Tool of the Week.

[vagrom]

( with thanks to the Coodabeens).
Wild mag. used to have space for inventors ideas and Newsweek used to have a "New products and Processes". That recent gas cannister weighing device is a classic in the genre. I wonder if this thread could act as a focus. ("He's an ideas man." - Michael Caton, The Castle).

1) Tired of bent tent pegs? Slip in a 5" bright, bullet head, nail (24gms), to hammer a guide hole for your softer, aluminium pegs (the old Macpac ones weigh 17gms). Still useful as a peg in it's own right on at least one of the ropes, so one peg can stay home. Popular camping grounds can have notoriously hard ground as well as high,stony, wind-blown saddles.

2) Pot handle grips: Trangia used to provide a set of stainless steel grips with their smallest stove, a beginners, lightweight, simple model. With a 50mm paper clip, you can model a sliding piece that won't fall off the end when the grips are opened to release the pot and which make a fine, fixed handle when slid down to the business end. They had an unfortunately sharp edge at the open end but this is now kept occupied and is ideal for opening tough food packets. I asked Scouts a few years ago and presume they can still be ordered in. They were $10.

[Capt DropBear]

This is a good idea for a thread, I'd hate to see it slide into oblivion. That first idea is a great one, will certainly be including a nail in the peg bag from now on.

Although I can't think of anything to contribute to it right now, I think a thread like this would a great source of tips and tricks for new comers, and old dogs alike (learning new tricks).

Don't let it die peoples!

[vagrom]

Sticky tape for your watch crown:
If the crown's unprotected then, as sure as eggs , it'll get popped when you start dragging yourself through dense bush. Not good for the watch. Happened so many times with my Seiko, you can almost set your watch by it.
The only way round it is some tape over the crown and around the face and back, for the trip's duration. A little roll of cheap stuff in your kit.

[Strider]

Sticky tape for your watch crown:
If the crown's unprotected then, as sure as eggs , it'll get popped when you start dragging yourself through dense bush. Not good for the watch. Happened so many times with my Seiko, you can almost set your watch by it.
The only way round it is some tape over the crown and around the face and back, for the trip's duration. A little roll of cheap stuff in your kit.

My Seiko has a screw crown and is left-handed, so the crown is protected anyway. Is yours a divers model?

[ILUVSWTAS]

Tool of the week has gotta be Eddie Mcguire.

[Zone-5]

Tool of the week has gotta be Eddie Mcguire.

[Tortoise]

Thanks for reviving this thread, Zone-5.

Pot handle grips: Trangia used to provide a set of stainless steel grips with their smallest stove, a beginners, lightweight, simple model. With a 50mm paper clip, you can model a sliding piece that won't fall off the end when the grips are opened to release the pot and which make a fine, fixed handle when slid down to the business end. They had an unfortunately sharp edge at the open end but this is now kept occupied and is ideal for opening tough food packets. I asked Scouts a few years ago and presume they can still be ordered in. They were $10.

I've been picking my brain trying to come up with a lighter weight version of 'billy lifters', and here it is! I just can't quite picture it though. Have you got a pic, vagrom?
Ta

[vagrom]

I'll see what I can rustle up Tortoise. I'm still getting a handle on this tech stuff. ( boom boom, tshhhh)

[Tortoise]

Ta, Vagrom. (I needed help myself )

[Allchin09]

Are these the handles you are after?

[Picaro]

I think this is the one....

[vagrom]

Yes, thanks Picaro. They're the ones. Still sold in kit at Scout Outdoor but can they be got as an item? Fold a larger, sliding paperclip to make a handle that locks onto your Trangia pots. A small thing really.

Much, much, much bigger as ideas and weight saving goes is replacing your fancy Siggs and Nalgenes with a 1.25 litre Schweppes soda water bottle, backed up with a 4 litre wine bladder. Use the bottle to fill the bladder.

Tent lanterns like the Eco etc: battery life of LED head lamps (3xAAA's) means you can leave the candle lamps etc. at home.

Digital Scales : if you don't have any yet, they're well worth the investment. Mine are Homemakers from KMart for $40 some years ago. Flat, oblong, dull chrome. Takes a while to work out their idiosyncracies. They're super-sensitive but enable you to confidently micro-manage your weights. Knowing your AAA's are 11 gms (unused!) helps decide if you'll bring along 3 freshies and how this weight compares with an extra evening's packet meal, for example. (AA's are 24 gms)
My Petzl, Gecko and Walkman use 6 AAA's: 3, 2 and 1.

[vagrom]

Simple water filtering, if not carrying a device.

Light weight. Half doz. kept in a Snaplock with medi-gear.
First straining with a clean textile/cloth.

We were heading east over the Ironbounds and out of water but there was muddy water puddles everywhere as it rained, some with quite enough water but really, uncollectably muddy. Tabs or boiling could help kill bugs.
We had some fruit and moist cheese so that sufficed for tea. In 2002.

[Orion]

We were heading east over the Ironbounds and out of water but there was muddy water puddles everywhere as it rained, some with quite enough water but really, uncollectably muddy. Tabs or boiling could help kill bugs.

Similar experience on the Ironbounds, heading west. It was raining, windy, cold. We caught a chill and decided it would be better to stop. But the available camping was dry.

Plenty of puddles though...



The grittiest stuff settled quickly via gravity. The next level down we filtered with a bandana. That was enough to render it quite drinkable (with some treatment), although it looked a bit odd. As cooking water it was as good as any.

How much silt did your coffee filters catch?

[vagrom]

I've only tried this once at home, experimenting. It didn't impress but maybe one day it might work better. The filters are paper light so no great loss.
Earth can be either organic like coffee grounds or mineral, which would tend to plug up more. Or it's going to be a mixture.
My first impression was that it's just too slow to be really useful unless left o/night.
Another recent thought is that the liquid may need to be heated first in order to make the paper become effectively permeable to water passage, as with the coffee process.

[vagrom]

These protectors would obviously be useless in most parts of Tassie but on day walks, even in Tas., might be worth looking at on a stream crossing. Then again ?? Maybe with a couple of shopping bags on first, that would be closer to the knees.
Remove post stream and pop all into a third shopping bag.

[vagrom]

Cool, cotton lightweight drill. Sun and scratch protection. Slip on easily. Easily replaced for $10/pr. Put over the l/s shirt sleeves to give the shirt a longer life.
The lower end would be a little protected by your bush gloves but thick bush might drag them up. Elastic at each end.

[north-north-west]

I'd love something like that for scrub-bashing, but it needs to be from just below the elbow to the armpit/shoulder. Get the right size and a bit of velcro at the top would probably hold them in place. Worth trying, anyway. Thanks vagrom.