 9 hours and I wanted the best candle I could find to contend with it. This will also be the last blog of the year aside from our Christmas special so you definitely don't want to miss it. As always feel free to comment by clicking the comment link at the end of the blog, hit the follow button in the top right corner, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one on Sunday 10pm (est). If you want to keep up with me and what I’m doing, Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. Lastly if video is more your style check out my YouTube Channel backpack bushcraft where there is a video version of this with the same title. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.

Lighting Up the Night: Deciding on an Electric Illumination Device

Last week after we finished building our tin can lanterns, I said we would be looking at "electric candles" this week, or rather electric illumination devices. This week I have a few items I purchased from Walmart for about $1 each, one item was about $5. I also have an item that I have for any years that I am going to show you today that is a bit on the high end side. Let's get into it.

The first item is a $1 LED Flashlight that takes 3
AAA batteries. It is very simple, there is one button to press to turn it on and off. The thing I like about flashlights is that they are very bright. If you are looking for something or need to see ahead in front of you, a flashlight is definitely what you want. however the one thing I don't like is that if I hold the flashlight above my head, you aren't going to see much around me. This is because the flashlight doesn't have any radiating illumination, but it is more geared toward focused illumination.

Our next item came out about ten years ago or so. This one I got for $1, but they used to go for $30 or so. I'm talking about a headlamp. The one I have can point straight a head, two different downward pointing angles, and straight down. When I point the lamp straight down it shines more in my face than anything. I used to use the headlamp for frog gigging. You would angle the headlamp down and look for the reflection in the frog's eyes, then use the gig stick. The headlamp is great for this because of the hands free illumination. Now the headlamp has a second feature. If you have a clear water bottle filled with water, and you attach your headlamp to it with the light source facing inside the bottle and turn it on, you now have a radiating light source. Now it's not as good as other items, but you could definitely use it to illuminate the inside of your tarp or tent. Another item I have similar to the headlamp is the cap light. It's just like the headlamp, but you attach it to your hat.

In my opinion it is a lot brighter than the headlamp and it eliminates the only problem I have with it. Since it wraps around your head it can very easily be too loose and fall off, or too tight and give you a headache. Unfortunately the flashlight is still brighter than both of them. The other thing is that both of these items take what I consider to be a watch battery so that is inconvenient as well.

Next we have an electric lantern that was $5 at Walmart. It has three different button press features. One click will give you radiating illumination, by which I mean the light radiates out from its central source. Two clicks gives a solid red light. It could be used for emergencies, signaling or stalking. Three clicks is a strobe red light which is clearly meant for getting attention in an emergency situation. The lantern also has a bell, which unfortunately isn't rounded or humped, so it is prone to sliding on whatever you hang it on. Lastly, if I need focused illumination, I can wrap my hand around the walls of the lantern and shine it in any direction I need to see in. This is not something you can do with a fire, candle, or oil lantern. If you touch the lantern with your hand you will burn it.

The next item and my favorite item is a solar powered flashlight and lantern. When you turn it on there is a beam of focused light, and it pulls apart like an accordion into a lantern. It has another setting to make it brighter, a well as a strobe for emergency situations. I really like this because it is solar powered which means I don't have to carry any batteries with me, however, if you don't charge it every day, it will not work. It also has two different ports, one for a USB. Theoretically you could use these port to charge other devices, however, I have never gotten this feature to work. Now we are going to set up a test for our electric devices. I will have a paper with a word written on it and we will stand at 10, 20, and 30 feet to see how close we need to be to read the words with these devices.

So starting off at 30 ft. I can see the paper clearly with the flashlight, but can barely make it out with the headlamp, cap light, and lantern. At 20 ft. the paper is still very clearly visible with the flashlight and I am now able to start making it out with the headlamp, cap light and lantern. At 10 ft. with the flashlight I can now see that there is a word on the page and I will begin walking forward until I can read it. At about 8 ft. I can see that the paper clearly says "Miniature." Tearing that sign down I tried again with the headlamp. I had to move up to about 5 ft. to read the sign that said "Allergy." With the cap light I could read the sign that said "Yesterday" at 6 ft. So like we thought the cap light is a bit better than the headlamp, however neither are as good as the flashlight. With the lantern I get to about 7ft. before I can read the word "Calzone." No we are going to start over at 30 ft. with the solar power lantern and see how it fares. At 30 ft. I can see the sign with the flashlight, but not the lantern. At 20 ft. the paper again becomes visible with the lantern. At 10 ft. I can almost read the sign with the flashlight, but I need to move up  about a foot to see that it says "Spaceship." The lantern unfortunately can't make out the word until I am about 4 ft. away from it.

