Bumbling Bushcraft Comic: What Goes Around, Comes Around

Waiting on Pins and Needles: Review of Sail Makers Needles

Last week we looked at all other possible uses of a canvas needle other than for sewing purposes. This week we will be reviewing the iconic green and white package that is W. Smith and Sons Sail Makers Needles. Before we open into these there are a few things on the outside of the package that I feel are worth pointing out. The first thing I notice is that it says "Manufactured by W. Smith and Sons, Redditch, England." If you recall on the package of Dritz needles we purchased they are labelled as "European quality." This could mean that this brand claims to be of or similar quality to the W. Smith and Sons needles, or it could just be a particular way that the needles are manufactured. Either way, I thought it was worth bringing up. The next thing worth noting is the "forged and hand-made." This to me says that they were manufactured with some sort of human involvement, meaning that there are going to be less imperfections. For the price of these needles, less imperfections are certainly a better deal. Their saying "Made by hand, not to cut the twine," is printed on the package. It is also labelled "Reduced Edge" meaning that the point of the needle is made into a wedge shape so not to fray the thread when going in between the fabric.

The last thing I would like to point out on the package is the qty. 5 and the sizes 13-19. I'm now going to open into the pack to show you what these mean. There are 5 needles with varying lengths and thicknesses, however if I had to estimate the height difference between the smallest and largest needle is roughly 1/4-1/2". Based on diameter I can infer that the smallest needle is the size 13, and the largest is the size 19. I believe the second largest needle to be a size 14 because it appears to be the most versatile. It is about the same length-wise as the 13, but  slightly heftier. This leads me to believe that the other two needles are a size 15 and a size 17. I have arrived at this conclusion because I have seen the needles referred to in odd numbered increments. I also know that David Canterbury and the Self Reliance Outfitters sells a size 14 needle on its own so the sizes 13, 14, 15, 17, and 19, seem to make the most sense.


I have with me some leather, the same leather in fact from last week. My goal is to see how well these needles can awl through leather. Last week I could only get one needle to perform this task and that was a challenge in and of itself. I am going to start with the size 19 needle since it is the biggest and I will believe it will go through the leather easier than any other needle in this set. I am correct in saying that as the needle does go through and it goes through like butter. I tried to awl the leather with both the 13 and the 14 as well and I was just as successful in that endeavor. I am thoroughly impressed by that. If I had thread I would be able to sew the leather or if I need an awl tool on hand I have one.

Since I have my leather out I am going to try to make what is called a leather palm for sewing. The cool thing about this is that I am making it for my needles, but I am going to use my needles to make it. The first thing I am going to do is cut my leather into a strip that takes up most of my palm and is just a bit wider than my palm (I want a bit of excess on both sides of my hand. Now I am going to take the largest needle I have (in this case the 19) and I am going to thread it with frayed bank line. Of course you can use anything you have like paracord or what have you.

Now I am only going to knot my bank line at the tail end, not near the needle, and there is a reason for this. So first I am going to make a hole in the leather with my needle and I am going to pull it through until it stops at the knot I made.






Now I am going to pull the end of the thread that is not knotted through the hole I just made and bring it to the opposite side of the leather. The knot in the other side will keep the bank line from coming loose.






Now I am going to come straight across from the hole I just came through and make another hole keeping the needle in the eye.








Once the bank line is through I am going to make a knot in the end so that it cannot slip back through the hole.








Now I am going to repeat this process two more times on the middle and bottom corners of the leather so that I have three straps of bank line. All I have to do is cinch them down on my hand and I have a leather palm that keeps the needles from digging into my hands when I am using them to awl leather.




Now I am going to test the needles to see how well they can actually sew. I have some canvas and I am going to start with the size 14 needle, the inner strand of some paracord, and I am going to do a simple running stitch. I am pretty satisfied with the results. The grouping is even and looks nice. Next I am going to use the upholstery thread with the size 19 needle. Now this time the gauge of the needle was a little to big for the thread so I am sure that if I had used the size 14 or maybe 15 I would have had better results. I was able to use the needles with the bank line when we made the leather palm, so the only material that leaves is...the jute. As you can see from the photo to your right, I was able to sew with the jute which tells me that if I can make natural cordage in the bush, I can sew with it using these needles.

