OT: Gear and Tools Used by SURVIVORS!

Silver Needle

Silver Needle

Joined
Jul 14, 2014
Messages
5,802
***This thread does not necessarily correlate with the Gear page on the SURVIVE! website***

I enjoyed some helpful discussion on backpacks in another thread and I wanted a place just for things like that: gear that we use and like, and tools we might use with Guy's fine knives. Things may include, but are not limited to: backpacks, boots, compasses, fire making stuff, paracord, binoculars, tomahawks, axes and machetes.
 
Kifaru X-ray and Camelbak Trizip have been my favorite backpacks over the last several years.

Titan Survivorcord is awesome if you haven't seen it yet. Normal 550 cord plus a strand of copper wire, a strand of waxed jute, and a strand of fishing cord.

Binoculars... I have a small little Brunton monocular that I keep for spotting, but otherwise don't carry binoculars unless I'm doing something special.

Axes... the new Snow and Nealley stuff is not bad. Steel from the midwest, wood from Texas, and assembled by amish craftsmen in Maine. They aren't sharp when you get them though, easily remedied.

Boots... Redwing 1412's right now. Doing my best to make them last for a long time by oiling them once a month. Been through more brands than I can remember in the past.

Fiddleback Machetes are great.

For firemaking, I'm still using Firesteel.com stuff, but I bounce between those and LMF. Tinder is plain ol' vaseline cotton balls, melted vaseline with half of the cotton ball dipped in it and the other half dry for quick spark catching. A little coil of waxed jute in the pouch as well, I think. My PSK has a tiny little LiveFire tin in it.

I'm a Snowpeak fanboy when it comes to cooking pots/pans/cups. Good titanium stuff that has never let me down. I use a pot that came with a plastic resealable lid you can put on it so that if you cook more than you can eat and want to save it, you can seal it up tight then take that off and put it back on the fire the next day.

Pants for the woods... Duluth Firehose Flex. Cotton, but water-resistant treatment. So comfortable and flexible.

There, plenty of things to talk about ;)
 
My go to gear;
I love my Solomon quest boots, exo mountain gear pack, vortex razor 12x50 binos, and I recently got a great deal on a couple titanium pieces from Vargo that have been good so far. I love Big Agnes sleeping bags and pads.
 
Ok, Skrapmetal covered it all. I guess we can close the thread ;)

I'll have to check out those packs. I did not spy those models.
 
I was debating starting this thread up but then....didn't.... Haha it's been a lazy day...I want to add more comprehensive information but here is a teaser:

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Really though, if you guys haven't checked out Titan's Survivorcord, you should.

I'd link to it, but they sell mostly on Amazon and I think that's frowned upon.
 
I knew it! You guys all mentioned brands and models that are totally knew to me. Educational indeed!

Redwood, what is the smallest, black pack?

Skrap, I watch a lot of the Living Survival youtube channel and he did a review on the survivorcord. Very handy stuff. The wire inside seemed to make it stiff compared to normal cord. I'm sure that is a fair trade off with all the utility it provides.
 
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Skrapmetal said:
Really though, if you guys haven't checked out Titan's Survivorcord, you should.

I'd link to it, but they sell mostly on Amazon and I think that's frowned upon.
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I'm going to have to look that cord up. Someone mentioned it before, maybe you skrap. It sounds very handy.

Here's one I need an answer to: I need a good AR15 case that can be carried as a backpack. It needs two shoulder straps because I keep tearing up the ones with a single sling strap with the weight of the extra equipment, and of course lots of pockets for said equipment. Wouldn't hurt to have molle attachment, too.

I looked at a 36" and 42" Voodoo tactical today. These looked really good, but I've just gotten serious and want to make sure I don't miss something better. Not really concerned with the price as much as the quality.
 
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Backpacks: I have a too many, but my favorite is an Arc'teryx Khard which I have about half a dozen Velcro pouches for. Totally versatile. Plan on getting another one day, maybe hunting season this fall.

Boots: Salomon Quest 4D GTX. Can't go wrong. There is a new version out which I would like to try.

Fire making stuff: Live fire sport, and most of the time Coghlans storm matches which I like far better than UCO storm matches.

Tomahawks, axes and machetes: Autine. I have not found better than John Neeman, and he is only at Autine. I have a small forest axe he made custom for me. It's an heirloom.

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Fine looking forest axe there. Autine....another one to look up.

Silver Needle said:
Anyone want to talk about RMJ tomahawks?
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I saw your conversation with Riz on the Chat that the loggerhead is discontinued. I would have thought there'd be a lot more demand for it. I'd really like to have the pathfinder, I think. Seems you don't hear anything but good about the RMJ hawks.
 
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Texas_toothpick said:
HK, Eberlestock makes a few gun packs. Or was you talking about for just the range not the field.
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TT, I've got it set up as a BOB. Extra full mags, light, blades, etc. Grab it and go. Eberlestock makes some awesome hunting packs, just not quite what I'm looking for here.

I'll see if I can find a pic of the Voodoo Tactical. It looks good, pretty close to the configuration in my head, I just thought I ought to get some opinions before dropping the money on it.
 
Here's the one I'm looking at. The shoulder straps attach to the rings on the back in the second picture.

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Boots: Altama old mil-spec, with the Jeep sole, or Belleville wet-weather Navy aviator issue. I've tried a crap-ton of boots over the years, but these are the best.
choppers/hackers: a couple of CRKT RMJ tomahawks, the first style, all steel. Not the new ones with wooden handles.
packs: quite a few. Spec-Ops ALICE-style is my go-to for hunting and hiking. I have a Kelty Redwing for a workout bag, and a 5.11 Rush-24 as my day-pack (my wife calls it my murse, I call it my bag of evil tricks, as it has some survival items in it, and some defensive items).
knives: anything but S!K so far, as it seems it is taking FOREVER for my pre-sale 5.1 to get shipped. Right now, my go-to is Swamp Rat RatManDu, or INFIdu. For big chopping knife, my go-to is a BK-9.
 
I am glad this thread got started...

Here is one piece of kit or three that I like.

The ENO double nest hammock, their tarp/fly and atlas straps. Awesome and comfortable. Here it is when I used it during a Ragnar Trail relay race. You have a team that camps and runs trails. You are either running one of the three loops or chilling in camp. Total running, 15 miles per person in 24 hours. It rained the entire event. My team was in tents and all their stuff got wet. I was dry as a bone and slept like a rock. They all looked at my setup and were like "im buying one of those".





Once you arrive, they let you drive to your campsite, then you unload all your stuff, drive to a giant field where you have to leave your car and catch a shuttle back to the camp and the race. You can see my plastic tub. I kept all my gear in it under the fly. Everything was dry and clean, except the clothes I wore during the actual runs.
 
Texas_toothpick said:
Sweet I been wanting to dive into a hammock set up, but a bug net is a must for me anytime of the year.
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Agreed with the bugs...I'd also like to add that this thread might be the death of me... I have already bookmarked things i hadn't ever heard of! sheesh!
 
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