We have now reached that part of the blog where I choose an item to put into my pack. I have decided to call it "The Packening." Yeah. While trying to put my solar lantern away I managed to drop it and break the handle so I'll need to do some repairs with some pipe cleaner.  So now I have to choose between the other four items. I won't be taking either the headlamp or the cap light. While I do appreciate the hands free illumination I think these items would do better in a hunting kit. The lantern I won't take because it's a bit bulky and honestly, it is only one more battery, but it is still one more than the flashlight requires. The flashlight ultimately was the best out of the four items and I could always use another one.

Next week we will be choosing a candle for our lantern and talking about what your candle should be able to do. You won't want to miss it! As always feel free to comment by clicking the comment link at the end of the blog, hit the follow button in the top right corner, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one on Sunday 10pm (est). If you want to keep up with me and what I’m doing, Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. Lastly if video is more your style check out my YouTube Channel backpack bushcraft where there is a video version of this with the same title. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.

Burning Bright: Construction of a Tin Can Lantern

Last week we finished up our compass series and I said we would be talking about candles. This week I have prepared a craft relevant to this subject that is very important bushcraft, and, it is relatively cheap to make. This week, we will be making tin can lanterns. Now this has many uses for bushcraft and I am basically going to make my sales pitch for why I think Candle should be one of the C's. In addition to providing heat, it also provides lighting. When I did my camp with items from just the first 5 C's, there would times I would want to be reading, but I was completely at the mercy of the sun. The sun would set around 7-8 pm and with 8 hours of sleep that would have me waking up at 4 am, which is not great. With a lantern I could read, write, twist cord, sharpen arrows, construct a trap, or basically anything that I could do to prepare for camp the next day even after the sun goes down. Instead of building a campfire for light and expending all that fuel, a lantern provides enough light while using little fuel. Just wax, tallow, or any lipid substance.

The first item we need to make our tin can lanterns is a tin can. Specifically a can with a sealed top, not one of the "pop top" cans. The walls of these are weaker and they will split when you fill them up and freeze them, but we'll get to that later. The other thing is corn. Corn is not a mushy vegetable and won't get stuck when we cut a hole in the bottom to drain out what's inside. Mushy vegetable like peas  will get stuck and are a mess to clean out. You will need a hammer and nail, some type of snips to cut the can with (I got mine at Walmart and paid $5-7 for a pack of 3), a bowl to catch the corn, and a towel to protect your work space.

The first step is to use the hammer and nail to poke holes in the bottom of the can in the shape of a circle. We will then use the snips to cut out that circle shape, and drain the contents of the can into the bowl. An important thing to note here is that you should not consume the food that comes out of the can. There is a possibility that a piece of metal could have gotten in and contaminated the food. Please, do not eat this food. The next thing we are going to do is fill the can with water and freeze it for 24 hours. By freezing water inside the can, the ice braces it so that the can does not dent when you hit the nail into it. To make your design, your are going to poke holes and make  a sort of "connect the dots" image. You won't be able to get much detail, but what you can do is use bigger holes for the main points of the image, and use smaller holes to guide the eye and fill out the image a bit more. There are two ways you can do this. I actually drew out a star and traced the image over the can by making holes, but I wasn't too pleased with the outcome. This time, I am going to free hand.

After making your design (I made the Viking rune for fire, light, etc. "Kenaz") I am going to go on either side of my design near the top of the can and make a hole on each side. This is going to be where I put the bell of my lantern. The next thing we want to do is create an opening for the candle. You can create a circle or a square; I am going to make a square because it is easier to make the square safe in my opinion. On the opposite side of the can as your design, you're going to find the middle of the two bell holes you just made, and make a hole near the BOTTOM of the can. I am then going to measure 3/4" to the left and poke a hole, and 3/4" to the right and poke a hole. This gives me a line about 1 1/2" long. The reason I have picked this length is because that is the size of candle I am going to use. I will then measure 1 1/2" up from the corners and create my square.