This needle has awled leather, sewn with every type of material I have given it, and now we need to see if it will perform as a redundant compass. Now you can magnetize your needle using magnets, but I prefer to use a battery. If you are using the battery method, use Duracell batteries. The reason being that I tried the Energizer batteries and the positive end actually repels the compass needle and the negative in pulls in, but the pull is not as strong as the pull from the positive end of the Duracell battery. After 50 swipes of the needle on the Duracell battery I suspended my size 14 needle from a thread and watched as it found north, and now I am going to repeat the test with a bowl of water and a flotation device. Instead of using a tea candle this time I am going to use my new invention which is a bottle cap with a groove cut into it to fit my needle. Once again, it successfully finds north.

As before with the other needles you can use these to clean you nails, teeth, and pull grit out of your equipment. For hunting, fishing, and trapping you could use these as a gig or some type of windless trap for small animals. You could hold down the fish while you could descale it, heck you could descale it with a different needle, and you could also do things like testing your bread dough. For my final thoughts, this set of needles will set you back about $12.99. The other needles will set you back roughly $2. Out of the Dritz pack you will get two half way decent needles, with W. Smith and Sons you are getting 5 high quality needles. If you are just getting into bushcraft I recommend going with the cheaper option to get comfortable using them. Once you get comfortable you can definitely upgrade to the better option. Now the W. Smith and Sons needles are all different sizes, but it is my opinion that you could pretty well divide them up  between your different packs that you may have and  have pretty similar results. Now it is time for The Packening. The first thing I am going to pack is my W. Smith and Sons needles because I have been using canvas needles for a while and I need to upgrade. I will be taking along with that: the bottle cap floating device, the upholstery thread, a thimble, and my sewing palm.

And with that we have reached the end of our canvas needle series. I had a blast doing this, although I think I say that every time. Next week we will begin our cargo tape series. I have a lot to show you and 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.

Getting to the Point: Other Uses for Canvas Needles in Survival Situations

Last week we looked at different fabric and threading materials. This week we are going to look at our canvas needle as a multi purpose tool to really see what this thing can do. You may have several ideas spring to mind, number one being a compass. To start off with I am going to show you a few things you can pack to make sure you have a compass with you at all times.

The first thing you want is a AA battery and to make sure that your battery has power, you can hold the positive end to your compass and move it around to see if your compass needle will follow it. If it does, you have a good battery. I am now going to take an iron or steel sewing needle and I am going to swipe the tip against the tip of the positive end of the battery about 40-50 times. This magnetizes the needle. The next thing I am going to need is a tea light candle. Now if you remember in the candle blog I said that I wasn't going to pack a tea light candle, however, I am going to keep one wherever I keep my needle because I will be using it as a flotation device. Now I am placing my candle in the bowl of water and placing the needle on top of it. At this point it is as simple as waiting for the magnetized end of the needle to find north.

Now there are other ways to create a compass without having to float your needle. If you use some of the thread you have with you like I recommended in the last blog, you can tie a loop around the middle of your magnetized needle. You'll have to be careful to make sure that your needle is parallel to the floor for this to work. Now it will begin spinning but when it comes to a stop the magnetized end will be pointing north. It's a little creepy.

You could think of it as a cleaning/maintenance tool. You could use it to clean under your nails. You could roll or scrape debris out of an open would to prevent an infection. With that being said you could use it to patch yourself up with stitches or field medicine, but I think, or at least I really hope, we're a long ways away from having to practice field medicine.You could use it as a toothpick or if you get cysts like I get in my earlobes, you can use it as a lance. You could use it to pick out splinters or other foreign objects from your skin as well.

Now we are getting into the realm of fishing and trapping. Some people would tell you to heat it up and turn it over into a fish hook, but I am not one of those people. You would have to get it very hot and bend it very slowly because it would snap. I do think that it would work well as a gouge hook if you had something to help it float and prevent it from sinking to the very bottom. Theoretically you could put multiple needles together and use it as a frog gig. These ideas are all fine and good, however, if you're fishing for survival I think your best bet is going to be some type of netting system. You could use this in a windless trap for small rodents so it will stab them in the head and pin them down. I wouldn't recommend using it with a mouse trap though as it would likely break.

