Tip of the Day - 5

I strongly recommend that you do not try to strop a Scandi grind knife with a belt - unless the belt is laid flat on a hard surface.

In many bushcraft books it is suggested that you can use a belt to strop a knife by attaching the belt to a tree, for example, and then holding the belt under tension. This does work to an extent and is perfect for a convex grind knife NOT a scandi. This is because you can't get enough tension in the belt to stop it from rolling round the edge of the knife as you strop. So with a scandi this would eventually turn it into a convex (in an extreme case) - in practice it means that you will be blunting the edge a little by this method.

That's why I say that a belt is ok on a flat surface - that way you do not get the leather curving round the edge in the same way as you would if it was under tension.

Give it a go and see if you get a better edge doing it this way!

Tip of the Day - 4

If you own a pair of waterproof trousers that don't have zips on the legs and you always find that you have to take your boots off to get them on without covering the legs in mud - then try this tip.

Put plastic bags over your boots and then put on the trousers! This way you don't get mud on the inside of the trousers and the plastic bags also make the boots slide in nicely.

Tip of the Day - 3

Remember to look up occasionally when out tracking - it's always embarrassing to walk straight past someone or something when engrossed!

Tip of the Day - 2

Don't start construction work just before the winter! You have been warned.

Tip of the Day - 1

My very first tip of the day is:

Don't rely on my Tip of the Day to be daily!

Alone in the wild

Ed Wardle, pictured above, whom was featured in the Channel 4 programme "Alone in the wild" has come in for a lot of stick in the press. This seems to be mainly because he went out to a 'remote' area in the Yukon to survive for 12 weeks but had to give up after 7 weeks.

He was not fairing very well - had lost lots of weight and was basically starving - so, rightly so, he called it off for his own safety.

Many people have criticised him and Channel 4 for sending him out there very unprepared ie little or no survival training. The premise seems to be that he was chosen because he is a good cameraman/producer and had done some 'wild' filming before such as Everest. This clearly did not prepare him for a survival situation and understandably so. It is one thing to be out in the wilds with support and an entirely different kettle of fish to be in the wilds with no support.

Anyway, despite all that I think the guy has a lot to offer us in terms of knowledge. What he put himself through was probably as close to reality as is possible and gives a really good idea as to how a real person may cope if they were suddenly put into that situation. Personally I would love to interview him and find out how it went wrong for him, the psychology he went through and a whole gamut of other things about his physical deterioration etc. This would give me valuable knowledge that I could pass onto others when I teach them survival skills.

So all in all I say 'fair play' to the bloke and we should recognise that he managed 7 weeks before pulling the plug which could be more than a lot of people could manage.

ed wardle

Funny fox!

This made me smile!