To melt the ice quickly, I simply place it in the sink and run hot water over the can for about five minutes. Now I can cut out the shape of the square we just outlined with the snips. Now I am going to take some steps to make the lantern safer to handle so I don't get cut on the jagged metal.  You could use a file to file down the sharp points, but I am going to use duct tape. The duct tape will heat up with a candle lit inside the lantern, but it will still stick. Plus, even if it does eventually melt away, if I have a kit made up of the 10 C's of Survivability, repairs are no problem. To make the bell I have taken a metal clothes hanger and cut a section of it about 20" long. Take one end of the clothes hanger and feed it through the two bell holes you made at the top of your can. Line them up at the top and slowly begin to fold the ends over each other. You really need to do this slowly because the hanger will crack. Once the ends are folded over, I like to wrap them in duct tape to, again, keep the ends from scratching or cutting my hand. And again if the tape were to come off repairs are easily and quickly made in the field.

And with that our lantern is finished. Just another word of warning when your lantern is lit, do not
touch the can above the top of the square as it will heat up quickly and it does get pretty hot. These lanterns are cheap and very easy to make. You can make them this way or find other methods that work for you, either way, I definitely recommend these. Next week we will be talking about flashlights, the "electronic candle." You won't want to miss it. As always feel free to comment by clicking the comment link at the end of the blog, hit the follow button in the top right corner, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one on Sunday 10pm (est). If you want to keep up with me and what I’m doing, Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. Lastly if video is more your style check out my YouTube Channel backpack bushcraft where there is a video version of this with the same title. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.

me.

Getting Around With Something New: A Review of UST's Explorer Tool

Last week we made ranger beads and did some walking with them to try to lock in our pace. This week as promised we will be doing a review. Today we have UST Technologies 4-in-1 Explorer Tool. I will go ahead and state right now that I don't think that there are four tools here. I think one of the tools that they include in the 4 is just an offset of one of the other tools, however, the lanyard that comes attached to the tool could be counted as the fourth, and we will be talking about why here in a bit. The dimensions of this product are 3.75" in length, 1.5" wide, the lanyard is 5 times the length, and it is very lightweight. I very much like these things about the product. You can put it in your pocket, it your EDC kit and it's pretty much ready to take with you wherever you go.

Let's take a look at the features of this product. Since this is the compass series, let's start with the compass. This compass is going to be different than any other compass you've seen in this series because the face doesn't move, you have to move it yourself manually by rotating the entire tool. The only thing that moves on this compass is the needle which will always point North. To find your direction, line the needle up with north on the compass, then imagining your own travel arrow on the compass, find your direction. I like that the cardinal directions are indicated in large lettering on the compass as well as the degree system. The numbers 20, 40, 60, etc. are labeled in large numbers with large lines between them representing 30, 50, 70, etc. as well as smaller tic marks between them representing increments of 5.

The second feature and I believe the reason people buy this product are the folding binoculars. Simply fold out all four lenses and use the adjustable wheel to make it clear for you to see through. These binoculars are times 4 magnification and the lenses are 32 millimeters in length. The center of binoculars give me a crystal clear view of what I'm looking at but the outer ring of the lens is blurry and disorienting and it causes me to be nauseous when looking through it. In my opinion, if you only fold out one set of lenses and focus with one eye, it will minimize that effect and make them easier to use. Think spotting scope.

The signaling mirror is the third feature of this product. I did this review in doors and was able to reflect light well off of the lighting in the house and I got good results outside with natural light as well. In addition to signaling you could also use this mirror to check behind you or use it to dress a wound if it's in a location that is difficult for you to see well.

The last feature that is included in the 4-in-1 title is a magnifying glass. You can see clearly that it can help you start a fire, but that  is about the only use you will get out of it in the woods. Of course you can  use it to magnify an object, presumably times four, I believe that this is only a feature of the binoculars.  Yes it is a magnifying glass as well, but to me it seemed like a stretch  making that a fourth feature.

The lanyard however, could be considered a true fourth

feature. It is made of some sturdy cord, as hard as I've tried, I can't break it. What I've done is tied two simple knots in my lanyard and thought to myself, "I could make ranger beads." I wouldn't use actual beads being that there are two strands and they would not maintain the same tension at all times/ I would however use paracord because it will have something to hold on to and I can dress the cord as tightly as I need it. And as you can see you have plenty of room for any set up, be it 9 and 4 or 6 and 7 as well as having room for your forester beads.

I spent about $5 for this product at Walmart and I would say it's about worth that. I've seen it go for about $8 on Amazon as well. If you use the scope instead of using binoculars on the side of the compass you really do have an all-in-one explorer tool. You can spot where you need to go, use the compass to get your bearing, use your ranger beads to keep track of how far you walked from your original location, and when you arrive at your destination you can use your signaling mirror if you're in a lot of trouble. The biggest problem I have is that these tools are all very beginner. The compass would be extremely difficult to use with a map and as for the binoculars, times 4 magnification is not going to do much for you in the woods. Overall I give this product a 3/5.