In terms of cooking you could use your needle to test if your dough is cooked all the way through. You could use it to pin your fish to a board if you choose to cook it or descale it that way. You may even be able to use your needle to descale the fish. If your needle was thick enough and able to bear the weight, you could use it as a toggle for your water bottle when you are boiling water over your fire. Of course you should be sure to test all of your equipment at home before taking it out and trying it in the field.

Well, I am now out of ideas for what you could possibly use a needle for. If you have any more ideas feel free to comment and tell me. I would love to hear your ideas. Next week will be our first review of 2018. We are going to review my Walmart canvas needle vs. some other canvas needles. Now the ones I've purchased are supposed to be the same ones the Dave Canterbury uses but I was unable to purchase them off of his website so I purchased them off of Amazon so they would arrive a little quicker. Either way, you know you 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.

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.

Set A Course For Survival: Compass Basics and Survival Drills

Last week we finished out our series on our EDC kits. If you missed any of those blogs feel free to go back and read them, there was some very good information there! The videos are also posted on our Youtube channel (backpack bushcraft) if you missed those as well. This week we are going to begin a new series on compasses. I have three compasses that I am going to be going over and discussing advantages and disadvantages. Afterwards we will be going to a local park and doing two survival drills. The first is finding yourself on a map using just a compass, and second is getting from point A to point B using just a map and compass. Lastly we will review the compass and we are going to do a new little ceremony of adding the item to our backpack. Let's get into it.

First we are going to talk about button compasses. Mine is not a traditional button compass as you can tell as it comes with the button compass, a whistle, a thermometer, and a magnifying glass. The button compass has a travel arrow, a floating needle, all the cardinal directions already labeled, and will spin to point north at all times. Because the compass always points north the travel arrow indicates which direction you are more than likely facing. The one problem that I have with this is that it does not have the degrees labelled on the compass, instead there are just tick marks. Now, you could likely easily enough figure out the degree based on the tick marks, as well as get around pretty well with it, however, if you are going to be using a map, you're going to want to check out the next compass.


The next compass, what I call the modern compass is what I was trained to use. It has a clear base with a ruler as well as a mile and kilometer indicator. This lets you line it up on your map and estimate how far away a destination on your map is from your position. The rotating dial and housing which allows the needle to find north by locking it into the two dots (what David Canterbury call the "doghouse"). This allows you to find your true position. An advantage of this type of compass is that it is clear so you can lay it on a map to find your way and still be able to read the map underneath it. The disadvantage are that the tick marks are very fine and can be difficult to read when pinpointing your exact position. I would still prefer to use this compass, however the next compass is even more precise.

Lastly we have a traditional or military style compass. You can see that it has the floating needle similar to the button compass as well as a rotating dial similar to the modern compass. Some key features of this compass is the level in the bottom corner as well as a spot for a tripod so you can hold it on the ground and make sure it is level. There is also a set of cross hairs which you can use to more accurately pinpoint the location of a far off object. At the base of the compass there is a scope which magnifies the degrees to get a more accurate reading. Facing my camera with the button compass I was one tick east. With the modern compass I was facing roughly 120 degrees. Now with the military compass I have pin pointed myself facing exactly 125 degrees.

Now we are going to go to our local park and do some survival drills with our compasses. First I want to talk about my map and how I made it. I started by going to Google Earth and finding the park that I was going to. I found where I wanted to start and oriented the map as north as possible. I then took a screenshot, transferred it to MS Paint, and blew it up to an 8x11 size. Voila. Map. This is good to practice with especially bearing in mind that you aren't going to find topographical maps of a park. The other thing to keep in mind is you can control how zoomed in or out the map is, but if you aren't careful you won't be able to accurately pinpoint mile markers. Another thing to remember is making sure your map is up to date. For a lot of topographical maps this isn't a problem. You also want to be mindful of trees because if they are dense they may blur or cover a path or important map marker.