Now where would be the ideal place to put this tool?  I wouldn't recommend putting it in your bush kit unless you were completely new to compass and navigation. This would be a cheap item that you could practice and learn with. I wouldn't put it in my hunting kit because I would really need pair of binoculars, and let's be honest, the binoculars are the worst feature of this tool. If you think about it, this tool is compact, has a lot of reusability, and you can familiarize yourself with them easily. Where have I heard all of those terms before? EDC kit! This would make an excellent addition to your EDC kit and even if you can't fit it inside, you can tie it off to the outside with the lanyard and have it ready to go if you need it.

That's it for this week's blog. Next week we will be starting our second C in our second set of C's, which will be candle. You won't want to miss it! As always feel free to comment, hit the follow button in the top right corner, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one on Sunday 10pm (est). If you want to keep up with me and what I’m doing, Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. Lastly if video is more your style check out my YouTube Channel backpack bushcraft where there is a video version of this with the same title. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.

Beads You Can Count On: Making Ranger Beads to Aid With Navigation

Last week we talked about binoculars which are a best friend to the compass and did some survival drills with them at our local park. This week, we are going to be making a craft that is going to help us keep pace a little better on the trail, and that craft comes in the form of ranger beads. I will be showing you how to make these, as well as making ranger beads entirely out of paracord, and talking about the different kinds of ranger beads you might encounter. Lastly we'll be heading to a local walking track where I will be practicing with my ranger beads and trying to learn my pace. Let's get started.

What are ranger/pace beads? They are beads on a piece of paracord, or string, whichever you prefer, and you move the beads up once you have gone a certain distance to keep track of how far you have walked. I actually have two sets of ranger beads, one is set up to mark kilometers, and the other is set to mark miles. We will be going over the kilometer beads first because this is the one most people prefer, and are also the true ranger beads because they go by clicks. On the bottom set you have 9 beads that represent 100 meters each. After you have walked 100 meters, you will push up a bead until you have pushed up all 9 beads, which is 900 meters. Once you reach 1000 meters, you will then push up one of the 4 beads on the top set, which is one click. You will then reset your bottom set of 9 beads and start over. The mile beads are set up similarly except you have 6 on one leg, and 7 on the other. The set of 7 beads represent 1/16 of a mile each. once you have reached 8/16 of a mile and have no more beads, you move up one of your 6 beads which represents 1/2 a mile each.


If you are walking with the mile marker beads, you will be able to count 3 and just about half of a fourth mile. If you are walking with the kilometer beads, you will be able to count 4 and just about a 5th kilometer. Either way, both sets are made up of 13 beads total. If I wanted to convert my kilometer beads into mile beads, I simply undo the knot separating the two sets of beads, move two up from the set of 9 into the set of 4, and I now have a set of 7 and a set of 6. I will then re-tie the knot, being careful to leave an even amount of space and not tying it too tight so that I can't undo it later.

Now I used wooden beads for mine, but you can use regular beads if you like. My problem is, I don't especially like the beads. I notice that they tend to slip, some of them in particular are really bad for it. I wanted to make a set that wouldn't slip and I didn't want to have to worry about buying more beads. I got the idea from a video (How To Tie Paracord Ranger Beads Method 1) and the guy actually tied his paracord into beads and attached them that way. I went in a bit of a different direction with it. I simply took strips of paracord and tied them into a normal overhand knot. They slide well along the paracord they are tied off to, and they actually hold in place really well where I slide them. For my paracord ranger beads I have a set of 6, a set of 7, and a third set of 4 that I'll talk about here in a minute. Whether you have 4 and 9 or 6 and 7, you will sometimes find a set of 4 beads at the bottom called forester beads. The forester beads are meant to keep track of every 20 meters OR 22 yards. Sometimes when you walk through the woods your pace may be uneven due to the terrain, so you can use the forester beads to mark those distances. Once you move up all four forester beads, you can move up your first 1/16 of a mile marker, or your first 100 meter marker.

Let's talk about how to make one of your own. First take your length of paracord and tie a loop into the top of it. This loop serves as your means of tying it to your pack, belt, walking stick, etc. To make a loop fold your paracord over, give yourself some distance, and tie it off. Now, I like to use two different colors of paracord for this, but now I am going to start adding the strips that will be my counters. to do this, I wrap a new color of paracord around the original that we just tied a loop in, tie an overhand knot, dress it as tight as I can, and then cut it as close as possible to the knot with a knife or scissors. You will repeat tying off the strips of paracord until you had 13 beads total. Then you could separate them however you wanted, and tie a knot off between them. The next thing we need to do is some prevention to keep the ends from fraying. What I have done is taken a lit candle and held the ends of

the paracord I cut close to the flame. You do not actually have to get it into the flame or catch it on fire. If you do, just blow it out gently, no harm done. You just want to melt down the edges of the mantle and the inner string. This will keep the paracord from fraying and falling apart so you get the most use out of your ranger beads.

Our next mission is to head to our local walking track and use the ranger beads to get my pace put in. I have with me on my walk my ranger beads, a pedometer, and a paper that tells me how many steps I need to take to complete 1/16 of a mile depending on my stride. Your stride is the distance you  clear within 2 steps. Based on this, it should take me 83 steps to walk 1/16 of a mile.

After pushing up all of my forester beads I am now ready to push up my first 1/16 of a mile bead. Now it looks like I'm off this first time and was going a bit too fast so I'll try again. The problem I had was that the steps I was counting and the pedometer were not syncing up. When I should have been 1/12 of a mile in, my pedometer said I was 1/10 of a mile in. So what I tried next was resetting everything on the pedometer and trying again while watching the pedometer. Based on the pedometer it took me about 125 steps to clear the 1/16 of a mile. If I divide that into 5 for the forester beads, I'm looking at moving up a bead every 25 steps so that is something I will have to keep in mind. When I began my nature walk I counted 25 steps, moved a forester bead, and repeated that process. The trail I walked was supposed to be about 1.2 miles. At the end I think I may have been a bit overzealous. I had 1 6/16 of a mile and 44 yards. Overall my pace may still need some work to get it accurate.

It is now that time again where we add another item to our pack. This week isn't very difficult as the paracord ranger beads as the only item I used. I'm simply going to attach this to a loop that is on the right shoulder strap of my pack because I am right handed. The only problem I had was the loosening of the paracord strips. I myself am not too worried about it as I can just tighten them down, melt them in to place, or if worse comes to worse I can just replace it even in the field. Next week we will be doing a review of an all in one option, you don't want to miss it. As always feel free to comment, hit the follow button in the top right corner, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one on Sunday 10pm (est). If you want to keep up with me and what I’m doing, Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. Lastly if video is more your style check out my YouTube Channel backpack bushcraft where there is a video version of this with the same title. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.

I Spy With My Little Eye: Binoculars Sizes and Uses

Last week we talked about different kinds of compasses and did some survival drills at a local park. I also mentioned that we were going to be talking about a compass' best friend. Much like a boy needs a good dog, I believe a compass needs a good pair of binoculars. This week I'm going to be going over the different types of binoculars that I have. We will also be returning to our local park where we will be travelling with a map and binoculars only, as well as with a map and compass only. Lastly, we will choose one of these binoculars to add to our backpack at the end to build it out better, much like we did last week.

First let's start out with a quiz. I'll show you the binoculars and the numbers on them, and you figure out which binoculars are the best. From Left to right,the first pair are 10x25, the second are 16x32, and the last pair are 8x40. Now, don't cheat, but if you think you know leave a comment on this blog with the answer! If you aren't sure what these numbers mean, you're more than likely going to go with the biggest pair, the 8x40. Actually the best pair I have are the 16x32 pair. Now, let's talk about what these numbers mean. The first number, for example the 16, refers to the magnification of the object I am viewing. The first number on the larger binoculars is 8, letting us know that magnification is half of what it is on the second pair of binoculars I showed you. The second number refers to the distance in millimeters across the lenses of the binoculars. So the first pair have 25 millimeters, the second 32 millimeters, and the third have 40 millimeters.

So now you may be thinking, if one pair of binoculars is clearly better than the others, why do you even have the other two? Well, much like with the compasses, the different types are better suited for different tasks. The 8x40 binoculars I prefer to use for hunting. It's not going to magnify as much, but I do have a wider view of what I am looking, much like having peripheral vision. This allows me to look around the area of a tree and easily spot when a squirrel comes into view. The 16x32 I prefer to have with me at all times. It is very useful when looking for something in particular or if I am looking around with them trying to spot something. The 32 millimeter lenses give me a good window of vision to work with as well. The 10x25 pair are a good in between. Sometimes with the 16x32 pair I get drawn in to one spot with the powerful magnification at close distances, but with the 10x25 it's not so bad.