The first thing I am going to do is look at my surroundings, then look at my map and try to locate specific markers. The first thing I notice is a dirt circle with two ride-on toys. On my map I can clearly locate what looks like a marked off circle with two objects in it so I can say that what is in front of me is that feature on the map. Now I need to figure out what direction this feature is from me. To do this, I am going to set my traditional compass to north, followed by setting my map to north. Now I am going to turn my compass from north, toward the feature, and see what direction I get. My reading shows about 310 degrees.* Now I am going to lay the compass flat on my map and draw a line from my location to the feature I have identified. Now where the lines cross is my location. I appear to be a little off so I need to practice more.

Now we are going to move on to the next feature on the map from the same position I was when we got a bearing on the first feature we identified. I identified this feature, which in this case is a playground set of slides, by determining it's relative location to a very large playground set, a very small playground set, and a bench and trash can. When I take my bearing, it is at about 350 degrees. Now, just like we did previously, I am going to position my compass on the map, and draw the line.

Now that we have located ourselves on the map, we are going to go somewhere with it. I have marked a location on the map that we are going to call the ranger station and I am going to simulate an emergency situation where I need to find the ranger station to get aid. Based on where I am on the map facing as north as I can, and relative to my position from the ranger station on the map I am going to guess the direction I need to go. I am going to guess 315 degrees. I am not going to put my compass on the map and try to get a bearing. If I lock my compass in to 315 degrees, lock myself in north position and draw a line from my position outward on the map I find that I will actually overshoot the ranger station by a few degrees. If I dial it down to about 305 degrees, it gets me pretty close to where I need to go, so I am going to draw a line and go with a bearing of 305 degrees.

Now that I have a line drawn from my location to the ranger station it is important to travel that line on the map and see what features I will come across on my way to my destination. This is important because these features will let me know that I am going in the correct direction if the bearing wasn't enough. The first thing I notice is that my path leads right through a large set of playground equipment. Past that a little ways and to my right is another feature which I cannot identify simply by looking at the map, but we will be able to identify on our walk. Lastly just before I reach my destination there is another set of playground equipment to my left. Now, at the first feature I encounter, instead of walking straight through the playground equipment I am going to instead turn left 90 degrees and walk for a ways, turn right 90 degrees and walk for a ways, and then once again turn right 90 degrees and get back on my bearing of 305 degrees. This allows me to walk around the playground equipment instead of through it. I will show you how to do this without losing your bearing as well.

For my walk I am actually going to be using my button compass. I'm not really staring at it and closely monitoring my direction, I'm just headed generally northwest and using the x's I have placed on my map as I guideline for what features I should be encountering to make sure I am heading in the correct direction. When I encounter my first x, I know that I want to go around it and not through it. I am currently facing northwest, I am going to turn 90 degrees to my left and go southwest. I am going to walk 10-20 paces, enough to get past the equipment, then turn 90 degrees to my right and go northwest once again. I am now going to take another 10-20 paces to get out in front of the playground, turn right 90 degrees now heading in the direction of northeast. After my 10-20 paces I am going to turn 90 degrees to my left and head northwest once again and in my original direction.
Continuing on our original trail I am able to identify the feature that I was to encounter to the right which was another bench. Shortly after it to my left I locate the playground equipment and right in front of me is what we have identified as the ranger station.

That's it for today guys, however before we wrap this up I wanted to take a minute to talk about my backpack (yes, the one from the three day camp). In my backpack right now are just items from the 5 C's. I did have some personal items in there, but I have recently removed them. Now that we are talking about a new set of 5 C's I would like to take some time at the end of the blog if I choose to add an item, and talk about which item and why. Today I am faced with a difficult choice of whether to add the modern compass, or the traditional military style compass. The button compass has earned a special place, not in my pack, but instead in the EDC kit we spent last month building. For right now I am choosing to add the modern compass to my pack. I know we didn't work much with the military compass this blog, but we will in future blogs. I like that I can put the modern compass on the map and still be able to see what I'm doing. I also like the housing dial on it as opposed to the one on the military compass which has two arrows that don't seem to line up when they are supposed to.

Next week in our series we are going to be talking about a compass' best friend and you know 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.


*After further review the bearing was NOT 310 instead 290. This was the reason my location was off on my map.