Now I am going to show you what I see through each pair of binoculars. There is a leaf in particular I am going to point out, then we are going to view the leaf through each pair of binoculars to see what we can see. The 10x25 can single out the leaf pretty well way up at the top of the trees. There is a leaf to the right of the one we are looking at that I am trying to get in the same viewing circle as well. I'll be talking about why in a minute. The problem with the 16x32 binoculars is that they are so zoomed in that you can easily become disoriented when trying to spot an object or find where you are. When we locate the leaf we cannot get the second leaf in view at the same time. This is because the magnification is better for pinpointing a specific object. With the 8x40 binoculars we can easily get both leaves into view. It is not the most zoomed in, but we still can see some details as well as still have room for anything else that may come into view.

Now we are going to return to the park and work with our binoculars a bit more. I am beginning at the location that we are calling the ranger station as per last week's blog. What  I am going to do is take my binoculars, and spot for the first X designated on our map. Now, I know that the first X is directly in front of me, but I would do is spot the feature, locate it on my map to confirm, and then begin walking in that direction. Now the second feature which is south of my I am noticing has 5 appendages coming from it. These represent two slides, a set of monkey bars, a staircase, and what I am assuming is

a second staircase around the back. I simply look through my binoculars to see each of these things more clearly, then confirm again with my map, and head that way. To add a bit of a challenge this time I didn't go exactly where the X was on my map. Before I move on to the next set of playground equipment, let's say I couldn't confirm what the feature was by viewing it through my  binoculars and referring to the map. In this instance I would try to look for features around where I am looking to go to confirm the location. In this case there is a bench and a pole near the playground equipment. I can spot those, check with my map, and we are ready to go. Now this is the home stretch. From here with my binoculars I can see the dirt circle with the ride-on equipment, move on, and from there, spot my "camp" which was the bench I started at in the last blog.

Now we are ready to start our second drill. I will be using my 10x25 binoculars and my military style compass. What we will be simulating is a friend going off from camp, and it seems like they have been gone a while and you think something may have happened. Now in this scenario I noticed the direction they went in. I have my binoculars on top of my compass so I can easily switch my views between them. Now I will view with my binoculars the two trees that my friend traveled through and try to spot a flag or any signs on the trail that may signify the direction they went. I don't see anything so now I am going to take a bearing of that direction which is about 50 degrees, so we are going to head that direction. After arriving at the two trees we are going to scan again and in this simulation, we are going to say our friend is smart enough to leave behind trail markers to indicate their direction. So I scan with my binoculars and find a pile of rocks, or a stick with an arrow pointing in their direction. I take a bearing and get about 60 or 65 degrees, and start walking. From here we are going to scan about 360 degrees. I don't notice anything and I am sure that this is an unnatural landmark. So I am going to orientate myself and continue following the 60 to 65 degree bearing and check again in a few yards.

Now I've reached what we are considering the end of the road. What I am going to do is place a marker here so if I cannot find my friend in one direction, I can come back to this spot and check a different direction. My options here are a very steep hill or a much easier to walk path. I am going to say my friend took the easier path. I am going to take the bearing which is about 320 degrees. I'm going to continue scanning every few yards and eventually I do notice them. It appears as though she has hurt her foot, so at this point we are going to try to get her back to camp, and then to the ranger station for some aid.

At this point we have to choose between the 16x32 and the 10x25 binoculars to add to our backpack. The 16x32 binoculars have a pretty good balance between magnification and lens size, though they are not as balanced as the 10x25 binoculars. I do get better picture with  the 16x32 binoculars and naturally the hand shake is a little bit worse. At the end of the day, the one thing the 16x32 binoculars can do that the 10x25 can't is magnification. So with that being said I am choosing to add the 16x32 because I would rather have that feature and not need it, than need it and not have it. A quick word on the military compass that I used. I had a lot of problems with it. It did not want to give an accurate reading through the peep hole or when I matched it on the compass. I would hate to have someone buy it and have the same problems as me. It's because of this that I am happy with the decision I made to add the modern compass to my pack instead.

Next week we will be doing a craft that will help us keep pace with this compass series, so you definitely don't want to miss it! As always feel free to comment, hit the follow button in the top right corner, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one on Sunday 10pm (est). If you want to keep up with me and what I’m doing, Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. Lastly if video is more your style check out my YouTube Channel backpack bushcraft where there is a video version of this with the same title. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.